rootwork the rootsblog: a cyberhoodoo webspace

dr kioni and the hoodoo way, barack obama and the blackier than thou bandwagon at black commentator

THURSDAY

hello world, even getting paid its not worth it
took me about 3 work days to prepare for this presentation

w/ a full days work averaging 2 - 3 novelpages a day
thats potentially 9 novel pages that i missed out on, thats no good

also was reading this morning (surfing when i should have been working)
where the attorney general in minnesota was put on the justice 8 list

because he resisted bush administration attempts to disenfranchise
nativeamericans in minnesota

apparently the repub secretary of state decided that amerinds in minn
could not use their tribal ids to vote, many dont have any other

and nativeamerican support had made the difference
in a recent close election won by a democrat

when the ag in minn resisted that slick little move as unamerican
he was replaced with a republican talking head known for such

another arrow in the bush admins ruthless attempt to use control
of the government to throw elections and perpetuate their reign

like they did  florida 2000 and ohio 2004 and no telling where else
they came in slicking and slicking is all they know to do

they certainly dont waste their time governing

they were basically setting up a banana republic dictatorship - and you
said it couldnt happen here

its apalling how overt their policy of disenfranchising democratic
voters has been - makes a mockery of this democracy they been
trying to forcibly export to middle east, no wonder theyve blown it

they wouldnt know democracy if they stepped on it

surfing along i checked out dr kionis yard as i sometimes do
just to see what he doing, see if he come up w/new licks i need to adapt (steal)

i like that boys 21st century hoodoo stylee

found this interesting post - interesting because kioni is one of the most
sophisticated and conscious hoodoos trying to nurture the tradition and

works well w/folk of all persuasion but he got his beefs:

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

Dear readers,

What I am about to say will be controversial and you may feel alienated or offended. I do not apologize for the tone of this brief diatribe because the message begs to be heard. To my White colleagues, clients, students and friends who embrace and reverence the African Diaspora without bastardizing it, I salute and embrace you as Brothers and Sisters grafted into the great African Ancestral Tree. ~ Dr. Christos Kioni

Ok, quite a few months back NBC Productions in NY interviewed me for a possible segment on SCI-FI Investigates which is now on the Sci-Fi Channel. I was very adamant that if they came to my home-temple to film me that the context of the segment must show reverence for the African Diaspora. I told the producer I was not a tourist attraction nor was my home-temple open for the curious and sensation seekers. Well suffice it to say I did not hear back from NBC Productions, FOX News, or Art Bell's people to name a few of those that have contacted me. Anyway, last week I saw the segment on Voodoo and was appalled. The segment filmed in New Orleans featured an ALL CAUCASIAN Voodoo ceremony. The Mambo of the group was a blond white woman who supposedly was mounted by Marie Laveau. I could hardly contain my dismay and had to restrain myself from changing the channel.

Do you mean to tell me that NBC Productions could not find any Black voodoosants in New Orleans; NONE? Again, this is a white washing of the African Diaspora that has been going on for centuries. I find it ironic and hypocritical that white Americans denounce and prohibited our ancestors legitimate claim and practice of the African Diaspora; but the slave captors and their 21st Century heirs have taken the practice of Hoodoo, Voodoo, Palo, etc., and even the Blues as their own. Just how whack is that? 

I guess this is why I do not embrace the effort of Newagers and Neo-Pagans who seek to bastardize hoodoo. ENOUGH ALREADY! Go channel some so called alien and invent your own system of spirituality and stop stealing from the African Diaspora."

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

if you know kioni you know it must have bothered him cause
he a very even tempered man

this question of contemporary hoodoos multiculti nature is a major one
i am in favor of the whole world going hoodoo so i am comfortable with the dynamic

but the question is how do we keep the cultural heart of hoodoo beating strong
that part of hoodoo thats always been guide and guardian of the tribal destiny

and not let hoodoo be turned into a warmed over wicca, cute little folkmagic witchery
and commercial sensationalism

what do we say to all these folk who druid for a couple of years, wicca a couple, so forth
and so on, and then work their way to hoodoo, practice a couple of years then start telling
us what is and what aint allowed

wonder if they call him racist when he raise these questions like they do me

it hurts me when folk accuse me of racism but i have no intention of giving hoodoo
away as a cultural instrument, if anything i plan to make it an ever stronger one

but the folk who passing thru they aint interested in all of that
in hoodoo role as guide and guardian, as protector of the community

most folk practice a brand of slaverytime hoodoo
about a 100 years out of date - spells, hells and blackcat bones

thats cool, enjoy yourself

all you travelers you welcome to stop by and get what you can
but you cannot have this tradition and remove its higher calling

windwalker say that the problem come when we sit down for interviews with
folk and tell all our secrets, of which she believes i tell too many

or when we train them then they go off and build their own version

stripped of true power but because they good marketers and making good money
they become the acknowledged face of hoodoo, or voodoo, whatever,

she say weve given up old hoodoo and it cant be recalled but we need to
keep the cutting edge of what she calls new hoodoo to ourselves -

which speaks to me cause the cutting edge of hoodoo is being constantly generated by the contemporary stresses of the culture trying to adapt to the cultural challenges of the 21st century

then again, hoodoo always been a bastardized tradition w/a little some of everything in the pot
and practitioners of all persuasion 

hoodoo as cultural custodian thats ours -
but hoodoo has always made room for a variety of approaches

and ive been thinking of ways to generalize that community custodianship component so
everybody can use it  (keeping windwalkers admonition in mind about telling too many secrets)

if you simply must practice
try to keep up

i think kionis beef here is more the sensationalism than it is the multiculti aspect
i know he is very serious about not being sensationalized himself by media/etc

kioni very serious about maintaining control of his personal mythwork
and that of the tradition

kinda like when i took mojo rising to the folk at ballantine, they said arthur we
love your new book but we are going to take out everything uncomfortable, we
are going to make it a giftbook

a giftbook?  you mean the kind that sit by the cashregister
another ten little secrets, or whatever that recent sensation is

and they made me a very good offer, nice money and a 3 book deal

let me say now, these were friends of mine, stone cold literary companeros trying to look out for me, cheryl woodruff and them, trying their best to figure out a way to get my most challenging work published and how it could make them and me a lot of money, they were planning to position me as big hoodoo guru, a darker shade of depak chopra  - i was tempted, i had visions of 7 digit checks floating in my head

but here i was trying to define hoodoo as a true and powerful tradition
and the industry was trying to define me, and hoodoo, as spiritual pop

that wasnt gon fly

some of the same questions of personal mythwork and racial identity in
a multiculti reality come up in next commentary

let me context this one by saying im a big fan of black commentator
nothing like it anywhere else on the net, bc is one of the special ones

so i was reading this article on black consciousness this morning
and it was suprisingly weak

i liked the basic statement that we needed black consciousness but it didnt say anything else much worth reading, slogans ive heard many times before basically so i started scanning it -

until i read a condemnation of barack obama in which the article scathingly claims
obama said "there is no black america".

since i been tentatively and cautiously supporting obama, i followed the link supplied
to a cnn transcript and found out what he said was a tad more nuanced than implied

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

OBAMA: There is not a liberal America and a conservative America. There is the United States of America. There is not a black America and a white America and Latino America and Asian America. There's the United States of America.

