rootwork the rootsblog: a cyberhoodoo webspace

rootsletter0606: vol 1

gon use this week to draft a rootblog newsletter:
a best rootsblog news of the month thing
put it together the last week of every month

have it be a strategic document

---------

hello world

rootsletter vol 1: may 2006: a strategic document
a work of strategy: the key that opens all locks

last time i did this it was all over the place
try to be more disciplined this time , bear with me

content:

movement news
blackworld crises points
cultural notes
victories and defeats

strategic posture
the geas of rickydoc

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

movement news

the covenant and 21st century paradigms of struggle
new orleans and the black belt south

the covenant and 21st century paradigms of struggle

tavis smiley initiates covenant with black america
a manual of activism, sophisticated rollout

very 21st century attempt to manifest new
paradigms of struggle

not comprehensive enuf for my taste but i
will accept what i can get when it comes to struggle

new orleans and the black vote

nagin barely beats challenger landrieu in new orleans mayoral vote
black vote exceeds projections and evidence determination to remain players

forget chocolate city, we talking black belt south

blackworld crises points

somalia and war on the horn
ethiopia and outlaw bloggers
haitis preval on the highwire
rebel conflict in the sudan

war on the horn

war raging in somalia between islamic courts and warlords
the warlords are ravenous beasts and the islamic courts
trying to impose a fundamentalist islam on somalia

warlords losing as well they should, they have been unwilling to govern
and the un backed interim government afraid to venture to mogadishu

likely scenario is victory by fundamentalist islam
move somalia deeper into the islamic conquest
of africa column

ethiopia censors outlaw bloggers

ethiopia trying to censor its bloggers

bloggers using online document from reporters w/o borders
handbook for bloggers and cyberdissidents on how to set up
and maintain an effective subversive blog

apparently bloggers often only independent voices in
many of the repressive governments of the world

outlaws
keeping the faith

haitis preval on the highwire

haitis preval inaugurated and performing balancing act
trying to reconcile calls for aristedes return w/demands of the countries
that exiled him and competing demands of haitis ongoing class warfare

at inaugural party predators and victims shared
rice and beans and chicken

gon be a tough row to hoe
got my hoodoo fingers crossed

conflict between rebels in sudan

(xxx)

assorted victories and defeats (you decide which is which)

shirleaf election in liberia
bush administration domestic policy
dutch somalian sister going to work for AEI

(more later . back to rest . ..)

cultural notes:

vanderbilt university as afroam literary center
vieira and the cameos prize

vanderbilt busts a move

vanderbilt university in nashville making a bid to become
african american literary center by hiring 5 new afroam literary faculty
including houston baker, homegirl hortense spillars and alice randall

must have been offers they couldnt refuse to get houston
out of duke and hortense from cornell

vieira and the cameos

71 year old angolan writer jose luandino vieira
refused portugal/brazils prestigious cameos prize ($128,000)

apparently in order to continue living monkish life on
mountaintop in portugal - im intriqued

ordered his big book, luanda, from amazon
will let you know how it reads


strategic posture:

strategic posture according to sui:

a multifaceted strategic awareness,
attuned to the tactical flow

constantly adapting and calibrating in a multifaceted strategic web

some moves bold and strong, some quiet and hidden, some
waiting silently in the wings

personal note: the geas of rickydoc

i have had a vision

i see the hoodoos of the future
destinyplayers all

with a sense of responsibility for the
well being of tribe and all humanity . .

and the prophetic skilz necessary
to manifest that vision

i am mythmaker and
this is what i see.

rickydoc flowers

wouldbe prophet
of the hoodoo way

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

the best of rootsblog: vol 1
http://rootsblog.typepad.com

please respond with unsubscribe in subjectline if
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w/the quickness

-------------------------------
awaken the sleeper
protect the weak
guide the strong

rest for the weary

FRIDAY

been working on rest finally

took me a minute to get my groove
first real session yesterday, god its a relief to be working
now i can take care of new ren and hoodoo way business
cant do nothing else less the work getting done, including rootsblog

gotta clock some pages
its do or die

be well we wary be safe
rdoc

MONDAY

mr im gon work so hard didnt do diddley
over the weekend, very nice conference
very provocative, put some things on my mind

but that dont get me to the promiseland

ima have to dig in - once i get in the zone im okay
but the next couple of days/weeks will be critical

seems my boy nagin made it to highground
mostly cause landrieu fought a clean fight
heda had a better chance in the gutter

im impressed w/the both of them

i hope they can both pull together to keep
new orleans safe, to rebuild those communities

