Ascertaining a new level of Black Consciousness!

TBR - Leighton Bradford, Editor-in-Chief

The argument for divine revelation, no matter the position with Jesus, moved his 

spirit and commentary to a different level of consciousness. A spirit that is akin to a righteous awakening. Biblical text described a true minister at the height of Greco-Roman decadence. To be aware of your culture or heritage is important in combating prejudice. You may draw similarities in regards to the contemporary issues that ensue.

 The bible enables every human beings existence. Another item of concern is the desire to not support homosexuality, predicated on a Christian belief.  “If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable.  They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads” (Leviticus, 20:15).  The more recent ban on same sex marriage by California; rescinds individuals with alternative life styles. The act seemingly aligns a cause with Black Consciousness. The feminizing of a young Black male becomes tragic. Heterosexual values must be protected.  The Black family structure is under attack, thus, an alignment with this burgeoning lifestyle is not productive.

Tavis Smiley mentions accountability within his broadcast. A light went off in my head! Tavis should hold PBS accountable; and we should hold Mr. Smiley accountable. Entrenched elitism and the lack of opportunities, allow for subtle oppression.  E. Franklin Frazier described these cats as the ultimate illusionist; their God is materialism, opportunity, and social status, once removed from their Blackness.  As long as there are enough crumbs, their cool like that. Education without the opportunity is useless.   If you noticed how awkward Clarence Thomas appeared during the inauguration.  It would seem that safe African-Americans benefit from the peaceful warriors and thinkers of their presumed race ;moreover, not having achieved the same ideal in kind.

 I offer the reader African-Americans who have sacrificed for Blacks and humanity in general; Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, Ida B. Wells, so forth and so on.  Ida B. Wells published a newspaper denouncing the lynchings of that particular period. Several individuals have attempted to keep resources scarce.  Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. did not sacrifice his life so we could buy a “SUV”.  The African bourgeoisie must elevate their political activity.

 Europeans have sacrificed their lives and freedom for our benefit.  Wilber Force utilized discourse to influence a powerful British empire, eventually ending slavery.  A number of protestant denominations assisted African-Americans within the Underground Railroad. Various European led faiths such as the Presbyterian, Quakers, Rev. John Brown (Harper’s Ferry) and the like.   Many Europeans have died in an effort to promote the rights of individuals of African descent.   The civil war was fought to end chattel servitude.  The south must be resurrected from its past. Recognizing all aspects of humanity, becomes a crucial evolutionary step towards parity.

“Hegemonic Destabilization”

TBR - Leighton Bradford, Editor-in-Chief
The United Nations, along with Russia, France, and China had reservations about the war in Iraq. Diplomacy is an art reluctantly used by certain leaders. It requires patience, and the acquired skill of social responsibility. Meaning, leaders must be held accountable for their ideals and principles, which affect the lives of so many people. Society can no longer afford to isolate their place within the global community. Human misery and strife are just an internet away. Former President Carter’s visit to Cuba set the tone for political conciliation. President Carter, one of my heroes, understood the need to push an agenda responsive to at least, a bilateral agreement. Some criticized Carter for visiting a country deemed our enemy. Even jazz great Wynton Marsalis, understands the need to separate humane gestures, from politics.

Open dialogue diffuses a potentially volatile situation, but it does not remove displaced anger completely. It gives an entity time to reflect, on presumed points of contention. We now live in a world shaped by the ensuing N.B.C.’s (Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical). The issue is forced; with these terrible threats, looming large within our society. We must not usurp our Constitutional Rights, in an effort to provide security to a nation. None of this was implemented during the Oklahoma City federal building bombing. U.S. Attorney General, Eric Holder, should identify the Klan as a domestic terrorist sponsoring entity as well. Discerning and logical debate promote human expression, stifled by indifferent isolationism. A world power must concede the ultimate threat, when chosen to govern and lead a group of individuals. Our borders (United States of America) should be defended with the greatest of resolve! Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and California, have a constitutional right to defend themselves against an opposing threat.