KING: Frankly though, Senator, isn't it hard for a black American to say that there is only one America, with the history of the way blacks have been treated, to say there is no black America or Asian America with what you've faced?

OBAMA: Well, you know, I have a chapter in the book on race. And my basic premise is that we have, obviously, a powerful history of racial injustice in the country. It's only been a generation since we broke the back of Jim Crow.

What's remarkable to me is the amount of progress that we've made since I was born. I'm 45 years old now. I was born in 1961. The Civil Rights Act was passed in '64. The Voting Rights Act was passed in '65. And here I sit before you as a United States Senator. And you showed a clip of Oprah Winfrey, who may be the most influential woman in the country. (not a great criteria of progress, always been black exemps - rdoc)

And so obviously, we've made progress. What I always say is, we have to acknowledge the progress we made, but understand that we still have a long way to go. That things are better, but still not good enough.

And one of the messages, I think, in that speech is that our aspiration, our goal is to have a country that's not divided by race. And my impression, as I travel around the country, is that that's the kind of country that most people want, as well, and that we all have prejudice, we all have certain suspicions or stereotypes about people who are different from us, whether it's religious or racial or ethnic, but what I think I found in the American people, I think there's a core decency there, where if they take the time, if they get the time to know individuals, then they want to judge those individuals by their character.

Now, the question is, are we having enough interaction? Are we having enough discussion between various groups to ensure that people have that time to get to know each other?

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

okay, okay, i can live with that

black politician running for president, trying to parse it both ways
i can work with that, he doesnt have a lot of wiggle room w/this one

he in a funny space, got to maintain his black allegiance
and not scare whitefolk with it - hes actually doing pretty good walking that line

and i expect more out of the black commentator
than to de nuance the important questions of the day for black folk

specially on a question as critical as black consciousness
in the multiculti 21st century

and the more specific question of barack obamas black consciousness
in context of an historical run for the presidency

these are impo if not critical issues full of nuance and we are done
a disservice to have that dialogue reduced to demogoguery

as you may have noted, my own black consciousness is absolute
and the question of racial identity in a multiculti reality a critical one

but im not going to get on the blackier than thou bandwagon

and i suggest that black commentator strive to
maintain the highground and truly insightful analysis

its too important an institution to bottomfeed
we need sophisticated strategic analysis of our issues

and i look to black commentator to provide it

a luta continua
rdoc

hoodoo haints: in the name of the king, toni cade bambara and cultural workers, rickydoc flowers and ideological orchestration

SUNDAY

hello world, this turned into an interesting post (for this post you
need to put on some cassandra wilson cause this a magic carpet ride)

in the course of it i hainted martin luther king

getting very comfortable calling hoodoo ancestors haints and enjoyiing the process of gradually discovering them like im doing

think ima work it into rest (sorry ec)

im been using this riff where jubilation highjohn drape himself in 101 talismans when he is about to do performancework in the novel,

its become a trope but its 101 just because i liked the poetry of it - one hundred and one talismans

but what i should do is call on 101 hoodoo haints in the lyrical riffs - the hoodoo pantheon of rickydoc - drop an invocation into the text whenever i see narrative opp to do so

do it raw now, clean it up later -  narrative opps that reflect whatever attributes i want to give the haint
was thinking about it cause i hainted martin luther king while writing this post

im getting very comfortable calling my hoodoo ancestors haints
hainting them as the process of transforming them into tribal deities/guides/etc

how would i define that loafication process, that orishafication process,the sanctification process, in which tribal ancestors are annointed, want something very hoodoo, haintifying, haintification maybe

am i deifying them, that dont quite work for a highmagician to construct a process of deification
its beneath me - in the holy narrative im attempting to create, how do i want these tribal haints to function

deities
or something more

gotta be something more

why then do i feel the need to make it a holy narrative
because its more culturally binding, more effective mythwork

but i dont ever want to encourage subjecting humanity to the rule of deities
i think i see deities as instruments of humanity being greater than it is, as guides not masters

at the same time i acknowledge that most folk need deities

or someting along this line, i will have to figure it out later
this dont sound like one i will be able to answer off the cuff

what happen was i working on this presentation for the
educational opportunties center syracuse

cultivating success

my 1st straight up motivational speaker gig
hate to charge them but i aint doing it for free no more

they teach folk struggling, working folk trying to get back in school, immigrants, refugees
im talking to the teachers, consultants, administrators at their annual thingee

talking about teaching as a sacred calling
about teaching folk whove been left behind to catch up
about the challenges of that in the 21st century -

talking about teaching as handling fragile souls and how you get
weary in those social work jobs but you know you doing what

nobody else can . . . (blah de blah de - o you know the routine
my basic riffs shaped to the moment

ima rock the house and get paid, not a lot,
just enuf to feel good about it

that mean i got to shine

conch, anklebells, bluesharp and kalimba
they gon get the throw down - the full monty

trying to think of a performance haint to call on
somebody who know how to put on a hoodoo show

maybe marie leveau
apparently she knew how to put on a show, w/the snake and all

or maybe martin, because thats the kind of show
i really want to put on, on the realside, thats who i emulate

as a performance speaker

i want the martin luther king effect
21st century stylee, hoodoo stylee

im the name of martin luther
thats who im going to call on for performance work henceforth

shame about his daughter dying recently
shame about the family not holding up the torch

but i guess it bes that way sometime
folk got the right to walk their own path

have to remember that w/my nephews, my crew
my daddy didnt push me, he let me make my own decisions

take the consequences of faulty ones
one decision ive never regretted was to hold the torch up high

imogunla alakoye once ask me, who most changed the african american condition
martin or malcom, and imogunla was a malcolm acolyte, even looked like him

but we both agreed it was martin

that say a lot to folk who lived thru the pre civilrights south
i was trying to explain it to a ghanian partner of mine the other evening

who was shall we say not appreciating nonviolence as a strategy and talking a lot of i woulda this and i woulda that and i tried to explain the pre civilrights south situation and why it was the strategic posture appropriate to the moment and the courage it took

and i tried to explain the difference the struggle made in our lives
how the struggle caused us to say we just wasnt gon take this kinda treatment no more

and i was so inarticulate but he felt what i was trying to say

you folk who went through that with me you know what im talking about
i know you feel me

and you folk wasnt there
you feeling it too - i know you do

recently picked up a book walking down jericho road about the memphis garbargeworkers strike that
brought martin to mason temple that rainy night in 68, when he say he been to the mountain top

say he aint fearing no man - may not get there with you
but we as a people will get to the promised land - i seen it he say