did do a little hoodoo way work this weekend, that felt good,
that initiative is probably my biggest concern beyond novel

reluctant to post on the listserve unless i got
evidence of some progress

tired of just talking to be talking, got great ideas
all i need is followthru (ie time)

but i get discouraged so easily these days
dont have the faith in myself i used to have
takes more internal peptalk than it used to

and it will be hard to do anything (inluding rootsblog posts)
until i got my novel groove on, otherwise everyday everyhour
is a struggle to focus on rest for the weary

cant do nothing else till i feed that jones
and on that note i think im going to go by the library
thats always the first line of offense

first it removes me from the temptations of home
like eating, sleeping, reading, tv, etc  (and internet)

also i surround myself with the fruits of other writers
the fruits of other solitary labors

i figure if all these folk can get their books done
so can i

in struggle
rdoc

FRIDAY

2 oclock in the morning and im clocking hours

well actually im on the computer in the lodge lobby
but im about to clock me some hours as soon as
i feed my news jones

didnt bring no books so as not to yield to temptation
didnt bring no projects so as not to yield to temptation

all i brought was novel,

schedule says breakfast at 8,
hell i can clock a full six hour work day by 8

course that means ill be wandering around in a daze during
the day - thats my usual mo, my work in the morning
everybody else gets whats left

(probably sneak a nap in between panels, no wonder im always tired)

hangingtough
rdoc

THURSDAY

responsibility is in the eye of the beholder

im outta here again, be back next week
hopefully get some work done at departmental retreat

last time i was at minnowbrook was very productive
got up early in the morning and clocked hours

big lake outside your window very good
for that kind of groove - that quiet gurgle gurgle
is good for the literary soul

you can tell im getting my energy back cause
im posting more - 1st step in getting my groove on

ran across this article recently about beating death
of black kid in florida boot camp

columnist received many disturbing replies about how black
dysfunction is responsible for black crime, poverty, etc  (and apparently
for this kid getting beat to death)

folk claiming racism no longer a factor and blacks responsible
for their own condition

one letter writer said the guards did the black community a favor

now anybody knows me knows black responsiblity
for our condition is my thing

self determination is my political bread and butter

distresses me when folk accuse me of buying into the black pathology
position because such is not the case

i do however believe crying about racism is like a sailor cursing the sea
because its wet

surely by now we have factored racism
into our strategic posture

but this column speaks about the glee with which certain whitefolk
climb upon the racial responsiblity wagon

their blissful insistence that racism no longer plays a part in our
condition

au contrary and
easy for you to say

columnist drops facts about incarceration and other matters
that reek of residual and institutional racism

but im not going to go too deeply into it because
i believe complaining to or about whitefolk is pretty much
a waste of time

blackfolk are my primary audience and strategy my turf
(and reparations? - give me a break blackfolk and get real)

but even though the primary struggle now is the struggle within
that dont mean it aint still a luta continua - its a dual track and
both trains running

21st century stylee

this particular 'thug' was in jail for taking his grandmothers car
on a joyride - i remember sneaking my daddys car out the driveway
letting it roll until it hit the street so nobody would hear me start it up

- for that this kid got beat to death

official autopsy claimed it was sickle cell complications
more like whitefolk complications

whitefolk smirking how the guards did the black community a favor
by beating him to death do not come from no love of their fellow man

in case anybody missed it
thats racism

alive and well

in struggle
rdoc

situation in darfur getting twisty

rebel split contesting land and power
starts replicating janjaweed tactics

two african tribes, the fur and the zaghawa

minnawi of the zaghawa has signed the peace treaty,
nur of the fur has not

apparently the fur are the most numerous tribe in area

the zaghawa, more militarized and w/support from zaghawa
leaders of chad were more effective in keeping janjaweed at bay

so fur took hammer blow of the cleansing

the two factions initially fought together but
split maybe a year ago - a split nurtured by khartoum

the zaghawa are spread across the borders of sudan chad and libya
and the fur suspected an attempt to dominate the area

a suspicion nurtured by khartoum

the zaghawa took most of the fighters, but the
fur have the largest support base

thats bad enuf but recently minnawis troops raided a fur village
w/murder most foul and rapine janjaweed stylee

what a revolting development this is

not only because historically blacks in the sudan have lost to
arab conquerors mostly through an inability to unify in the face of
conquest and genocide - time and time again - and again

but also if the rebels lose the high moral ground
and the global support it engenders they are toast

and it just feels bad to see blackfolk turning on blackfolk again
clownishly aping the methods of their oppressors - my people my people

