Doctors, Nurses, the Pill and Puerto Rico

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

I Sincerely Love Allah's Mathematics

For those of you who may not be aware, today is the day we- the Nation of Gods and Earths (Five Percenters) acknowledge as Allah's Physical Degree day. He was physically born February 22nd, 1928 in Danville, Virginia. Every culture, nation, people show a particular degree of reverence for their founding father(s). During the month of February, the government of the U.S. recognizes 'President's day', as a combination memorial to George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. There are numerous celebrations that are held in ciphers (cities) across the states. The Parliament in Mecca (Harlem) usually hosts a number of Elder's who walked with Allah when they were young. I-self will be attending a dance in tribute to Allah, this weekend in Divine See (Washington D.C.).

I have reposted the following blog entry from http://yellowseed.blogspot.com/2006_06_01_archive.html

Please take the time to read to learn more about the founder of one of the country's, and the world for that matter, most controversial movement. The man who came to dispell the lies, mythologies, rituals and oppression. The man who stood up to the world and told them he was "ALLAH" and that we were too. The man who came to unite the black, brown and yellow peoples of the planet earth in an effort to change the future. Not by reverting to the ways of the past, b-u-t by redefining the the NOW and bringing forth a "new way" in order to create a different future.

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

What Will We Achieve?

The babies are the greatest. Indeed. This is and has been our most fundamental tenant. Beyond what many may think about who we are (both inside and outside of the Nation) our goal has always been to educate the youth. This was the drive behind Allah's teachings and will to bring about a strong country through the upliftment and education of the children. Allah refused to accept other people definitions of the world. He went forward with his own perspectives, very unpopular at that time in America. He advocated voting, paying taxes, schooling, jobs and careers. He did not organize protests and demand reparations. He spend his time with the "have-nots" and the "expected-not to's" and gave to them what no other so-called African-American leaders and organizations could give them: A FATHER. Something that many of them lacked and thus projected the term upon him for what he was doing for them. He wasn't afraid of them. He slept with them (the young Gods would rest with Allah when they had no place to stay at night. He ate with them. He laughed with them. He lived with and amongst them. And most importantly he gave them GOOD ORDERLY DIRECTION (G.O.D).

Yet, the institutions of America claim to have the best interests of the children in mind. Why then are so much social service agencies losing aid. Social service, has often been looked at by the conservatives in power, as a nuisance. It has been viewed as a waste of money on the fledgling, poor, "blood sucking" masses. Economy, which by far supercedes government interests, is counterproductive is strenghtening our youth. With commercials and advertising aimed at them, youth claw out at the images that are imprinted into their brains everyday. The environment we bring them into has more of an effect on their overall development than we think. This has been addressed and documented. Yet, as public policy continues to be shaped, the "needs" of the people are redirected as governmental interests are redirected. And the focus is taken away from our greatest resource.

The history of America clearly speaks volumes of the perspective of children. So it becomes no wonder why it (the status of children) persists as an unresolved issue. Still, when a group like the Nation of Gods and Earths speaks up in defense of the marginalized youth we are often attacked and charged as far from realizing and being able to uplift them. Instead of the government assisting us, they persecute us. In "Legends, Lies and Cherished Myths of American History," author Richard Shenkman discusses the view of children throughout the history of the country:

"There is the assumption, for instance that child rearing has always been left up to mothers. But according to recent studies of the family undertaken by Stanford University’s Carl Degler, child rearing in colonial times was mainly the job of fathers. Until the early 1800’s child-rearing manuals were not even addressed to mothers. It wasn’t until the 19th century, when women has the economic freedom to devote themselves full-time to their offspring, that they began playing their familiar hearth and home role.

Children as well as parents in the colonial ear played a markedly different role in the family from now. Regarded as little adults, children were made to dress like their parents, were given heavy responsibilities, and were forbidden the luxury of playthings. A historian who has studied 330 portraits of children between 1670 and 1810 discovered that until the Revolution the pictures "contain no distinctive childish artifacts such as toys, children’s furniture, or school books. The stock poses give no signs of play or playfulness and the faces of the children are as solemn as those of their elders." Until the 1800’s children weren’t even given books at their own reading levels; juvenile literature hadn’t been invented. As late as 1845 the Southern Literary Messenger considered juvenile books as a novelty. "No trait in the literary development of the age," said the Messenger, "is more striking than the importance which seems suddenly to have attached to what we call juvenile books for children."

Far from maintaining close relations with their children, parents in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries often kept their offspring at bay. Puritan clergyman specifically urged parents not to become too close to their children. When male children reached their teens, they were often sent away to live with other families. When parents divorced, the custody of the children was often considered a minor matter, according to Degler. Not until the nineteenth century did children become sentimentalized idols. Only then did families begin celebrating children’s birthdays."

No system in place for children was formally introduced until the 19th century. No wonder was this country is falling. Because America is just no starting to listen to and pay attention to the needs of the children. And then only marginally. The children are still largely misunderstood because no one is speaking to them. So them many children flock to where they will fill heard or can express themselves. Many become gang members or involved in criminal activity. Because they were neglected for the most part, during the times in their development when positive interaction mattered the most. Now that they are adults we expected them to have made up their minds about their direction in life. When we haven’t given them any directions except into the workforce and to the stores to consume. Or we direct them to the unemployment line or to the prisons, to be beasts of burden, making jeans and telemarketing calls. Only to become cheap labor for the greatest shopping mall of the world; the United States.

During the Martin Luther King riots, Allah and his Five Percenters were put and about. Teaching and civilizing the people. Allah’s focus was the children, beyond the shadow of a doubt or anyone else’s doubt. New York magazine did a cover story article about Mayor John Lindsay, which included The Mayor’s interest and involvement with Allah. The magazine also gave insight into Allah and his teachings. One particular excerpt mentioned Allah speaking to his Five Percenters about a crowd of people who had assembled to protest and speak out about the assassination of Dr. King.

"Them people are stupid. They’re just showing my Five Percenters they are blind, deaf, and what?"

"Dumb!" came the chanted answer.