thats the hoodoo haint im calling on for performance work henceforth
in the name of the king do i do this

in struggle
rdoc

SATURDAY

hello world
trying to post but not really feeling it

bush giving up a lot of material but truth be told
bushs antics have begun to bore me

his recent comment about the deadlines causing more casualties
same old bush trying to blame otherfolk for the consequences of his policies

we all know why we taking casualties in iraq

bush de classifying years old report on al quaeda in iraq
samo samo - amazing that he thinks we will still fall for this selective intell trick

even folk used to believe him tired of it, he keeps trying the same old techs
the same old slogans

goodling immunized testimony blaming everybody but herself
samo samo - the republican rightwing has just tired me out

darfur  samo samo   haiti  samo samo, im tired
im weary in my bones im weary

this morning i followed a google inquiry to rootsblog posts from 3 years ago
and it was kinda depressing - most of it does not stand the test of time

and i have written a lot of wordage for this thing and still average 50 hits a day
i read about folk w/100s and 1000s of hits a day and there is arthur, still chugging along -

the little engine that could

ive tried being more topical, but topical often bores me
you want straight news best to get it elsewhere

if im going to be putting the time in i have to deal with whats important to me
which often im sure becomes repetitive because it reflects my obsessions

its like im thinking out loud, working thru concepts impo to me as a thinker
a visionary and ideological orchestrator

im fond of that concept you notice, ideological orchestration - got it from toni cade bambara basically
she once at a writers conference john o did at howard referred to writers as cultural workers

the term spoke to me - she called them cultural workers because of her left marxist thing
but ive always been comfortable with the great man/woman theory of history - if you get my drift

so i translated that as cultural orchestrators, befitting a players sensibility who considers everybody, including the powerful to be played - to be placed on the board of destiny - the visionary artist is a manifestation of the individual as historical force - the left i come out of isnt comfortable with that

this comes out of the aesthetic of the griotic literary school of which i am a member - we consider ourselves cultural custodians, shaping the culture through our works

over the years this strategic posture evolved into ideological orchestrators - ideological players like myself
in contention trying to shape the way the world thinks - thereby shaping the future, the destiny of humanity

- the longest most comprehensive game, the one that swallows all others, is the one that wins
that is most influential in the shape of things to come

i think ideological orchestration but often use cultural orchestration because its more digestible to folk

but other writers get deals and make money off thoughts not nearly as pertinent or profound
(at least i think they pertinent and profound, sometimes i wonder if im just delusional)

they get listened to and get respect, me im just out here wailing away for my 50 a day
i console myself w/awareness that visionaries often dont get play during their lifetime

but i do often wonder about this blog and the time investiture, wonder if its worth it
i got to assume it is, i have over the years come to trust my creative obsessions

like when i became obsessed with learning bluesharp
and blew and blew and blew and it felt like a diversion then but i couldnt help myself

and now it (and kalimba) have become integral parts of my identity as a literary bluesman
a performance poet and ritual prophet/sorceror

these obsessions feel like they a waste of time when you caught up in them
but i assume that all this blog wordage will be historically significant somehow someway

one hopes one prays
because i dont seem to have a choice in this, every couple of days i sit down no

matter what and just write about something anything, whatever come to my head
while im sitting there

these blogs dont work unless you get obsessive about it and i tend to
the obsessive, its my artistic temperament, my big projects - novels and holybooks

wouldnt get done if i wasnt obsessive about it
but sometimes it works against me and i hit the wall - repeatedly

just bam bam bam bam bam

ohwell, i got to assume that when the roll is called my name will be there
got to assume it will all work out and the generations will appreciate what ive done

got a little taste of the blues i believe
sorry ec, just dont feel like roaring today

lets do a couple of comments flowers and get outta here
maybe reflect on some ticklish situations in which im not quite following the progressive partyline

lebanon: what can they do, cant enter the camps and cant let fatah a islam keep growing, got to ignore palestinian complaints but i hope they work hard at minimizing collateral damage (dead civilians)

dustup between congressional black congress and fox news in one corner - obama, clinton, edwards
et al in the other - theyve all have refused to participate in a presidential debate cbc set up w/fox in september

im with the candidates, cant support fox news efforts to fake folk out when they use their power so blatantly against our interests as a people - somehow they will context this to their agenda of discrediting us

i hear the fox been giving the cbc various sorts of bribes and other pr moves, but their substance is poison - far as im concerned them cbc folk need to straighen up and fly right - or left as the case may be

immigration: conflicted about being supplanted by hispanics but have to come out in favor of compassionate immigration policies because of our historical alliance and because it also affects folk from africa and the caribbean - just hate that blackfolk falling further into the cracks but that aint the fault of hispanics is it

we basically got to do it like the jews did it - small numbers, big game, global backup
got to turn the whole race into players

advice to barack and hillary under attack from republicans for recent vote against funding: ignore them
dont let them get you all defensive about what you know is right - shaping the dialogue is an old repub trick

samesame ex president carter, i admire that man, he speak his mind when he know he right - did it with israel (that took courage), did it with bush (just speak the truth)

hated they forced him to backup w/that silly tradition of presidential courtesy, his allegiance should be to america, to a world afflicted with bushitis - speak truth to the people man and let the chips fall

something i have to constantly remind myself
in the name of jimmy carter

and toni cade bambara

im outta here, taking my blues to

the sacred desk and clock some pages
thats always good for what ails me

my love to you all

rickydoc flowers
hanging in there

handling souls and testimonials: my spell worked perfectly thank you

WEDNESDAY

hello world, seems danny glover will be directing

a film on toussaint louverture, the 18th century haitian revolutionary, in a film produced by venezuela/chavez

danny glover been an interesting force has he not
might as well annoint him roving ambassador of black america

might as well make it official

least he wont have a white lead like upcoming bury my heart at wounded knee film

which told the story of the displacement of the nativeamericans, right - so hollywood continues that displacement by casting a white lead 

everyone felt very strongly that we needed a white character or part white/part indian character to carry a contemporary, mostly white, audience through this project" says scriptwriter daniel gait

actor adam beach is ojibwa so its a nativeamerican faking white in an ahistorical character
whose only purpose is give white audiences a narrative they can relate to

on what a twisted weave we web

reminds me of that old story about the lion and the hunter and
how the story go depend on who tell the tale

just read this fascinating nyt article, at least fascinating to a writer whose work engage storytelling,
that talked about the impo of personal narration to the formation of character

talked how the way you tell your lifestory shape your evolving personality

how telling your story in 3rd person appear to be psychologically healthier
than telling it in 1st person because it gives you the distance

necessary to finesse the hardtimes instead of wallow in them
(instead of you got the demon the demon got you)

and all kinds of fascinating such tidbits that will work themselves into
rest for the wearys narrative structure (sorry ec)

specially since a large part of rest is riffing the slave narratives, which were all 1st person

was thinking how i could have chars working their way from 1st to 3rd as a healing dynamic
and all sorts of such like riffs that i will keep in mind as i do this draft (sorry ec)