will we ever learn

all for one and one for all
together we stand, divided we fall

rdoc

WEDNESDAY

1 gigabyte of data cost $20 dollars in the usa
1 gigabyte of data cost $1800 in africa

mostly because african traffic even to other african states
is routed through europe or the united states

there is no infrastructure

the kenyan minister of information bemoaned africas predicament
we are behind almost everybody he said

so what else is news

in struggle
rdoc

TUESDAY

the geas of rickydoc

i have this vision of
the hoodoos of the future

destinyplayers all

with a sense of responsibility
for the well being of tribe and
all humanity

and the prophetic skilz to
manifest that responsibility

i will  maintain stumbling attempts
to manifest that vision

in spite of almost inevitable failure

for i am mythmaker and this is
what i see

rickydoc trickmaster

wouldbe prophet
of the hoodoo way

rest for the weary

hello world
im tired

the old rootdoctor bone tired
im weary unto my soul

seem to have just collapsed

happens every end of schoolyear
burnout collapse in prep for woodshed

so im just laying there reading scifi and just barely that
i read i sleep i turnover and read some more

throws off my juggling act to take week(s) off like that
nothing worse than the sound of responsibilities and
initiatives thudding to the ground

responsibilities and initiatives i will have to work very hard to put
back in play but im just whipped and the game aint in me

and this diabetes thing got me learning how to keep
myself alive, hale and hearty - thrown me off my groove

and been running the road every weekend

supposed to be gone this one too, usually the road warrior thing
dont bother me but im on fumes now, just barely holding on

hopefully a week of burnout put me back
in gear - so much to do, so little time

so many things i should be doing at any given moment
they sometime overwhelm me

maybe if i felt more successful at what i do
if i didnt always feel behind the curve and
coming up short

listening to that damned clock
driving me to distraction

tick tock tick tock

dont get me wrong, i aint whimpering
i know how to count my blessings, im just tired

im always tired, im weary
aint no rest for folk like me

always something i should be doing
always something im coming up short on
always folk depending on me

only rest is when you just kinda collapse
only rest is the pleasure of knowing you got your work done

got to assume death and the afterlife
gon be struggle too

struggle come so natural you generally dont count it
struggle is a state of being

but sometimes and i know yall feel me on this . . .

sometime just got to say lord give me a minute
just let me sit down here a minute i be right back on it

i hope i pray my novel gon be rest for the weary

a great spell that renews and transforms
everyone it touches

pick them up and dust them off
whisper a few words of encouragement

i hope i pray rest for the weary awakens the sleeper
protects the weak and guides the strong

hangingtough
rickydoc

tick tock

wouldbe master of struggle comments on article by leslie fulbright: Black Americans embrace covenant of top priorities

hello world

i got to roll, supposed to be heading for dc
but i found this when i did one last google news
before turning the computer down

been wondering whats happening with that covenant
im really pulling for them to have some of the effect
they going for

i probably wont leave this as a whole post
but it covers a lot of ground that i want to master

i would like to be the authority on struggle
for my generation

one of those probably wont pull it off
but wouldnt it be an interesting effort

a lot to chew on here for a wouldbe
master of struggle

want to make sure this is available when i
get back, cant always trust the internet to
keeep stuff

in struggle
rdoc

=================

Growing frustrated waiting for a modern-day Martin Luther King Jr., some influential African Americans are saying it is time for individuals and communities to step up on their own and address the problems that plague black America.

This thinking gained urgency after Hurricane Katrina destroyed several largely black communities in August and revealed a lack of leadership and political power. 

One of the most ambitious attempts to inspire action is "The Covenant with Black America," a book of essays, statistics and activism tips released in February that outlines 10 pressing concerns for African Americans and how individuals can start addressing them. The book hit the No. 1 spot on the New York Times Bestseller list and was a top seller on Amazon.com and BarnesandNobles.com within days of its release. 

To keep the momentum, the covenant's contributors urged people across the nation to hold book parties next weekend and strategize on turning the suggestions into action. Hundreds of gatherings are planned, including four in the Bay Area.

"The covenant may not be all things to all people, but it does provide the information which can generate the inspiration for African Americans at every level of our society to work toward the transformation of this country," said talk show host Tavis Smiley, the book's editor. "There is a role for everyone in this movement."

Word of a new movement has been spreading across the country. A resounding theme at a recent panel in North Carolina titled "Beyond Rosa Parks: Civil Rights in the 21st Century" was that the time for one phenomenal figure has passed. Speakers such as Urban League President Mark Morial and Theodore Shaw, president of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said citizens must take responsibility for addressing inequalities in education, incarceration and unemployment.

