The Vulture

Gil Scott-Heron

1949-2011

It is no secret that I love the poetry/ music of Gil Scott-Heron....


The Vulture

Standing in the ruins of another Black man's life,
or flying through the valley separating day and night.
"I am death," cried the Vulture. "For the people of the light."

Charon brought his raft from the sea that sails on souls,
and saw the scavenger departing, taking warm hearts to the cold.
He knew the ghetto was a haven for the meanest creature ever known.

In a wilderness of heartbreak and a desert of despair,
Evil's clarion of justice shrieks a cry of naked terror,
taking babies from their mommas, leaving grief beyond compare.

So if you see the Vulture coming, flying circles in your mind,
Remember there is no escaping for he will follow close behind.

Only promise me a battle, a battle for your soul and mine!

Listen to "The Vulture" (1:40)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuYh85VyooY

IMO, this poem is as poignant today as it was in 1970 and in my humble opinion The Vulture still represents "the meanest creature ever known."

Evil's clarion of justice...leaving grief beyond compare:

Systemic discrimination and oppression
Economic and political disenfranchisement
The Prison Industrial Complex
Drug and alcohol addiction
The Drug "War" killing a generation of young men
Extreme and hopeless generational poverty
Violent and indiscriminate street gangs
Police Profiling and Brutality
Low expectation "credit factory" high schools
Building of walls and Deportation
Self-hatred...
Agony, Despair and Rage

The revolution will not be televised...only promise me a battle, a battle for your soul.

Scott Nearing:The Great Madness

Scott Nearing

1883-1983

My thoughts on The Great Madness and the 2016 "Humanitarian-Precision" Death of Drone Warfare and calls for carpet bombing our "enemies"...

In 1918 the United States government indicted Scott Nearing (a pacifist, political activist, socialist, economist, etc.) for publishing an article entitled The Great Madness: A Victory for the American Plutocracy, on the charge that it interfered with the government's ability to recruit soldiers for WWI.

Excerpts from The Great Madness:

The plutocracy welcomed the war not because it was a war, but because it meant a chance to get a stronger grip on the United States.

Things at home were in bad shape and promising to get worse. Millions of people were sore on the system which fed the owner and starved the worker; millions of casual laborers - men and women wandered from job to job; from city to city, discouraged, homeless, indifferent. People no longer asked, "Will there be a revolution?" but, "When will the revolution come?"

The plutocrats had lost public confidence. They realized that if they were to hold their position - public confidence must be regained.  How could the plutocracy - the discredited, vilified plutocracy - get public opinion? There was only one way: it must line up with some cause that would command public confidence. The cause that it chose was the "defense of the United States."

The plutocracy spread terror over the land!

"Patriotism" was the refrain of every speech and every article - a patriotism of their own particular brand.  The plutocratic brand of patriotism won the endorsement of the press, the pulpit, the college, and every other important channel of public information in the United States. The "educated," "cultured," "refined," "high-principled" editors, ministers, professors and lawyers accepted it and proclaimed it as though it were their own. Turning their backs upon principle, throwing morals and ideals to the winds, they tumbled over one another in a wild scramble to be the first to join the chorus of plutocratic patriotism.

The people were not consulted (on a declaration of war), their wishes were not considered.

And the American people stood for it. Emotionalized, dazed, stupefied, and blinded by the great madness that possessed their souls, nearly a hundred million people cast aside their most cherished principles, sacrificed their hard-won liberties, and began spreading brotherhood and democracy by the sword. The plutocracy had won everything for which it had been fighting - immunity, power, wealth. The people were war-mad, - at least, there was enough of the war madness in the country to enable the vested interests to put across anything that they wanted.

Beside and beyond this economic, political and social power the Plutocracy had millions of deluded people in its grip incapable of thinking because of the fearful war madness that possessed their souls.  They aroused the people, agitating and irritating them, until they were frantically repeating the blatant lie that the real enemy of American liberty lived in Berlin. Then they stung them with high prices, filched their liberty, plunged them into war, took a million of their brothers and husbands and sons to wage a war of aggression on the battlefields of king-ridden Europe, and because nothing happened at once, they believe that they had won. They had won victory and death.

The plutocracy and the democracy cannot exist side by side. If the plutocracy wins, dollars rule; if the democracy wins, people rule.

There can be no alternative and no compromise.

Strange Fruit 2016

Watch Billie Holiday perform Strange Fruit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4ZyuULy9zs

Today in class we studied and analyzed (in relation to 1930's New Deal racism) the anti-lynching anthem Strange Fruit (1939), written by Abel Meeropol and famously performed by Billie Holiday...sadly, I feel the message applies today.

Here is my take on Strange Fruit in italics:



Southern trees bear strange fruit.

American streets are stop and frisk.

Blood on the leaves and blood at the root.

Your vigilante "justice" puts us all at risk.

Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze,

Young boy going out to grab a Sprite, 

Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees. 

Face down in blood on the street at night.




Pastoral scene of the gallant south,

Corporations, riches, and urban sprawl,

The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,

We'll never again hear his southern drawl,

Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh,

"I can't breathe" is what one man said,

Then the sudden smell of burning flesh.

Now just layin' there looking up dead.




Here is fruit for the crows to pluck,

"Super Predators" for us all to kill,

For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,

Just send the family the funeral bill,

For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop,

Ashes to ashes and dust to dust,

Here is a strange and bitter crop.

Oh America, in Death do you trust!

The "Trump" Know Nothings

A quick history lesson...