"We are the only ones who are civilized. We are trying to save our people’s lives. The revolution must come from within. Clean up your homes first. Our job is to civilize the what?"

"Uncivilized!"

and then the article continued…

"There is no teaching in a bar. Bakar Kasim and two sisters got busted over in Brooklyn where they were teaching. Some cops come messing with them, and one of the sisters bit him on the hand. He shouldn’t have had his hand on her, and the man should have took his head! Now, you know we believe in peace, but I didn’t say if we are attacked don’t fight! You say you are God, and a sister is in jail for biting a policeman on the hand. Malcolm said he’d rather have the women than the niggers. And another thing I taught you was to respect the American Flag. You respect any what?"

"Government!"

"I’m telling you, my Five Percenters have got to be healthy, strong and good what?"

"Breeders!"

"But you’re healthy all right. Some of you brothers can outrun a reindeer or a telephone call every time a riot starts. You ain’t ready! You can’t fight no guerilla warfare here, because you don’t plant nothing. You have to buy from the whiteman. Why? Because when his superiors give him the orders, the penalty for disobedience is what?"

"Death!"

"You’re out there looting. My wife had to go downtown to get some milk. Some brothers are looting. Don’t say you’re a Five Percenter if you gonna do it!"

"You say you the civilized of the world. The whiteman won’t give you this government until you have given your word you will not destroy him."

Whatever black extremists were writing about him, Allah himself seemed monumentally unconcerned. A wiry, squinting man of forty, whose real name is Clarence "Puddin" Smith, he had lived through a break with the Black Muslims. (He was once a member.) Through a murder attempt that left a bullet lodged in his chest. (Allah was "on the list" after Malcolm X.) And through a stay in Mattewan State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, which probably got him out of a murder rap of his own. (He was allowed to plead insanity. After all, he thought he was Allah.) That bullet, plus an intricate mathematical catechism perfectly memorized by all his followers, proves that he is "Allah", the Islamic word for God. To those who doubt him, he says, "If I’m not Allah, who is?"

Allah knew have to speak to the thousands of dispossessed youth. When America couldn’t stop people from rioting during the 60’s, Allah and his Five Percenters. The authorities were indeed alarmed at Allah’s "following." The children loved him and flocked to him because of what he was doing for them. He was/is their Father. This holds true beyond the attempts to assassinate his and our characters. Many of us remain true to his message. Although many have fallen by the side of the road. Allah was not a revolutionary or an extremist. He was not a muslim-renegade and he definitely was not "crazy." Barry Gottherer, Mayor’s Lindsay aid during the 1960’s and point contact person with Allah, mentioned him sincerely in his book "The Mayor’s Man":

"Allah’s speech pattern was uniquely his own, with it’s own pitch and rhythym. He would start a sentence, "I am neither pro-black or anti-" and then he would pause. He’d add, "whi-iite," stretching the emphasis on that last syllable. He explained his religion to me at some length. The world, he believed, was inhabited by three kinds of people: 85 per cent of the world are cattle; 10 per cent are the devils who mislead the cattle, and the 5 per cent, with Allah at it’s head, had become the Five Percenters…

At the time I met Allah, his followers numbered either from two to five hundred, if you believed the police reports; or eight hundred, if you believed Allah. I’ve been told that sooner or later he could try to start some kind or armed revolution, and that the Five Percenters would try to take over Harlem.But Allah wasn’t sounding like a revolutionary. He was asking me if the city could provide enough buses to take the Five Percenters on a picnic. I said I thought it would be possible. Then he asked about school facilities. The Urban League, which used corporate funding to staff store-front street academies for dropouts with teachers who were former dropouts themselves, told Allah they weren’t willing to give a street academy for the exclusive use of Five Percenters. Allah wanted the city to do better by him."

So it was in the beginning, so shall it be in the end. The babies are the greatest. The best part of man and woman coming together. We are to educate them. Not to revolt against America. B-u-t to be strong men and women so that they will strengthen the country and continue it’s legacy of greatness, righteously. We are not a revolutionary movement. We are a resistance movement. We resist the definitions that have been placed on us. We resist any policy that is inhumane and that does not promote life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, not at the expense of the poor, or to feed to pockets of the rich. We want freedom, justice and equality for all the human families of the planet earth. Many will miscontrue who we are and what we are about. They will pick and chose which "words" from our cirriculum they will attempt to use against us. However history does not lie. Only those who are telling it. And those that attack us paint the most gruesome of histories about us. I challenge all of you to read and research for yourself. To go out and learn for yourself, who are the Five Percent on this poor part of the planet earth? After all, the above reprinted excerpts are historical documents.

Lastly, I will part from this blog entry with the another excerpt from "The Mayor’s Man." The following is what the Mayor John V. Lindsay of New York had to say regarding the assassination of Allah:

"We were all in our shirt sleeves, and sweating. The store front was long and narrow and very shabby. Inside were about forty kids and young adults. Lindsay said, "Brothers, I hope you know the sadness in my heart at Allah’s death." He went on to give a little eulogy. "His contribution was an important one in these last few years, but especially in the world of education."

PEACE!

Mascots: Cultural Rape

Peace!
Below is an article concerning the abolition of Native mascots within the academic arena. It illustrates the apathy that modern society has for Original people's culture.
-------------------------------------------------------
The last dance of Chief Illiniwek
by Tim Giago (Nanwica Kciji)
20 February 2007

The news is out that the University of Illinois will drop its Chief Illiniwek mascot. It just goes to show that not all "traditions" are honorable.

It all began in 1926 when an Illinois student named Lester Leutwiler put on a homemade Indian costume and pranced around the football field at halftime. It will come to an end on Wednesday when the current mascot, Dan Maloney, will do the splits and other non-Indian dance steps for the last time.

This time-honored tradition faced its first objection when a young lady of Spokane Indian heritage, a graduate student at the University of Illinois, named Charlene Teters, stood alone and fearful at a football game in Champaign holding a small sign that read, "We are human beings and not mascots."

Many of the fans and alumni of the "Fighting Illini" were at first puzzled and then angered at the audacity of this young Indian lady. Some spat on her as they walked past and others flipped burning cigarettes at her. But she tearfully stood her ground because she had grown increasingly sick and tired of having her people insulted every Saturday for the sake of a football game.