African Americans often have looked toward their churches for leadership, but many don't like the fact that ministers sometimes receive the title of "leader" simply because they are outspoken; they say preachers don't always speak for the community.

"We don't necessarily need a charismatic leader at the top," said Barbara Arnwine, executive director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law in Washington.

The turning point will come only when one of the issues that plague the community consumes the nation, many say.

"An idea is at the core of all movements," Arnwine said. "The days of the Rosa Parks and Martin Luther Kings may no longer be here, but the power of an idea always generates such beings. A movement is a sort of university for new leaders."

Historically, civil rights struggles have started with citizens and then spread, said Taylor Branch, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and authority on the American civil rights movement. And any movement must draw people together over the concern, he said.

"Someone would have to say, we are not going to tolerate 3 million people in prison," Branch said in an interview. "The people would have to take it seriously. People don't even vote anymore, and being in a movement is a full-time duty."

The roots of the movement in the 1960s lay in individuals' decisions to take a stand, he said.

"People were asking questions and taking citizenship seriously," Branch said. "They were refusing to be intimidated. We can't assume there will be another MLK, and if there is, he may not be a man, a black man or a preacher."

Morial said on the panel that movements of the past also had strategy.

"There was no public relations initiative," Morial said. "Civil rights was about protecting past gains. African American leadership in the 21st century is more varied and diverse than ever, but it is important that this generation recognize that we have been handed a baton."

Franklin McCain, an iconic civil rights figure who sat at an all-white lunch counter at F.W. Woolworth in Greensboro, N.C., in 1960 and demanded to be served, said he and his college friends discussed their plan in advance and were determined.

"I was tired of being walked on and being treated like an animal," McCain said. "Our success is a tribute to what a small number of people can do if they are prepared to make a sacrifice."

The four men's action ignited a protest and economic boycott of the store that led to the desegregation of the lunch counter five months later and set in motion the effort across the South to outlaw business policies that reinforced segregation.

"For any movement to be successful, you have to make a commitment," McCain said.

Shaw said people have to recognize that Parks didn't just show up and demand a seat on the bus. She planned.

"It took courage without knowing what would happen," Shaw said. "I don't know if we have a civil rights movement. Work is being done. Movements are organized, but it is much harder now."

Smiley has long been committed to pushing the change in the black community. He started his State of Black America panel series seven years ago to discuss issues in the community.

He decided in 2004 to publish a book outlining some of the ideas, hoping it would start a movement. Since the covenant came out in February, Smiley and Cornel West, the Princeton professor and noted author, have been promoting the book in black communities across the nation.

"We are intent on building a movement," West said. "The next step is grassroots town meetings. We must keep alive the dialogue around the covenants."

"Just because no one is bombing your house and there are no dogs biting you does not mean the civil rights movement is dead," the Rev. Al Sharpton said at Smiley's most recent State of Black America gathering in Houston. "We can't keep waiting."

In addition to the gatherings, the covenant curriculum includes a list of required reading about historical black democratic action and a manual on strategies.

"Our education system has allowed Black History Month to become a checklist item," said Stephanie Robinson, president and CEO of the Jamestown Project, which is organizing the first official implementation of the covenant curriculum in New Haven, Conn. 

"The root of citizen disinterest lies in a lack of knowledge about past movements. We need to get out of this trap and teach about race and democracy in a way that will benefit every citizen," Robinson said. "The covenant isn't really an agenda but a document that allows a place to see facts and identify items of interest. It allows people to start getting information, people who haven't ever had a place to look and find information and tools."

---

10 major concerns for African Americans

 

Covenant I: Securing the right to health care and well-being

Covenant II: Establishing a system of public education in which all children achieve at high levels and reach their full potential.

Covenant III: Correcting the system of unequal justice

Covenant IV: Fostering accountable community-centered policing

Covenant V: Ensuring broad access to affordable neighborhoods that connect to opportunity

Covenant VI: Claiming our democracy

Covenant VII: Strengthening our rural roots

Covenant VIII: Accessing good jobs, wealth and economic prosperity

Covenant IX: Assuring environmental justice for all

Covenant X: Closing the racial digital divide

For details on the covenant or to sign up for a book party, visit www.covenantwithblackamerica.com.

