Mike Dream Reception Remembered from 2008

and this is fresh from TSN crew just outside the Dream Yard at































'doin it.

Black History and Higginbotham's Open Letter To Clarence Thomas

(Thomas, above left, Marshall at the above right, and in the black and white tight here, Higginbotham is second from the left.)

It's been a minute- but hey, February's a busy month, yo! But we're right back at you with a little more Black History on the contemporary tip. Peep game.

In January of 1992, Aloyisus Leon Higginbotham, Jr. wrote: An Open Letter to Clarence Thomas From A federal Judicial Colleague. Mr. Higginbotham, Jr. was born February 25th, 1928 and passed December 14, 1998, at the age of 70. He was a prominent African American, civil rights advocate and Chief Justice on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The publishing of The Open Letter to Thomas published by the University of Pennsylvania Law Review ignited a maelstrom of conversation regarding race relations and equality with regards to the newly appointed Judge Clarence Thomas.

A series of instances struck a social nerve in the African American community, as well as the country at large, regarding sexism, racism, and the theory of African American self-hatred:

In 1991, Thomas was appointed to the Supreme Court, a lifetime seating to the highest court in the land, by Republican President George H. W. Bush, Sr.
One hallmark of Thomas’ was his conservative ‘originalism’ interpretation of law by looking to exact phrasing of the law’s text as the “surest guide to it’s meaning.”
He was African American and had a white spouse.
He was taking the place of retired and revered African American civil rights juggernaut, Thurgood Marshall.
And toward the end of his confirmation hearings, Anita Hill (African American) testified against Thomas’ appointment alleging that he had subjected her to harassingly inappropriate comments. Angela Wright (also African American) had also made similar allegations, but declined to testify against him.

These instances which came together in the Fall of 1991 incited bumper stickers emblazoned with slogans like “I believe you Anita!” But the most significant point of contention to Clarence Thomas’ appointment was that he was a far cry from the man he was replacing, Thurgood Marshall. The situation is akin the the recent seating of Senator Roland Burris to by impeached Illinois governor, Rod Blagojevich, to Barack Obama’s vacation of the Senate (...as he is now our first African American President of the United States!)

Now g’wan get you some education and read, An Open Letter to Clarence Thomas From A federal Judicial Colleague at:
www.rbvincent.com/pdf.files/Thomas_Higginbotham.pdf


THIS HAS BEEN A BIRDS WHO LIKE POMEGRANATE BLACK HISTORY MONTH PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

Truth Seeker, Part 2

She was born into slavery as Isabella Baumfree. She gave herself the name Sojourner Truth in 1843. How old was she when she adopted her new name. Her name means ‘truth-seeker’. Sojourner was best known for her speech entitled, “Ain’t I a woman?” that she delivered in 1851 at the Ohio Women’s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio.

In 1806, at the age of nine, she was sold by her original owner to another man named John Neely for $100, along with a flock of sheep! She would be sold two other times over the next four years of her life. Both times she was sold for less than $200 dollars. At this time in her life, she only spoke Dutch, the language of her first owner, Colonel Johannes Hardenbergh.
Isabella became a free woman when she ran away from her owner to work for another family in New York state. New York had an emancipation law that made slavery illegal in 1826.

By 1844, she had changed her name to Sojourner Truth and traveled across the country speaking about abolition, the movement to end legal slavery. Slavery did not become illegal in all states until the Thirteenth Amendment was passed on December 18th, 1865. Sojourner Truth was an outspoken critic of slavery for 21 years before all slaves were legally free in this country! Truth started dictating her memoirs to her friend Olive Gilbert, and in 1850 William Lloyd Garrison privately published her book, The Narrative of Sojourner Truth: A Northern Slave. That same year, she purchased a home in Northampton, Massachusetts for $300. This was remarkable, being that she could own property as a single black woman 15 years before the abolition of slavery in this country.

