Take Me Back to 1953

Disclaimer: I wanted to do this post for a while now but I was discouraged when I first had the idea for fear that a lot of people would’t be able to relate. After reading the chapter on Black Education in Thomas Sowell’s Black Rednecks and White Liberals, I’ve decided to finally go ahead and do it.

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka

Decided: May 17th, 1954

“Segregation of white and Negro children in the public schools of a State solely on the basis of race, pursuant to state laws permitting or requiring such segregation, denies to Negro children the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment — even though the physical facilities and other “tangible” factors of white and Negro schools may be equal.”

This is taken directly from the syllabus of the decision of the Supreme Court.

I graduated high school in 1999. This is the race distribution of my high school that year. African American- 92.6%, White-3.13%, Hispanic-2.79%, Asian-1.22% and American Indian-0.26%. I went to a publicly integrated high school but based on the numbers my school might as well have been 100% African American.

Before I go any further allow me to state my stance. I support segregation in education.

Yes. Segregation. In public schools.

Why you ask?

From the time of post-antebellum America to the middle of the twentieth century it seemed that blacks in this country had a higher sense of pride when it came to educating themselves. Children dressed in their best to go to school. Learning was a serious matter not to be taken lightly. Like Malcolm X once said “Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today”. Blacks were infants in this country and had to readily play catch up despite the obstacles (put very lightly) in our way. Although men such as Booker T Washington and William Edward Burghardt Du Bois may have had their differences they both stressed the importance of education.

The term “separate but equal” was practiced in theory but not in reality. Even with lack of resources and funding there was no excuse to slack and feel sorry for ourselves. We did what we had to do with what we had. But do not be fooled separate but equal still exists today. Instead of segregating us based on the color of our skin, we’re separated based on our income. As an example look at the racial make up of my high school. Does that really look integration? There are many schools across the country whose numbers are more balanced but I would put money that in most major cities most schools have at least 60% of their population made up of one particular racial background. One way this was done is through the advent of school zones and neighborhood schools. It wouldn’t be that hard to keep Blacks, Asians, Jews, etc segregated this way since most neighborhoods were already segregated. So in a sense “separate but [un]equal” still exists in many facets today. No one wants to talk about it.

As soon as we learn how to the play the game, the rules change.

There are children who thrive in an integrated environment. There are also children who would lag behind and underachieve in a segregated climate. This surely wouldn’t apply to all children as each individual child learns differently. The one thing that is consistent is that Black children are seriously lagging behind White and Asian American children in this country as far as academics are concerned. We’re stumbling right out the block.

There have been schools which only serve inner city children and/or minority children that have excelled beyond expectation.

Urban Prep Academy in Chicago admits males from the inner city of Chicago. Over 85% of their students qualify for free/reduced lunch. For the third year in a row, 100% of Urban Prep’s graduates have been admitted to four-year colleges or universities. 

Three years ago Toronto opened its first Africentric elementary school. The goals of the school are:

• High academic achievement
• High self-pride
• A high motivation to succeed

The school’s founders were met with hostility and resistance. You know God forbid students are taught to have self-pride. Three years later their students are reading and writing and solving math problems at standards above the city and provincial average. This past year Toronto’s board of trustees approved a second Africentric school, this one a high school.

There will be many who completely disagree with my views for they were either raised in a more integrated environment or they truly believe that integration within public school systems is necessary for the development of a child. Speaking from my point of view and experiences I believe that overall the current dogma in education of blacks don’t work. It seems like whenever someone speaks out on this they are shunned and lambasted with cries of being either a racist, militant or an Uncle Tom. With that I leave you with a excerpt from the book that stood out to me:

Much of what is said–and not said– about education of black students reflects the political context, rather that the educational facts. Whites walk on eggshells for fear of being called racists, while many blacks are preoccupied with protecting the image of black students, rather than protecting their future by telling the blunt truth. It is understandable that some people are concerned about image, about what is in private life might be expressed as: “What will the neighbors think?” But when your children are dying, you don’t worry about what the neighbors think.

The Greatest Sham Ever Conceived…

We live in a post-racial society.

What a load of bullshit. The thing is everyone knows this isn’t true. What I believe is that the majority of people don’t want the truth. They want the appearance of the truth. The truth is our country is just as racist as it was 50 years ago. Whether covert or overt, racism is racism. This is something I’ve always seen. Because of my experiences I talk about race relations and see color. I’ve blogged about the times where I’ve been called “nigger” to my face by a white person. This doesn’t make me racist. I’m a realist. Over the past week between social media and CNN I’ve seen plenty of examples of racism that are completely contrary to claims of our post-racial country.

