rootwork the rootsblog: a cyberhoodoo webspace

octavia butler and downhome visionaries: calling the roll

WEDNESDAY

hello world, guess this week just been all personal
apparently im still tripping, ima have to break this spell

this is recent email i sent out on hoodoo way list
decided to post it because it speaks to my vision of hoodoo

the discussion thread regards hoodoo institutionalization
and a collective hoodoo text

been working my own and failing, i consider it a lifetime project
but im fully aware that most of the great holybooks are collective works
stretching over generations (except for the koran maybe?)

will give up the book of flowers if i must but hopefully the
hoodoo way archives will make a good nucleus

probably open that list up, invite more folk in

still black, still a hoodoo paradigm
still more liable to say no than yes

but if you in interested in (or curious about) hoodoo destinywork
get in touch, lets talk

be well
rickydoc flowers

-------------------------------

hello everybody

i apologize for the tone of that last email
and all that personal information wasnt necessary

putting balls in the air and feeling humble
like im surely about to fall on my face

all these big ideas, who am i to try

ive moved the hoodoo way, sending out invitations
i dont know whats to become of this list

ima just keep letting it be whatever it wants to be and keep
trying to bring strong folk in

that hands thing, thats kinda bodacious
i fear making a fool of myself

but enuf folk have responded positively that the move
got to be made now, win or lose

ive become aware of just how presumptious a move it is

feeling real humble these days, and i want to back out
and back up but i do so love the hoodoo tradition

and though some in the tradition dismiss me as an intellectual hoodoo
and not a real practitioner, i believe im the hoodoo future

dont nobody work a soul like i do

with all my heart i love being a hoodooman and i love
what the hoodoo tradition is and what its capable of

i want it to be evolving and truly powerful in the world
i want it to be an illuminated tradition that makes invaluable
contributions to human destiny

i want it to be real in the world
in a way that it currently is not

and i know folk will protest that we are powerful as we are
but that view is not reflected in the worlds reality

not compared to the other spiritual traditions of the world
we dont get respect in atr circles much less the world

i would that we be acknowledged powers and influential in
human affairs, i would we be true force

i would that we be powerful enough to guide our peoples destiny
to ensure the survival and prosperity of our generations

illuminated enuf
to be guide and guardian of humanitys destiny

showing the way

i dont know what the next step is
but i know we have to take it
flying blind and figuring it out as we go

i would like to institutionalize the hoodoo way (the tradition not the list)
i dont know what form will work, i know it would have to be very loose
to accommodate hoodoos individualized and eclectic nature

and i would like to do a hoodoo holybook
thats been a goal of mine for decades

i figure a holybook is the strongest game on the board

the great holybooks, the bible, the koran, the iching, etc
give their cultures a fighting chance in the march of human destiny

they contribute to human evolution and the human condition
aint nothing like a good holybook

if its done well a hoodoo holybook would shape our generations
for centuries and eons

i make these suggestions with the utmost humility

but it seems that we have stumbled upon the possibility
of being able to make it happen if we so choose

tell you the truth these ideas scare me
but i just dont see how we can not make the move
these are strange and momentus times and they just
begging us to bust the move

moving the list, hope you come along
if but for the ride

be well
rdoc

MONDAY

roaring sometime and whining too

bonnie objects to the tone of some of my posts
i think she considers them too whiny

nigerian friend of mine, ec, says i whine too much
keep those blues moments to yourself he says
you should only roar arthur, roar all the time he says

im feeling you, i prefer it when im roaring too, but what makes a literary blog like this
work is sincerely expressing what you feel and i often feel unappreciated

post below already counterfeited, got a couple of emails encouraging me
to hang in there, saying we appreciate what you do arthur

thats all i need when i falter
occasional pat on the back buck me right up

i told bonnie i said look you want a man w/testosterone poisoning
or do you want me

kinda makes me smile that the personal is so foregrounded by blogwork
my mentor in the game, john o killens, used to complain that my political work
wasnt personal enuf - not of enuf of you in it arthur he would chide, the people
need to see you

who would have thought that the rhetorical instrument of my generation would
turn out to be the blog - much too personal for my comfort, but im trusting my
literary instinct - ima show you my heart, the goodtimes and the bad, ima show
you what i got

ima roar when i can and whimper when i must
but whatever i do here its gon be true to my heart

thats where i get my power

my love to you all
rdoc

hello world

feeling a little down
just got back from the delta

bone tired and
got so much catchup schoolwork it
aint funny

found out most of the active
folk on the hoodoo way have migrated
to a new list

my fault, i let the hoodoo way languish
hoping it would maintain itself without my constant
attention and now its crippled and so i call myself
closing it down but the notice that i was closing it down
caused a lurker to step up and remind me its still some
strong folk on that list

even if it becomes for a moment a conversation
with myself i should maybe maintain it

move it to yahoo, keep growing it inch by inch and step by step, my
favorite modus operandi, and im thinking maybe i wont close it down,

just let it keep on being whatever it will be
(and go for magnanimous w/new lists)

god i so want to let that chain slip from my shoulder,
i got so much to do and im feeling so overextended
but i dont seem to be able to get out from under

i am of the line of o killens
and i been trained to maintain good game
no matter what

thats what keep me in rest for the weary

the one thing in this world i might fail at - making novels, making the
beautiful and magical works i see in my head work on paper

in hopes that oneday the people will love me for what i do
like the love they have shown octavia, my works they redeem me

thing about being a novelist/mythmaker
is that even if your ideological orchestrations in the realworld fail
as they so often do, the very effort itself feeds your work

and authenticates it

when i write about a wouldbe prophet it will be informed by an
attempt to have walked the road - win or lose ima walk the road

then i write about it, win or lose
i mythwork it

for i am mythmaker, a weaver of
conjure and a worker of storm
a caster of bones and tomorrows truth
i make myth and myth makes tomorrow
as i define so shall it be, for you see
my friends, i am a conjuror . . . .

