Monday, December 8, 2014
Friday, December 5, 2014
Thursday, December 4, 2014
Teens Death Bring Haunted Past
While Ferguson, Mo., erupted
after a grand jury failed to indict Officer Darren Wilson in the
shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown, another story was playing
out some 900 miles away from the cameras — and the outrage.
On the morning of Aug. 29, Lennon Lacy, a 17-year-old African-American high school football player from Bladenboro, N.C., was found dead in the open field of a mobile home park, hanging from a swing set.
When Lennon’s mother, Claudia, arrived on the scene, she felt in her heart that he had not committed suicide. “When I looked at him I knew — I said — I said to myself — I said, ‘He didn't do this... He couldn't have.’"
Local police ruled it a suicide, and the autopsy report recorded the cause of death as “asphyxia due to hanging.” The autopsy report also noted that Lennon “had been depressed over the recent death of his uncle.” Lennon’s brother Pierre disputes that, asking, “How do you psychologically evaluate a dead person? He was just too happy for life.”
The Lacy family says the police rushed to rule Lennon’s death a suicide despite their many unanswered questions such as the shoes Lennon was found wearing – they were a size and a half too small. They say all they want is a thorough investigation before any conclusions are reached.
The president of the North Carolina NAACP, the Rev. William Barber II, says, “The call was made so quick. And what concerns us about that is that if Lennon Lee Lacy was white and was found hanging in a … predominantly black trailer park that was known to have some drug involvement and other things, we just don't believe that it would have been this quick rush to say it was a suicide. It would have been a very, very, very intense investigation.”
The Bladen County District Attorney’s office said in a statement, “While the investigation is ongoing, and no final determinations have been made, to date we have not received any evidence of criminal wrongdoing surrounding the death.”
To learn more about Lennon Lacy and the case, watch the video above, and at 1 p.m. ET, tune in for a live discussion on this story and race relations in America.
When Lennon’s mother, Claudia, arrived on the scene, she felt in her heart that he had not committed suicide. “When I looked at him I knew — I said — I said to myself — I said, ‘He didn't do this... He couldn't have.’"
Local police ruled it a suicide, and the autopsy report recorded the cause of death as “asphyxia due to hanging.” The autopsy report also noted that Lennon “had been depressed over the recent death of his uncle.” Lennon’s brother Pierre disputes that, asking, “How do you psychologically evaluate a dead person? He was just too happy for life.”
The Lacy family says the police rushed to rule Lennon’s death a suicide despite their many unanswered questions such as the shoes Lennon was found wearing – they were a size and a half too small. They say all they want is a thorough investigation before any conclusions are reached.
The president of the North Carolina NAACP, the Rev. William Barber II, says, “The call was made so quick. And what concerns us about that is that if Lennon Lee Lacy was white and was found hanging in a … predominantly black trailer park that was known to have some drug involvement and other things, we just don't believe that it would have been this quick rush to say it was a suicide. It would have been a very, very, very intense investigation.”
The Bladen County District Attorney’s office said in a statement, “While the investigation is ongoing, and no final determinations have been made, to date we have not received any evidence of criminal wrongdoing surrounding the death.”
To learn more about Lennon Lacy and the case, watch the video above, and at 1 p.m. ET, tune in for a live discussion on this story and race relations in America.
Wednesday, December 3, 2014
Monday, November 24, 2014
Pocahontas Myth
In 1995, Roy Disney decided to release an animated movie about a
Powhatan woman known as "Pocahontas". In answer to a complaint by the
Powhatan Nation, he claims the film is "responsible, accurate, and
respectful."
We of the Powhatan Nation disagree. The film distorts history beyond recognition. Our offers to assist Disney with cultural and historical accuracy were rejected. Our efforts urging him to reconsider his misguided mission were spurred.
"Pocahontas" was a nickname, meaning "the naughty one" or "spoiled child". Her real name was Matoaka. The legend is that she saved a heroic John Smith from being clubbed to death by her father in 1607 - she would have been about 10 or 11 at the time. The truth is that Smith's fellow colonists described him as an abrasive, ambitious, self-promoting mercenary soldier.
Of all of Powhatan's children, only "Pocahontas" is known, primarily because she became the hero of Euro-Americans as the "good Indian", one who saved the life of a white man. Not only is the "good Indian/bad Indian theme" inevitably given new life by Disney, but the history, as recorded by the English themselves, is badly falsified in the name of "entertainment".
The truth of the matter is that the first time John Smith told the story about this rescue was 17 years after it happened, and it was but one of three reported by the pretentious Smith that he was saved from death by a prominent woman.