1. An Iraqi woman was beaten to death with a xenophobic note laying next to her. A week before a letter was left at her home saying ”This is our country, not yours, you terrorists..” This woman was a mother of five and was beaten with a tire iron. The police are investigating this as possible hate crime. You think? Oft times we think that racism only includes black people but we forget that others are discriminated and terrorized. The real terrorist in this case are the soulless individuals who would beat down a 32 year old woman in her own home only for the reason of being different from them. But you know since she’s Iraqi her story will probably be forgotten by the end of the week.

2. The Hunger Games. Like half the country I fell into the Hunger Games hysteria and read the trilogy a couple weeks back. I really liked the book. While some were interested in the love story portrayed in the book I was more enthralled with the revolutionary aspect of the books. I love stories of acts of defiance and when people rebel in the face of tyranny. With that said I made it a point to see The Hunger Games opening weekend. Monday morning I was saddened to see that racist fans voicing their displeasure in the fact that the most likable characters (mainly Rue) were played by African Americans. Obviously not only are these people racist but they also lack reading comprehension skills. Its not easy to cast a character described as having dark skinned as a white girl. The thing is these people really cheered for Rue. They saw her in a positive light. Someone who they perceived as pure and virtuous. They ignored the fact that people in her district were described as having darker skin. Don’t tell these same people that Jesus Christ isn’t white. They might have a conniption.

3. Issa Rae (creator of Awkward Black Girl) won a Shorty award for her web series. I follow her on twitter and she retweeted a lot of negative comments people had to say. Here is one example. I don’t know who Anthony Cumia is or the quality of his work but he lost. Calling Issa a niggrette makes you come off as  sad and pathetic. There are people in this country who feel that no matter how talented a black person may be they will never measure up to anything that a white person does. I’ve experienced this and its sad that people think so negatively towards an entire race based on nothing but the color of their skin. Since I’m a glutton for punishment I clicked on that woman’s timeline. If you feel like shaking your head in disgust do the same.

4. Deryl Dedmon received life in prison last week after pleading guilty to the crime of running a black man over in his truck, killing him. He admitted that he and some friends got drunk and drove to Jackson, Mississippi to harass and beat up a black person. He admitted it was a hate crime and while running over James Anderson in his truck he yelled “White power”. Now this happened in Mississippi in 2011, not 1941. Not 1951. Not 1961 but 2011. Another teen who was also involved in the beating before Anderson was run over was only charged with simple assault. Really Mississippi? Really? This is why I think Mississippi is the worst state in the Union and its on my list of states I wish we could trade [1].

So for everyone who asks me why I continue to speak on issues concerning race and race relations just take a look at the news and you’ll find out. Then again as Malcolm X stated, “The media’s the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that’s power. Because they control the minds of the masses.” If you listen to mass media you would think all of Black America’s problems are solved because we elected a black president and  if you wear a hoodie then you’re a wannabe thug. Speaking of  I purposely didn’t touch on the Trayvon Martin story but it goes without saying that this is definitely an example of why America is far from post racial.

 [1]- Other states I would gladly dimiss from the union are Virginia, South Carolina and Florida. 

All (Wo)Men Were Created Equal

I know a good amount of gay women.

I don’t happen to be close with any gay men (at least that I know of).

That being said the issue of gay rights comes up often in conversation. Whether it be in personal dialogue or online. I personally believe that gay people should have all the same rights that heterosexual people have (I’m actually proud of my home state, Maryland, for passing the bill on gay marriage recently). I don’t think that anyone should be denied the rights specified in the Constitution of this country because of their beliefs. Whether it be religious, political or even sexual.

The issue with trying to constrict the rights of a certain group of people is that the inalienable rights of everyone are then placed upon a slippery slope. Hitler didn’t come right out and persecute Africans, gypsies, homosexuals, Soviets and Slavic people. He began preaching his intolerance of the Jews or anyone who wasn’t Aryan. Eventually his blanket of hate and dogmatism covered anyone who didn’t fit a certain profile (blonde hair, blue eyes). So I have to ask myself, if the powers that be would want to deny the rights of homosexuals, who’s to say that somewhere down the line they won’t try to deny my rights?