To stand alone in the face of such fury and anger from a supposed educated segment of America’s white society took courage and determination, but the constant insults and abuse soon caused Teters to waiver. Her fear was mostly for that of her children and not herself. But tell me this: Why should any person fear for their very lives for protesting the use of Indians as mascots for America’s fun and games?

After observing a particular crude presentation at the halftime of a Washington Redskins football game in 1982 I wrote a column questioning the use of human beings as mascots in a fashion that demeaned them. The incident involved a group of fans painting a pig red, placing a feathered bonnet on its head and then chasing it around the fifty-yard line as halftime entertainment. The first thing that struck me was what if these fans had painted a pig black and placed an Afro-wig on its head and did this stunt at halftime?

I was stunned by the hate mail I received for this column. I was asked to be on a national radio call-in show to talk about the use of Indians as mascots. Once again, the hate directed at me spewed from the radio. Mind you, I am an American Indian, Oglala Lakota, born and raised on an Indian reservation in South Dakota. Some of the callers suggested that, "If I didn’t like it, go back to wherever in the hell I came from."

One day I got a call from Charlene Teters. She told me she was hurt and frightened by the attacks upon her for standing up against the use of Chief Illiniwek as her school’s mascot. She said she was going to quit school and go home. I said, "That is your choice Char, but if you quit, they win."

Well, she didn’t quit but instead continued her protests even beyond the day she graduated. Soon hundreds of American Indians showed up on Homecoming Day at the University of Illinois to join Teters in her protest.

I joined the protest one year as a newspaper reporter. I walked near the protesters taking pictures as they marched. I was once again overwhelmed by the degree of hatred aimed at these protesters. Profanity such as "F" you squaws" or "Get the hell out of here you drunken Indians," rained down on the protesters on their march to the stadium. My God, what a proud tradition! How can a people exude such hatred for real Indians while honoring a phony chief?

Howard Wakeland, president of the Honor the Chief Society, said after the decision to remove Illiniwek as the school’s mascot that it was like putting the mascot in a museum. "Put him in a cage and walk by and say that’s our symbol. That seriously kills the heart of the chief." There will always be those who just don’t get it.

In the minds of most American Indians it is high time Illiniwek was placed in a museum. I hope the traditional Sioux regalia the university bought from Chief Fools Crow under false pretenses are returned before their mascot is put on display. Fools Crow believed the university bought the outfit for historical and educational purposes. When I showed him a photo of how the costume was actually used he was furious. Before his death several years ago he asked, "How can I get them back?" The Oglala Sioux Tribe is now demanding their return thanks to Eileen Janis, the former vice president of the tribe.

The University of Illinois joined other colleges and universities that saw their traditional mascots as racist and did away with them. There are still handful Indian tribes that have sold out their heritage and allow colleges to use their images as mascots. And there is still a professional football team that uses the color of a people’s skin for its mascot.

I honor Charlene Teters for her courage and determination. She has fought for and helped bring about many changes at colleges like Stanford, Marquette, Dartmouth and more that have dropped their Indian mascots and declared them as racist. I will consider America grown up when it finally determines that to name a professional football team "Redskins" after the color of a people’s skin is one of the last bastions of racial prejudice in this country.

Please Educate All Children Equally

Indigenismo: Reshaping an Old Perspective

Indigenismo is a wonderful concept. Even more powerful is it's application and implementation. That is, when the seed is cast out to be sown and takes root. Something even more eventful than the blooming of flowers and the fruit of the crops. It is the moment when the seed is planted, when it actually resinates with a person or people.

Indigenismo has been a strong unifying concept through the 'Americas'. Of course, like most things postive and unifying, there are those who are opposed to us. Through out 'Latin America' it has been the ruling Oligarchies, the Euro-elite (mainly those whose families descend from the wealth of Europe and the exploitation of others, namely Original people) who have opposed this idea with verocity. It is them who have plagued us with the label of mixing nothing more than a 'mixed raced people', with no real point of origin. Owing ourselves and our livelihood to that 'Iberian connection', that which is termed 'hispanismo'. And thus, the introduction and usage of the term 'hispanic.'

As I have touched on before, to identify with the oppressor is the goal of imperial indoctrination or colonialism. This is the mentality they have sought to kindle in us, to maintain their status quo and prevent 'us' from becoming powerful, over our own lives. Since their empires have been built from our blood and bondage, they ultimately fear the that which will unseat them from their colonial thrones. This is why they have down played the Indian and African in us. Yet, it was the Indian and African in us that would not accept a life of servitude.

The concept of a unifying identity stemmed from the criollos and intellectuals who attempted to establish a unifying concept, to combine with 'nationalism', to rally the people behind. As they sought independence from Spain, the cause to fight was the common reality they all had as being 'oppressed' by Spain. This common cause become 'nationalism' and ended up being to Latin America what Liberalism was to the U.S. However, in many cases, the revolution simmered down, people's vision who lost, and the oppression of Spain was replaced by the oppression of the intellectual elite. They then sought a common identity, something that spoke out to the universal heritage and infusion of blood throughout Latin America. It was an identity that was to speak of the differences between those in las Americas and the Peninsulares (those from the Iberian peninsula- Spain and Portugal). This identity tied them to their 'new land' where many of them were born and spoke of the bloodline that birthed this new reality. This concept was Indigenismo.

This is a perspective that speaks to so-called Latinos, not from a nationalist standpoint, but from a reality that harkens back further than Latin Nationalism. It goes beyond state established boundaries and ties us all in to a common history. It is not merely the product of intellectuals b-u-t a perspective taken on by many Native peoples through the documented history of the Americas. Tecumseh, of the Shawnee, sought to unite all nations and tribes, under one common Pan-Indigenous identity, in attempts to resist and prevent the westward expansion of the 13 American colonies and the genocide against the Original people. He travelled from his home in the Ohio River valley, down south to Cherokee country, amongst the Chickasaw and Seminole, and even west ward a bit until he travelled back north to Prophet's town (a city that he and his brother established as the center of their mission).