will have to read the article closer and ponder on its pertinence but right now, im trying
to get my groove back on, i been slacking with the pages, minnowbrook threw
me off my game - i was clocking pages before i went off those 3 days, i got to

chain myself to the sacred desk

this personal narrative thing also goes with my little mantra on the construction of self identity
as conjuration - conduct yourself as you aspire to be and you shall

wonder how glover fancy himself,
a contemporary louverture of some sort id say

him and chavez both
21st century revolutionaries id say

a luta continua
rdoc

MONDAY

hello world, you know i never trust website testimonials
its like yeah right, how long did it take you to write that one

but this one i received recently warm my little hoodoo heart
had a client recently, youngster, 17, 18, im not sure

was having trouble with her wastrel boyfriend and ask
me to take the case - make him love me, make him true

i ask her for the details, i consult the conqueror
and tell her i cannot do it, i will not take this case

he didnt sound like somebody worth keeping, he was treating her badly and abusing her, i advised her to let him go - walk away

but she was insistent, told me she had tried other hoodoos that had taken substantial amounts of money & left her feeling used

and if she didnt get right with him
she was just gonna die

she sounded so young to me, you know how it is when you that age
like it was this man or nothing,

and he was a young knucklehead not ready for love
didnt appear to be a bad guy, just wasnt ready for love and commitment

i told her be patient and the right one will come along
never take bad treatment from anybody -

she was preparing to go to college and all, had all these dreams

i told her spend this energy you using to chase/hoodoo this man
making yourself into the kind of person who will draw a good mate

concentrate on your life for a minute
told her its a world of choice still out there for you, this one is not it -

but she so young and desperate and by this time
i cared about her, had already taken on her case

and i was moved by her faith in the tradition to help her
thats what butter my bread

so i told her i would take the case but only if i was allowed to
construct the spell to do what i thought it should

she agreed

this is one of those situations i was talking about earlier
where you really have to be careful w/folks lives

folk ask me for life advice all the time and im very conscious i
might tell them to do something they shouldnt have

i often give life changing advice - advice that affects their destiny
and expect them to follow it with almost blind faith in me

if i dont feel that faith i dont take the case

and you really have to be careful when you have that kind of power over folk
when you handling souls

but at the sametime as a hoodooman, thats what i do, give life advice
handle souls

and im good at it, my heart is right, im sensitive to empowering folk and i aint
in it for the money - or the power - im in it to help people

i turn down the great majority of cases that come to me
its a big decision to take on responsibility for a troubled soul

dont make enuf money to justify the emotional expenditure or loss of noveltime
even if i were charging abusive money it still wouldnt be worth it

i charge 9 dollars or 99, depending on what i think folk can stand
only reason i charge anything at all is cause folk dont take you seriously unless you do

even then i often give folk the option of paying me only if you satisfied w/the results
and just as often give the advice for free during the consideration process - but if you actually

want me to Work for you, then you got to pay

for a desperate 17 year old still in highschool i tell her 9 crisp new dollar bills
but i dont tell her where to send them - i make it difficult for her to pay me even that

but i have to help her, in the course of consideration ive become fond of her
and i cant have her out here naively giving her soul into the care of charlatans

so w/a degree of trepidation, i design a spell that would bring him back & hold him if
that was to be but designed more to give her the strength to walk away if she so choose

designed to force her to decide what she wanted out of life
what she want out of a man - and demand it of both life and men

so anyway i recently receive this email from her,
edited to remove personal information:

Hello again sir,

First off I wanna thank you so much for helping me. I tried the spell but in the end it did not work for long but surprisingly I am not really upset. I tried to make things work but at the end of everything I couldn't make (   ) change his ways so he must see his mistakes on his own. I feel as though the work you did for me has given me the confidence to stand up for myself and I realized when doing my meditations the man I wanted,(   ) was no longer capable of being and it was in my best interest to really take a stand for myself and move on. I guess it took a little bit of ancestor magic and religion to pull the curtains from my eyes and I thank you dearly. I even think that the spell sent me someone else that matched what I was asking for in my meditations but all i'm worried about is doing well in college this fall. I do miss (   ) but now I understand what you meant when you said you wanted to give me spine and believe me I have a lot spine now. I remember you saying when I contacted you a long time ago something about nine dollars, if you charge anything I'll pay it because I have gained so much from this experience.   Again a huge thank you

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

i write her back and tell her au contrary
sound like my spell work perfectly thank you

in the name of the conqueror

o im so good at what i do
soulwork by trickmaster

wouldbe prophet of the hoodoo way

teaching the humanities and human rights

hello world
i got to tighten up

missing too many workdays

up at minnowbrook for this humanities and humanrights conference
i expected to get a lot of work done, didnt do diddly

got to go to the city for palf wed, i got to tighten up
missign too many workdays, im losing the summer

this my presentation for minnowbrook, the discussions though
were very provocative and some of my assumptions that i know
it all were challenged on an issue i consider very important

amelioration of the human condition

the most interesting panel was the non human rights panel
which i was ready to sneer at - go figure

im outta here
got to tighten up

rdoc

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

TEACHING THE HUMANITIES AND HUMAN RIGHTS

always nice to be scheduled early and be done early
as teachers of humanities we basically study the human condition

difference between studying the human condition and making the value
judgements the term human rights entail

so the question is how much
can we incorporate what we consider humanistic values in our teaching

what constitutes legitimate value quotient

and a perhaps more personalized goal
how do we empower our students as forces of human rights

cant impose your personal values on students, that doesnt work
so how do i get them to value human rights without preaching at them

two modes of influence on human condition for folk like us,

through our teaching and influence on students and institutions of higher learning
and our historical roles as academics, researchers, thinkers and intellectuals

the teaching mode is rigorously neutral, you give them the tools,
you give them the consciousness - you hope and pray

as teachers we have to achieve a certain distance, a certain neutrality,
or at least the appearance thereof

when in truth we are all of us working as hard as we can and our roles will allow
to ameliorate the human condition howsomeever we can

i prefer the phrase amelioration of the human condition to human rights

because its active, it implies agency, whereas human rights feels passive and removed from my actions – human rights doesnt feel like something i can have much influence on, bnot enuf to make a real difference

but ameliorating the human condition, i can do something about that everyday

and in particular in my work, i struggle to make my interests serve my sense of
commitment to the amelioration of the human condition

and i try to inculcate that same sense of responsibility in my students
through osmosis if necessary

i am fortunate in this matter in that i primarily teach young writers
and writers are most fundamentally observers and chroniclers of the human condition

to a large extent the degree of their power as writers will
be dependent on their sensitivity to the human condition
the degree to which their work engages the human condition

that they are insightful observers of the human condition
as thinkers, writers and artists i consider the human condition our turf
and making a diff as only an artist can a mark of literary greatness

now i cant impose my aesthetics and literary values on them

what I do try is show the value of works that do address the human condition and are
at the same time powerful works of art –so many of them assume those are exclusive values

I try to sensitize them to issues, to the dynamics of humanrights
and the responsibilities of the conscious and the competent

and most important i try to make them sophisticated in the dynamics and use of ideological power
sophisticated in how its used by the powerful, how its used by elites and counterelites
and the artists and intellectuals that serve them

many of them are already activists and i tell them to do what you can when you can however you can, but its likely the only real chance you have of affecting fundamental change in the human condition, as vast and intractable as it is, is through your work, your words

understand the power of art, understand the power of ideas, understand how they work

i try to sensitize them to their power and responsibilities as aspirant literary forces, I try to make a good case for a moral center of literature, I try to make them proud of being writers, i try to increase their understanding of literary power, of ideological power, of the power of art and ideas and how art and ieas work as historical and destinical forces. I try to give them agency.