E-mail Leslie Fulbright at [email protected].                

redemption:the legacy of john o killens, bill forde and marie brown

WEDNESDAY

hello world, im laying low

taking a week off before digging
into the woodshed - meanwhile

ishmael is on the warpath

ishmael reed's counterpunch article
calling out black newsfolk for being
he calls mind doubles has stirred up
a hornets nest

the trickster is loose

FRIDAY

sigh of the freeman

whew, semesters over - ima freeman

got to get back in my personal groove:
rest for the weary, the hoodooway and newren

delivering two presentations tomorrow at blacktech conference
supposed to be on panel about future of afroam struggle
in syracuse (longgame) and a seminar on blogging

got to be prepared cause whenever i speak
i speak in words of power

brooklyn workshop sunday
and 3 novel manuscripts to go

never truly free

but all obligations personal ones now
nothing but my work for 4 months as
god intended

gon be a struggle, always is
but thats the kind of struggle i live for

god i love summer

praying for the sudan

rebel groups been recalcitrant about signing peace treaty
in the sudan - the african union, the un and the world seem
to think its a good deal so the pressure is on them

today the largest of 3 signed the peace treaty
everybody hoping the end of this nightmare is near

lotta questions:

- main rebel group has reluctantly signed but 2 smaller ones have not
- previous peace treaties have been broken (but none w/this % of world attention)
- power sharing and integration of forces issues
- moving refugees back to viable homes and ensuring their security
- developmental issues that inspired revolt
- tribal issues that aggravated it
- etc etc etc

so many questions

that the odds against this peace being signed
they against it holding

got my hoodoo fingers
crossed

rdoc

MONDAY

i am flowers of the delta clan flowers and the line of o killens

all my books start with that line - a griotic formula: who you are
and who you were trained by - i was trained by john o killens

the great griot master of brooklyn

i think of him often
as i wade thru novel manuscripts ive agreed to read for folk

got a stack of them been on my desk for months now
and trying to clear the decks for the summer woodshed

most of the time i have to tell folk i dont think this piece
is ready for prime time just yet -

got to hit it again, full court rewrite

thats always a bummer
sometimes my frankness discourages folk

often my advice just alienates young writers and make me feel
like im wasting my own writing time trying so hard to be so frank

easier to just stroke folk
but if you really believe in their potential you got to give it
to them straight - hope they finesse it - take it to higherground

cause this a sacred calling this thing and it will eat your life
cant let folk waste life and all it takes to write a novel
to put long hard and sacrificial years on a fantasy

cause i didnt tell them the truth

my basic mode is to encourage encourage encourage
eyes wide open and in full knowledge

if i agree to help somebody -
i try to help them get to a professional level of craft
and vision - one that can break thru the wall

otherwise its a joke, playing with life
wasting your time and mine on something aint real

hard out here for blackfolk trying to do something
got to be twice a good as the best -  dont
understand that you aint ready

that goes for my students at the schoolhouse too
schools turning out thousands of mfas thesedays

one or two get thru - cant go out there with what
everybody else got and think you in the game

got to shine - so strong you cannot be denied
so deep they cannot afford to tell you no

looking at my own stack of manuscripts to be read
i often think of john killens and what it must have cost him

he had so many folk depending on him
and im amazed once again at how freely he gave

of all the greats john o was the one who systematically gave to
young wouldbe writers - who worked hard to established a literary infrastructure
that would nurture and support committed young black writers

the older i get the more i appreciate his sacrifice
the more i appreciate his blessing

john killens saw redemption for the black race and its destiny
and he saw a role for literature in that redemption and it is a great
and wondrous vision that he had

he trained two three generations to be the kind of writers he saw
these long distance runners - his influence yet to be felt - his story
yet to be told

he dont get no respect nowdays and nobody knows him but i cant let
what john was and saw disappear - no he trained me better than that

i often feel inadequate to johns legacy but ima do what i can
this one baton i willnot drop

helping folk make books is a skill in which i have been trained
it is a skill of which i am proud - unleashing young talent is what i do

my hoodoo specialty

enable an artist you blessing them
and everybody their work touches

but it is a very delicate process, fiddling with their souls
like that

give them the wrong suggestions and they lose years
wandering down sidestreets

perhaps never ever to find their way back to their true path

over at the schoolhouse me and ling na been tussling over her thesis
ive cautiously but insistently suggested it could not stay where it was  -

i feared i had lost her

sometimes the visions just arent compatible
what you say of no use to them

but at the graduation ceremony ling na read a poem:

   conversation over the chessboard

       the earth is our chessboard
i make the last move and say to arthur
      my army went across the river
   he blows away the mist and says
         you lost your last soldier
    it feels like a million years before i
         find the beheaded soldiers
           runaway commanders
        broken swords in the water
            i then say to arthur
      i can never get across the river
he says, you will, you need a new army
                   and time

i detected moisture in the corner of my eye

one dreams of awards, big dollars and recognition
but it dont get no better than that

hanging tough
rickydoc flowers