I’ll say it again. I’m a firm supporter of equal rights for all people.

With that said, I do not believe that the struggle for gay rights is tantamount to the Civil Rights Movement. I actually wish people would stop comparing the two.

I think that because the Civil Rights Movement happened more than 50 years ago and my generation (and younger) weren’t alive during that time, it doesn’t seem as momentous. Mass media would have us believe that the issues and conditions which gave birth to that movement no longer exist. This is only partly true. The Civil Rights Movement was a fight for basic human rights. African-Americans were treated as sub-humans. We were second-class citizens. When we demanded equal rights, we were beaten, maimed, murdered, jailed, bombed and hosed.

Correct me if I’m wrong but I have yet to turn on my television and see people protesting equal rights for gays be subjected to the same treatment. No one is denying gays their right to vote. To eat, travel, or go to school separately. No one is stringing gays up in trees.

The struggle for equal rights for gays is not about human rights at a basic level. Yes, gays are not allowed to be legally married in the majority of states and yes gays and lesbians are still tormented in neighborhoods across America. That I am not denying.

What I won’t agree with is the rights of gays and lesbians today are being abnegated similar to African Americans prior to the 1960s. Nope. Can’t do it. Simply refuse to.

When people try to parallel these two events I’m actually lightweight offended.

How To Kill A Child’s Critical Thinking

This past weekend an article was retweeted into my timeline and I was completely taken aback. Ever so often there comes a story that demands my attention due to its infelicitous, destitue nature. I have included a portion of the article below.

In a bold comparative analysis of The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Jada Williams, a 13-year old eighth grader at School #3 in Rochester, New York, asserted that in her experience, today’s education system is a modern-day version of slavery. According to the Fredrick Douglass Foundation of New York, the schools’ teachers and administrators were so offended by Williams’ essay that they began a campaign of harassment—kicking her out of class and trying to suspend her—that ultimately forced her parents to withdraw her from the school.

In her essay, which was written for a contest, Williams reflected on what Douglass heard his slave master, Mr. Auld, telling his wife after catching her teaching Douglass how to read. “If you teach that nigger (speaking of myself) how to read, there will be no keeping him,” Auld says. “It will forever unfit him to be a slave. He would at once become unmanageable, and of no value to his master.”

Williams wrote that overcrowded, poorly managed classrooms prevent real learning from happening and thus produces the same results as Mr. Auld’s outright ban. She wrote that her white teachers—the vast majority of Rochester students are black and Hispanic, but very few teachers are people of color—are in a “position of power to dictate what I can, cannot, and will learn, only desiring that I may get bored because of the inconsistency and the mismanagement of the classroom.” …. click here to read the article in full.

The thing that bothers me the most about the actions taken by the school district in which Jada attends is that the point of her essay is proven one hundred times over. Educators are charged with the task of making their students think critically and take some responsibility for their education. By trying to suspend Jada, they are consciously or subconsciously deploying a level of subjugation that has long been used to systematically emasculate any person of color who would outright question the status quo. In the 50s and 60s methods such as murder, imprisonment and forced exile were used. In this case the school board used a type of character assassination.

I honestly don’t see anything wrong with what Jada wrote. Based on the statistics, I found that she made an accurate assessment of her learning environment. When forced to confront the reality of what was actually occurs in their schools, the school district honestly couldn’t handle the perceived external as well as self-imposed criticism. I don’t know if these teachers actually thought they were doing a good job (I realize that the onus should not just be placed on teachers but on parents as well as students themselves) or if they feel they are above criticism but I think Eldridge Cleaver said it best:

For all these years whites have been taught to believe in the myth they preached, while Negroes have had to face the bitter reality of what America practiced.

A thirteen year old is basically being punished for practicing her right to the first amendment. I guess you really can’t ruffle feathers and think you be unscathed. She learned a harsh lesson about politics in this country. Sad as it may seem I don’t know many adults who would have taken such a leap in order to express their views. Personally I’m proud of her. She stood up for her beliefs and didn’t conform to societal norms which would have everyone play get along and behave as if nothing is wrong with our society’s structure.

Kudos Jada, kudos. *tip of my hat*

If hoes win are you a victor?

Today is the day the world stood still.

Wiz Khalifa proposed to Amber Rose and twitter went nuts. There were the usual factions. People who discussed the size and quality of the ring. #TeamVS vs #TeamVVS. You also had a subset of people who wanted to compare Wiz to Kanye. Ironically none of these bothered me as much as the all too familiar “Hoes be winning” tweets I saw coming across my timeline. Why does this bother me?