However, Indigenismo has been a double-edged sword. While unifying in many ways, it has been used at the hands of the elites to reshape 'Latin American' society in their particular image and taste. They purported that the average everyday Latino was a 'mestizo', a mixture of Spanish , Indian and African. However, this perspective was adopted to create a false sense of 'equality' throughout society and to attempt to erase any evidences or situations that could potentially spark future revolutions and revolts, thus disrupting the new position they had given themselves, and fought Spain so hard for. They did this for many reasons. First, to establish the fact that they considered themselves different from Europeans. They did not want to be considered 'white' (by others' standards, but many considered themselves 'white' by their own definition). Also, they wanted to firmly point out that they now considered this 'their' land, and tied in the 'Indian' identity. However, the Indian aspect of Indigenismo served as a buffer between being looked at as 'white' and being looked at as 'black' which was far worse for the intellectual elitest overseer's. Once formulated, this concept was then packaged in the form of literature and sent out to penetrate the mindset's of the people. Yet all the while, telling the masses of Indian/African people that the majority of Indians died out or had mixed with the Africans so much that no one was actually 'black' or 'African' or 'Indian' anymore). This mentality was so well massaged into the mindset of the people that many still believe in it today. You will have people from countries like Mexico or Peru or El Salvador that claim to have "no black in them" when this is far from the truth. And this truth does not contradict MY concept of Indigenismo, as my perspective is not of the criollo elite or of Tecumseh, b-u-t from Almighty God Allah, the father and founder of the Nation of Gods and Earths. We advocate the oneness of all people of color and consider Native Americans, Latin American and Africans (and so-called African Americans) to be all ONE people, all of which are BLACK. Just like the intellectual elite, we have our own concept of what being 'black' is.

This is our mission. This is what we teach. Somos personas Originales !!!

A growing phenomenon is the populations of brothers and sisters who come to the U.S. from Central America, and are very indigenous in appearance. On face value, through media, we look over these people as 'Mexicans', not aware of their unique history. They too, have had considerable amounts of African blood infused into them, although they may contest. Especially mi gente from Cuscatlan or as the devil now calls it, El Salvador. Descendants of the Pipil peoples, who are actually of the Maya, Salvi's or Salvadorenos have been colonized and victimized by Yakub's rules and regulations, as we understand them. The have been instituionally and systemically conditioned to think they are different from Africans and have no African blood in them. This is far from true. They have been the victim of a vicious campaign, similar to the Dominican Republic under Presidente Trujillo when he made every efforts to 'whiten' society and reduce the African prescence in the Dominican Republic to a myth, even by killing thousands of Haitians.

Posted here is a excerpt of an article pertaining to the African influence within El Salvador, please go to the link to read the entire article. It is a jewel to be shared during so-called 'Black History Month', yet so precious, it should be chreished for eternity.

"El Salvador is Central America’s smallest republic and the most densely populated country in the region. The 5,900,000 Salvadorenos are one of the most racially mixed populations in the western hemisphere. With 94% of its population considered to be mestizo, El Salvador ranks as having the highest percentage of "multi-racial" population in the Americas. The native American population makes up only 5%, those of European ancestry (mainly Spanish, German and English) are 1% of the population and own and control much of the land and economy. There are also smaller numbers of Palestinians and Chinese living in the larger cities and towns. Many Salvadorans today are unaware of El Salvador’s African heritage and the African contribution made to mestizo culture has often gone unrecognized by Salvadoran scholars.

A typical encyclopedia entry on El Salvador does not usually mention an African presence in the country. During my research I came across one entry that indicated the following regarding the ancestry of the Salvadoran people: "Their ancestors were predominantly Indians - Pipil, or Pokomam Maya, or Lenca - but also have included other strains - colonial African slaves, their Spanish masters, and a sprinkling of more recent immigrants from Europe and the Middle East. Except for a few white families who have remained apart, these ancestral groups have become submerged by a mixing of bloodlines". This is one of the more clearly written examples of what the population of El Salvador consists of, that is, a blending of several different racial and ethnic strains forming the population group known in Central America as mestizo ("mixtures").

El Salvador is the only country in Central America that does not have a Garifuna, Miskito or Afro-Antillean population. The other six republics have at least one, or all of these groups living within their borders. El Salvador’s connection with Africa goes back to a much earlier time, to the era of Spanish colonial rule. The latter migrations of African descended peoples settling in the other republics did not include El Salvador, and as a result Salvadorans will tell you that their country is the only one in Central America that does not have a "black population". This is not all together correct. For over four and a half centuries the population of El Salvador has mixed its blood lines so completely into one multi-racial society that the remote African origins of some of its citizens are unknown even to those that have such a background. "

- originally from http://www.bjmjr.net/afromestizo/el_salvador.htm

Brothers from another mother

Peace!

I wanted to touch on a previous post regarding the population of the "Original Nation" here in the wilderness of North America, specifically (and the Americas in general)- the Africans and the Indians. It is very important to understand our relationship to each other and that we are really all one- we are all of the black family. We, however, exist within distinct degrees of melanin, which we call 'shades of black' within the Nation of Gods and Earths, which we define as: black, brown and yellow.

"What is the total population of the Original Nation in the wilderness of North America and all over the planet earth?
The total population of the Original Nation in the wilderness of North America is 17 million, with 2 million being Indian, making it a total population of 19 million. And all over the planet earth- 4 billion 400 million." - 3rd degree, Student Enrollment 1-10

This degree is very important when understanding that the relationship between the African and Indian is what brought forth the "so-called Latino." While there are many black and brown 'Latinos' and Native Americans, a large segment of our population is 'yellow'. This, unfortunately, has been exploited and has contributed to the masses of people's lack of understanding of who they are. This we are psychological diced up and seperated from ourselves. For the most part we are told we are a tri-racial peoples, consisting of African, Indian and Spanish (European) blood. However, the focus is sually put on the 'Spanish' lineage due to self-esteem/hatred issues and culturally conditioning, we tend to associate with that which is 'lighter' or that which is seen as closer to 'white'. At the same time pushing ourselves away from 'blackness' because our education stipulated it as a 'sin' and equated it with inferiority. This is by-product of the mental and physical slavery we endured. A compartment of Yakub's world manifest.