It is agency i believe that makes the difference in being an armchair revolutionary and an ideological orchestrator

ideological orchestration, destinywork, presupposes a certain sense of historical and destinical agency, a sense of being able to ameliorate the human condition to some neglible degree.  a sense of being able to do something, anything, in the land of nothing we can do

i believe this is a responsibility of the endowed and the empowered, we armchair revolutionaries and ideological orchestrators, to systematically address the human condition, to make a better world

to awaken the sleeper, protect the weak and guide the strong.

that is all
this spell is done

queen mother ree ree (marie brown) and de geas of rickydoc: this is my vision, this is what i see

SATURDAY

in the adirondacks for a schoolhouse conf on humanrights
probably do a posting of my little panel presentation

work been spotty, work a couple of days, dont work a couple of days
that wont get it, got to hit it everyday, got to step up my game

colin powell has a new book out in which he says he was fired by bush
so what else is new colin, says he would have stayed if bush let him

thats so sick colin, that is really sick

like he still hasnt figured out facilitating bush
is not something he should be proud of

talks about the last meeting, what the whiterhouse calls a 'farewell call'
with departing cabinet members and how he decided to use his last chance
to make clear iraq was failing and why

and how the president was clueless

that was really strange, he reported to an aid afterwards
the president didnt even know why i was there

found an interesting site on black nationalism this morning
as you may know, i consider myself a black nationalist

this site talks about the history of black nationalism
as if its something pertinent only to the past

and the historical goals of black nationalism it explores
separatism and all that, are so unsophisticated

didnt deal with issues of contemporary black nationalism
with our attempts to develop a more sophisticated black nationalism

one that works in the contemporary multiculti environment
one that encourages political sophistication instead of the lack thereof

i will maybe have to do that, sit down an articulate a viable 21st century nationalism, in many ways thats what im always doing

there is a lot of pressure these days
to turn our backs on black nationalism as archaic and regressive

so often nationalist voices seem so unsophisticated
(one wonders if that counts for me too)

i guess thats the reason im a hoodoo, because its the black indigenous system, and i intend to make it a strong one, as i would any other black instution

this article on black religion at the site is indicative of nationlisms

fascination with the past, not that i got anything against that, but its
working out the problems of the present and the future that engage me

with building black institutions and infrastructures

thats john o's training, build black institutions, build black infrastructures
(probably why im caught up in this palf thing, heard the warhorn)

and at some point im going to have to sit down and really articulate
the challenges of being a nationalist in the multiculti 21st century

but for my generation, the black and proud generation
nationalism, the struggle, the movement, is non negotiable

nationalism saved us from the pre civil rights reality
and we will continue toserve it

we learned something during that period that we aint gon never let go
a sense of responsibility for our own condition, self determination, control

of our own destiny instead of letting it be controlled by people who despise us
thats what irritate me about blackfolk waiting to be saved - reparations et al

in my cultural orchestrations, my attempts to shape afroam culture/destiny
self determination is high on the list of traits i want to inculcate

okay, something else i was going to comment on and im out of here

whatever it is it got away
back to work

my love to you all
specially you lesley ann

lesley ann brown ran across my blog and got in touch, i checked out hers
and will have to put that link in here - lesley ann good people

i see she got a comment in commentary
(got your nerve, finish yours i will finish mine)

me and lesley ann go back, lesley used to be one of marie browns legions
back in the day when marie had her office down on broadway and houston

those were the days, maries office was the heart of the
africanamerican literary community in newyork at the time

i used to read manuscripts for marie and we had a ball down there
maries office down on broadway was mission control then

googled her to see if i could find a link for you and found this

presentation on aalbc she gave about literary harlem and as usual
she gave everybody props but herself (including me)

"Out of the Harlem Writers Guild emerged The New Renaissance writers organization that met at the Schomburg and included among their members Arthur Flowers, Malaika Adero, Joyce Dukes, Brenda Conner Bey, B. J. Ashanti, Doris Jean Austin, Terri McMillan and others."

hwg be trying to excommunicate me and the newren crew
but they cant change history even though they try

for a couple of years i made a decent living reading manuscripts for marie
and most of them werent anywhere near primetime

one day i asked her, i said marie why do you do it, spend all the money
and all this energy on works that dont have a chance in hell

she said arthur, you and i, we in newyork where we can get whatever we need
these young writers cant get it anywhere else but me

now thats black nationalism at its finest
we used to call her queen mother ree ree

and still do

a luta continua
rdoc

THURSDAY

hello world, working hard, in the groove

noted article about dustup over the o reilly factor
comparing him as propagandist with father conglin (sp)

laid out 7 propaganda techs that o reilly uses regular
must have hurt him cause he squealing

some propaganda points article made:

appeal to fear as classic wartime propaganda, often a threat to ideals and way of life, this is also reflected in nightly news report  “no danger is too small to magnify into a national nightmare”, an integral part of the fear tech is a restoration of order principle

forging good and evil dichotomies, devils and deliverers, some sociologist say this has enabled societies to ‘construct their moral blueprint, establish social cohesion and exercise social control and its showing up in war is not surprising – again used in domestic crime news stories – good people like us are preyed upon by bad people who want to destroy us

redefinng critics as bad or the enemy, once the president makes a decision, dissent is no longer acceptable or patriotic

name calling ‘gives a person or idea a bad label to make the audience reject them without examining the evidence, such as kool aid left

glittering generality are terms that make things positive without considering evidence, like patriotism, hero, freedom

transfer uses authority of one idea or person to make another acceptable or better

plain folks is when host present himself or chosen folk as just good people, not elites
bandwagon suggest that because everybody approves the audience should to

testimonial is using a respected or disrespected person endorsing or rejecting an idea or person

card stacking the selective use of fact, half truths or lies

articles goes on to use charts and such but thats the gist of it

im gone, got so much work to do
starting to get a little antsy about palf

got notice of sls kenyas program starting up
and im not on it, first time ever

im not surprised, i figured as much, but man i hate not
being a part of sls anymore

i got family over there in kenya now and i am going to miss them all
going to miss my ethiopian spot and lamu and kwani and muki and everybody