The ever-humane benefit of the doubt focuses on the humility of a methodic politician. When seeking the truth, irrefutable evidence should be confirmed, not mere conjecture or supremacist tactics. Politics aside, the preservation of human life should be of the utmost of importance. Each point of contention should be managed, as though a corporation. A referential leader will attempt to exhaust every ethical means of conflict resolution. If flanked by an obvious actual threat, the severity of the act, along with discerning, who was involved, allows for closure in a given situation. This minimizes the resentment of reactionary policies. The term “Hegemonic Destabilization” refers to a powerful nation treating his global neighbors in a condescending manner. Our fellow human beings should never be taken for granted. We must defend our borders within the framework of the constitution. As a veteran of “Desert Storm” I understand the horrors of war. Further, I understand there are no victors within a nuclear war! Nations identified as rogue states, constitute a need for awareness, but not a reactionary effort. Who are we to be chastising countries, as though they are children? We are not a paternal entity responsible for our global offspring. “Hegemonic Destabilization” confounds an already volatile situation. Open dialogue diffuses an ultimately deadly scenario. Peace and prosperity should be the general legacy left to our children. A bit of irony must be attributed to a presumed democracy not embracing democracy, in an effort to resolve a matter. [Relative commentary reflective of Bush administration]

Introducing the Hip Hop Generation! “If we don’t keep going, rap will continue to be drafted into the capitalist world, the crack world, the prison industrial complex.”

TBR -- Courtesy The Black Commentator 

{content is intellectual property of The Black Commentator}

We need a national agenda to make sure that our community has more than music and style. We can’t continue to do bootleg activism. We’ve got to do institutional activism, creating media outlets that will push our propaganda.”

 – Jeff Johnson, America Votes youth coordinator and commentator for BET’s “Rap City”

“We’re all activists. The question is, what are we active for? Are we active to forward a rightwing agenda in America, or are we active for liberation?”

 – Rosa Clemente, co-founder, National Hip Hop Political Convention (NHHPC)

“Just as the Christian Coalition tapped into an existing infrastructure of conservative churches, we as a hip hop generation are tapping into an existing infrastructure that has been created by the hip hop movement.”

 – Bakari Kitwana, author and co-founder, NHHPC

American capitalism markets everything it can package and discards or mangles the rest. As a result, most “information” found in the marketplace is, by definition, disinformation – a “product” molded to suit a transaction, containing no reliable connection to the truth.

In the absence of a mass Black political movement, the generation born after 1965 has been named for the culture it created, rather than – as with the preceding generation – the political goals for which they fought. Hip hop culture, the miraculous invention of Black and Latino youth, is now marketed to the world by five multinational corporations. The social “reality” and political worldview of an entire generation (now going on two generations) has been packaged for sale to both its creators and the larger market: the planet.

Having been commercially defined as a raw demographic – a cohort of customers and product-modelers – the hip hop generation stares into a mirror that has been purposely cracked and deformed for somebody else’s profit. Its activists, as brilliant as any produced at any time or place in history – and intent, like all healthy young humans, on changing the world – find that they must first confront the marketed version of themselves.

The 3,000 young people who attended the National Hip Hop Political Convention in Newark, New Jersey, June 16-20, were determined to define themselvesthrough a politics of struggle – to begin to redraw the map of the world through the prisms of their own experience.

“We are here today as young people under the hip hop umbrella,” said Ras Baraka, the 34-year-old Deputy Mayor of Newark, New Jersey, and one of the organizers of the event. “Politics is about the seizure of power,” Baraka told the crowd.  “Some of us don’t understand what that means. Our kids think that seizing power is standing on a corner and doing the things they usually do.” Each of the 500 official delegates from 17 states had registered 50 voters to earn the right to represent their generation.

Baraka, who is also an assistant public school principal, doesn’t show up on the Right’s short list of hip hop generation “leaders.” By cynically misinterpreting polling data that show Black youth to be increasingly estranged from the Democratic Party (see , November 21, 2002), and through relentless national media exposure of young, corporate-sponsored Black politicians, the Right attempts to package the hip hop generation as essentially more “conservative” than its elders. The darlings of the Right include Tennessee Congressman Harold Ford, 34, the Democratic Leadership Council’s most prominent voice in the Congressional Black Caucus, and Cory Booker, the 35-year-old former Newark Councilman who, with the backing of the national conservative political and funding network, nearly captured City Hall in 2002.

What the conservatives prove is that the current younger generation contains its share of opportunists – just as did the last generation, and the one before that. But opportunists only show up when they get paid, and represent nothing but the finances of their sugar daddies. The National Hip Hop Political Convention had no deep-pocket sponsors, yet it succeeded on the strength of the organizers’ peer credibility, and the near-universal desire among Black youth to overturn the status quo.