"Tavis: I've heard you speak in Venezuela and I've heard you speak here in the United States. I've never heard you speak once without referencing Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I happen to believe that Dr. King is perhaps the greatest American we have ever produced and, for whatever reason or reasons, his work has impacted your life and you are a student of him and reference him rather consistently. Why is that? What's that about?

Chávez: I share your opinion. He's not perhaps the greatest. One of the greatest Americans ever is Muhammad Ali. He's the greatest (laughter). I admire Muhammad Ali enormously. Martin Luther King, Jr. in the 1960s - he was assassinated in what year?

Tavis: 1968.

Chávez: I was born in 1954. In the 1960s, I'm just a young child, a youngster fourteen years old when he was killed. Kennedy was also assassinated in that period. Che Guevara also passed away in that period. I was opening my eyes to life when those events happened. We remember a lot of the 1960s. Among those events, that youngster I was in high school already, and one of the events that truly marked me was that Black man, as black as my father. He was the same color. My father was Black, my grandfather was Black and I am half Black, half Indian. I'm very proud of my color, of my roots.

My grandmother was an Indian, and my grandfather was a Black man, so I was truly touched by that courageous man, those crowds, the rebirth of the Black movement. My father used to mention that movement, the quality of the Black people, the Black people with the white people. I started to read and study the history at that time and started to admire the Black men with the Latinos and marches, and how the Black people joined the army of Bolivar. Bolivar freed the slaves and transformed them.

So I was impacted by him when I read the oration of "I Have A Dream." It is scarred in my soul, a world of peace, a world of equals, of social justice, and the way he was assassinated, it broke my heart"- from a transcript of the "Tavis Smiley Show", interview with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, September 22nd 2006

Many brothers and sisters who are Indigenous and are of the Pan-Indigenous diaspora actually exist within the African diaspora as well. With this truth in mind, while someone may chose to embrace one people over the other (usually due to upbringing or life experience), we must strive to embrace both, as both peoples are who we are. The beauty of the above 'degree' that we study from our lessons as Five Percenters the opportunity and ability to appreciate both of these peoples as 'one people', with a supreme understanding. As I have stated in my first posting to this blog, the perspective of the Pan-Indigenous worldview doesn't exclude Africans or any other people's, who are 'indigenous' to their native lands. It is a reality that bonds us all. The perspective of Latinos as being 'native American' is the perspective of the Nation of Gods and Earths b-u-t does not limit us solely to that category. It is a perspective that links us all to an underlying factor, a common point of reference. It is a rallying cry to all my Indigenous brothers and sisters. A rallying cry of unity and solidarity, as expressed through the understanding of Allah and his will to unite 'all the seeds.'

"Ellos son personas Originales..."- (regarding the 'Indians') 3rd degree, Lost Found Muslim Lesson No.1, 1-14

With that at hand, my righteous brother C'BS Alife Allah has posted an article relating to this subject, on his blog www.allahsfivepercent.blogspot.com, which I have reposted below. Please, do the knowledge.

Who is Black?
By Rosa Clemente-Guest Columnist-Updated Jul 10,2001 http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/article_2283.shtml

"Yesterday, an interesting thing happened to me. I was told I am not Black.

The kicker for me was when my friend stated that the island of Puerto Rico was not a part of the African Diaspora. I wanted to go back to the old skool playground days and yell: "You said what about my momma?!" But after speaking to several friends, I found out that many Black Americans and Latinos agree with him. The miseducation of the Negro is still in effect!

I am so tired of having to prove to others that I am Black, that my peoples are from the Motherland, that Puerto Rico, along with Cuba, Panama and the Dominican Republic, are part of the African Diaspora. Do we forget that the slave ships dropped off our people all over the world, hence the word Diaspora?

The Atlantic slave trade brought Africans to Puerto Rico in the early 1500s. Some of the first slave rebellions took place on the island of Puerto Rico. Until 1846, Africanos on the island had to carry a libreta to move around the island, like the passbook system in apartheid South Africa. In Puerto Rico, you will find large communities of descendants of the Yoruba, Bambara, Wolof and Mandingo people. Puerto Rican culture is inherently African culture.

There are hundreds of books that will inform you, but I do not need to read book after book to legitimize this thesis. All I need to do is go to Puerto Rico and look all around me. Damn, all I really have to do is look in the mirror every day.

I am often asked what I am-usually by Blacks who are lighter than me and by Latinos/as who are darker than me. To answer the $64,000 question, I am a Black Boricua, Black Rican, Puertorique'a! Almost always I am questioned about why I choose to call myself Black over Latina, Spanish, Hispanic. Let me break it down.

I am not Spanish. Spanish is just another language I speak. I am not a Hispanic. My ancestors are not descendants of Spain, but descendants of Africa. I define my existence by race and land. (Borinken is the indigenous name of the island of Puerto Rico.)

Being Latino is not a cultural identity but rather a political one. Being Puerto Rican is not a racial identity, but rather a cultural and national one. Being Black is my racial identity. Why do I have to consistently explain this to those who are so-called conscious? Is it because they have a problem with their identity? Why is it so bad to assert who I am, for me to big-up my Africanness?

My Blackness is one of the greatest powers I have. We live in a society that devalues Blackness all the time. I will not be devalued as a human being, as a child of the Supreme Creator.

Although many of us in activist circles are enlightened, many of us have baggage that we must deal with. So many times I am asked why many Boricuas refuse to affirm their Blackness. I attribute this denial to the ever-rampant anti-Black sentiment in America and throughout the world, but I will not use this as an excuse. Often Puerto Ricans who assert our Blackness are not only outcast by Latinos who identify more with their Spanish Conqueror than their African ancestors, but we are also shunned by Black Americans who do not see us as Black.

Nelly Fuller, a great Black sociologist, stated: "Until one understands the system of White supremacy, anything and everything else will confuse you." Divide and conquer still applies.

