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DVDs by Michael Moore
Fahrenheit 9/11 & Fahrenhype 9/11
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The Awful Truth /
Michael & Me /
Bowling for Columbine / The Big One
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Letter from Michael Moore
You
hang in there, Mr. Bush
Pretend the people of New
Orleans and the Gulf Coast are near Tikrit
Friday,
September 2nd, 2005
Dear Mr. Bush:
Any idea where all our helicopters are? It's Day 5 of Hurricane
Katrina and thousands remain stranded in New Orleans and need to
be airlifted. Where on earth could you have misplaced all our
military choppers? Do you need help finding them? I once lost my
car in a Sears parking lot. Man, was that a drag.
Also, any idea where all our national guard soldiers are? We
could really use them right now for the type of thing they
signed up to do like helping with national disasters. How come
they weren't there to begin with?
Last Thursday I was in south Florida and sat outside while the
eye of Hurricane Katrina passed over my head. It was only a
Category 1 then but it was pretty nasty. Eleven people died and,
as of today, there were still homes without power. That night
the weatherman said this storm was on its way to New Orleans.
That was Thursday! Did anybody tell you? I know you didn't want
to interrupt your vacation and I know how you don't like to get
bad news. Plus, you had fundraisers to go to and mothers of dead
soldiers to ignore and smear. You sure showed her!
I especially like how, the day after the hurricane, instead of
flying to Louisiana, you flew to San Diego to party with your
business peeps. Don't let people criticize you for this -- after
all, the hurricane was over and what the heck could you do, put
your finger in the dike?
And don't listen to those who, in the coming days, will reveal
how you specifically reduced the Army Corps of Engineers' budget
for New Orleans this summer for the third year in a row. You
just tell them that even if you hadn't cut the money to fix
those levees, there weren't going to be any Army engineers to
fix them anyway because you had a much more important
construction job for them -- BUILDING DEMOCRACY IN IRAQ!
On Day 3, when you finally left your vacation home, I have to
say I was moved by how you had your Air Force One pilot descend
from the clouds as you flew over New Orleans so you could catch
a quick look of the disaster. Hey, I know you couldn't stop and
grab a bullhorn and stand on some rubble and act like a
commander in chief. Been there done that.
There will be those who will try to politicize this tragedy and
try to use it against you. Just have your people keep pointing
that out. Respond to nothing. Even those pesky scientists who
predicted this would happen because the water in the Gulf of
Mexico is getting hotter and hotter making a storm like this
inevitable. Ignore them and all their global warming Chicken
Littles. There is nothing unusual about a hurricane that was so
wide it would be like having one F-4 tornado that stretched from
New York to Cleveland.
No, Mr. Bush, you just stay the course. It's not your fault that
30 percent of New Orleans lives in poverty or that tens of
thousands had no transportation to get out of town. C'mon,
they're black! I mean, it's not like this happened to
Kennebunkport. Can you imagine leaving white people on their
roofs for five days? Don't make me laugh! Race has nothing --
NOTHING -- to do with this!
You hang in there, Mr. Bush. Just try to find a few of our Army
helicopters and send them there. Pretend the people of New
Orleans and the Gulf Coast are near Tikrit.
Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
www.MichaelMoore.com
P.S. That annoying mother, Cindy Sheehan, is no longer at your
ranch. She and dozens of other relatives of the Iraqi War dead
are now driving across the country, stopping in many cities
along the way. Maybe you can catch
up with them before they get to DC on September 21st.
posted 2 September 2005
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Malcolm X
A Life of Reinvention
By
Manning Marable
Years
in the making-the definitive biography of
the legendary black activist.
Of the great figure in twentieth-century
American history perhaps none is more
complex and controversial than Malcolm X.
Constantly rewriting his own story, he
became a criminal, a minister, a leader, and
an icon, all before being felled by
assassins' bullets at age thirty-nine.
Through his tireless work and countless
speeches he empowered hundreds of thousands
of black Americans to create better lives
and stronger communities while establishing
the template for the self-actualized,
independent African American man. In death
he became a broad symbol of both resistance
and reconciliation for millions around the
world. |
Manning Marable's
new biography of Malcolm is a stunning achievement.
Filled with new information and shocking revelations
that go beyond the Autobiography, Malcolm X unfolds a
sweeping story of race and class in America, from the
rise of Marcus Garvey and the Ku Klux Klan to the
struggles of the civil rights movement in the fifties
and sixties.
Reaching into
Malcolm's troubled youth, it traces a path from his
parents' activism through his own engagement with the
Nation of Islam, charting his astronomical rise in the
world of Black Nationalism and culminating in the
never-before-told true story of his assassination.
Malcolm X will stand as the definitive work on one of
the most singular forces for social change, capturing
with revelatory clarity a man who constantly strove, in
the great American tradition, to remake himself anew.
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Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in
America
By Melissa V.
Harris-Perry
According to the
author, this society has historically exerted
considerable pressure on black females to fit into one
of a handful of stereotypes, primarily, the Mammy, the
Matriarch or the Jezebel. The selfless
Mammy’s behavior is marked by a slavish devotion to
white folks’ domestic concerns, often at the expense of
those of her own family’s needs. By contrast, the
relatively-hedonistic Jezebel is a sexually-insatiable
temptress. And the Matriarch is generally thought of as
an emasculating figure who denigrates black men, ala the
characters Sapphire and Aunt Esther on the television
shows Amos and Andy and Sanford and Son, respectively.
Professor Perry
points out how the propagation of these harmful myths
have served the mainstream culture well. For instance,
the Mammy suggests that it is almost second nature for
black females to feel a maternal instinct towards
Caucasian babies.
As for the source
of the Jezebel, black women had no control over their
own bodies during slavery given that they were being
auctioned off and bred to maximize profits. Nonetheless,
it was in the interest of plantation owners to propagate
the lie that sisters were sluts inclined to mate
indiscriminately.
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The White Masters of the
World
From
The World and Africa, 1965
By W. E. B. Du Bois
W. E. B. Du Bois’
Arraignment and Indictment of White Civilization
(Fletcher)
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Ancient African Nations
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If you like this page consider making a donation
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Negro Digest /
Black World
Browse all issues
1950
1960
1965
1970
1975
1980
1985
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1995
2000
____ 2005
Enjoy!
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The Death of Emmett Till by Bob Dylan
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The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
/
Only a Pawn in Their Game
Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson Thanks America for
Slavery /
George Jackson /
Hurricane Carter
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The Journal of Negro History issues at Project Gutenberg
The
Haitian Declaration of Independence 1804
/ January 1, 1804 -- The Founding of
Haiti
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update 20 April 2010
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