guess i best get on the hands
else that train leave the station without me

its liike a cycle - periods in the world, contending in the bloody arena
alternating w/periods of withdrawal for reflection and renewal

i been in withdrawal, trying to get rest done
but i got to do some arenawork now
got to throw down and got to throw down now

tires me out just thinking about it

the old gray organizer just aint what he used to be
but i spec i got a good campaign or two left in me

win or lose
its a luta continua

win or lose, gon be
in struggle

rdoc

TUESDAY

still down in the delta
spose to been gone

something about spending your days at the hospital
tending to a mortally frail parent put you in a mind of
melancholy reflection

then i hear octavia butler died and its like bummer
how old was she again

58, thats my generation, checking out, the roll being called

octavia was real important to my literary generation
swinging that afroam scifi when it was just two of them basically
now theres a whole universe of them

and i probably owe more to the patternmaster than im willing to fess up to

i think what moved me most about octavia was that she was a
fellow visionary who manifested her vision of human destiny thru her works

what disturbed me most about octavia butler was that she had such a pessimistic vision of human destiny, all her futures devolved, i had to quit reading her

still i feel that special connection to her, specially when reading her obits about the medical problems she struggled to remain productive thru and i always admire that in a writer

dont nothing but death stop this show

and even thats questionable for a visionary
just another plane of engagement

me and my sister trying to keep my mama on this plane
just a little while longer, probably more for our sakes than hers

shes tired but she still seems to enjoy the special moments

being deep into family mortality cause you to get reflective
when you get my age you carry a number of significant regrets
but you also basically accepting of lifes little ups and downs,

its heartbreaking ambiguities

spent time with my nephews, 6 of them, and it was wonderful
asa fred arthur cleveland james evan
they been thru the fire and seem to have walked thru

one of my big life regrets is that i have not been there for them
when they needed me and must redeem myself

if they let me

they are all big strapping fellows and taller than me now and folk kept
asking if they were my basketball team, its like i

got my own posse

me and asa went to check on the flowers bottle tree in riverside park
not only was it still there, right there on the bluff where its guarding both the river and the city, but folk obviously been making libations, it was surrounded by beer bottles, the communitys contribution

and i was thinking while i was there this is my ground
i claim this ground for the black destiny, here the old gods still rule

its all surrounded by industrial ground now and has that beleaguered feeling
kinda like blackfolk, and i know in my heart its not the magical ground i make it out to be

(flash: use that in rest, have it be all magical when hes strong but when hes weak he will see it and the neighborhood for what it really is, a tired little urban pocket)

still got to go to my fathers grave, been stalling cause i been so slack i kinda assume my father is disappointed with me

i always get over there eventually because i may not be 100% but i suspect my father doesnt expect 100%, i suspect my father, the wisest and greatest of men, understands

im doing what i can

before my name get called

octavia got her work done
i can only hope the same will be said of me

gotta go
gotta get back to the hospital
gotta clean this up later

rdoc

awaken the sleeper
protect the weak
guide the strong

delusions, illusions and other such trickery: if i am in truth the hope of the race, we in bigger trouble than we thought

THURSDAY MORNING

finally - im outta here
see you in the delta

good lord willing and the
crick dont rise

24 hour drive, done it a million times
ima be kicking it a little cause im running late
watch over me queenmother tubman
get me thru

bless my journey

your devoted traveler
rickydoc

WEDNESDAY

on selling the port and feeling the heat

bush makes a good case of trusting arab countries
that have aligned themselves with us in current conflict

but instinct says no, especially when confronted w/a done deal no debate
another example of the bush administrations arrogance/secrecy

interesting watching bush squirm on an issue he has wielded
so ruthlessly against others - looking weak on security

apparently the port security gaps are huge and ignored and have
very little to do with nationality of who owns the port own/rents/whatever
but this will expose their cavalier attitude towards security that isnt political

they claiming now that bush didnt know about the deal until the controversy hit

this is supposed to make us feel better - that he was once again clueless
about such a politically fraught and security related decision

the gang that couldnt shoot straight has fired off another misguided wmd
its amazing how tone deaf they can sometimes be

what tickles me is that it challenges his reputation for being strong on terror/security
makes him look as silly and uncaring (as usual) to folk who have  been inclined
to give him benefit of the doubt

the question is do any of us feel more secure because of bushs policies
(invading iraq, torture as policy, imperial presidencies, civilliberties violations, fantasy budgets, et al) and the answer is no, the world does not feel safer, not by a longshot, if anything it has gotten frightfully surreal

another interesting development is haitis preval welcoming aristedes return

thats got to be a ticklish situation for him - it will inflame aristedes
enemies just when preval needs to reach out ot them and aristede
may contend for the allegiance of haitis poor

preval was once aristedes deputy and presidential place holder
it will be difficult for preval & aristede to get beyond that history of allegiance

but preval could not in honor take any other position

when asked what date he could return, aristede said it was up to 'my president'
good move aristede, i hope he realizes whats at stake here

i think preval is the best hope haiti has had in a very long time
perhaps since l'overture

finishing apps, be on the road by morning
delta bound and hard tripping

be well
rdoc

MONDAY

more buked and scornment

i love comments, that sense of dialogue
the few comments i get are mostly laudatory but i would
welcome comments that truly challenge me

was all excited i had a comment on this one but then i read it
she called me wise one,  would like to think thats sincere but i believe its sarcasm

also scoffs at african american instrumentality
in global and domestic matters

ah but we do have influence, slim pickings to be sure but influence nevertheless,
our positions are often taken into consideration when america makes a move,
domestic or foreign, if for no other reason than to avoid our complaints

we do keep our finger on the pulse and if nothing else, there is a power in that

(rootgame entails maximal effect, minimal effort - study the strategic dynamics until you can get your hand on the roots of things and effect true change with the slightest nudge - now thats what i call rootwork)

other countries and institutions like the un also tend to factor us
specially in matters regarding africa and the caribbean

a variant of the jewish diasporic model, a weak variant to be sure

granted we arent very strong and we dont carry much weight in the world
(im working on that, im working on it) but we do bring some heat if we so choose