Continuity of struggle

So vacuous has American political discourse become, that corporate spin-makers posing as journalists find it possible to produced 24-hour news cycles that reveal nothing at all except the political preferences of media owners. The mass marketing of attitudes and styles in place of issues and substance, seeks to drain the language, itself, of the capacity to resist power. A generation of Black youth that is imprisoned in astronomical numbers is simultaneously deployed as lifestyle models for the privileged, prison-immune classes – mass-produced insanity on its face. Yet in the continuity of Black struggle, people and truths “crushed to earth” inevitably rise again to confront oppression.

“I believe that we are in this room because some slave willedus here,” said Rev. Osagyefo Sekou, the 30-something Executive Director of New York Common Ground, and a mover-and-shaker of the convention. “We need a living wage for everyone. I call that a moral question.”

Moral people seek to end injustice, mass media’s truly taboo topic. Only by relentless avoidance of the continuity ofinjustices against Black people can the media create the impression of vast chasms between Black generations.

“Get the foot of oppression off our necks.” From the hip hop perspective, 54-year-old Rev. Calvin Butts, of Harlem’s Abyssinian Baptist Church, qualifies as an elder. Yet his irreducible demand, delivered at a Town Hall meeting on the first full day of the convention, was identical to that of his hip hop audience. Many were aware of Butts’ history of broad brush criticism of hip hop culture.  However, in the context of a shared struggle against historical oppression, differences shrink. “Organizing must be done around a moral core. That moral core must respect all of us – our women, our children, our elders,” said the preacher. “Without a moral core, the revolution is wiped out.”

Who would argue with that?

Rich corporations mass-market immorality (after all, they are the only ones who can), and then label their products as authentic representations of hip hop generation morals. Righteously, the organizers of the Newark convention gave primacy to the morality of struggle – to the chapter and verse of resistance.

A secular elder, Ron Daniels, currently Executive Director of the Center for Constitutional Rights and a prime mover in over three decades of Black political conventions, showed the seamless connections between culture, morality, and politics. “Art must be functional and committed,” said Daniels. “This generation must come to the forefront and lead us to change America.” Nevertheless, “We cannot, in the name of ‘realness,’ denigrate ourselves.”

“Denigration” was the last thing on these young people’s minds. At the core of the convention were perhaps a thousand committed activists – ranging from seasoned, 30-something veterans to promising neophytes – who have the potential to do great damage to the powers-that-be.

Fight the Power

In what now seems the Golden Age of socially conscious hip hop, Public Enemy’s Chuck D demanded that his audiences “fight the powers that be.” Born in 1960, Chuck D and his peers, the inventors of the culture, are the political and chronological links between the so-called “Black Power” and hip hop generations. Currently a host on radio’s Air America network, Chuck D recalled the suppression of hip hop. “From 1979 to 1992, there was a sheer abandonment [of hip hop music by Black radio programmers],” he said. They banned it.”

During that period, hip hop broke out of the neighborhoods and fueled the founding of a host of independent (mostly white-owned) record labels – an explosion of musical creativityand social commentary of all kinds. But not until the early Nineties, after mega-corporations moved to swallow up the genre, did Black-programmed radio embrace the music of Black youth. Programmers ponderously intoned that hip hop fans were too young to attract advertisers, that they were not a valuable demographic – an amazing claim, since the R & B music that carried Black radio to new heights in the Sixties was also the music of youth. But many in the hip hop industry understood the real deal: Black programmers were afraid of projecting a street “image.” Essentially, hip hop had an intra-Black, class problem. Don Cornelius wouldn’t touch it, even though his “Soul Train” TV audience skewed to the younger demos.

In one of the great ironies of African American cultural history, Black radio finally embraced hip hop in the early Nineties – precisely when the huge corporate record labels shifted to gangsta rap. Industry researchers discovered that hip hop’s most “active” consumer base was composed of 12- and 13-year-olds – tweens – a cohort that is drawn to repetitive profanity and, not having reached the sexual pairing-off stage of development, revels in misogyny.  Artists and recordings (A & R) executives put great pressure on rap acts to become more “real” – a word that became a euphemism for egregiously profane and abusive language. In no time at all, the industry began churning out music geared primarily to younger juveniles. Black radio, which had had such a problem with hip hop before the corporate-guided ascendance of gangsta rap, dived into the cesspool with wild enthusiasm. The airwaves became filled with edits, bleeps and audio interruptions that did nothing to hide the “denigrating” content.

