Lady Bird Johnson, R.I.P.

Former First Lady, Lady Bird Johnson died Wednesday at age 94 from natural causes. She's known for her beautification programs in the 1960s and beyond as well as a passionate environmentalist. Her legacy lives on. May she rests in peace.

Link:

Thousands See Former First Lady's Casket

Cyber-Apartheid: White apathy and the literary children of James Baldwin

This is my first op-ed piece for Stephanie's Journal and I sincerely thank her for the opportunity.
- The Angryindian
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I was at first glance quite pleased with myself when I scanned my morning newsfeeds to discover that an American African entertainment blog took note of how blogs of colour are reaching readers and helping shape opinions on issues that affect the African community as a whole. I even experienced a brief rush of accomplishment and righteous vindication amongst my peers in cyberspace for my efforts as an autonomous and non-partisan newsblogger and Indigenist activist.

But it was short-lived. Reality set in after my second sip of honeyed fennel tea that while the author of the post was quite correct in his estimation of the growing power of “Black” bloggers, the fact that such an article needed to be written at all shows just how segregated the Internet really is.

On the whole, cyberspace is just as “White” as the physical day-to-day world we are all guided to accept as the only empirical reality. The culture and direction of the Internet without question operates solely within the paradigms of European-centred control and management. Created initially by the U.S. Military and used chiefly by scientists for rapid transmission of peer data, the Internet has since the mid-80’s grown-up into a gigantic sensory-overload capitalist’s dream universe that reflects more about people and society than many of us care to admit.

Take an hour and rift through the user-uploaded clips on YouTube or the ever expanding myriad of forums, blogs and websites and you are likely to come across something we are told young Euroamericans have supposedly learned to overcome: racism. YouTube and Craigslist in particular have been cited for their overwhelming White racist commentary in response to videos and current news and social events. Openly racist sites such as Jewwatch.com garner more than 1 million hits a month. Neo-Nazi sites abound the web and don’t seem to be receding. In fact, interest in such material has increased according to some sources as much as 400% since 2000 and the first Bush coup d'état in Florida that illegally removed thousands of American African male voters from their state elections register.

Not to say that their isn’t loads of questionable material available on the Internet, (such as pornography accounting for more than 80% of web traffic which says a lot more about people than it does about the genre) but the Internet simply reflects those that created it, maintained it, expanded it and currently control all the means of production and utilisation of the technology.

Even in the 21st century, most non-European homes in the First, Second and Third worlds still do not have PC’s let alone ISP service. It simply remains out of the financial reach of many minorities due to the usual culprits, economic marginalisation and under-education to the use and benefits of the technology. Amongst those that do have access, far too many of them spend more time downloading entertainment than pursuing political, educational or cultural knowledge. And again, even this highly generalised deconstruction I have offered still only amounts to less than 20% of all Internet usage globally.

This explains why the Daily Kos can enjoy such high ratings and acclaim among activists of various stripes while non-European political commentary blogs such as my own (Intelligentaindigena Novajoservo) are not read by much more than those uniquely concerned with very specific issues. My blog focuses on matters that concern worldwide Aboriginal genocide, political power and racial issues that impact everybody. But if discussing race and First Nations subjects in America candidly is just about impossible in the general public discourse, it is for all practical purposes a deliberate drag through the valley of indifference in cyberspace.

White people simply aren’t interested enough in Brown folks to engage us as anything other than entertainment fodder or the hyper-sexualised fantasies of historical White racist guilt. Their apathetic readership and support for Black/Brown bloggers proves this and arguments as to the legitimacy of this argument ca be verified by the Internet logs of no-European bloggers that do good work, yet are ignored by those who comprise the bulk of the Internet reading audience. In a world where print media is on a downward slide to oblivion, this is a very important issue.

Like my ancestral mentor James Baldwin, I believe everybody has a story. We all have something to say from a perspective all our own. African people are no less human than any other man, woman or child on this planet, yet we are constantly placed into positions where our humanity is challenged for no other reason than our otherness. And like Baldwin, many of us who have the ability to upload our observations of the Europocentric empire from the inside do so with one foot in the White world while tip-toeing in the territories where we really come from. Our commentary is biting, accurate and damming of what has been euphorically described as the wide, wonderful world of Europeanization brought to us by way of a necessary and on-going genocide and the institution of a racial/ethnic hierarchy that favours the fair of skin and cultural vanity. We are the faces of colonialism and genocide and we articulate the angst and antagonism of our endurance with an accent of “otherness,” in a vernacular that burns Euro-supremacist eyes and ears to a cinder.

Hence the delicate yet consistently applied apathy of White weblog readers towards bloggers of colour despite the qualitative content of their websites.

Who wants to read about socio-political issues that they might feel responsible for addressing when they could be reading about scandalous professional socialite- harlot Paris Hilton’s brush with the reality of the L.A. County lockup? Poor White and minority women go to prison and go missing everyday but it’s always more disturbing when it happens to someone they regard as representative of the “Master race”. The other paradigms of humanity simply do not calculate interest, compassion or respect.