Listen people: Being Black is not just skin color, nor is it synonymous with Black Americans. To assert who I am is the most liberating and revolutionary thing I can ever do. Being a Black Puerto Rican encompasses me racially, ethically and most importantly, gives me a homeland to refer to.

So I have come to this conclusion: I am whatever I say I am! (Thank you, Rakim.)

(Rosa Clemente is the youth organizer for the F.R.E.E. Youth Empowerment Program of Central Brooklyn Partnership. She is also an organizer with Malcolm X Grassroots Movement and the co-host of WBAI’s "Where We Live" public affairs program.)"

- For further information and research on the long standing history and relationship of Indians and Africans, please look at the following books for reference:

Africa and the Discovery of America- Leo Weiner

African Prescence in Early America- Ivan Van Sertima

Early America Revisited- Ivan Van Sertima

They Came Before Columbus- Ivan Van Sertima

Africans and Native Americans: The Language of Race and the Evolution of Red-Black Peoples by Jack D. Forbes

Palante Siempre!
PAZ!

All in our "sangre"

The Picture at above is of Boriken Tainos. Who are commonly referred to as "Puerto Ricans' by the Devil.

"Six out of 10 Puerto Ricans have American Indian ancestors according to a recent study."

"The simple vision of the tri-racial formula defining Puerto Ricans as a mixture of African, Spaniard and Taino could change due to a major scientific discovery involving 19 maternal indigenous lineages that could be defined as the Eve's of modern day Boriken (Puerto Rico).

This discovery is a new twist taken from a scientific investigation in 2003, in that it suggest that six out of 10 Puerto Ricans have a women ancestor of direct American Indian or of indigenous to American origina and that "indigenous women" have had a greater influence on Puerto Rican culture than previously admitted by academics.

According to investigative research done by genetic scientist specialising in molecular evolution, Juan Carlos Martinez cruzado and archeologist and anthropologist Juan Jose Ortiz Aguilu, the indigenous lineage is most common to the Puerto Rican of today than that of those with African lineage or Spaniard (European) descendance."

- to read the full article: http://www.endi.com/XStatic/endi/template/nota.aspx?n=156387

Below is the statistics for the 2000 Census to compare with the scientific findings above. People's perspectives of themselves are internalized by what they were or were not taught. While it is positive to see many more people defining themselves as "Indigenous", we can only imagine how many people, who chose to define themselves otherwise, are actually Tainos.

American Indians in Puerto Rico: U.S. Census 2000
U.S. CENSUS 2000 for PUERTO RICO

Puerto Rico Population (overall): 3,808,610

Whites: 3,064,862

Blacks: 302,933

Asians: 7,960

Hawaiians & Pacific Islanders: 1,093

Some Other Race 260,011

Two Racial Mix: 158,415

AMERICAN INDIANS: 13,336

"The same way they wrote us out of history, we will write ourselves back into history"
- Naniki Reyes Ocasio, Boriken Taino Leader

PEACE!

The Word

"In the beginning there was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was ..."- John 1:1

The English language is a composite of many different languages. Most words in the English language have at least 4-5 definitions. With so many different definitions, of course, so many ideas are being conveyed depending of which words you chose to express your self. While it is in man's divine intelligence, derived from the depths of the universe, that endows him with the ability to shape and mold, define and transform, to create and destroy the world around him. This same intelligence is what enables us to communicate in various forms. Communication is the ultimate result of language. The utilization of language is how we, culturally, seek to make sense of and provide an explanation for the phenomenon around us. Verbal language, words, are a result of an idea. They are symbolic and it is this symbolism that has stigmatized us for the last 514 years as we have continued to internalize ideas about ourselves that were incorrect. Ideas that were someone else's view of who we are. And as I have stated previously, using these terms perpetuates the colonial mindset, culture shackles placed on our brains and our tongues. Below are a few of the most common terms of self-definition used amongst our people. Please take a moment to read over them and seriously contemplate the consequences and effect they have had on our re-development of self-determination and sovereignty.
-------------------------------------------------
Spanish (or Castilian)- is an Iberian Romance language, and the second (perhaps third or fourth) most spoken language in the world (aside from French, Italian and German). It is spoken as a first language in most of Spain and the countries colonized by Spain. It is not our Native language. Before the conquest, before the last 514 years of oppression, we spoke in the many dialects found amongst the Original Nations of North and South "America".

Hispanic-as used in the United States, is one of several terms used to categorize native and naturalized U.S. citizens, permanent residents and temporary immigrants, whose background hail either from Spain, the Spanish-speaking countries of Latin America or the original settlers of the traditionally Spanish-held Southwestern United States. However, the issue is that the commonality of all of these people is the language and the oppressor. The majority of so-called Latin Americans have as well a very strong Indigenous and African influence and prescence, both biological and culturally. The definition of 'hispanic' ties our existance solely to who "oppressed" us, configuring 'Spain' as the 'motherland', within the colonial ideology. According to Pan-Africanist or African centered thought, many so-called Latin Americans are blatantly 'African' in appearance (again, both biologically and culturally) and are considered apart of the African diaspora and likewise for the Pan-Indigenous worldview (of the Native American diaspora). Both of these are too often discredited by elitist/colonial scholars and intellectuals. The miscontrued 'authenticity' of the term 'hispanic' is an attempt to continue to institution of white supremacy. Hispanics are Spaniards, white people from Spain.

Latin- Latin is the language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. It was the formal language of the Roman Empire. All Romance languages (Spanish, French, German, Italian, etc) are descended from Latin, and many words based on Latin are found in other modern languages such as English. It is said that 80 percent of scholarly English words are derived from Latin (in a large number of cases by way of French).

America- from modern Latin-Americanus, after the Amerigo Vespucci (1454-1512) who made two trips to the "New World" (1499 and 1502)as a navigator and cartographer. His published works, Mundus Novus ("New World"-1503), put forward the idea that it was a new continent and not "Asia", after learning that South America has extended further south than previously thought. In 1507, Martin Waldseemüller produced a world map on which he named the new continent "America." However, a similar name- 'Amikekia', was used by the Taino Indians, first peoples to greet the murderer,Christopher Columbus and welcome all who entered into the Caribbean towards the "New World".