Black middle-class propriety was trumped by the servile imperative to follow the (white) corporate leader. No one can measure the accumulated arrested development afflicting youngsters raised on a profane corporate formula designed for tweens.

New Times, New Tasks

However, the music industry’s version of “real” hasn’t blotted out reality for the entirety of the hip hop generation. Mutulu, of Dead Prez, sees the world, clearly. “We gotta keep going,” he urged the Newark convention. “If we don’t keep going, rap will continue to be drafted into the capitalist world, the crack world, the prison industrial complex.”

Parker: Homosexual behavior morally unacceptable

(TBR) Contributor-Star Parker is president of CURE, Center for Urban Renewal and Education (www.urbancure.org). E-mail her at parker@urbancure.org.

Our 111th Congress, in its lame duck session, has given America a Christmas present in the way of repeal of the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” law.

Signing the repeal into law, President Barack Obama said he’s “never been prouder.”

From my point of view, I’m feeling increasingly like a minority in our country. Not because I’m black, but because I am a Christian.

As a Christian, I believe in the truth of traditional morality as transmitted to us through our biblical sources. And I believe, along with George Washington, who stated this clearly in his farewell address to the nation, that religion and traditional morality are critical to the maintenance of our free society.

Homosexual behavior is unacceptable by these moral standards.

I also see no clash between this conviction and individuals being free and taking personal responsibility for living as they choose in our free country.

But private behavior and public sanction are different matters.

Our military is a quintessentially public institution. Its acceptance of behavior unacceptable by traditional moral standards means official public sanction of this behavior and, in my view, this is a big mistake.

Support from public opinion drove repeal of this law.

Gallup showed 67 percent supporting repeal and a Washington Post/ABC poll showed support as strong as 77 percent.

Behind this is ongoing change in public sentiment regarding the moral acceptability of homosexual behavior. Just 10 years ago, 53 percent said it was not morally acceptable and 40 percent said it was. Today this has flipped to 52 percent saying it is morally acceptable and 43 percent saying it’s not.

Yet, at the same time that Americans are increasingly at ease with homosexual behavior, the public says that the nation is not in good moral shape.

According to a Gallup poll in May, three times as many — 45 percent — say the country is in poor moral condition as those — 15 percent — who say it’s in excellent/good moral condition.

And, 76 percent say the moral state of the nation is getting worse compared to 14 percent who say it’s getting better.

What’s going on?

First, Americans are becoming more prone to believe that individuals cannot take personal responsibility for their sexual behavior. Thirty-six percent believe today that homosexual behavior is genetically determined compared to 14 percent who believed this 40 years ago. Second, our sense of the meaning of morality has become relative and ambiguous.

When asked, in the same Gallup poll, for the principal reason that the moral condition of the nation is worsening, the greatest response — 15 percent — was “disrespect for others.” Only 2 percent said teen pregnancy, 3 percent homosexuality, 3 percent abortion, and 7 percent breakdown of family/unwed mothers.

When asked for the principal reason that our moral condition is improving, the largest response — 25 percent — was “better understanding about other people and cultures/more diversity/less racism.”

It should be clear that what is happening is that any prevailing sense that there are objective standards for right and wrong is disappearing and that this is being displaced with a relativism and nihilism that values nothing other than tolerance of everything.

As Americans increasingly believe that behavior that traditional morality prohibits is genetically determined, the perceived seriousness of traditional religion and values becomes marginalized.

Obama said that repeal of “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” “will strengthen our national security.”

I cannot think of anything more dangerous to our national security and the ongoing strength of our nation than the collapse of our sense that there are objective rights and wrongs. When we sanction ourselves to make everything up, who can the God that our Declaration of Independence refers to possibly be?

Why should Americans take the words of our Constitution, that are a few hundred years old, seriously when we dismiss the truths of words that are thousands of years old?

Star Parker is president of CURE, Center for Urban Renewal and Education (www.urbancure.org). E-mail her at parker@urbancure.org.