In the 1850's, the United States received a flood of European immigrants, including 2 million+ Germans and 1 million+ Irish. Native-born Americans (Nativists) formed an anti-immigrant political party known as the Know Nothing Party.

The xenophobic Know Nothings believed that:

The new immigrants were unwanted competition for low paying jobs.

The Irish Catholics were more loyal to the Pope than to the President.

The new immigrants didn't share "our values".

The new arrivals increased the crime rate and "welfare" costs in the United States. 

They called for:

Harsh restrictions on immigration.

The exclusion of "foreigners" from voting or holding political office.

A 21 year waiting period to become naturalized citizens.

American corporations and factories to boycott "foreign" workers.

Is the 2016 version of the Republican party becoming an equivalent of the Know Nothings?

Currently we have 42 million "new" immigrants in the United States, including 11.7 so-called undocumented immigrants, consisting of a huge segment of our population and economic engine...yearning to breathe free. 

My advice to the GOP: 

Every person in America matters and can "make us great" again.

Immigrants should be loved, embraced and celebrated.

Being an American should not be based on performance or merit.

Anti-immigrant/ anti-human policies does not equal immigration reform.

Black History "Month" Lip Service

"Okay class Black History Month is over, we will learn more (or not) about Dr. King and Rosa Parks next February...please complete your boring Eurocentric History Packet and turn it in at the end of the hour."

Black History Month (started as Black History Week in 1926), the vision of Dr. Carter G. Woodson is celebrating its 40th Anniversary this month...not even a mention at our school this year.

Is Black History Month even relevant anymore (after all we have President Obama - sarcasm mine) or just something that school districts do to help them feel good about themselves by taping up a few posters and maybe "celebrating" with a disingenuous assembly?

According to Teaching Tolerance, a project sponsored by the Southern Poverty Law Center, public schools in America do a very inadequate job of teaching Black History. It graded all 50 states and found that many would receive a failing grade (Minnesota received a D!) for "incorporating" Black History (or anything but a Eurocentric view) into their curriculum.

Is the answer "Black History Month" or is it just a compartmentalized slap in the face?

In my opinion, any worthwhile public school curriculum would incorporate slavery, exploitation, classism, deportation, race and racism, classism, sexism, nativism, imperialistic colonialism, etc. into every unit of study in all academic areas...because these issues occur on a daily basis in America.

Talk about relevance...critical thinking skills...building critical consciousness...empathy...

Dr. Woodson was driven by the vision that all students were deprived of a true education if they weren't learning about each others cultural heritage, struggles, accomplishments, etc.

Are all students valued in the curriculum or just a side issue that can be studied during Hispanic Heritage Month or Black History Month, etc.?

Only the students know...


What grade would you give your school?

Three Cents

Recently in class we watched a tremendous documentary entitled Goin' to Chicago, a story of Mississippi sharecroppers who escaped the Jim Crow South for better opportunities in Chicago during The Great Migration Era...and of some who chose to stay and fight. 

I hope all (at least the ones who weren't texting, sleeping, or distracting others) of my students can come to appreciate the difficult past of African American sharecroppers (and of their own ancestors and parents)  and the sacrifices made for the freedoms and educational opportunities they now enjoy.

THESE SACRIFICES MUST NOT BE TAKEN FOR GRANTED!

One of the stories (Mildred Fleming of Issaquena County, Mississippi) was especially poignant to me...

"I was born right down the road and I looked down the road and my mind goes back to when you just didn't have anything...when you go to school all day without anything to eat. And they would have a turnip patch for the school cafeteria for the cooks and that's how we would eat.

And most times in the wintertime we had just 3 cents to buy one box of milk...and by the time we came home we were so hungry that whatever was there to eat that's what we would eat.  Usually, it was a pot of beans.

But the last year of school my momma was sick, so that meant I had to come home and then I had to cook before I could eat...and my stomach is tearing up inside by you trying to cook.

And you know you can't eat while you're cooking 'cuz it gotta be enough for everybody else."

There is something about going back to your (even if its only in your memory...imagination...your parent's stories) home.

Please go back in your mind to those you never knew and say "thank you".

Then, tell those who sacrifice for you today how much you love them and live your life to make them proud.

Man's Best Friend(s)

WWI Carrier Pigeons

Over 16 million animals including dogs, horses, mules, donkeys, carrier pigeons, and even camels and cats were deployed during WWI. Unfortunately, 9 million of them sacrificed their lives in order to help soldiers survive.

Some astounding stats:

There were no radios in the trenches and all land wires were cut when the bombing started...so pigeons (over 100,000 used with over 500 soldiers working with them) became the most reliable way (over 95% success rate) to send messages.

Over 1 million dogs were also used to carry messages, sniff out enemy soldiers, hunt/ kill trench rats, and warn soldiers through "quiet" growls of approaching enemy. Cats were also used to hunt/ kill rodents.

Millions of horses, mules, and donkeys were mainly recruited to haul heavy artillery and supplies. They were also used to make quick cavalry strikes against the enemy when necessary. Sadly, the average life span of a horse during WWI was 5 days.

Of course, maybe the most important contribution of animals in WWI was morale...bringing a sense of normalcy, innocence, and home in sharp contrast with the hell around them.  Truly these animals were Man's Best Friends.

The next time you are near Lake of the Isles in Minneapolis, take a moment to reflect on the sacrifices and contributions of the millions of animals who served in WWI...

Peavey Fountain: Dedicated to WWI Horses