"The Americas" refers collectively to North and South America, as a relatively recent and less ambiguous alternative to the name 'America', which may refer to either the Americas (typically in languages other than English, where it is often considered a single continent) or to the United States (in English and colloquially in other languages).

Now let us examine some other terms...

Indigenous- Having originated in a land or region; being native to a geographical or cultural group.

Original- first or preceding all others in time; origin; "...the original inhabitants of the Americas."

Native-characteristic of or relating to people inhabiting a region from the beginning; person who was born in a particular place; an indigenous person.

Indian- of or relating to or characteristic of India or the East Indies or their peoples or languages or cultures. It has been used commonly to pertain to Native Americans or their culture or languages. Considered a misnomer by historians, cultural activists and the like, because of the supposed assumption by Christopher Columbus that he had reached Indian. Thus, reference in European literature to the inhabitants of the 'New World' was a reference to the 'Indians'. Again, while largely debating the political incorrectness of the term, it is still in use amongst many Native Americans themselves and used throughout the spanish-speaking world, in reference to the first people's of the Americas. Both the Nation of Gods and Earths and the Nation of Islam hold the idea that the Native Americas migrated here from Asia. While there have been a total of 'four' migrations documented at the present, stemming from different locations in Asia, there is strong anthropological and biochemical (DNA) evidence that one of those migrations left from India or a nearby area. More on this subject in the future.

So, who are you?....

DECOLONIZE YOUR MINDSET

Los Indios

Historians, intellectuals, government officials, have often made claims that the 'Indians' in Latin America were all wiped out, especially in Cuba, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. This outrageous claim is far from the truth. The classification of who and what we are has been in the hands of those who sought to exploit us. History has been recorded by those who have conquered and pillaged. Their writings serve as propaganda to authorize and justify their cruel treatment, only to be misconstrued, lost in translation. They do this to prevent any potential of us destabilizing their colonial power and reclaiming our lands, let alone our identity. They do this to make us think we are different and prevent a mass unification of the marginalized Natives and the voicing of our condition and demand of our rights, across the planet. It prevents us from learning and cherishing our history. For a people without a history have no future. They want us to believe our history began in 1492 and that it starts with them.

Even the Federal tribal enrollment in North America, was proposed via the Bureau of Indian Affairs, an organization established to serve as the 'overseer' in everday Native life. The purpose of the 'government' need to make official one's 'tribal status' was to retain control of the dispersal of land. The government could limit who was 'Indian' and therefore not have to allocate certain funds, resources or lands to peoples. Also, it allowed the government to focus on 'individual's right', opening up for the furthering of their 'private property' campaign. Also, it allowed them and their agents access to Indian lands and rights for the purpose of government exploitation. Many white people were signed up for tribal enrollment's in the late 1800's, claiming to be 1/16th and 1/8th "Indian". This ensured that those with the power, wealth and distinction would act in the United States's best interest concerning the affairs of Indigenous peoples'.
Not only were we seperated from our people and lineage, we were further seperated from our true selves by nationalism. New labels were applied as the countries of the Americas fought for and obtained independence from Spain and other European empires.

"Why does the Devil call our people Latino?"

"To make our people of the Americas believe that they are the only people we have, and that they are all savages. He brought trading posts into the forests and jungles of these continents. The Original people live on these continents. They are the ones who travelled over from Asia and are living another life. The Original people call each other 'indigenous'. The Devil calls us 'Latino' to try and divide us. He wants us to think we are all different. " - (adopted and modified from the original degree "Why does the Devil call our people Africans?" as given in the Lost Found Muslim Lesson No. 1, 1-14)

Indians and Mestizos in the Americas

"Alfonso Perez Espindola Tenoch, a holy man of the Lakota nation spiritual tradition who lives in Laredo, Texas, languishes in a Mexican jail. His "crime" was having helped lead a "Peace and Dignity" prayer run across the Americas in 1992.

On Oct. 11th of that year, thousands of runners from hundreds of Indian nations from North and South America met in the ancient pyramid city of Teotihuacan Mexico to promote indigenous consciousness. They denounced 500 years of abuses against the indigenous (otherwise known as Indian) peoples of the Americas.

A year later, Perez was arrested in Michoacan, Mexico, for possessing peyote that he was taking to ceremonies with Huichol Indians. He was accused of possessing and trafficking drugs authorized only for use in religious ceremonies by Native Americans.

The government ceded that indigenous people have the right to perform peyote ceremonies, but determined that the Mexican-born Perez was not "indigenous", and sentenced him to 10 years in prison.

Many governments define "Indians" as people who live in native communities and speak only a native tongue. When an Indian moves to a city and learns Spanish or another language, he or she is no longer considered "indigenous", but "mestizo."

Government sources estimate that there are 40 million Indians in North and South America. Non-governmental sources put the figure at closer to 100 million. The discrepancy in numbers is attributed to the large amount of "mestizos," or racially mixed people, who consider themselves or can be considered Indian, yet are not recognized as such by their governments.

While human rights groups throughout the Americas call for Perez's release, the issue of who is and who isn't "Indian" remains a familiar topic to Chicanos and other Latinos.

Tupac Enrique, a Chicano from Phoenix, who is part of an international alliance fighting for Perez's release, says that governments can determine who is a citizen, but cannot determine people's identities.

Enrique, who is of the Mexica spiritual tradition, says that people around the world determine identity differently from Western governments. For many he says, "It's not racial. We, not government, have been keeping indigenous identity alive for 500 years."

Most Chicanos and Latinos are at least part Native American and descend from such nations as Mexica, Nahua, Chichimeca, Tarahumara, Pueblo, Kikapu, Tarascan, Tlaxcalan, Mixtec, Zapotec, Maya, Quechua, Mapuche or any one of hundreds of other Indian peoples.

Many of our own friends can trace their ancestry. Jose Barreiro, born in Cuba and editor of the Native American journal "Akwe:kon Press" at Cornell University, is Guajiro. Although Cuba and other Caribbean governments claim that there are no Indians in their countries, Barreiro says they do in fact live in the countryside, where Taino traditions are upheld by Guajiros -- the rural population.