but the potential of palf is so that i cannot turn away
and cant let jeff down either, hes been a trooper w/this thing

so now i got to make palf happen
its gotten so big conceptually so soon that im afraid it

has overtextended itself - its jeff been moving that ball and i
been dragged along kicking and screaming and protesting i got work to do

but now i got to move my commitment up a gear
cause it cost me my sls gig

and if i dont work harder to make palf happen im
really going to feel bad this coming december

when i should be in that ferry to lamu

hopefully when things chill out i will be asked back
if not, thats the way it goes, good things dont last forever

what will really chill me out will be to finish this draft
then i will be feeling no pain

im out of here
rdoc

MONDAY

hello world, life got me ducking and dodging
aint no work been done for a couple of days - bummer

then i look at that account of the haitian boat capsizing
61 folk dead, apparently some of them eaten by sharks

and i think how so many blackfolk in the world
really struggling

read reports that patrol boat rammed them and
was towing them when their boat capsized

if so, ought to be a crime against humanity

like the policy toward haitian and cuban refugees
if you cuban stick around, if you haitian get back

smell like racism
feel like racism
probably is

folk been trying to address that imbalance for awhile now

also the conditions in haiti have not improved much since the election - bummer
i know that brothers heart is right but he dont seem to have what it take

whatever on earth that could be

i will have to put my finger on that pulse again
i think i must have lost hope, haiti seems so intractable

gotta keep the faith
gotta keep on swinging

aint no ways weary
and it aint in me to quit

rdoc

SATURDAY

hello world

had this great idea that doesnt seem so great now

decided to do posts every once in a while
of that hoodoo vision im always talking about

de geas of rickydoc,
eventually these will go in hoodoo book of flowers

but i work it here (still trying to justify the time
spent on rootsblog w/something i consider impo)

had in mind to start w/some rules of community

establishing and maintaining community behind crises
or in founding and pioneer situations

whenever folk find themselves in a survival situation, when they find themselves in new ground  - when 9 or 90 of my people are gathered there will be community

okay, that was pretty weak flowers
seemed really profound when i thought of it

maybe instead of trying to layout rules of community
it be more cost effective to work the vision

need to do that for rest anyway
the illuminated children of the sun

the story of a great and wondrous people

a starfaring people, guide and guardian of humanitys
march into its ever greater self

if i can really bring that to life, it will go a long way
towards making the geas of rickydoc real

weary but hanging in there
rickydoc trickmaster

wouldbe prophet of the hoodoo way

judy simmons graduates and elaine brown accused of cointelpro compradorship

hello dear regulators

so i get an email from brenda bey miller
judy dothard simmons has died, o this hurt

all my partners checking out
thats my girl, me and her is old road dogs

judy did a review of an anthology i was in a little while back:
and made sure i got my props one of the few folk still got faith in me

Flowers' "Once Upon a Time" is opulently Southern as crepe myrtle, the surreal South of kudzu-covered forest and Spanish moss hanging from the poplar trees.

i never thought of myself as lush southern surreal but it appeal to me, i can work w/that
thats my girl and i hate to see her go, judy simmons was wonderful people

make me ever more conscious of my own impending mortality
ever more determined to get my work done, ever more appreciative

of old friends

the email had a link for information, a blog called
drum of the people, i believe, i followed it

and found this article on elaine brown, ima post it whole w/credit:
boy did a good job of laying elaine brown issue out

im not that fond of the green party myself, dont believe in symbolic politics
between brown and mckinney im inclined to mckinney as more contemporary force

as to if brown is or is not a comprador i have no idea
i like putting both sides out there and letting you decide

though if you look closely the layout suggest what he think
he did what he could - ima try that format on rootsmagazine

lay out 2, 3 and 4 sides of the critical issues of our day
like reparations, obama, what else, i will figure it out later

postscript: 12/07, i received a email from elaine brown
asking me to take this post down, cant do that but i did get

more information about the cointellpro issue on this assata site
basically all of them are accusing each other of compradorship

what comes out of the who shebang is that hero worship is not a good thing
and that many of the panthers were flawed on many levels

one guy says it comes down to trust the message, not the messenger
but if you cant trust the messenger you cant trust the message

dont know that we will ever get to the bottom of this one
just try to get as much information as we can and keep on pushing

accept that period for what it was, and what it did
a luta continua

Was Elaine Brown a Cointelpro Operative?

May 9th, 2007

Making the Internet rounds. Except for some absolutely necessary spacing, I have not edited the dispatches.  (drum)

Elaine Brown’s Open Statement to the Green Party

May 1, 2007

Vicious Rumormongering Will Not Deter Me
from My Campaign for the Green Party Presidential Nomination

The vicious rumor being floated among Green Party members that I am or ever have been a government agent is a lie. I have never consorted with the U.S. government or any of its myriad agencies against the interests of black people, the Black Panther Party—of which I was a leading member—or any other people. I have dedicated my very life to the freedom of all oppressed people. Because these rumors are unfounded, unsupported by one scintilla of evidence or any citation to any specific act, they are, in the end, indefensible and, therefore, all the more insidious. I stand on my history of struggle in the Black Panther Party and since that time as the strongest refutation of this lie.

On the occasion of my announcing my candidacy for the Green Party presidential nomination, Mike Feinstein, a ranking California Green, and Nan Garrett, chair of the Georgia Green Party, launched this sinister campaign to discredit me, Feinstein, in a series of telephone calls to key Greens across the country after meeting me in March, and Garrett, in a recent, nationally-distributed, vitriolic email. It is particularly ironic that, while neither Feinstein nor Garrett has any history of involvement with the cause of the freedom of black people, they would challenge the credentials of the former Chairman of the Black Panther Party. This dangerous rumormongering is especially egregious as to Garrett, who, as a lawyer, makes her accusation without even the appearance of presenting evidence.

Their lie is based on a statement made at a meeting held by Cynthia McKinney in 2000, when she was a Congresswoman. Even though this meeting was not a Congressional hearing, Feinstein and Garrett would elevate its record to an “official” document. McKinney, who claimed to be conducting an investigation into the FBI’s COINTELPRO activities against blacks, had invited only two former members of the Black Panther Party to her meeting to serve as ‘witnesses,’ Kathleen Cleaverand Elmer “Geronimo” Pratt. At the meeting, Pratt is recorded to have asserted that I was an “agent.” ­This is a statement he has never dared make directly to me, and I challenge him now to do so and to present one iota of evidence to support his J. Edgar Hoover-like accusation against me. And, I would assert that, as McKinney has stood by surreptitiously and allowed her so-called forum to be used to validate Pratt’s lie, she has endorsed that lie.

Cleaver and Pratt were expelled from the Black Panther Party in early 1971 as conspirators in a plot led by Eldridge Cleaver to take over the Party, whereby they denounced Huey P. Newton, Bobby Seale, David Hilliard, Fred Hampton and others, called for their deaths and declared the Weather Underground group the “vanguard” of revolution. Their attack against the Party resulted in internecine violence and, even, death. All of this is documented in the Black Panther Party newspaper, housed in its entirety in an archive at Stanford University.