(witness the south african disinvestment campaign, we were deep in that - of course our
failures - rwanda, the sudan, haiti, liberia, new guinea, et al - have been legion)

in order to activate and empower that heat, i got to define its existence and nurture its seeds

got to act as if we do in truth have power, assess ongoing developments in that power mode, strategize based on its supposition and eventually we will truly know power

or go down fighting
instead of just go down

it is magical expectation that reality will follow
perception fueled w/enabling infrastuctures

in this case the proof is in the pudding
the sudanese have named us an enemy
and well they should

doing the best we can

i would like to be an illuminating force in the world and only that
but my people are in a war for their survival and it is a war prophet i must be

word
by rickydoc

ps: answer to question in comment below:
it do whatever i want it to

bound for the holyground
still buried in apps - but almost done

worked on rest for the weary friday and it was good
it was very good

rod jackman, fellow newren workshop member, emailed me last week
guess he detected i felt a little discouraged after last workshop

he said basically that every writer ever did something new
ignored the rules and did it they way - go for what you know

i needed that - that reinforcement of my own desperate mantra
i believe i believe i believe
i believe in this novel, i believe in me, i believe i believe i believe

good vibrations probably contributed to fridays spike, gon ride the pony
long as i can

looks like i got to go to the delta
family matters require my presence

sister been taking care of my mama 24/7 since her last stroke
now she in the hospital and my mama in the hospital too

and its like damn i guess its my turn do the care taking
hopefully just for a minute (praying for my sister on many levels)

but right now she need a little backup, she so worried about my mama
she cant concentrate on her own healing

so guess im bound
for the holyground

1st time since katrina
and already im tripping

always got research projects for rest
that i can do only in the delta

so its my novel, my family and my holyground
and all of them going thru changes, thats a very heady brew

already im tripping
opening up to the universe
whether i want to or not

down spirit down, get thee down
aint got time to be tripping

so much work to do
so much work undone

all my love
all my love to you all

rdoc

SATURDAY

those who see

un considering taking over darfur mission from overwhelmed african union troops
sudan fighting it and depictions of situation as genocide

sudanese foreign ministry complained pressure on them
being wielded by us congress and the 'african american lobby'

i was tickled to see that

one, to see that he thought the african american lobby influential on this issue
two, that he thinks there is one
and three, that he realizes we are his implacable enemies

guardians at the gate
and defenders of the black world

i seem to be attached to that phrase dont i - guardian at the gate
ima have to play with that in rest for the weary - ascribe it to the conqueror
make it a central motif (god i wish this novel would stop growing)

word by
rickydoc trickmaster

guardian at the gate

mythwork and
african american leadership in the 21st century

speaking of word by rickydoc

i believe im going to tell you something dear
surfer that i generally keep to myself

o i imply it all the time but you dont out and out say these things
it is insufficiently humble to claim significance

you hear a lot these days about black americas lack of leadership
in the 21st century

this is incorrect, black america got leadership
they got me

problem is they dont realize it yet
except those who see

bes that way sometime when you an ideological orchestrator
hoodoo destinywork based on shaping generations and you may not
get no play in your lifetime - comes with the territory

but for me to make what i see reality, in order that i truly conjure
i must conduct myself as if i am in truth what i aspire to be

a prophet of the hoodoo way

a visionary in the line of o killens
showing the way and opening paths

a destinyplayer

i dont go around huffing and puffing it and
i dont go around trying to convince nobody

but i will conduct myself as if i am in truth what i aspire to be
and i will expect reality to bend itself to my will - this is the essence of conjuration

so future posts will increasingly reflect that headset
i will show the way

and let the generations decide
how well i played the game

i am Mythmaker

it is my nature and training to maintain a low profile
i work best in the shadows - but im 55 now and if i dont
bust the move now when will i

got to manifest publically and
accept the ridicule, gon do what i was meant to do

my biggest problem of course is that im slack
i must be bout the slackest holyman ever been

most of the time im stumbling, fumbling
and fucking up

and sometimes i fear
that if i am in truth the hope of the race
we in bigger trouble than we thought

hangingtough
rickydoc flowers

inch by inch and step by step: new abu graib pictures and the haitian election; black inmate dies in california race riots; deadwood dick cheney and the gang that couldnt shoot straight

THURSDAY

ima tell you dear reader

islamic anger about the cartoons
i think thats kinda silly and its hard
for me to be concerned about that
much less shamed

but those new abu ghraib pictures
thats hard to deal with

if the islamic world was enraged
about that i could understand that

dissing the prophet dont bother me
dissing people like that do

its unbelievable that americans could be so
perverted as policy - as policy mind you

have you seen them

these fools got to go
they got to go

ive been encouraged by the national rejection
of intelligent design lately - makes me feel
like this little fundamentalist era in american
history might be playing itself out

surely folk are tired of this mess

rdoc

latest on haiti: a luta continua

blank ballots dropped and preval declared winner
man aint that good news and lord aint good news rare

now the real battle starts

question: is preval really a good guy or is he just another haitian politician
question: can any one savior make a difference w/problems as entrenced as haitis

the african american foreign policy infrastructure, such as it is
really needs to take a high profile assistance role on this

we have got to break the cycle of destruction
that has crippled haiti since it became the first black republic
in the americas and now its poorest

some of us fear there is a connection there
and wonder what does it mean

stay tuned dear reader
a luta continua

rdoc

numbers

my numbers have fallen

still higher than before but
the doubling effect has receded

apparently it was the popularity of my muhammad post
that drove that little spike - now its back to it a normal
more incremental gain - long as its gain im cool

constantly monitoring what drives numbers and what dont
the weekly evolution of my title reflects what i think will draw
googles attention - im going to add abughraib in there now

makes for long titles but they longposts that cover a lot
of ground, what can i do except go w/the flow

later

WEDNESDAY

man im tired

got a full court press day today
and already im wore down tired

dont get no slack till tomorrow evening sometime
till then i got to be on it - ohwell, lets do it . . .

no sense whining about it, do it rick

quick recap of latest developments in haiti

- crises instigated when aristede driven out and us puppet government installed
- caricom refuses to accept puppet government as member
- un peace troops headed by brazil prove ineffective or worse - bootlicking compradors
- violence and chaos reign and rene preval becomes new champion of the poor
- puppet government, afraid of preval, repeatedly  postpones scheduled election
- in spite of official shenanigans haitian poor turn out in support of preval
- international observers use votecount to predict substantial win for preval
- haitian government delays notice of winner and preval vote count starts falling
- preval falls beneath 50% majority and is told must endure a runoff
- international observers indicate fishy smell
- haitians take to the streets
- blank votes are counted to lower prevals % and 125,000 votes are tossed for 'irregularities, (holy hanging chad batman, sounds like haiti is closer to florida than we thought)
- local tv shows pics of smashed ballot boxes in garbage dump, leaking wads of preval ballots
- puppet government says it will run a recount