Vivian Lopez, a counselor in Las Cruces, NM, who is originally from Tucson, is both Yaqui and Apache, and considers herself Chicana. "To be Chicana is be indigenous," she says, adding that she was raised among people who, as a form of cultural resistance, took pride in not being registered as Indians with the government. "I don't need to be on a Federal (Bureau of Indian Affairs) list to know who I am."

And El Paso, Texas-born Arturo Flores, a high-school vice principal in Washington, D.C., is Huichol. His sense of identity was not forged simply by his physical features, but by ancient traditions which his family has upheld "I've been nurtured by the same food my ancestors were nurtured by for thousands of years."

Like us, other friends can trace some, but not all of their ancestry. The reason, in part, is the role the Catholic church and missions played during the colonial era in "reducing," or culturally obliterating the Indian. The objective was to create a "Christian," and that meant to spiritually and culturally stamp out the Indian.

One result was that Indians and mestizos developed a hatred towards all things Indian--thus a hatred of themselves, which led to a denial of their ancestry. In this atmosphere, "Hispanicized Indians" became "mestizos" and mestizos became "Spanish." If you could claim one drop of European blood, you did. To this day, many Latinos or Hispanics claim they are "pure" white.

Many Latino college students, aware of their history, have long identified with their indigenous roots. Chicano students at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota, for example, recently staged a hunger strike. They demanded that the university eliminate the "Hispanic" classification. The term, they maintain, is a negation of their indigenous ancestry.

As Barreiro says, "Every mestizo is one less Indian -- or one more Indian waiting to reemerge."

- from www.indigenouspeoples.net

PAZ

Self-definition, self-determination

Las matematicas de hoy es conocimiento.

Today's mathematics is knowledge.

Knowledge is the first step towards self-realization. It is the foundation for internal and external growth and development and supremely integral in one's perspective of themselves. Knowing who you are so that you know who you are not, to relieve ourselves from imitating people who have been imitating us.

"...the Maker, the Owener, the cream of the planet earth, Father of civlization..."- 1st degree, 1-10 Student Enrollment

Below is an article I found that was published right before the year 2000 Census. It is very applicable as we approach the close of another decade, since the Census is taken every 10 years. One should really ponder one's reality and how we choose to define it.

Defying the Census

For the year 2000 Census, here's a potentially radical idea: U.S. residents of Mexican or Central American-origin, as well as most other Latinos should declare themselves "Native American" on the Census questionnaire.

The way it is now, most Latinos are virtually obliged to put themselves in the "white" racial category, even though they are the descendants of indigenous people who have lived in the Americas for thousands of years. In Mexico and Central America, the people there do not consider themselves white, but rather indigenous-based "mestizos," or simply indigenous. In fact, most Latinos are a mixture of Indian, African and European lineage. Only a minute percentage--primarily the ruling elites--are considered white (or Spanish).

Stanford anthropologist Renato Rosaldo says that mestizos, because of their red-brown skin, are treated as "Indian" by our racialized society once they cross into the United States. The discrimination they are confronted with stirs within mestizos or Hispanicized Indians a newfound awareness of their Indian heritage that many had long ago discarded in their homelands.

Incidentally, virtually all Americans are of mixed ancestry, yet the bureau has traditionally opted for "one-drop" rules which result in "pure" categories. The Census Bureau has long known that for racial purposes, its forms produce completely flawed results when tallying Latinos in the United States, but it has failed to act. So we have decided to do its work for it. After all, the Census Bureau should not be in the business of determining people's identities. As it well knows, its categories are not biological or scientific, but political.

When Census bureaucrats imposed the term "Hispanic" as an ethnic (not racial category in the 1970s, they stated that "Hispanics may be of any race." Yet when compiling statistics, the Census has tended to count the vast majority of Latinos into the "white" category, and only a few into the "black" category.

This practice belies reality and reveals either ineptitude, or shame, on the part of the Latino bureaucrats who have historically advised the Census. Nearly half of Latinos traditionally select the "other" race category. However, because the bureau believes they are confused (98 percent of all those who chose "other" in the 1990 Census were Latinos), it has traditionally counted most Latino "others" as white by default. Lacking viable options, in the 1990 Census, about half of the Latino population selected the "white" category.

Many Latinos check the "white" category because the bureau does not offer a mestizo (or mulatto) option, or because they have been told that they can not designate themselves as Native Americans.

If, for example, Rigoberta Menchu, the 1992 Nobel Prize winner from Guatemala, were to move to the United States, according to the bureau, she should not check off the "Native American" box on the questionnaire. Only members of U.S. federally registered tribes are supposed to exercise this option, even though the majority of Native Americans originate south of the U.S./Mexico border. Additionally, the historical anti-Mexican/Indian attitudes of this society have convinced many people--particularly Mexicans themselves--that there's something wrong with being Mexican, thus many identify as white.

Today, Mexicans/Latinos are generally no longer ashamed of their ancestry. Yet we are still waiting for institutional recognition from the Census Bureau that it is OK for Latinos to acknowledge their indigenous roots. Perhaps its bureaucrats incorrectly believe that "Native Americans" are a race of people particular to the United States. Consequently, the Census confuses nationality with race.

The option we suggest doesn't require government approval, nor does it require a 10-year study by government Hispanics. All it requires is for Mexicans/Latinos to check the "Native American" box and do it proudly. Many have long personally identified themselves in this manner already. If the bureau respects self-identity as it says it does, this simple act should not confound it.

As for those who might oppose this idea because it might cause a decrease in the number of people who choose the ethnic category of "Hispanic," the fears are groundless. One is a racial category and the other is an ethnic one. This fear is predicated on the idea that less "Hispanics" means less federa dollars and that there is a connection between an accurate census count and the proper enforcement of civil rights laws. This fear reveals an entitlement mentality and also a naivete in believing that civil rights laws are enforced as a result of census counts rather than political pressure.

For those who might be concerned that this group may then qualify for benefits not entitled to them--not to worry. It wouldn't entitle them to anything that is due members of U.S. federally recognized tribes--other than dignity. "

- from www.indigenouspeoples.net

PAZ