ChickenBones: A Journal

for Literary & Artistic African-American Themes

   

Contact      Mission -- Nathaniel Turner -- Marcus Bruce Christian -- Guest Poets --  Special Topics -- Rudy's Place -- The Old South  --  Worldcat

Film Review -- Books N Review -- Education & History -- Religion & Politics -- Literature & Arts -- Black Labor --Work, Labor & Business -- Music  Musicians  

Baltimore Index Page

Educating Our Children

The African World

Editor's Page     Letters

Inside the Caribbean

Digital Links

 ChickenBones: A Journal -- Historic Website -- Collected by Library of Congress   (Ich habe negerschwer gearbeitet. - Rudy)

Hip Sites:  Somos Primos Black Agenda Report   // Cost of War in Iraq  /  Body Count /  storySouth  / The Negro Artist

Haiti Action.Net / SeeingBlack.Com  / ASILI  / Jeannette Drake  / Ekere Tallie / David Morse  / The MoAD Story Project  

 Content Tables:  Kalamu ya Salaam  /  Rose Mezu   /  Amin Sharif  /  Jerry Ward   / Uche Nworah   / Ugochukwu   / Kam Wms    / Amiri Baraka

Marvin X   / JR Stanton  /  John Maxwell  Toussaint    /  Ceylan   /  Komunyakaa  / Lil Joe  /  Bonhoeffer  /   Louis Reyes Rivera / Wilson Jeremiah Moses

   Lynching  /  Conversations  / Literary New Orleans Black Arts and Black Power FiguresLee Meitzen Grue  / Jamie Walker   / Cow Tom

 Dennis Leroy Moore  /  Katrina Flood Index  / Transitional Writings on Africa  /  WEB Du Bois   /   Mona Lisa Saloy  / Black Tech Review 

Aduku Addae  / Baldwin Katrina Survivor Stories  / Education History of the Negro  /   Peter Eric Adotey Addo  /  Interviews  / Short Stories  

  Maria Syphax Case  / Blacks & Labor in Print   /    Fifty Influential Figures   / Jonathan Scott  / Claire Carew   / Washerwomen  / Larry Uklai Johnson Redd 

 Mackie Blanton  /  Floyd W Hayes / Negro Catholic Writers / Anupama Bhargava  /  Eldridge Cleaver   /  Turner-Cone Theology   / Blacks and Prisons

Black Librarians   / Lasana Sekou / Irene Monroe  /   Katrina Survivor Stories  /  Mau Mau Aesthetics  /  Doctor Jim Jordan  / GlobalNews  / Kola Boof 

Sterling A. Brown  /   Yictove  / Art for Life / E Ethelbert Miller  /    Yvonne Terry  / Satchel Paige Sports   / Another Look at Israel  / Nuba-Darfur-South Sudan

Hip Hop  / Different Drummer  /  Kalamu Interview  /  Naomi Ayala    /  Crystal Cartier  / John Oliver Killens  / Love, Sex, and Erotica / The Economy

 Richard Wright  / Tributes Obituaries Remembrances Thomas Long  / Patricia Jabbeh Wesley   / Obama 2008 Table  /  Mary E. Weems

online through PayPal

Help Save ChickenBones—Our Literary Journal

An Appeal by The Committee to Keep ChickenBones Alive

 

   Conversation on ChickenBones Survival    Donate and Support our Fundraiser  Folk Life 

Send contributions to: ChickenBones: A Journal /  13219 Kientz Road / Jarratt, VA 23867--  Rudy, I don't know if I've mentioned it recently but 'bones looks great.  There's not much out there to compete with it as a presenter of Black literary and philosophical thought. I'm constantly referring folk to it. Chuck (9/28/07)

We have received thus far $50 in Donations in May 2008.

Help meet our monthly goal of $500. Donate Today! or Visit Our Store (Books, DVDs, Music, and more)

Bring the Troops Home:  "A time comes when silence is betrayal." A Time to Break Silence by Rev. Martin Luther King  4 April 1967

Martin Luther King, "Why I Am Opposed to the War in Vietnam" / MLK: Mountaintop Speech (on War)

Atlanta Constitution on Race Problem    Origin of Segregation     Intermarriage a No-No       Who Wants Integration      The Problem of Integration      The Racial Problem

Running to the Right: Barack Obama's DLC strategy

By Bruce Dixon

I am because we are and since we are therefore I am (The Soho of South Africa ) / The society made up of brothers and sisters provides strength. (Igbo of Nigeria)

Obama Prayer

By Jeannette Drake

Middle Passage

                                                                               (After Reverend Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr.)