Truth Be Told, Sojourner - that is.

Her speech: Ain’t I A Woman?

"Wall, chilern, whar dar is so much racket dar must be somethin' out o' kilter. I tink dat 'twixt de niggers of de Souf and de womin at de Norf, all talkin' 'bout rights, de white men will be in a fix pretty soon. But what's all dis here talkin' 'bout?

Dat man ober dar say dat womin needs to be helped into carriages, and lifted ober ditches, and to hab de best place everywhar. Nobody eber helps me into carriages, or ober mud-puddles, or gibs me any best place!" And raising herself to her full height, and her voice to a pitch like rolling thunder, she asked. 'And ain't I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! (and she bared her right arm to the shoulder, showing her tremendous muscular power). I have ploughed, and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain't I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man--when I could get it--and bear de lash as well! And ain't I a woman? I have borne thirteen chilern, and seen 'em mos' all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother's grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain't I a woman?

"Den dey talks 'bout dis ting in de head; what dis dey call it?" ("Intellect," whispered someone near.) "Dat's it, honey. What's dat got to do wid womin's rights or nigger's rights? If my cup won't hold but a pint, and yourn holds a quart, wouldn't ye be mean not to let me have my little half-measure full?" And she pointed her significant finger, and sent a keen glance at the minister who had made the argument. The cheering was long and loud.

"Den dat little man in black dar, he say women can't have as much rights as men, 'cause Christ wan't a woman! Whar did your Christ come from?" Rolling thunder couldn't have stilled that crowd, as did those deep, wonderful tones, as she stood there with out-stretched arms and eyes of fire. Raising her voice still louder, she repeated, "Whar did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothin' to do wid Him."

Oh, what a rebuke that was to that little man. Turning again to another objector, she took up the defense of Mother Eve. I can not follow her through it all. It was pointed, and witty, and solemn; eliciting at almost every sentence deafening applause; and she ended by asserting:

"If de fust woman God ever made was strong enough to turn de world upside down all alone, dese women togedder (and she glanced her eye over the platform) ought to be able to turn it back, and get it right side up again! And now dey is asking to do it, de men better let 'em." Long-continued cheering greeted this. "'Bleeged to ye for hearin' on me, and now ole Sojourner han't got nothin' more to say."


-the Frances Gage recording, circa 1851

Foster & Holder- Getting Down with the Getdown!

He was born Eric H. Holder, Jr., in the The Bronx borough of New York City, to parents with roots in Barbados. Holder's father, Eric Himpton Holder, Sr. (1905–1970) was born in Saint Joseph, Barbados and arrived in the United States at the age of 11.

Holder grew up in East Elmhurst, Queens, and attended public school until the age of 10. When entering the 4th grade he was selected to participate in a program for intellectually-gifted students. He went on to attend Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan and attended Columbia University, where he played freshman basketball and was co-captain of his team and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in American history in 1973. Holder received his Juris Doctor (J.D.) from Columbia Law School, graduating in 1976. He worked for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund during his first summer and the United States Attorney during his second summer.

32 years later, after many distinguished accomplishments, on December 1, 2008, Barack Obama announced that Holder would be his nominee for Attorney General. He was formally nominated on January 20, 2009 and approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee on January 28. Following his confirmation by the full Senate on February 2, 2009, he became the first African-American Attorney General of the United States. Holder was confirmed by a 75-21 vote on February 2, 2009.

BLACK HISTORY IN THE MAKING- THIS HAPPENED THIS WEEK!!!





Marcus Foster arrived in Oakland in 1970, already a celebrated and proven educator.
He was Oakland, California's first black Superintendent of Public Schools.

Alex Haley, Roots author, observed, "Marcus Foster holds up a candid mirror to educators, students, parents, school boards, and communities, so that all who are involved may look at themselves."

Dr. Foster viewed the three R's and critical thinking as the building blocks of education. But in addition he emphasized the need for art programs, team sports, and school activities that reflected the life circumstances of the students.