Still doubt my assessment? Ask your nearest Palestinian, Iraqi or Afro-refugee from Katrina bashed Louisiana. Darfurians could tell you themselves, but many of them are dying from preventable conditions made worse by European and Euro-colonial unresponsiveness to human suffering. And they said it would never happen again.

Without the axiomatic “free exchange of ideas” mantra of the free-market PR gangsters applied to the Internet, the only ideas that will germinate will be White ideas in a world overwhelmingly populated by those or various hues and convictions other than White, or Eurocentric. Are those that control the levers of socio-political power fearful of letting “The market decide” in cyberspace, or are we just afraid to call a spade a spade and admit that the Internet is just the new Apartheid, Jetsons style.

- The Angryindian

Most and Least Segregated Cities for Blacks

At Rachel's Tavern, Rachel compiled a list of most and least segregated cities/counties for Black Americans. This is a very important read for it affects all aspects of Black life, from access to health and jobs as well as to decent stores for shopping, the whole quality of life in general. Some people may not like what she reported, but it reflects my reality, for I live in a very segregated city in Southern Ohio(Dayton). Not only the metro area where I live is polarized racially, but economically and socially as well.

Supreme Court makes it tough for most of us -- Page 1 -- Times Union - Albany NY

Supreme Court makes it tough for most of us -- Page 1 -- Times Union - Albany NY: "On George Bush's Supreme Court, the big guys win, you lose -- unless, of course, you are one of the big guys, in which case, congratulations!


If you are a customer, tough. Manufacturers may go back to barring retailers from underselling the price a manufacturer wants. If you are a mere taypayer, tough again. You are barred from challenging government expenditures on faith-based programs as possible violations of church-state separation.

If you are convicted of a crime and your lawyer files your appeal three days late, too bad -- even though the lawyer filed on the date the judge (mistakenly) directed. Justice David Souter, in dissent, put it plainly: 'It is intolerable for the judicial system to treat people this way.'

If you suffer a troubled pregnancy, sorry. Lawmakers may bar you from the medically safest abortion. Women's health no longer governs abortion issues. Expect a festival of harassing legislation next year in the manner of the ban on 'partial-birth abortion' -- a term made up for political purposes -- which the court endorsed."

informationliberation - Independence Day?

informationliberation - Independence Day?

Every year on The Fourth, I wonder what people are celebrating. That is, the ones who give it any thought at all beyond its being a day off. The celebrants have no sense of irony.

If it's all about freedom, then oughtn't we at least have more respect for the word than to associate it with the condition to which we've been reduced? Let's face it, the average American just accepts the following: "We are Americans, ergo we are free." End of discussion. He contemplates how bad things are around the world, and that is sufficient for him to conclude that things are just fine here in America. Contradict him at your peril.

What the rest of the world prefers to tolerate is a pretty poor standard by which to gauge our liberty, and I'd like to propose a better one. It is this: Are our rights respected? Are we allowed to own ourselves and our justly acquired property? Ask this of our theoretical free American and he's likely to insist his rights are just fine, thank you. He'll often invite us to love it or leave it.

Given the sorry state of government schooling, I can't say I'm surprised. But is it asking too much that people should understand the meaning of words thrown around so casually?

A right is something one may do without getting anyone's permission, and if government has any legitimate purpose at all, it is protecting our rights. It has no other legitimate reason for existing. When governments go beyond that, they become as much a criminal as the mugger who takes your watch, or the trespasser who invades your property. Nothing about this is rocket science.

But this is way too much theorizing for most folks. Their eyes glaze over. Enjoying their barbecue and ball game tells them all they need to know, and that it just couldn't be better here.

In fact, Americans are so thoroughly policed, monitored, and regulated they can scarcely conceive it being otherwise. No aspect of their lives escapes the government's attention and control, and they have no rights at all, only privileges. By a stupendous act of doublethink they believe they are free.

A short list should suffice to raise serious questions in the mind of our theoretically free American.

Ecuador Carving out New Democracy - Prensa Latina

Ecuador Carving out New Democracy - Prensa Latina: "Quito, Jul 5 (Prensa Latina) Political and economic reforms are the main proposals boosted by the Ecuadorian government in the future Constituent Assembly, to be established on October 30.
# Correa Denounces Destabilization Plan

Those proposals were made by Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa to the National Higher Education Council, which is in charge of drawing up a draft for the new Constitution.

Correa considers the Assembly important and historical for the country, and its success 'will depend on the people s support to achieve significant changes.' 'If citizens elect the same politicians as on September 30, the nation will remain in the same situation it was before January 15 last year, with rising prices of electricity, water, privatizations, and the handing over of sovereignty to foreign powers,' said Correa.

He said the country has to go from a pseudo representative democracy to a participatory democracy, to elect legislators by district, so that each region of the country has its own representatives."

The Fourth of July and Hypocrisy

Ann's post:

What's the 4th of July To Me? captures all the sentiments I had regarding America's hypocrisy towards the least of all citizens. Please read the article at:

http://kathmanduk2.wordpress.com/2007/07/03/what-is-the-4th-of-july-to-me/

Your view of America won't be the same after reading this searing essay. At Rachel's Tavern, she discusses racial segregation in housing that is still with us today and is not going away soon. Please read that article as well.