Soul Solace by Leighton Bradford (excerpt from book)

http://soulsolace6463.wordpress.com/2010/12/28/soul-solace-by-leighton-bradford-excerpt-from-book/
Nima will now be introduced; Malik’s lady, cute, and loves her some Malik. Malik and Nima are engaged to be married. Nima is terribly funny, the life of the party; W.T. likes Nima listen, “Malik is that my button, ask her where her mama is?” He also likes her fine as wine mother, Black women are like wine, and the older they get the more robust da flava? A mystery that adjust to her abrupt surrounding. Nima is sassy, yet delicate as the soft petal of a flower. Her purpose remains ahead no doubt, her obstacles a few behind. Ever present faith, not a shame to confess her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.


Malik and Nima are the quote, unquote salt of the earth. Both were raised down south; mostly collard greens and ribs, and a whole lot of love. Nima, Nima go ahead with ya bad self; moreover, the host of men track her essence, that sistah you dream of, too good to be true, so similar to mama. A distinct persona, with the ability to change the hearts of men. Said memory stays a little while, it lounges, it rests just so. Brother down the street likes what he envisions. Nima is no different in many regards, than say Sage or Mandee; you just have to be there to understand! Malik, my man is playing Anita Baker, her melody plays like a distant memory. He has love on his mind, as the music prepares your soul for deliverance.

As the chords play out ever so softly, life is contemplated, his place in it, and the girl of your dreams. Heaven has paid us a visit, so it seems. Every time you think of that thing that keeps you tossing and turning at night; restless is the desire, restless. Malik sits down and writes Nima a poem:

Singular purpose and my mind glides around your thoughts.

Speak tenderness, perpetual love thang no doubt.

There are no boundaries for our midst.

So the visual aspects of flesh adhering to one another.

Clean line struck to silence, because my love it’s all about you.

Wasted motions; presumed humanity, waning act of unadulterated caress.

I may vibe female menagerie, caught up in the movement, on the second hand analogy, to the sheer vision that lies before me. Placement of my hand towards the small of her back, til’ round midnight I will let go.

Because my love it’s all about you

Hope to change the world with what God reveals to my soul. I just can’t take it anymore. The depths of misery known to all brothers’ whom and have loved. Don’t let her know tho, she will have you in the palm of her hand. Then she said, “Hear me Blackman it’s all about you.”

Tight curves on an anatomy that is heavily endowed. Clandestine touch reaching on the fringe of a pause. A slowing effect on a couples overall surreal occupation. Rhythm and sounds alleviates the refrain. Formulated continuum for us to enjoy. Elevated mind; because obviously its love!


All Rights Reserved Intellectual Property Of Leighton Bradford (BE)

No Graven Images

TBR--Memphis, TN--Leighton Bradford, Editor-in-Chief
 I wonder if when Moses came down from the mountain, with the Ten Commandments,

would there be the following reaction. Jesus Christ! A seventy-two foot statue of liberty, holding a cross!

Moses probably would be taken a back from the experience. An implicit intrigue started to build. Had they

applied for a permit? Was the permit necessary for this venture? You know, all of the pertinent concerns

regarding a distinctly placed monument. A local church in Memphis erected the monument. What may we

ask a monument towards? According to biblical text; Aaron was charged with holding it down, while Moses

prostrated his existence to God. The Israelites were doing a number of things they had no business doing.

Erecting a graven image unto another deity became an identified wrong.

Mega churches are taking the act of faith to another level. These seemingly corporate entities operate more like a business, rather than ensuring their parishioners, a transcended soul. Dr. King’s legacy eclipse most evangelical clergy. Some may suggest falling short of an implicit dream. High finance and materialism seem to be the way churches define their mission. Whose responsibility is it to deal with poverty, illness, crime and oppression? Obviously salvation must exist, within the endless depths of the offering plate. Religion may very well be the opiate of the people. Hell, fire, and brimstone, and the ministers laying there hand on you. Do ministers have a social responsibility in regards to humanity? Some would argue; social degradation impedes life, similar to a defective compact disc. Memphis is where Dr. King took his last breath. The civil rights movement seems a fading distant memory to a few. Coffee shop patrons discuss sub-prime loans, increased debt, and falling short of presumed souls touched. So many individuals seem to lack hope and understanding.