Every time a woman who has a questionable sexual background ends up married the peanut gallery scrutinizes said woman as if she’s not entitled to ever being loved by a man. I’m not saying I would knowingly wife a woman with a questionable background but I wouldn’t necessarily condemn someone else to a life of loneliness.

Why doesn’t she deserve love? What exactly is a hoe? And how exactly is she winning?

I know one thing. I plan on getting married one day. I’m pretty sure I’ll feel like the luckiest man alive and I’ll be lucky to have her. But guess what? She’ll be winning as well. And therein lies the issue with stating that “hoes be winning”. It implies that everyone who isn’t a hoe is losing. I know I don’t plan on marrying a hoe so there are major flaws with that assessment. This also causes me to question the motive behind women who make such allegations. You can’t be envious of hoes can you? Well stranger things have happened and I know no one that reads my blog or follows me on twitter could ever possibly be jealous of hoes. (/sarcasm)

For a woman to claim that hoes win lets me know insecurity in fact runs rampant. This isn’t a groundbreaking revelation but it shouldn’t go without saying. A lot of people try to live their lives so they won’t be judged harshly for how they behave. When someone steps outside of that box of conformity (say by stripping or making a sex tape) they should be branded with a scarlet letter. Don’t be so quick to condemn others because you’re unhappy with your situation.

The question you have to ask yourself is if hoes are really winning out in these streets, is that really what you want? If yes, then by all means go ahead and be a hoe. If not then why do you care? I guess at the end of the day that’s what I want to know. Why do you care?

This country was founded by slave owners who wanted to be free

I frequently watch the Daily Show and the Colbert Report. If you haven’t heard of them they are two satirical television programs that focuses on politics and national media. While both shows often make me laugh, the issues they cover are usually pretty serious. I appreciate the fact that they can combine humor and politics. The other day I saw a report on the Colbert Report that some Tennessee Tea Party leaders are campaigning to remove mentions of slavery from textbooks. They are doing this in order to protect the image of “our” founding fathers (i.e.- George Washington, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson) who indeed owned slaves. Click here to read more in detail.

Having lived in Tennessee (birth state of the Klu Klux Klan) I can’t say that I’m surprised that there are people in that state who feel this way. There is a saying that goes “History is written by the victors.” There is a reason why when taking US history in high school and college we’re taught stories such as the Boston Tea party, the American Revolution and the story behind the Star-Spangled Banner. These lessons are meant to paint America in a positive light, as a place that has always held the ideals of patriotism and what is right close to its heart. Those of us that know better know that this is not the case.

I know that this country was built on a foundation of lies, corruption, greed and sin. The men who founded this country are made to be patriots and forward-thinking in writing the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. These were men who were once called traitors and turncoats and charged with treason by the British. Today they are celebrated as heroes for denouncing a tyrannical government and claiming their freedom. They essentially did what they felt was right. Approximately 180 years later some other men stood up to a similar government and were cut down by character assassination, espionage and murder. But you know facts like that never showed up in my history books and I’m pretty sure that was the case across the board.

You see the history of this country is already told through rose colored glasses. If these Tea partiers have their way slavery would never have happened. According to this new history Africans would have been brought here to enjoy and share the freedoms held by Americans. We would have been handsomely paid for our labor. Jim Crow never happened. Reconstruction never had to occur. 40 acres and a mule? Hogwash. Black people were given stock options and were integral in helping write the Constitution.

See how silly this sounds?

If some Tea Party members have their way then this is what our children will learn about their history. Since the “majority” is quickly becoming the new “minority” in this country new strategies are needed to pull votes from people that wouldn’t normally vote conservative. What better way to do this than have them believe that conservatives have always had their best interest at heart.

I see the end game.