thats where it stands to date, best we keep an eye
on that sparrow

black inmate dies in los angeles coming
coming to aid of another

sheriffs department in la continues to bunk inmates of different threat values

sean anthony thompson, 38 year old father of 3, was arrested last week
on suspicion of drug possession after running a stop sign in long beach

he was placed in a cell with 4 level 8 offender latinos (attempted murder et all)
and one other 63 year old black drug offender (ie nonviolent)

when the latinos attacked the 63 year old because his bunk had better light
for reading, thompson came to his aid and was killed (what else could
the brother do, couldnt stand there and let them beat down an elder)

this situation of outnumbered blacks in california jail system and
other conflicts between blacks and latinos in california is probably
the harbinger of more conflict to come as we are replaced as most
favored minority across the country

if we get drawn into a battle with hispanics for supremacy,
thats a battle we likely to lose - settle down yall, focus - we got to bankshot this one
(forget mfm, it was weak game anyway, i say we move into global shadowplay)

apparently this kind of mixup (violent/nonviolet - racial ratios) has
resulted in deaths before and the sheriffs department had been ordered
by the courts to cease and desist

they say they got it now, we will see
whatever, its too late for sean anthony thomas

i call his name in the great black book of generations
sean anthony thomas

brother died coming to the aid of another
me and you brother, against the world

TUESDAY

forgive me dear reader, i cant help myself
its time for some cheney jokes

best headline: cheney bags lawyer

jay leno: "dick cheney tortured the guy for a half-hour before he shot him."

"according to the best intelligence available" says rob corddry, vice presidential firearms mishaps analyst, "there were quail hidden in the brush, and everyone believed there were quail in the brush and while the quail turned out to be a 78-year-old man, even knowing that today, mr. cheney insists he would still have shot mr. whittington in the face."

okay, okay, im thru, i spec you got the point: "its funny even if you like cheney," says lawrence mintz "but its funnier if you don't."

actually its not funny at all, thats why folk laughing
and wondering how long will this joke of administration go on

the gang that couldnt shoot straight

MONDAY
schoolhouse took the weekend, nothing but apps

badday for bush

lets look at what he carrying these days

bushabramoff pic #1 has risen, apparently abramoff
was at a function bush officials said he wasnt at afterall

bam: caught in another lie

while trying to redherring spygate w/fulminations
and investigations of who leaked it to the times
turns out cheney authorized libby leak to out
cia operative valarie plame

bam: caught in another lie

recent retiree from cia says prewar info was cooked
to support bushs pathalogical desire to invade saddam

bam: caught in another lie

latest blair memo says in january 2003
bush came up with idea to run a u2 over iraq
painted as a warplane to provoke saddam

yet they still say they didnt decide on war
until un resolution four months later

bam: caught in another lie

recent un report latest one to say
us torturing prisoners in guantanamo

bam: caught in another lie

(appparently feeding restrained hunger
strikers thru tubes in their noses - trying
to avoid the embarassment of one dying)

bam: not quite a lie but just as unsavory

brownie says he told bush admin officials when the levee broke
in spite or their contention that they just didnt know
what everybody else in america knew

bam: caught in another lie
or startling incompetency

its a toss which one
is worse

cheney shoots companion while
out hunting

well thats an easy call:
incompetency

SUNDAY

god help me

haitian woman arrested bringing head thru customs
complete with teeth, skin and dirt, ie a fresh head

freshly dug

article said she said it was a voodoo rite of protection
god help me im so tired

god help me what i got to work with
and keep me standing o mighty conqueroo

they trying to take me down lord
they trying to take me down

rdoc


hello world

was trying to think of a name for this weeks post
and thought about that old 3 stooges bit

inch by inch and step by step - sloooowly we turn

readership still going up
numbers have doubled in the last month

course its not hard to double my meagre numbers
but still, the trend is good, lotta blogs out there and
im grateful for my little slice of the blogworld
all praises to you loyal readership

okay, you know the routine: a couple of quickies
and im outta here

gotta keep it tight
so much work to do, so little time

who willing to bet

bush info about terrorist strike
they foiled using illegal wiretap info turns out to be
exaggeration, or rather more misleadment

or rather more lies


good news from haiti

seems transparent voting elected rene preval
man aint that good news and lord aint good news rare

african americans should do everything we can
to help that brother and the haitians who dared so much to elect him

we need to keep the bush administration off him too
they will try to control and/or subvert him as they did w/aristede
and as the united states has done w/any independent haitian government
that tries to empower haitis dispossessed

got to put this on the front burner, if they have their way w/him
he will survive only as their puppet


furor over cartoons continue to grow

my own post (2 posts ago) has been worked over everytime i get new insight
i been getting a lot of hits on that post, may be responsible for my numbers going up

still not comfortable with it, wonder if its reactionary but i dont think so
i think this west/islam thing has gotten mighty tricky

and while aspiring to dialogue and mutual evolutionary agreement

i am concerned about the dynamics of a relatively open society under assault
by relatively closed ones, the open society is at a disadvantage in this dynamic

in scifi the open society always wins, in real life im not sure
and i spec you know all that submission dont fly w/me

i man free man

but it appears that my concerns are mirrored by many of the islamic reports
ive been reading, they feel threatened too, o its a tricky moment in time

check out my muhammad cartoon post
i been struggling with it


working hard

got maybe one day this weekend i can do my work
schoolhouse got the rest
think ima work on the great black book of generations today

the hoodoo book of flowers

did a reading this weekend at ursinus college
spoke to charles rices african american religion class

and it was a joy to discourse on the sacred component
of my Work and when i mentioned the great black book of generations
said i wanted to do an african american holybook
a sacred history of the black world, a hoodoo sacred text/language and
spoke on the struggles i been having w/it over the years/decades (2nd)

brother rice was very encouraging
brother rice put it back on the front burner

i gave the whole last year to rest for the weary
gon maintain that but i got to work the hoodoo book of flowers some too

before the summer woodshed and its fullcourt rest for the weary press
i would the hoodoo book of flowers shaped enuf to put a rough (very) draft online
concurrent with rebuild of rootwork.com

eventually i want this to be an online text that grows as i grow
constantly

but schoolhouse got me humping this weekend (applications)
and an old literary buddy of mine, s pearl sharp, is in town

a queenmother in training
in the line of o killens

went to see her film on the middle passage last night
it was exactly the sacred celebration i would expect from s pearl