Yet in an account Smith wrote after his winter stay with Powhatan's people, he never mentioned such an incident. In fact, the starving adventurer reported he had been kept comfortable and treated in a friendly fashion as an honored guest of Powhatan and Powhatan's brothers. Most scholars think the "Pocahontas incident" would have been highly unlikely, especially since it was part of a longer account used as justification to wage war on Powhatan's Nation.
Euro-Americans must ask themselves why it has been so important to elevate Smith's fibbing to status as a national myth worthy of being recycled again by Disney. Disney even improves upon it by changing Pocahontas from a little girl into a young woman.
The true Pocahontas story has a sad ending. In 1612, at the age of 17, Pocahontas was treacherously taken prisoner by the English while she was on a social visit, and was held hostage at Jamestown for over a year.
During her captivity, a 28-year-old widower named John Rolfe took a "special interest" in the attractive young prisoner. As a condition of her release, she agreed to marry Rolfe, who the world can thank for commercializing tobacco. Thus, in April 1614, Matoaka, also known as "Pocahontas", daughter of Chief Powhatan, became "Rebecca Rolfe". Shortly after, they had a son, whom they named Thomas Rolfe. The descendants of Pocahontas and John Rolfe were known as the "Red Rolfes."
Two years later on the spring of 1616, Rolfe took her to England where the Virginia Company of London used her in their propaganda campaign to support the colony. She was wined and dined and taken to theaters. It was recorded that on one occasion when she encountered John Smith (who was also in London at the time), she was so furious with him that she turned her back to him, hid her face, and went off by herself for several hours. Later, in a second encounter, she called him a liar and showed him the door.
Rolfe, his young wife, and their son set off for Virginia in March of 1617, but "Rebecca" had to be taken off the ship at Gravesend. She died there on March 21, 1617, at the age of 21. She was buried at Gravesend, but the grave was destroyed in a reconstruction of the church. It was only after her death and her fame in London society that Smith found it convenient to invent the yarn that she had rescued him.
History tells the rest. Chief Powhatan died the following spring of 1618. The people of Smith and Rolfe turned upon the people who had shared their resources with them and had shown them friendship. During Pocahontas' generation, Powhatan's people were decimated and dispersed and their lands were taken over. A clear pattern had been set which would soon spread across the American continent.
Chief Roy Crazy Horse
We of the Powhatan Nation disagree. The film distorts history beyond recognition. Our offers to assist Disney with cultural and historical accuracy were rejected. Our efforts urging him to reconsider his misguided mission were spurred.
"Pocahontas" was a nickname, meaning "the naughty one" or "spoiled child". Her real name was Matoaka. The legend is that she saved a heroic John Smith from being clubbed to death by her father in 1607 - she would have been about 10 or 11 at the time. The truth is that Smith's fellow colonists described him as an abrasive, ambitious, self-promoting mercenary soldier.
Of all of Powhatan's children, only "Pocahontas" is known, primarily because she became the hero of Euro-Americans as the "good Indian", one who saved the life of a white man. Not only is the "good Indian/bad Indian theme" inevitably given new life by Disney, but the history, as recorded by the English themselves, is badly falsified in the name of "entertainment".
The truth of the matter is that the first time John Smith told the story about this rescue was 17 years after it happened, and it was but one of three reported by the pretentious Smith that he was saved from death by a prominent woman.
Yet in an account Smith wrote after his winter stay with Powhatan's people, he never mentioned such an incident. In fact, the starving adventurer reported he had been kept comfortable and treated in a friendly fashion as an honored guest of Powhatan and Powhatan's brothers. Most scholars think the "Pocahontas incident" would have been highly unlikely, especially since it was part of a longer account used as justification to wage war on Powhatan's Nation.
Euro-Americans must ask themselves why it has been so important to elevate Smith's fibbing to status as a national myth worthy of being recycled again by Disney. Disney even improves upon it by changing Pocahontas from a little girl into a young woman.
The true Pocahontas story has a sad ending. In 1612, at the age of 17, Pocahontas was treacherously taken prisoner by the English while she was on a social visit, and was held hostage at Jamestown for over a year.
During her captivity, a 28-year-old widower named John Rolfe took a "special interest" in the attractive young prisoner. As a condition of her release, she agreed to marry Rolfe, who the world can thank for commercializing tobacco. Thus, in April 1614, Matoaka, also known as "Pocahontas", daughter of Chief Powhatan, became "Rebecca Rolfe". Shortly after, they had a son, whom they named Thomas Rolfe. The descendants of Pocahontas and John Rolfe were known as the "Red Rolfes."
Two years later on the spring of 1616, Rolfe took her to England where the Virginia Company of London used her in their propaganda campaign to support the colony. She was wined and dined and taken to theaters. It was recorded that on one occasion when she encountered John Smith (who was also in London at the time), she was so furious with him that she turned her back to him, hid her face, and went off by herself for several hours. Later, in a second encounter, she called him a liar and showed him the door.