One other glaring irony in all of this is that, while Feinstein is promoting McKinney as the Green Party presidential candidate, despite that McKinney remains a Democrat to this day, it is McKinney who has engaged in activity that has undermined the efforts of black people for freedom, specifically in her vote in favor of the Bill Clinton “three-strikes” crime bill.

Raising suspicion about someone as a traitor, a “government agent,” was a key tactic employed by the FBI under its COINTELPRO operations against the Black Panther Party.The resulting distrust frustrated our efforts and destroyed lives. That was what the FBI intended. When J. Edgar Hoover declared in 1968 that the Party was “the greatest threat to the internal security of the United States,” he announced he would wage a campaign to discredit, disrupt and destroy the Black Panther Party. While the Party is long gone and Hoover is dead, COINTELPRO is, clearly, very much alive.

Given all of this, I call for the resignations from the Green Party of Mike Feinstein and Nan Garrett.  In the alternative, I urge the Green Party leadership to impeach Feinstein and Garrett or otherwise remove them from their ranking positions. Their rumor-mongering has done more than defame and endanger me. It has embroiled the Green Party in destructive, counterproductive activity and at a critical crossroad.

The mass rejection of Bush and his policies has opened a door for opposition. It is the Democrats, however, who are poised to walk through that door, and only to replace this Bush with another Clinton. The Green Party proffers a progressive agenda, though it has failed to gain the support of the very constituencies it would serve—especially blacks—the majority of whom remain dedicated to the Democratic Party. I stand, and still, as a prospective nominee for the presidency who is singularly committed to the Green Party agenda, capable of bringing blacks into the Party ranks, veteran in articulating the contradictions between black and other poor and working people and the Democrats, and able to stir national debate on the issues, toward the election of more Greens and, ultimately, real progressive change in the United States of America. 

ElaineBrown.Org 2007

———————

Sent To TheBlackList By: Panthershepcat@aol.com

—– Original Message —–

From: k.cleaver@att.net
To: Panthershepcat@aol.com
Sent: Tuesday, May 08, 2007 1:22 PM
Subject: FW: Re: FW: notes

————– Forwarded Message: ————–

My First remembrance of Elaine brown was while I was conducting security for Elrage Cleaver, October 1968?. After Elrage gave a rousing speech at Pauley Pavillion, UCLA, this girl came to the security gate crying and begging to meet Elrage.   She was escorted to Bunchy Carter, whom I was standing with and he began to question her. She said that she was Elaine brown and was in awe of Elrage and wanted to meet him. Bunchy arraged the meeting after consulting w/Elrage.   During that period, I was assisting Bunchyw/developing his security forces and techniques and made note of this breech of protocol?.(Elrage later explained that she only wanted him to fuck her and he saw it as his duty to implement his “Dick Power” program).   The next time I remember seeing Elaine was a couple of m onths later because it’d been reported to me that she was John Huggins’ new lover while his wife Erika was pregnant . At that time Elaine was dubbed as another girl who wanted to have sex w/men in leadership positions which placed her in a higher suspicion in my security files. Bunchy and I were sharing an apartment and I remember that night we discussed John Huggins’ relationship w/Elaine and how displeased Bunchy was w/John’s sexual activities w/this girl because Bunchy felt very close to Erika and didn’t want her to find this out.

I had no idea that but a few weeks after this (1/17/69) on the campus of UCLA at a carefully pre-arranged* meeting between the US group and the Panthers, that elaine brown would incite a ruckus by slapping one of the US members whom she also had sexual relations with, then ran to John Huggins screaming that “She’d” been assaulted by this US member! John Huggins immediately pulled a 357 magnum from his waist and shot at the US member who returned fire resulting in Huggins and Bunchy’s deaths ! ! During the police investigation, Elaine brown lied and wrongfully attested that the Steiner Brothers had murdered Bunchy and John w/out provocation. She then continued this lie all the way to the witness stand in LA Superior court resulting in the wrongful conviction of 1 st degree murder of George and Larry St einer who are still being persecuted  till this day. (her testimony a matter of public record).  The pandemonium and turmoil that ensued the death of our most revered leader Bunchy, made it nearly impossible to get hold of the raging fratricidal situation but as soon as the smoke began to clear. the pieces began to fall into place clearly implicating elaine brown as the instigator of the entire deathly drama !   This information was known to me “Prior” to my agreement to continue Bunchy’s program in the capacity of Deputy Minister of Defense of the Liberation Forces there in Southern California . So it is impossible for Elaine to have joined any formation of which I was in charge as I was very meticulous/selective re new membership . Futher, I am sure that we never permitted membership to ANYONE who testified for the pig so-called justice system as they were known, as “Snitches and/or “Rats”.  My security reports were sent to various leaders in the movement but was continually watered down by those “Leaders” who had become victim to elaine’s sexual manipulations. Each time I received reports of elaine brown popping up in Oakland, Chicago, Connecticutt, etc., I’d act quickly to banish her and I’d then render whatever form of discipline necessary to those who’d hosted her.   Our main obstacle in handling this at that time was the sad alienation of Elrage who had by then fled and was our International Ambassador?and was adamant in giving Elaine brown “another chance “. So it was decided that she would be sent to work w/Elrage and she’d finally be out of our hair.   Elrage told me years later that that was the biggest mistake he’d made while there cuz as soon as she got to Algeria, unity began to crumble ?,and before he could rectify the situation, Elaine was gone .  It was now 1970 and Huey had just been released. Elaine somehow ended up right in Huey’s bed and as Huey told me in 1988, “She kept cocaine and sexy women on him everyday/night”. Huey also admitted that it was Elaine who’d inflamed his hatred against Elrage resulting in the infamous phone call that marked a clear split in the top leadership of that important sector of the Black Liberation Movement.  During that stint in Quentin 1988,Huey refused to leave the prison unless I was released first because he stated that he had ordered key exculpatory witnesses not to testify on my behalf because he was misled to believe what agents like Elaine brown wanted him to believe. I remember Huey reflecting on the strange fact that was revealed in my trial that Elaine brown’s name was on th e receipt from the paint shop that changed the color of my car and how that bit of info opened his ever-drugged eyes to suspect. Then he told me that he learned that she’d testified for the pigs lying on those brothers, as he put it, when everyone knew that they did not shoot Bunchy nor John. H e said it took months for him to raise out of that euporia and realize that he was surrounded by agents. He then put Elaine in his “Panther Jail” but was over taken by a barrage of “Advisors who’d constantly tell him that he was going thru a severe stage of paranoia?.” Next thing he said he remembered was that Elaine was out of his jail and had gotton Masai to get her back in the mix?.All throughout these conversations, Huey made sure to mention Elaine brown’s complicity as an fbi agent ,including her occasional meetings w/the “same white dude”. I remember stopping him to say that way back in 1970, Nsondi (aka Sandra “Red” Pratt) was the first to report to me about elaine’s meeting w/this white fella at a LAX hotel.  We now know that the white dude was the same “Kennedy” super-mind- control CIA chief of psy-war operations against many key forces for Black Liberation?including SCLC !