supposed to be taking her by harriet tubmans house and grave
the obligatory run for visitors in the tradition

cant begrude that, oldschool time at a premium in this the
declining years (mortality is deep and everyday is a blessing)

between pearl, harriet and apps, i can squeeze a day, would love to squeeze 2
(according to how the apps go maybe i can get monday - doubtful)

newren workshop in brooklyn last sunday, folk chewed up my submission

but they good at chewing up submissions without making
you question the value of your lick, they have encouraged my
attempts to style even when telling me something aint working

i value that

went to see john o while i was there
seems im the one tending his grave
i have a little altar there and i refreshed it

it was good speaking w/john and hanging with s pearl
whom i met in his colombia workshop in 73 and
seeing mi old companero tom feelings in her film
moved me

a couple of months before he died tom sent me
an original drawing he had done of babajohn

other folk got photos, tom sent me the original
i cannot tell you how much that meant to me

specially since he died a couple of months later
its like he was dispersing his Work whereever he
thought it would be most appreciated

that ackwnowledgement of me as johns protege
moved me too much and it was all brought back when
i saw tom in pearls film

so im feeling kinda fey today, im feeling oldschool today
today im invincible

gon ride that horse long
as i can

you know something else, ima get by the gym today too
what the hell

rdoc

rebuilding new orleans, one appeal at a time; city agency subverts plans to de black neworleans: aint that good news

"we're rebuilding and dont try to stop us"

boy i feel like ive gotten lazy
another full posting, mostly cause
its difficult to link the nytimes articles sometimes
they go down quickly

and this one is such an antidote to previous one
all about how blackfolk in neworleans are subverting
the move to exclude them

using some symphathetic city agency to
turn the trick

thats what im talking about, thats my people taking care of business
this one made me so proud i put it all in

i may cut it down later but im on the road to brooklyn now
and aint got time to be selective

you dont have to read it all
this the important couple of paragraphs right here:

Out in the once-flooded neighborhoods, there is feverish activity, at intervals. Those hard at work scoff at the commission's idea of holding off on rebuilding until it becomes clearer which areas have a chance of coming back.

"I'm not listening to that, man," said Kristopher Winder, as he finished gutting his mother's house in the Gentilly neighborhood. He had brought it back down to its frame. Down the street, signs in front of one house carry defiant messages: "We're rebuilding, and don't try to stop us!" reads one, and "There's no place like home" reads another.

"I thought, when they said that four-month thing, I thought that was crazy," Mr. Winder said. "I was mad. I thought it didn't make no sense."

"I'm working on this house," he said. "She's going to be up and running in three to four months."

god i just love blackpeople so much sometime
im so proud of being family

aint nothing like blackpeople taking care of business
to bring a smile to my face

in struggle
rdoc

----------------------------------

Rebuilding New Orleans, One Appeal at a Time

By ADAM NOSSITER     New York Times  Published: February 5, 2006

 

NEW ORLEANS, Feb. 4 — Every day the line snakes down a spartan corridor on the eighth floor of City Hall here, as hundreds of people clutch a piece of paper inscribed with a fateful percentage that could force them to abandon their home.

The number is always over 50, and it means a house was so damaged in the flooding after Hurricane Katrina — more than half-ruined — that it faces demolition, unless the owner can come up with tens of thousands of dollars to raise it several feet above the ground and any future floodwaters.

But there is a way out, and that is why so many people stand in line every day, collectively transforming this battered city. "What you need to do is talk to a building inspector and get that lowered below 50 percent," a city worker calls out to the crowd. And at the end of the line, in a large open room down the hall, that is exactly what happens, nearly 90 percent of the time, New Orleans officials say.

By agreeing so often to these appeals — more than 6,000 over the last few months — city officials are in essence allowing random redevelopment to occur throughout the city, undermining a plan by Mayor C. Ray Nagin's rebuilding commission to hold off on building permits in damaged areas for several months until more careful planning can take place. That plan, greeted by widespread opposition, including from the mayor himself, is now essentially dead.

House by house, in devastated neighborhoods across the city, homeowners are bringing back their new-minted building permits and rebuilding New Orleans. As many as 500 such permits are issued every day, said Greg Meffert, the city official in charge of the rebuilding process.

And there is no particular rhyme or reason to who gets a permit, or consideration of whether their neighborhoods can really support its previous residents. One city building inspector, Devra Goldstein, called the proceedings on the eighth floor "really fly-by-night, chaotic, Wild West, get-what-you-want."

The floor, she said, represents "a plan by default."

It is also testament to the fierce desire of many displaced New Orleanians to re-establish themselves, no matter the odds.

"They told us, if things look close, chances are we can get the assessment lowered below 50 percent, and we can start rebuilding," said George Aguillard, a 65-year-old retired longshoreman waiting patiently in the largely African-American crowd at City Hall.

"At my age, there's no starting over in a new house," said Mr. Aguillard, a resident of the flooded Pontchartrain Park neighborhood. His damage assessment came in at 52.13 percent.

But there may be a steep price to the city's largess in allowing so many people to move back into flood plains without having to elevate their homes. Past federal flood insurance directors say the practice violates the program, which established the 50-percent rule to guide safe building in flood-prone areas. Most communities have adopted it as a minimum standard, say officials of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which runs the flood program.

In exchange for heavily-subsidized flood insurance for residents, the program expects cities to insist on flood-resistant construction. Some cities that violate the flood rules have been ousted from the insurance program, putting thousands of residents at huge risk.

"They should be suspended, absolutely," said J. Robert Hunter, a former head of the federal flood-insurance program who is now director of insurance at the Consumer Federation of America. "You can't fake it," he said. "I sympathize with these people. But you shouldn't say 'Well, you're poor, therefore you can build in a dangerous place where you can be flooded again, and killed.' "

He added, "You can't destroy the flood program to achieve a short-term goal."

Another early director of federal flood insurance, George K. Bernstein, was equally critical, saying the practice of reducing flood damage percentages was "just ripping off taxpayers."

"If New Orleans is phonying the damage reports so as to allow inadequate construction, they ought to get thrown out of the program," he said.

FEMA officials say they are keeping a close watch on New Orleans but consider the city to be following the rules.