By Jeannette Drake

Meditation for ObamaGive Peace a Chance  /  Tsunami  /  Amazing Grace  / Obama 2008 Table

Senator Barack Obama won a commanding victory in the North Carolina primary on Tuesday [6 May 2008] and lost narrowly to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in Indiana, an outcome that injected a boost of momentum to Mr. Obama’s candidacy as the Democratic nominating contest entered its final month.

Jeremiah Wright: Warrior and Trickster

A ChickenBones Editorial and Discussion

 After Hours: A Collection of Erotic Writing by Black Men -- Simmons Review  After Hours Contributors  Love, Sex, and Erotica Table 

Robert Reich Endorses Obama

Obama and Bitterness
By Wilson J. Moses 

Obama 2008 Table   Wilson Jeremiah Moses Table   The Economy, Workers, and Financial Markets Table

Wilson Moses Files:   Andromeda 19 Afrotopia      Business, Industry, and Education for Success  Teflon Sense of History   Uncle Jeff and His Contempos 

 Dwight David Eisenhower     New Orleans and American Exceptionalism   Knowledge and Ignorance: Two Barriers to Learning

Teaching Preferences    Basic Background Reading on Afrocentrism   On the Passing of Asa Hilliard  /The Eternal Linkage of Literature and Society

If this be Lynching . . . (As in Merrill-Lynch)  / Economic status of African Americans‏  Notes on  BrotherBill Cosby‏  Creative Conflict

Eliot Spitzer, Sub-Prime Loans & Whistle Blowing

 

"Breaking the Hymen"

By Mary Weems

Mary E. Weems Table

Say it Loud: Poems about James Brown

This is a shout out for help. Almost a year ago, when brother James Brown made his transition, I posted the following Call for Poems about the impact his lifetime of music has had on anyone within the reach of the call. To date the “response” has been powerful but as of today—February 20, 2008, the number of poems submitted for consideration number less than 50. Poets we need at least another 150 poems, to put together a strong anthology. I know a lot of people hit this drum. I’m asking each person who reads this call to “stop” and take a minute to forward it to at least “3” people they know who are either poets or who know poets. If you belong to other listservs, consider helping us out by “posting” this call on it if possible. If ya’ll don’t have a James Brown poem—consider writing one and sending it to us. I realize all things come in their own time, but on the practical side—books like these have their “time” too—May 6, 2008, will mark a year the world’s been without James Brown. In his honor, get down—send us your James Brown poems today.  Peace, Mary Weems

Say it Loud: Poems about James Brown. Edited by: Mary E. Weems, and Thomas Sayers Ellis. We grew up on James Brown’s hit me! When he danced every young Black man wanted to move, groove and look like him. Mr. Brown wasn’t called the hardest workingman in show business because he wasn’t. Experiencing a James Brown show was like getting your favourite soul food twice, plus desert. His songs, like black power fists you could be proud of and move to at the same time.  When Mr. Brown sang make it funky we sweated even in the wintertime.  Losing him was like losing somebody in our family. This is a shout out for poems about the impact James Brown had on our lives.  Poems that will help people remember, honour, and celebrate his legacy. Don’t be left in a cold sweat, send us your old and new James Brown poems today.

Submission Guidelines:  3-5 Unpublished and/or published poems with acknowledgement included. No longer than 73 lines  Deadline:
April 30, 2008  (Receipt not postmark) Send hard copies along with a Word Document and short bio on a CD to: Dr. Mary E. Weems / English Department /  John Carroll University / 20700 North Park Blvd. / University Hts., Ohio 44118 / Send via e-mail attachment (Word Documents Only) to: mweems45@sbcglobal.net,  and mikeoatman@hotmail.com

“One drop . . .”

 

immeasurable

words

carry a burden

so sweet,

so low

down, marrow deep;

creating a lattice

between us; so

we hemorrhage;

simultaneously.

our prayers blur.

© 2008 Dorothy Marie Rice

Christians Are Forgivers

Obama as Healer

By Dorothy Rice

 

BoL -- Music Commentary by Mtume & Kalamu Drums, Trains, / Boogie Down Productions  /  Earth, Wind & Fire  / Max Roach and Abbey Lincoln 

 WAR  / "Body and Soul"  / Nina Simone /  Bob Marley /  Alice Coltrane /  James Brown  / Staple Singers  /  Police Brutality and Rappers 

Tear Down the Ghetto: The Price is Wrong (Glen Ford)  / Alvin K. Brunson Passes Over

Mildred Loving of Loving vs Virginia Dies

(1939-2008)
By Norman Faria

The Cost of Lies -- America With Its Pants Down   Locked Up in Land of the Free  A Lie Unravels the World  Lies Truth and Unwaged Housework

Fats Domino, Ray Charles, and Jerry Lee Lewis  /  The Holloway Series in Poetry - Amiri Baraka  / Bill Moyers and James Cone (Interview)

Barack Obama: The Death of White Supremacy?