Rolfe, his young wife, and their son set off for Virginia in March of 1617, but "Rebecca" had to be taken off the ship at Gravesend. She died there on March 21, 1617, at the age of 21. She was buried at Gravesend, but the grave was destroyed in a reconstruction of the church. It was only after her death and her fame in London society that Smith found it convenient to invent the yarn that she had rescued him.
History tells the rest. Chief Powhatan died the following spring of 1618. The people of Smith and Rolfe turned upon the people who had shared their resources with them and had shown them friendship. During Pocahontas' generation, Powhatan's people were decimated and dispersed and their lands were taken over. A clear pattern had been set which would soon spread across the American continent.
Chief Roy Crazy Horse
It is unfortunate that this sad story,
which Euro-Americans should find embarrassing,
Disney makes "entertainment" and perpetuates a dishonest and self-serving myth
at the expense of the Powhatan Nation.
which Euro-Americans should find embarrassing,
Disney makes "entertainment" and perpetuates a dishonest and self-serving myth
at the expense of the Powhatan Nation.
Khmers- From Kemet to Asia
Of all the kingdoms of early Southeast
Asia, one of the most recognised and magnificent has to be Angkor,
located in northern Cambodia. Angkor’s beauty is illustrated by
thousands of lavish temples, wonderfully built with laterite, brick and
sandstone, and a massive hydrological system of reservoirs and lakes,
all of which cover a huge area of some seventy-seven square miles.1 The
people responsible for building these tremendous structures were an
industrious Black Africoid people known as Khmers. Roland Burrage Dixon,
an anthropologist at Harvard, described the ancient Khmers as
physically “marked by distinctly short stature, dark skin, curly or even
frizzy hair, broad noses and thick Negroid lips.” 2
“In remote antiquity the Khmers established themselves throughout a vast area that encompassed portions of Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Laos.” 3 In addition, some of the earliest Buddha statues from neighbouring regions such as Thailand and Vietnam have clearly discernable African features, such as broad noses, thick lips and woolly hair in cornrows, they have the appearance of any African found in sub-Sahara Africa today. This was at a time when the region was not subject to foreign domination and race infusion, and it had reserved the purity of this type.
The builders of the earliest kingdoms in Southeast Asia, the Funanes, who were essentially the same as Khmers, were described in a Chinese historical document as “ugly and Black...their hair is curly.” The men were described by the Chinese as “small and Black.”4 There are, however, much more complimentary descriptions from earlier Chinese records. The Chinese chronicler Nan Ts’i Chou more flatteringly and probably reflecting earlier and less prejudice times, expressly stated:
“For the complexion of men, they consider Black the most beautiful. In all the kingdoms of the southern region, it is the same.”5
From as early as 192 A.C.E. the people of the Southeast Asian kingdom Champa (Vietnam), known to the Chinese as Lin-yi, which meant the “land of Black men” were described by Chinese scribes as possessing: “Black skin, eyes deep in the orbit, nose turned up, hair frizzy.”
Chinese scribes also stated that the people of Cham adorned themselves:
“In a single piece of cotton or silk wrapped about the body...They are very clean; they wash themselves several times each day, wear perfume and rub their bodies with a lotion compounded with camphor and musk.
“In remote antiquity the Khmers established themselves throughout a vast area that encompassed portions of Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Laos.” 3 In addition, some of the earliest Buddha statues from neighbouring regions such as Thailand and Vietnam have clearly discernable African features, such as broad noses, thick lips and woolly hair in cornrows, they have the appearance of any African found in sub-Sahara Africa today. This was at a time when the region was not subject to foreign domination and race infusion, and it had reserved the purity of this type.
The builders of the earliest kingdoms in Southeast Asia, the Funanes, who were essentially the same as Khmers, were described in a Chinese historical document as “ugly and Black...their hair is curly.” The men were described by the Chinese as “small and Black.”4 There are, however, much more complimentary descriptions from earlier Chinese records. The Chinese chronicler Nan Ts’i Chou more flatteringly and probably reflecting earlier and less prejudice times, expressly stated:
“For the complexion of men, they consider Black the most beautiful. In all the kingdoms of the southern region, it is the same.”5
From as early as 192 A.C.E. the people of the Southeast Asian kingdom Champa (Vietnam), known to the Chinese as Lin-yi, which meant the “land of Black men” were described by Chinese scribes as possessing: “Black skin, eyes deep in the orbit, nose turned up, hair frizzy.”
Chinese scribes also stated that the people of Cham adorned themselves:
“In a single piece of cotton or silk wrapped about the body...They are very clean; they wash themselves several times each day, wear perfume and rub their bodies with a lotion compounded with camphor and musk.
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