I understand they have a process in place," said Michael Buckley, deputy director for mitigation at FEMA. "I wouldn't characterize it as a process to change the determination." Mr. Buckley said he was "not aware" of any large-scale downsizing of damage assessments.

But up on the eighth floor, the downward revisions are over in a matter of minutes. "It was pretty smooth," said Charles Harris, an Orleans Parish sheriff's deputy who had four feet of water in his eastern New Orleans home, and whose percentage of damage was changed to 47 from 52. "They were really helpful. I thought it was going to be a combative thing. I was ready to put on my shield. It wasn't like that at all."

Kevin François, an air-conditioning repairman with a house that was rated as 52 percent damaged, said, "It was basically an in-and-out process." He, left City Hall with a number several points less than 50.

Mr. Meffert, the city official, said the initial assessments sometimes contained errors. Homeowners have to justify any changes to their damage assessments, he said, and must provide the details of their rebuilding plans. "What's swinging the vote is, 'I'm going to do it this way,' " he said.

But some leaving City Hall here are still in a pugnacious mood, despite the friendly reception. "I didn't give them a chance," Florestine Jalvia said proudly, having brought her assessment down to 47 percent damaged from 52.5 percent. A tougher stand on rebuilding would have probably engendered the same kind of reaction as the now-defunct four-month moratorium idea. "I think the city is trying to avoid a major public fight," said Ms. Goldstein, the building inspector.

Out in the once-flooded neighborhoods, there is feverish activity, at intervals. Those hard at work scoff at the commission's idea of holding off on rebuilding until it becomes clearer which areas have a chance of coming back.

"I'm not listening to that, man," said Kristopher Winder, as he finished gutting his mother's house in the Gentilly neighborhood. He had brought it back down to its frame. Down the street, signs in front of one house carry defiant messages: "We're rebuilding, and don't try to stop us!" reads one, and "There's no place like home" reads another.

"I thought, when they said that four-month thing, I thought that was crazy," Mr. Winder said. "I was mad. I thought it didn't make no sense."

"I'm working on this house," he said. "She's going to be up and running in three to four months."

--------------------------------

aing that good news
in love and struggle

rickydoc

the guardian at the gate and a 20 point plan to destroy black new orleans

i dont generally post entire articles but every once in awhile
i make an exception, going to post this article on the
ethnic cleansing of new orleans

folk jumped on nagin for his chocolate city comment
and its unfortunate that he brought god into it and all
because the issue he was raising is valid

bringing god into it just confused it and provided our
enemies a way to ignore the issues & attack him on an easy kill

nagin so questionable at this point that landrieu might have more black
support in upcoming election -  assuming there will be a black electorate

because clearly there is a dynamic in place excluding
blackfolk from the reconstituted new orleans

and as a delta conjureman that irks me
the delta is my holyground and my tradition was
born and bred there and those with vision see
the writing on the wall

ima memphis boy, memphis do or die and if the
forces of evil were trying to de black memphis and
destroy memphis' uniquely black culture i would
be up in arms - as it is i can only hope new orleans
black folk are going to really and effectively resist this

we got to turn this trick

but i know some of them personally and many of
them arent returning, they either cant, wont or just
so shell shocked they still in a strange kind of limbo

i been playing a lot of old new orleans songs
like do you know what it means to miss new orleans

and sometimes it makes me cry

o god how can they do that to
one of the afrospiritual centers of the world
how can we let them

memphis is at the mouth of the delta, its interface with the rest of america
and high on the bluff its been impervious to floods and storms
considers itself the guardian at the gate

as do i in my highjohn the conqueror manifestation
guardian at the gate and defender of the faith

im concerned that our sister city is going down
and im fighting mad - i dont know what but by god
i got to make a move

--------------------------------------------

a site called new american media is where i found it, originally from San Francisco Bayview (both were interesting activist news sources)

A 20-Point Plan to Destroy Black New Orleans
Commentary//Analysis,  Robert D. Bullard, Feb 01, 2006

As reconstruction and rebuilding move forward in New Orleans and the Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama Gulf Coast region, it is clear that the lethargic and inept emergency response after Hurricane Katrina was a disaster that overshadowed the deadly storm itself. Yet, there is a "second disaster" in the making - driven by racism, classism, elitism, paternalism and old-fashioned greed.

The following "Twenty-Point Plan to Destroy Black New Orleans" is based on trends and observations made over the past three months. Hopefully, the good people of New Orleans, Louisiana, the Gulf Coast and the United States will not allow this plan to go forward - and instead adopt a principled plan and approach to rebuilding and bringing back New Orleans that is respectful of all of its citizens.

1. Selectively hand out FEMA grants.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is being consistent in the slow response in getting aid to Katrina survivors. FEMA's grant assistance program favors middle-income households. Make it difficult for low-income and Black Katrina survivors to access government assistance. Direct the bulk of the grant assistance to middle-income white storm victims. The Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights and several other legal groups have sued FEMA over its response and handling of aid to storm victims. FEMA has referred more than 2 million people, many of them with low incomes, to the Small Business Administration to get the loans.

2. Systematically deny the poor and Blacks SBA loans.

Screen out poor and deny Black households disaster loans. The New York Times editorial summed up this problem: "The Poor Need Not Apply." The Small Business Administration has processed only a third of the 276,000 home loan applications it has received. However, the SBA has rejected 82 percent of the applications it received, a higher percentage than in most previous disasters. Well-off neighborhoods like Lakeview have received 47 percent of the loan approvals, while poverty-stricken neighborhoods have gotten 7 percent. Middle-class Black neighborhoods in the eastern part of the city have lower loan rates.

3. Award insurance claims using the "wind or water" trap.

Because of the enormity of the damage in the wake of Katrina, insurance companies will categorize a lot of legitimate wind claims as flood- or water-related. The "wind or water" problem will hit Black storm victims hardest because they are likely to have their insurance with small companies - since the major firms "redlined" many Black neighborhoods. Most rebuilding funds after disasters come from private insurance - not the government.

4. Redline Black insurance policyholders.

Numerous studies show that African Americans are more likely than whites to receive insufficient insurance settlement amounts. Insurance firms target Black policyholders for low and inadequate insurance settlements based on majority Black zip codes to subsidize fair settlements made to white policyholders. If Black homeowners and business owners expect to recover from Katrina, then they must receive full and just insurance settlements. FEMA and the SBA cannot be counted on to rebuild Black communities.