"These ravening wolves in Shepard’s garb,” a timeless quote, but what is the meaning? Memphis seems to cling to the haunting effect of the antebellum south. Once removed from a conscious understanding of who they are, and their role within society. The power of Egypt is vanquished, and held hostage, by apathy and indifference of the plight of there fellow human beings. A shrine erected towards egoism, or is it truly a humble offering towards a belief. The past administration promoted a faith based initiative. Tele-evangelism purports salvation through tuned in media; however, what do you get for your buck? Steel, concrete, glass and an obliged pulpit; thus, pressuring deacons to solicit contributions towards the building fund. An apparent take on media personalities may have humble intentions. At least that is what they started out to do. While attending one of these Mega Churches, I noticed an uneasiness about the vague message, handed down by the second string minister. I explained to my friend, it seems to be an abrupt program. A certain pew warehoused the sanctified folk; moreover, each of them hung on every word of their presumed spiritual teacher. Some individuals may seek a universal truth irregardless of where the message comes from. I went to what appeared to be a conscious rally, and it had the same pseudo-panther rhetoric. It was held at an institute named after famed Black Nationalist, Marcus Moziah Garvey. The old standbys of the man are the fundamental root of the problem, along with racial epitaphs. These extremes come across as if they represent the cross section of humanity. Well there seem to be a number of graven images outside of faith. I imagine churches will soon accept credit cards. You know saving souls has an overhead.

Creating parity within international trade with China!

TBR -- Washington D.C. L. Bradford Editor-in-Chief

Whenever you’re at home, look around at what might be a manufactured good. Let’s start with your kitchen! Go and pick up any electronic device and find out where it was made? Chances are it was manufactured in China. With the U.S. economy bordering on a historical depression. Unemployment and foreclosures are at record highs, thus, the need for financial due diligence becomes apparent. Japan filed a WTO complaint in regards to Ontario’s local-content policy. Canada requires 50% of exported goods be made in Canada. Senator Charles E. Schumer [D, NY] has expressed to the august body he represents, the trouble with an economic stimulus going to foreign business.

China is a declared communist regime! The Nixon administration was credited for opening modern diplomatic relations with the sleeping giant. The inner city classmate majoring in Chinese, I went to college with, becomes a profound gesture. She had the insight to take advantage of the awakening power of U.S.-Sino relations. Some would denounce creating a more favorable U.S. tariff with China as protectionism! There are elements within the U.S., that consider trade deficits an attack on national security. What if one day China told the U.S. not to pursue an embargo on a terrorist sponsoring nation; at least not until they finalize a trade deal? The Wheeler-Lea Act of 1938, enabled the FTC the ability to suppress unfair trade practices, whether unfair to competitors or consumers. "Trading with the enemy act of Oct.6, 1917"; May be an attributed point of reference as well.

Keeping the American worker gainfully employed should not be a conservative or liberal agenda, but a U.S. agenda. As recent college graduates raise their hand patiently within the opportunity lecture; a cautionary tail arises with proponents of skilled workers afforded work visas, while companies fail to demand efficient HR recruitment practices. Devoid of xenophobia, there are a multitude of highly skilled workers right here in the U.S.. Foreign investment affects the average American in so many different ways. China has saturated our country with cheap goods. There is a direct correlation of the wares pricing, and its competitive effect upon U.S. manufacturing. The working class American is forced to accept low wages associated with the Sino on our overall GDP and the U.S. worker.  NFTA created parity for Mexican citizens, but not blue collar American workers! You don't have to fight a conventional war with the U.S., when you can undermine there economy. The rust belt understands the dynamics of of a bad trade initiative. When you control how U.S. citizens acquire gas or convient services, you undermine mom and pop stores through out the U.S. 

 Should the FTC/SEC collaborate with the State Department and NSA in a more deliberate manner? Further; as it relates to quantifiers of foreign invbestment, Threat Levels [National Security], and Trade Deficits, which just hit $1.3 trillion? Globalization will contend with protectionism; until the WTO, and foreign regimes, begin to create parity along all lines of global trade. My former boss comments lend to the aforementioned subject matter, ”I started CGI in 2005 to help turn good intentions into real action and results” William J. Clinton, 42^nd President of the United States. Wal-Mart is involved with CGI. Wal-Mart is a company that relies on China for a number of manufacturing goals.

Why are certain individuals stereo typing African-American Politicians?