All Black Everything

Uh, and we ain’t get exploited
White man ain’t feared so he did not destroy it
We ain’t work for free, see they had to employ it
Built it up together so we equally appointed
First 400 years, see we actually enjoyed it
Constitution written by the W.E.B. Du Bois
Were no reconstructions, Civil War got avoided
Little black Sambo grows up to be a lawyer
Extra extra on the news stands
Black woman voted head of Ku Klux Klan
Malcolm Little dies as a old man
Martin Luther King read the eulogy for him
Followed by Bill O’Reilly who read from the Quran
President Bush sends condolences from Iran
Where FOX News reports live
That Ahmadinejad wins Mandela peace prize

Uh, and it ain’t no projects
Keepin it real is not an understood concept
Yea, complexion’s not a contest
Cause racism has no context
Hip hop ain’t got a section called conscious
Everybody rappin’ like crack never happened
Crips never occurred no Bloods to attack them
Matter of fact no hood to attack in
Somalia is a great place to relax in
Fred Astaire was the first to do a backspin
The Rat Pack was cool group of black men
That inspired five white guys called The Jacksons
Eminem fitted in but then again he inspired a black rapper tryin to mimic him
And that’s what really rose up out of Michigan, the sign of white rapper by the name of 50 Cent, ha!

Uh, and I know it’s just a fantasy
I cordially invite you to ask why can’t it be?
Now we can do nothing bout the past
But we can do something about the future that we have
We can make fast or we can make it last
Every woman Queenin’ and every man a Kingin’
When those color lines come we can’t see between
We just close our eyes ’til it’s all black every-THING!

All Black Everything is a song by Lupe Fiasco on his Lasers album.

Its ok to wonder, right?

You know we keep that white girl, Christina Aguilera…

“Jim Crow laws also soon appeared, starting with the railroads. The Saluda newspaper felt they were an urgent necessity. “Give the negro justice, but for decency’s sake protect delicately constituted white ladies from contamination by being thrown in company with an inferior race,” it said. “Keep the air of our palace cars … from being polluted by the odor africanus- an element inseparable from the negro’s presence.”

People find it surprising when I tell them I’ve never dated a white woman. And besides that one road trip, I’ve never seen a white woman naked; but we all know that if it doesn’t happen in the state you live in then it doesn’t count. When I break it down to them they start to get a clearer picture into how this came to be. Allow me to set the backdrop.

I grew up in a predominantly black inner city neighborhood. My high school was approximately 95% African-American. I attended a HBCU for my undergraduate as well as my graduate training so its safe to say that its not as if I’ve been exposed to even a bushel of Anglo-Saxon women. That being said getting on an elevator at work and watching a woman clutch her purse tighter, even though I have an ID badge that clearly says Dr. Tunde A___________, bothers me. I don’t have experience working with other races this closely.

Even if I were interested in White women my conscious wouldn’t allow me to pursue one. As I’ve mentioned before I’m a fan of history, all history but mainly African/African-American history so allow me to give you a history lesson.

The quote at the beginning of this post is taken from a county newspaper in South Carolina in the mid 1890s. The use of violence to end Reconstruction in the South and the eventual implementation of Jim Crow in its place was the result of two needs of Whites during that era.

1. The need for white men re-establish supremacy over what they considered an inferior race.
2. To protect the innocence and chastity of white women everywhere.

In regards to the second reason, white men viewed black men as sex crazed beasts that were incapable of controlling their sexual urges. Never mind the fact that the number of black men who raped white women during slavery (probably close to zero) paled in comparison to the number of white men who raped black women slaves; delicate white women had to be saved from black savages. Because you know God-forbid mixed children be born out of that union.

Imagine the fear of White fathers during the modern Civil Rights era that had to imagine their white daughters sitting in class next to black boys. I imagine that if public schools were integrated with only Black girls and not boys the opposition might not have been so great. There would have still been opposition. Embracing an ideal of racism and domination doesn’t readily allow one to distinguish between a subset (man or woman) of a group you feel superior to.

Knowing what I know about how black men were viewed, especially when it came to white woman I can take two courses of action when it comes to them. Choose to spit in the face of age-old fears and contempt from white men at the thought of black men with white women or realize that despite everything we’ve been through I still prefer Black women to all others. I’m going with the latter.

Education Versus Incarceration

We’ve all heard the statistics about Black males and education. According to the 2005 US Census Bureau less than 8 percent of Black men graduated from college. This number is less than twice the number of white men (17.3%) and four times less the rate of Asian men (34.7%). We’ve also been beat over the head repeatedly with the statistics involving Black men and prison. The same census had 10.1 percent of Black men between the ages of 18-29 in prison while the numbers for Whites (1.5%) and Hispanics (3.6%) are far less. Do I believe that social conditioning and arbitrary laws that target young Black males play a role in the stark contrast of these statistics? Absolutely. Do I believe that personal accountability has to play a role as well? Most certainly. This is not the point of today’s post.