5. Use "green building" and flood-proofing codes to restrict redevelopment.

Requiring rebuilding plans to conform to "green building" materials and new flood-proofing codes can price many low- and moderate-income homeowners and small business owners out of the market. This will hit Black homeowners and Black business owners especially hard since they generally have lower incomes and lower wealth.

6. Apply discriminatory environmental clean-up standards.

Failure to apply uniform clean-up standards can kill off Black neighborhoods. Use of full-scale cleanup of white neighborhoods to residential standards, while allowing no cleanup or partial cleanup - industrial standards - of Black residential neighborhoods. Failure to clean up Black residential areas can act as a disincentive for redevelopment. It could also make people sick. Use the argument that Black neighborhoods were already highly polluted with background contamination, or "hot spots," exceeding EPA safe levels pre-Katrina and thus need not be cleaned to more rigorous residential standards.

7. Sacrifice "low-lying" Black neighborhoods in the name of saving the wetlands and environmental restoration.

Allow Black neighborhoods like the Lower Ninth Ward and New Orleans East to be "yielded back to the swamp" while allowing similar low-lying white areas to be rebuilt and redeveloped. This is a form of "ethnic cleansing" that was not possible before Katrina. Instead of emphasizing equitable rebuilding, uniform clean-up standards, equal protection and environmental justice for African American communities, public officials should send mixed signals for rebuilding vulnerable "low-lying" Black neighborhoods.

8. Promote a smaller, more upscale and "whiter" New Orleans.

Concentrating on getting less-damaged neighborhoods up and running could translate into a smaller, more upscale and whiter New Orleans and a dramatically down-sized Black community. Clearly, shrinking New Orleans neighborhoods disproportionately shrinks Black votes, Black political power and Black wealth.

9. Revise land use and zoning ordinances to exclude.

Katrina can be used to change land use and zoning codes to "zone against" undesirable land uses that were not politically possible before the storm. Also, "expulsive" zoning can be used to push out certain land uses and certain people.

10. Phased rebuilding and restoration scheme that concentrates on the "high ground."

New Orleans officials are being advised to concentrate rebuilding on the areas that remained high and dry after Katrina. These areas are disproportionately white and affluent. This scenario builds on pre-existing inequities and "white privilege" and ensures future inequities and "white privilege." By the time rebuilding gets around to Black "low-lying" areas, there are not likely to be any rebuilding funds left. This is the "oops, we are out of funds" scenario.

11. Apply eminent domain as a Black land grab.

Give Katrina evacuees one year to return before the city is allowed to legally "take" their property through eminent domain. Clearly, it will take much longer than a year for most New Orleanians to return home. This proposal could turn into a giant land grab of Black property and loss of Black wealth they have invested in their homes and businesses.

12. No financial assistance for evacuees to return.

Thousands of Katrina evacuees were shipped to more than three dozen states with no provisions for return - equivalent to a "one-way" ticket. Many Katrina evacuees are running short of funds. No money translates into no return to their homes and neighborhoods. Promote the "right to return" without committing adequate resources to assist evacuees to return.

13. Keep evacuees away from New Orleans jobs.

The nation's unemployment rate was 5 percent in November 2005. The November 2005 jobless rate for Katrina returnees was 12.5 percent, while 27.8 percent of evacuees living elsewhere were unemployed. However, the Black jobless rate was 47 percent in November compared with 13 percent for whites who have not gone back.

Katrina evacuees who have made it back to their home region have much lower levels of joblessness. This is especially important for African Americans whose joblessness rate fell over 30 percentage points for returnees. The problem is that the vast majority of Black Katrina evacuees have not returned to their home region. Only 21 percent of Black evacuees have returned compared with 48 percent of whites.

14. Fail to enforce fair housing laws.

Allow housing discrimination against Blacks to run rampant. Katrina created a housing shortage and opened a floodgate of discrimination against Black homeowners and renters. In December 2005, the National Fair Housing Alliance found high rates of housing discrimination against African-Americans displaced by Hurricane Katrina. In 66 percent of the tests conducted by the NFHA, 43 of 65 instances, whites were favored over African-Americans.

15. No commitment to rebuild and replace low-income public housing.

Shortly after Katrina struck, even the secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development spoke of not rebuilding all of the public housing lost during the storm. The HUD secretary's statement is a powerful signal to New Orleans' poor that public housing may not be around for them to return to.

16. Downplay the Black cultural heritage of New Orleans.

Promote rebuilding and the vision of a "new" New Orleans as if the rich Black culture did not matter or act as if it can be replaced or replicated in a "theme park" type redevelopment scenario. Developers should capture and market the "Black essence" of New Orleans without including Black people.

17. Treatment of mixed-income housing as superior to all-Black neighborhoods.

First, there is nothing inherently inferior about an "all-Black" neighborhood - or an all-Black anything for that matter. Black New Orleanians who chose to live in neighborhoods that happened to be all-Black - whites have always had the right to move in or move out of these neighborhoods - should not be forced to have their neighborhoods rebuilt as "integrated" or "multicultural" neighborhoods. Also, "mixed-income" housing, to many Blacks, conjures up the idea of 10 percent of the fair market housing units set aside for them. Many Blacks are battle-weary of competing for that 10 percent. New Orleans was 68 percent Black before Katrina - and most Black folks were comfortable with that.

18. Allow "oversight" (overseer) board to manage Katrina funds that flow to New Orleans.

Take away "home rule," since the billions of Katrina redevelopment dollars that will flow to New Orleans is too much money for a majority Black city council and a Black mayor to oversee or manage. More important, the oversight board will need to represent "big-money" interests - real estate, developers, banking, insurance, hotels, law firms, tourist industry etc. - well beyond the purview of a democratically elected city government to ensure that the vision of the "new" New Orleans, "smaller and more upscale," gets implemented.

19. Delay rebuilding and construction of New Orleans schools.

The longer the New Orleans schools stay closed, the longer the families with children will stay away. Schools are a major predictor of racial polarization. Before Katrina, over 125,000 New Orleans children were attending schools in the city. Blacks made up 93 percent of New Orleans schools. Evacuated children are enrolled in school districts from Arizona to Pennsylvania. Three months after the storm, only one of the New Orleans' 116 schools was open.