Are apathy and a political cash cow; the ultimate hurdle, in regards to disenfranchised voters? ‏

TBR-Leighton Bradford Editor-in-Chief
It is disheartening that so many individuals within the great state of Mississippi have resigned themselves, to being a second-class citizen. There adherence to the legacy and effects of oppression. A non-profit organization hired to familiarize the ongoing public about redistricting, should refrain from condemning African-American candidates. So as to not misconstrue what was said, I pose this question? Has Melvin Young with Southern Echo warned people about the dangers of voting for minority candidates? Further; does he have a problem with the written communications attempting to galvanize the once disenfranchised voters of the great state of MS.? There is a term used to describe an entity that benefits from misery and social deprivation. I have heard a few phrases being tossed around!

The role of a minister is to heal his flock spiritually, and be active within the body politic, akin to Dr. King. Being retired or a baby boomer seems to create a lack of urgency. There is still a good ole boy system when it comes to minority procurement bidding! The Democratic Party needs to be about free enterprise. We must be about lending to Small Business and under-privileged Europeans, Asians, Hispanics, and Black men! This will create jobs and opportunity. Most baby boomers have not effectively fought for their descendant’s rights. I want to instruct the NAACP, Europeans are not the problem. It is complacent individuals who have benefited from the civil rights movement, and want to hold on to power at all cost, and either are incompetent or lack the leadership skills necessary to govern. I spoke with the VP of the NAACP MS State Conference, Anthony Witherspoon. In between over talking me in our conversation, he talks the good talk, but I have not seen any improvements within De Soto Co. As to the De Soto Co. NAACP President Thomas Plunkett, beyond a harsh stare at the redistricting meeting, I don't know what that brother is doing. The National affiliated NAACP seems to be right on track with their initiatives The De Soto Appeal & Ch. 24 Eyewitness News should try and cover all involved at the next meeting.

As long as the select few are fortunate and content, they are in no hurry to engage! Until you stand up to ultra conservative supremacist, their going to continue to think we are ignorant and backwards! Until you tell professional Blacks not to become elitist and give back, there is work to do. If you have an entity broke and in a contrived manner, what makes you qualified to lead? As a Persian Gulf veteran, I believe the country I fought for can do better. Former President Bill Clinton has garnered love and admiration from every conceivable ethnic makeup. President Barack Obama should not try to counter every dissenter as Gen. Colin Powell stated, but stay the course, President Bush screwed up this economy not you Mr. President! You are righting the ship my man!

Ms. Jacobs Called A "Nigger Lover" Because She Supports Fairness Towards Blacks In Desoto Co.

TBR-K. Jacobs Corresponding-OXFORD

DeSoto County's black residents, who say they generally have been shut out of local elected offices, want state legislators dealing with a decade of population changes to create at least one minority district that will represent their interests. During the activities a man from the crowd yelled out "Nigger Lover"!, while Ms. Jacobs spoke. 

The Joint Legislative Committee on Reapportionment and Redistricting is holding 12 meetings across the state to gather citizen input into how Mississippi's 52 Senate districts, 122 House districts and four U.S. House Districts should be redrawn to ensure equality of representation. Such redistricting must be done after every U.S. census to make sure no district is substantially larger or smaller than another to comply with the Supreme Court's one-person, one-vote requirement.

During Thursday evening's stop in Oxford, several black DeSoto County residents appealed to legislators to establish a majority-black district in what, according to 2009 estimates, is by far the state's fastest-growing county. "We'd ask you all to really consider moving the (district) lines so an African-American can be elected," said Rev. Nathaniel Partee of Lake Cormorant.

Partee and a handful of other speakers laid out their concerns to the redistricting committee during an hour-long hearing at the University of Mississippi's Fulton Chapel. "We feel we haven't been properly represented. That's the bottom line," Partee said. DeSoto County presents legislators with a particularly difficult challenge because the county's population has grown faster than any other in the state, with an estimated 42 percent growth between 2000 and 2010.

Many of those new residents are minorities and live in the northern part of the county, said Michael Smith of Southaven, vice chairman of the DeSoto County Democratic Party. Smith told legislators that DeSoto County had more than 34,300 black residents, about 22 percent of its total population, according to 2009 estimates.

"Ask them (legislators) to consider a majority district that's representing a minority," he told committee members.

Rep. Tommy Reynolds, D-Water Valley, vice chairman of the committee, assured the gathering of about 50 people that the redistricting process would be unbiased. "We'll try to come up with something we all can be proud of and be fair," Reynolds said. He said legislators are required to develop districts that will have a population difference of less than 10 percent between the largest and smallest.