I want to discuss what happens to a subset of Black men when they are incarcerated. They end up exactly where society tells them they would arrive since they were young. They could easily accept their lives as a complete failure and relegate themselves to behave as animals that they are chained and caged. For a portion of Black men when faced with the harsh reality of being imprisoned they become enlightened. It would be hard to imagine that would happen considering that the behavior that landed them in prison is the type of behavior which lacks abstract and critical thinking skills.

I think the most famous case would be Stanley Tookie Williams, the founder of the Crips street gang. Williams was sentenced to the death penalty after being convicted of robbing and murdering four people. While on death row Williams wrote children books that were aimed at keeping children out of gangs. He was eventually nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. It doesn’t negate the fact that he committed heinous crimes but one can’t help but imagine what Williams could have been if someone stopped his path towards self-destruction. If someone cultured the capacity to learn and free their mind from mental and cultural slavery. There are many Tookie Williams in almost every prison across the country.

On the another note you have Eddie Ellis who spent 25 years in prison, during which he earned a bachelor’s degree from Marist College and a master’s degree from the New York Theological Seminary. Today he is president of the Community Justice Center in Harlem, which helps ex-offenders find jobs and housing. Imagine how many more people he could have helped if he didn’t spend 25 years behind bars.

Outside of obtaining degrees and improving themselves intellectually a lot of Black men who enter prison embrace Islam. I don’t know the individual reasons for inmates who choose to become Muslim but if I had to guess I would would go with the implementation of discipline, Black nationalism and forethought might be amongst the top reasons. I’m not Muslim but I do respect the discipline that it takes to follow that faith. There are many reasons why a lot of inmates choose to embrace Islam versus Christianity but I won’t go into those reasons today (saving that for a different post).

The circumstances in which these men end up in prison does not make them animals incapable of critical thought nor does it relegate them to men who are incapable of improving themselves. If only these men had found the encouragement and inclination to improve themselves before they seemingly threw their lives away perhaps the statistics of black men in prison wouldn’t be as distorted.

A Revolutionary Act

***Amendment: This excerpt is from ‘The Great Dictator’ (1940)- Charlie Chaplin***

I caught a video on tumblr. It seemed particularly old. A general giving a motivational speech to his soldiers. It really touched me and I couldn’t stop thinking about a few quotes that I think can apply today. If anyone knows where the following excerpt came from please let me know in the comments.

I’m sorry but I don’t want to be an emperor. That’s not my business.

I don’t want to rule or conquer anyone. I shall like to help everyone if possible. Jew, Gentile, Black man, White. We all want to help one another; human beings are like that. We want to live by each other’s happiness not by each other’s misery. We don’t want to hate and despise one another. In this world there’s room for everyone and the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful but we have lost the way…

Greed has poisoned men’s souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goosestepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical, our cleverness hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery we need humanity. More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities life will be violent and all will be lost. The airplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men, cries out for universal brotherhood, for the unity of us all. Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world, millions of disparaging men, women and children.

Victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people. For those who can hear me I say, “Do not despair. The misery that is now upon us is the passing of greed, the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass and dictators die and the power they took from the people will return to the people and so long as men die, liberty will never perish.”

Soldiers don’t give yourself to brutes, men who despise you, enslave you, who regulate your lives. Tell you what to do, what to think, what to feel. Who drill you, diet you, treat you like cattle, use you as cannon fodder. Don’t give yourselves to these unnatural men! Machine men, with machine minds and machine hearts. You are not machines. You are not cattle. You are men. You have the love of humanity in your hearts. You don’t hate. Only the unloved hate; the unloved and unnatural. Soldiers, don’t fight for slavery, fight for liberty.

In the seventeenth chapter of Saint Luke it is written “The kingdom of God is within man”, not one man nor a group of men but all men. In you, you the people have the power. The power to create machines, the power to create happiness. You the people have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure. Then in the name of democracy let us use that power. Let us all unite. Let us fight for a new world. A decent world that will give men a chance to work. That will give you a future and old age security. By the promise of these things brutes have risen to power but they lie, they do not fulfill that promise; they never will. Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people. Now let us fight to fulfill that promise. Let us fight to free the world. To do away with national barriers. To do away with greed, with hate and intolerance. Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men’s happiness.

Soldiers in the name of democracy let us all unite.

Truth is the new hate speech.

“During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.” George Orwell