20. Hold elections without appropriate Voting Rights Act safeguards.

Almost 300,000 registered voters left New Orleans after Katrina. The powerful storm damaged or destroyed 300 of the 442 polling places. Holding city elections pose major challenges regarding registration, absentee ballots, city workers, polling places and identification for displaced New Orleanians. Identification is required at the polls, and returning residents may not have access to traditional identification papers - birth certificates, drivers' licenses etc. - destroyed by the hurricane. More than three months after Katrina struck, 80 percent of New Orleans voters have not made their way back to the city, including most African Americans, who comprised a two-thirds majority of the population before the storm.

Most of the estimated 60,000 to 100,000 New Orleans residents who have made it back are white and middle class, changing the racial and political complexion of the city. Holding elections while the vast majority of New Orleans voters are displaced outside of their home district and even their home state is unprecedented in the history of the United States, but it also raises racial justice and human rights questions.

Robert D. Bullard is the director of the Environmental Justice Resource Center at Clark Atlanta University.

the prophet muhammed cartoons, menim penquin and the worldwide fundamentalist movement

THURSDAY

passing of the guard

coretta graduated

ive lost respect for the king family
hate to see the last of the strong generation go

WEDNESDAY

jihad/crusade this

you know i was being all astounded that the islamic
world was so up in arms about the danish paper
printing the satires of muhammad

was thinking you cant tell folk they cant print a political cartoon
spoofing the prophet (on penalty of death)

thats your religion, not mine

then i thought how blackfolk got up in arms about menim penquin
and if we had had the power we would have chastised mexico too

and wondered if there was any difference in those two sensibilities
some folk were just as perplexed about us jumping up and down

decided the religious factor made the difference
if we commence to jumping up and down everytime somebody denigrate
african religion we wouldnt have time to do nothing else

and we werent saying it was blasphemy, just insensitive
didnt threaten to kill nobody behind it neither
so i gave us a pass but still it raised some interesting issues

i will accept that publishing them was in bad taste
but thats kinda the nature of political cartoonists, to push the envelop

the rightwing been up in arms about a recent tom toles cartoon of a quadruple amputee soldier being called 'battle hardened' by rumsfield

and it was clearly a matter of that cartoon hitting a little too close to home on them

as an artist its hard for me to accept fundamentalist restraints of any sort, i accept provocation as artistic inclination and i have to accept these cartoons the way i accepted (supported) rushdies right to write satanic verses w/o being fatwahed

but then you had the hutu broadcasters during the rwandan genocide
do i support their freedom of speech, i tell you its tricky

and now some iranian paper has announced a contest for holocaust cartoons
but thats the way it goes, play and counterplay

i guess its people dying i guess that makes the difference for me
i dont see where it ever has to get to that, of course i realize it often does
but thats not the world im trying to build

but this little to do is indicative of just how serious this conflict is
and why we need a real president instead of these bumbling incompetents

we are in a very delicate moment in time and we need sophisticated players at the helm
according to a saudi blogger, the religious policeman, the west is at a disadvantage in this conflict

says this "illustrates how successful we have been over the years in getting them to accept the "Principle of Asymmetry". In other words, we use their sense of "fair play", "multiculturalism", "democratic values", and of course their guilt feelings, against them, so that they restrict their own freedom of action, but are very lax when dealing with the Muslim, for fear of offense or violent reaction. This of course confuses and demoralizes the ordinary person-in-the-street, and weakens their resistance to the onward march of the Ummah"

i have worked this post over many times specially since its getting hits
still not comfortable with it and wonder if its reactionary but i dont think so
i think this west/islam thing has gotten mighty tricky and i got to call it like i see it

while aspiring to dialogue and mutual evolutionary agreement

i am concerned about the dynamics of relatively open societies under assault
by relatively closed ones, the open society is at a disadvantage in this dynamic

in scifi the open society always wins, in real life im not sure
and i spec you know all that submission dont fly w/me

i man free man

i hunted down the muhammad cartoons online cause i wanted to see what the fuss
was about but im not putting them up -  not my battle and im not willing to
pay the freight - dont want nobody trying to make they virgins off me

ie i would be afraid to do so and cannot tell you how much that shames me

apparently the point of banning images is so as not to deify the prophet
if so, the ban does not appear to have been successful

apparently the original series was very much
in your face and we see where that got them
may have been legit but it wasnt smart

specially when they previously turned down spoofs on jesus
as too inflammatory

apparently danish imans and islamists with agendas have fanned the flames
and now people dying
i want to wash my hands of both sides but it does not seem possible at this point

and i have to say im tired of fundamentalists
imposing their dogmas on the rest of us

our homegrown christian fundamentalists been howling about us
respecting their dogmas too - demanding we live by their rules

i dont try to force other folk to live by my spiritual rules
why should i be forced to live by theirs (specially under threat of mortal sanction)

if anything our homegrown fundamentalists frighten me more
with their ever tightening noose of christian sharia more and more
imposed on the rest of us

you might say it could never happen here but i would have said that
about a lot of what the bush admin has wrought (incl torture as policy)

its one thing sneering at creationism/intelligent design/whatever
its entirely another when we got kids dying in iraq on
halfbaked crusades
and backroom abortion tables

(somehow the rightwing has just taken over - we woke up
one morning to find we had given our souls and our country to the devil)

and truth be told i dont think that much of atr fundamentalists either
all that bloodly sacrifice and all them dead animals really aint necessary
buncha archaic bullshit left over from the stoneages, bout time for yall to grow up

or black radical fundamentalists with their holier than thou
apocalyptic sense of struggle that dismiss all other activists/strategies as
not revolutionary enough - listen to them and we cant do nothing but be mad

all these fundamentalists
can go to hell

(that line felt good to me as an endnote but i dont want to leave it on that note
too. . well. .fundamentalist)

suffice it to say
this west/islam conflict has gotten very tricky

i have read articles in the islamic press that express  the
same fear/threat for their livestyles/cultures that i feel for mine

we got to find some common ground
somewhere the bushs and binladens of the world cant touch us

i do believe the west got to put its guard up on this one
i do not want to live in the facist reality radical islam wants to impose on the world

at the sametime i recognize the islamic world in the house
im willing work with it but i aint willing to submit to it

i appeal to the muslim community
live and let live

rein in your maddogs and i will
rein in mine

word by
rickydoc trickmaster

wouldbe prophet of the hoodoo way
(and never i hope the point of such murderous deification)