A Discussion with Amiri Baraka, Chinweizu, Floyd Hayes, Lloyd McCarthy,

Jonathan Scott, Glen Ford, Jean Damau, and others

 

Clinton or Obama: Who’s Best on Darfur?

By David Morse

 

 Act Like We Know

By Amiri Baraka

Barack Obama: On My Faith and My Church

 Obama 2008 Table 

Ten Days That Changed Capitalism—Officials Improvised To Rescue Markets (Wall Street Journal )    The Economy, Workers, and Financial Markets Table

 

Hillary Clinton as Walking Eagle

A "Native American" Tale

Obama 2008 Table

Race Struggle is Class Struggle A Review of  In-Dependence from Bondage  (Lewis) /  Manley’s Legacy / Southern Needs   

The War in Iraq Has Burdened American Working Families (Obama video)  /  Bill Richardson Endorses Obama (video)

Shelby Steele: The Why Obama Can't Win  / Barack Obama: The Death of White Supremacy?  / Hillary! Stop the attacks! Love, Obama Girl

Kerner Commission Report Forty Years After

Eisenhower Foundation Updates

Of St. Augustine, the African Restless Heart, and Search for Peace: St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430 A.D.) – Feast Day - August 28

 Dr. Rose Ure Mezu / Preface to Chinua Achebe: The Man and His Works (Rose Ure Mezu)  / Chinua Achebe: The Man and His Works

 Obama 2008 Table  With the Lost Boys in Southern Sudan  / Nuba-Darfur-South Sudan Table

It's too little and too late to overcome the bursting housing bubble—Research has estimated that the next recession could increase unemployment by 3.2 million to 5.8 million people, and poverty by 4.7 million to 10.4 million, with at least 4.2 million also losing health insurance. . . . Hard times ahead highlight the need for structural changes such as universal health care and labor law reform. These and a bigger, "green" fiscal stimulus that would reduce carbon emissions should be pushed to the top of the political agenda.Charlotte Observer

 

Attending The Ninth National Black Writers Conference 

A Report by Larry Ukali Johnson-Redd

Report on Third Annual African-American Spoken Word Festival  /  Larry Uklai Johnson Redd Table

Larry Ukali Johnson-Redd Listen to Conversations of Africa  by following this link: http://www.conversationsofafrica.asmnetwork.net/ You are invited to listen to this and join in the conversation and make it a discussion by calling in and participating at 347-215-7831! Remember this segment will begin at 8 PM Pacific Standard Time!  Conversations of Africa

 

Need for a Scholarship of Indictment

A Discussion with Dr. Floyd Hayes, III

Black Education and Afro-Pessimism  / Bebop, Modernism & Change

Floyd Hayes will speak on “Womanizing Richard Wright: Constructing The Black Feminine in The Outsider. Tuesday, April 8th 4-6pm Sherwood Room Levering Hall. WGS Program for the Study of Women, and co-sponsored with the Center for Africana Studies

 Other Floyd Hayes files: Bebop, Modernism & Change The African Presence in America Before Columbus  Paul Robeson and Richard Wright      

Race in US Politics: A Syllabus    Pragmatic Solidarity     Politics of Knowledge  A Tribute to Kwame Toure/Stokely Carmichael  Maryland House Bill 101

 

Modern Chinese Tanks for the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF)

Kenya Seizes Weapons for the Sudan Peoples Liberation Army (SPLA)

Chinese President Hu Jintao urged Sudan's Omar al-Bashir

Clinton or Obama: Who’s Best on Darfur?  /  Nuba-Darfur-South Sudan

Deng and Alek: Lovers Paradise Lost Short story by Jane Musoke-Nteyafas

 

Okonkwo's Curse

 Relevance of Achebe's Things Fall Apart

A Discussion by Dr. Rose Ure Mezu & Rudolph Lewis

Old School Music  (Love My Oldies)

A Brief for Whitey Response to Barack Obama Speech on Race By Patrick J. Buchanan

 

Why are 1 in 9 young Black men in prison?‏

James, Van, Gabriel, Clarissa, Mervyn, Andre, and the rest of the ColorOfChange.org team