There is much much more irrefutable evidence that continues to expose this sad sally for the COINTEL conspirators? but do not lose sight of the fact that this girl Elaine was brought to ucla for psychiatric treatment which seems to be a pre-requisite for patsies of elaine’s type and that she was but one, tho a very important one, of so many others who were used, unwittingly, as moles, provocateurs, et cet ad nauseam.

It’s a low down dirty and a doggone shame that here in 2007 elaine is still being used to now attack the beautiful Fighter for True Justice Cynthia Mckinney and if there is more I can do to assist, don’t hesitate to let me know.

Geronimo ji Jaga

interesting isnt it and i like giving 2 sides like that
ima play with that

but its judy checking out thats messing w/my head
all my partners checking out, make me

all the more desperate to get my work done
all this rootsblog this morning mean im stalling

best i go clock some pages
in the name of judy simmons

everyday a struggle
a challenge you got to meet

moving on
rdoc

sanctifying hoodoo haints: e.c. osundu and the caine prize, rickydoc in the woodshed

WEDNESDAY

i must have clocked 9 hours or more today
i feel like a real man, i feel like a big mac or a blt or something

quick commentaries and ima knock off some projects (manuscripts)

1) oprah backs obama, i feel you girl, i really do

2) rev al makes curious commentary:

“as for the one mormon running for office, those who really believe in god will defeat him anyways, so don’t worry about that; that’s a temporary situation”

beg pardon, i didnt quite get that

well rev al, your enemies gon crucify you for that one
painful to see you wiggling like you doing, i meant this and i meant that

you got busted
just make your apologies and move on

cant get your back on this one man, i aint in it
dont see where this one got nothing to do w/colored people

i got issues w/the mormons conservative bent but truth be told all you believers got
questionable dogma and i consider fundamentalists of all stripes problematic

its that fundamentalist flavor in this one delight your enemies
and dismay folk who want the best for you - and of you

just make your apologies and move on man
and look here dawg, might have to check yourself

on another note, first i started using in the name of the conqueror

in my bid to attribute the conqueror as zora did when she gave him
afroam folkloric attributes instead of john the baptist attributes

then i started using in the name of o killens, to sanctify john o

then i used in the name of gullahjack one time and im thinking
i should have a pantheon of hoodoo saints that i use according to need
and that im trying to ancestorfy (or deify as the case may be)

got that focus on ancestorfying from djenra windwalker
i had said something here about my relationship with god once and

windwalker pull my coat that it was more afrospiritual to consider
that a relationship with the ancestors and it was like a light
went on in my headod

god gods ancestors, all pretty interchangeable to my way of thinking
aint gon get caught up in no dogma if youg et my drift but ancestorfying
is a very afrospiritual approach to the spirit that i find useful in my attempt

to empower the african way of god
take it to higherground

so anyway ive decided to create my own ancestral hoodoo pantheon
for service according to the need

first the family ancestors im closest to

1 my father, dr arthur flowers sr
2 my maternal grandfather, grandaddy ross
3 my paternal grandmother, grandma flowers

4 john killens
5 david walker
6 harriet tubman
7 gullahjack
8   ida b
9  fred hudson

man, i wanted to do a solid hoodoo 9
but what about nat turner

and addison gayle - addison is one of my special folk
in terms of life influence, as is fred hudson

i would want to sanctify both of them, david earl jackson
and safiya and doris jean too, this list is going to get prohibitive

that drawing above for instance is john killens as a long distance runner
done by tom feelings, both of them deserve ancestorship

okay, two pantheons, a personal pantheon and a tribal pantheon

1 dr athur flowers
2 granddaddy ross
3 grandma flowers
4 aunt josie
5 aunt elise
6 doris jean austin
7 safiya henderson holmes
8 david earl jackson
9 fred hudson

and imogunla, sometimes i forget
imogunla actually dead

rickydocs tribal pantheon

1 john killens
2 zora neale
3 davidwalker
4 gullah jack
5 harriet tubman
6 marie leveau
7 nat turner
8 martin king
9 addison gayle

(what might be interesting is to have a descendents pantheon also
of 9 children/students/younger generations you keeping an eye on
this one problematic because they not ancestors/dead but a diff kind of spirit
one to be nurtured, will have to work this one out conceptually)

obviously these listings will be flexible, some folk coming on some dropping
and fred hudson for instance as much tribal as he is personal

but basically im saying that a hoodo pantheon will consist of 18 (possibly 27) folk
personal, tribal and destinic (this me laying paths for the hoodoo future - one of my own attributes)

9 personal/family haints and 9 tribal haints, i should have a full
pantheon of tribal haints for folk to choose from

attribute (give them powers and a narrative) them for different tasks
as needed, for instance for literary stuff i use in the name of o killens

for tribal guidance i use the conqueror

for warmaking i use gullahjack, for sanctuary i will use harriettubman
nat turner for the hard moral choices, and so forth along those lines

also i really have to come up with a hoodoo term for sanctifying folk
for the process of transforming them into loa/orisha/etc - what would
be a good hoodoo term for that be - use rest for the weary to attribute them (sorry ec)

could i rehabilitate haint maybe, hoodoo haints doesnt feel quite right
too close to saint and connotation too negative, but it is a spirit that hangs around

i will use hoodoo haints till i coin a better one
in the name of the conqueror

man this post started off as a quick comment on rev al
and went on and on and on on and on

gotta go, gotta clock some pages
in the name of o killens

word by trickmaster
wouldbe prophet of the hoodoo way

TUESDAY  6:46

2 days good work, thats a good sign
today will tell the tale

was reading over this weeks post and perhaps im obsessing
as i tend to do and will bore you dear regulators, i will restrain myself

had lunch yesterday with ec osondu
ec chastise me as he so often do

ec quick to tell me when im whining

arthur youre whining on your blog, you must be a lion arthur
you must roar arthur, roar all the time arthur

i tell him i cant roar all the time ec, i roar most of the time, most of
the time im huffing and puffing but sometime the blues run me down

havent been whining lately so he hit me on another sensitive spot

arthur i see on your blog that your novel continues to grow, arthur you must
restrain yourself and finish the thing

so now he basically accuse me of fitzing around w/my novel

i got defensive cause i fear he right and nobody will be
more pleased than arthur when this novel stop evolving

the implication is that i am going in circles but i know
this novel is not yet what it is to be - in my heart i know this

and i just got to be patient with it
this my masterpiece, i know it is, the novel i was born to write

i confess - i want this bad boy to be so complex folk dont ever figure it out
but i want to tell a good story too, one that last forever

im outta here, got pages to clock

arf