Legislators said the U.S. Census Bureau has told lawmakers they should have population figures from the 2010 census by Feb. 7.

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What The WTO Held Regarding Airbus/Aviation

TBR--Leighton Bradford Publisher Europe - [Reference]
Since the WTO released to the parties its 2010 ruling on European government
subsidies to Airbus on March 23, Airbus has been spinning its substance. Most
critically, through press releases and the like, Airbus has repeatedly said:
1. 70 percent of the US claims were rejected.
2. The European reimbursable loan mechanism, otherwise known as “launch aid,” is
a legal and WTO-compliant source of aircraft development funding. Past loans
were found by the WTO Panel to contain a certain element of subsidy.
3. Support provided to Airbus under this or other mechanisms caused no material
injury to any US interest.
4. Possible future funding for the A350 is not affected in any way by the report.
5. The Panel refused the US request for remedies as legally inappropriate.
What the WTO in fact said, however, is now abundantly clear from the justpublished
report:
• “[A]ll of the challenged [Launch Aid] contracts may be characterized as
unsecured loans granted to Airbus on back-loaded and success-dependent
repayment terms, at below-market interest rates,” Para 7.525, and “[e]ach . .
. involves a unique transfer of funds at below-market interest rates to one
particular company, Airbus.” Para 7.497.
• “[W]e conclude that the United States has established that ... each of the
challenged [Launch Aid] measures constitutes a specific subsidy.” Para 8.1.
• “[T]he [EC] and the governments of France, Germany, Spain, and the
United Kingdom have, through the use of specific subsidies, caused serious
prejudice to the United States’ interests . . . .” Para 7.2025.
• Moreover, “German, Spanish and UK A380 contracts amount to prohibited
export subsidies within the meaning of Article 3.1(a) and footnote 4 of the
SCM Agreement . . . .” Para 7.689.
• “[Launch Aid] transfers risk from Airbus to the governments.” Para 7.1898.
• Had Airbus “launch[ed] these aircraft relying on only market financing, the
increase in the level of debt Airbus would have accumulated over the years
would have been massive.” Para 7.1948.
- 2 -
• “[T]he [EC]’s calculations [of the subsidies] vastly underestimate their
magnitude.” Para 7.1971.*
• “[T]he [EC]’s calculation greatly understates the amount of the benefit
associated with the specific subsidies we have found were provided in
respect of Airbus LCA, which in our estimation is substantial and
significant.” Para 7.1972.
• “It follows that even in the unlikely event that Airbus would have been able
to enter the LCA market as a non-subsidized competitor, we are confident
that it would not have achieved the market presence it did ...” Para 7.1984.
• “Airbus’ market share is directly attributable to its ability to sell and deliver
in the [EC], and relevant third country markets, LCA which it would not
have available but for the subsidies ...”. Para 7.1985.
• “Had Airbus successfully entered the LCA industry without subsidies, it
would be a much different, and we believe a much weaker LCA
manufacturer… [T]he United States’ LCA industry, at a minimum, . . .
would have had a larger market share . . .” Para 7.1993.
• “[T]aking into account the nature of the prohibited subsidies we have
found in this dispute, we recommend that the subsidizing Member …
withdraw [them] without delay and specify that this be done within 90
days.” Para 8.6.
As to Airbus’ claims regarding A350 funding -- The WTO has now found that
every instance of Launch Aid ever given to Airbus violated the requirements of the
Subsidies Agreement. Airbus cannot now replicate those same past patterns
without again violating the agreement. And the USTR has been clear: It will
vigorously enforce against A350 Launch Aid. EADS’s own shareholder materials
recognize this incontrovertible reality as well, warning shareholders that:
This ruling “may limit access by EADS to risk-sharing-funds for large projects (…)
[and] may theoretically cause the [EC] and the involved governments to analyse
possibilities for a change in the commercial terms of funds already advanced to EADS.
(…) [N]o assurances can be given that government financing will continue to be made
available in the future, in part as a result of the proceedings mentioned above.”
* See Para 7.1878 for a comprehensive survey of the “five types of measures” the panel held were all illegal specific
subsidies that caused adverse effects to U.S. interests: Launch Aid; Infrastructure; R&D funding; Government share
transfers; and Equity infusions.