In the short time he was in Oakland, Dr. Foster created a climate that gave life to a number of firsts: the Arts Magnet School, Far West School, Street Academy, Montera Film Festival (now the National Educational Film Festival), and the Oakland Education Institute (now the Marcus A. Foster Educational Institute.)

The scope of these accomplishments is rooted in Dr. Foster's conviction that group action can unite individual efforts to accomplish great things, and that such collaboration is as essential as it is effective.

In a message to Oakland school employees, Dr. Foster observed that "when the pieces are in place, when we are done with the temporary preoccupation and the catchphrases, when we feel the power and exhilaration of real movement toward our objectives, then will come an important realization. Our success will come not because of Board directives, or the Superintendent's notions, or the staff's creativity, or the community's yearning. We will make it because we have the common need to draw on each other, and the audacity to believe that in concert, we are equal to the great tasks."

-information accessed from www.marcusfoster.org, 2/3/09

And....

To All Toy Crews:
name- Gripa
residency- Mexico
crew- Love
note to selves...SHE'LL BURN YOU!!

ill.
more flavor for you at graffgirlz.com

Daily Perch- It's Black History Month, Like ALWAYS!

Hey.
Time for the Daily Perch from us. I know, I know, your thinking, "C'mon b?!? It's Black History 'ay'day up in this.."
Hold up. I totally feel you. As it is Polynesian History Month, Asian History Month, Latino History Month, Italian, Irish, Canadian....it's a new day!
But since we get a moment to play into the fanfare, we're gonna drop a load on you every gosh darned day just to say we 'got our hits in' and spread a little knowledge.
The one time I may be launching info on the daily!
Peep The Perch!

and now...



Shirley Chisholm (November 30, 1924 – January 1, 2005)
January 25, 1972, she became the first major-party black candidate for President of the United States and the first woman to run for the Democratic presidential nomination (Margaret Chase Smith had previously run for the Republican presidential nomination). She received 152 first-ballot votes at the 1972 Democratic National Convention.

Chisholm wrote two books,
1970, Chisholm wrote Unbought and Unbossed
1973, She wrote The Good Fight

1988 Hip hop reference:
"Make you co-op-er-ate with the rhythm, that is what I give em/ Reagan is the pres but I voted for Shirley Chisholm"
-Biz Markie, Nobody Beats The Biz

1993, she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.
2002, scholar Molefi Kete Asante listed Shirley Chisholm on his list of 100 Greatest African Americans.



Freddie Hubbard (7 April 1938 – 29 December 2008)
He was my friend Daria’s uncle. He was also who influenced my early take on jazz in the 80’s (he and Pieces of a Dream, Hiroshima, Bob James, and the Yellowjackets). I think I fell into jazz appreciation due to being pulled into his 80’s pop stuff. But upon digging deeper, I realized he was the real, REAL, deal...spending many moments of my own life meditating on his music.

Frederick Dewayne Hubbard, was an American jazz trumpeter. He was known primarily for playing in the bebop, hard bop and post bop styles from the early 60s and on. His unmistakable and influential tone contributed to new perspectives for modern jazz and bebop.*

Local Reference: Columbia's VSOP: The Quintet, album was recorded from two live performances, one at the Hearst Greek Theatre, University of California, Berkeley, on July 16, 1977, the other at the San Diego Civic Theatre, July 18, 1977. Musicians joining the trumpeter for this landmark performance were the members of the mid-sixties line-up of the Miles Davis Quintet (except the leader): Herbie Hancock on keyboards, Tony Williams on drums, Ron Carter on bass, and Wayne Shorter on tenor and soprano saxophones.

*information referenced from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shirley_Chisholm 02/02/09 4:25 pacific standard time
* referenced from Wikepedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freddie_Hubbard, 2/2/09 @4:36 AM Pacific Standard Time