Criminalizing a Race: Blacks and Prisons Table

Rice hits U.S. 'birth defect'— Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said yesterday that the United States still has trouble dealing with race because of a national "birth defect" that denied black Americans the opportunities given to whites at the country's very founding. "Black Americans were a founding population," she said. "Africans and Europeans came here and founded this country together — Europeans by choice and Africans in chains. That's not a very pretty reality of our founding." As a result, Miss Rice told editors and reporters at The Washington Times, "descendants of slaves did not get much of a head start, and I think you continue to see some of the effects of that." "That particular birth defect makes it hard for us to confront it, hard for us to talk about it, and hard for us to realize that it has continuing relevance for who we are today," she said. Race has become an issue in this year's presidential campaign, which prompted a much-discussed speech last week by Sen. Barack Obama, one of the two remaining contenders for the Democratic nomination. Miss Rice declined to comment on the campaign, saying only that it was "important" that Mr. Obama "gave it for a whole host of reasons."

But she spoke forcefully on the subject, citing personal and family experience to illustrate "a paradox and contradiction in this country," which "we still haven't resolved." On the one hand, she said, race in the U.S. "continues to have effects" on public discussions and "the deepest thoughts that people hold." On the other, "enormous progress" has been made, which allowed her to become the nation's chief diplomat. "America doesn't have an easy time dealing with race," Miss Rice said, adding that members of her family have "endured terrible humiliations." "What I would like understood as a black American is that black Americans loved and had faith in this country even when this country didn't love and have faith in them — and that's our legacy," she said.  WashingtonTimes

Ties that bind   /  Through My Open Window —for Fannie   /  Homespun Image  / The Memphis Diary of Ida B. Wells 

James Terry—The Willie Harris Collection Chronicles Southern University and Life in Scotlandviille / My Archival Experience (Lewis)

 

Nigeria A Failed State in the Making?

By Emmanuel Franklyne Ogbunwezeh

 Explaining the African Predicament

A Letter to Chinweizu and Rudy by Emmanuel Franklyne Ogbunwezeh

Studies: Iraq Costs US $12B Per Month—The flow of blood may be ebbing, but the flood of money into the Iraq war is steadily rising, new analyses show. In 2008, its sixth year, the war will cost approximately $12 billion a month, triple the ''burn'' rate of its earliest years, Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph E. Stiglitz and co-author Linda J. Bilmes report in a new book. Beyond 2008, working with ''best-case'' and ''realistic-moderate'' scenarios, they project the Iraq and Afghan wars, including long-term U.S. military occupations of those countries, will cost the U.S. budget between $1.7 trillion and $2.7 trillion—or more—by 2017.Interest on money borrowed to pay those costs could alone add $816 billion to that bottom line, they say. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has done its own projections and comes in lower, forecasting a cumulative cost by 2017 of $1.2 trillion to $1.7 trillion for the two wars, with Iraq generally accounting for three-quarters of the costs. NYTimes

 Poems by Glenis Redmond   Lifting   Mama's Magic   She   Mango   If I Aint African  Village Cry    

Images and Homages:‘Memwars’

From the Eugene B. Redmond Collection

 Edited by Howard Rambsy II

Professor Eugene Redmond Will Be Honored by SIUE

May 10 with an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters

Kwansabas for Maya Angelou & Quincy Troupe’. Plus . . . Interviews with Angelou, Troupe & Michael Datcher

 

Nigeria and White Supremacy

A Letter in Response to "Nigeria A Failed State in the Making?"

By Chinweizu

Reparations for Darfur   USAfrica: A Mortal Danger for Black Africans   Nuba-Darfur-South Sudan Table

Comparative Digests By Chinweizu: Racism: Arab and European Compared  /  Black Enslavement: Arab and European Compared

Reparations and the Pan-African War on Genocide  Letter from Chinweizu / Letters from Kola Boof

The West Against the Rest?—A Buddhist Response to “The Clash of Civilizations”—The Cold War victory of the West means that capitalism now reigns unchallenged and so has been able to remove its velvet gloves. Because capitalism evolved within a Christian culture, they have been able to make peace with each other, more or less, in the contemporary West. Christ’s kingdom is not of this world, we should render to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and as long as we go to church on Sunday we can devote the rest of the week to this-worldly pursuits. From some other more traditional religious perspectives, however, the values of globalizing capitalism are more problematical. Buddhism, for example, emphasizes that in order for us to become happy our greed, ill will and delusion must be transformed into generosity, compassion and wisdom. Such a transformation is difficult to reconcile with an economic globalization that seems to encourage greed (producers never have enough profit, advertising ensures that consumers are never satisfied), ill will (too busy looking out for “number one”!), and delusion (the world—our mother as well as our home—de-sacralized by commodifying everything into resources for buying and selling). Buddhist Peace Fellowship