Of Dr. King

Brothers and Sisters,

I am writing this on the eve of the Observance of Dr. King's Holiday. Every year I take time out to teach my daughters about the movement that placed Dr. King at the forefront of a people's quest for freedom.

I grew up, as many of us did, learning about Dr. King and his service to a people yearning to be treated as full citizens inside of a nation that claimed to be the example of freedom for the world.

I was born in February 1967. Dr. King's life ended the next year. I wish I could have heard him in real life. I visited the Lorraine Motel many years ago with my daughter when she was about 7 years old. If you have never visited that landmark, you may want to visit it soon.

The tour was self directed, but you also had the ability to have a guided tour. I chose to walk with my daughter and explain what we were viewing as a moment to bond and build a relationship with my daughter. The museum was quite interesting. When my daughter and I happened upon a burnt out bus, she inquired why would an old bus be in a museum. I began to tell her why the bus was burned in the first place. She gave me a look of confusion that only a young girl could who did not have the context of that time in our nation.

We happened by a replica of a jail cell. We went in the jail cell and sat on the iron beds. She asked why are we sitting in here? I explained that many, many times in Dr. King's life and in the lives of others the jail cell was a meeting place as much as it was a place for "the bad guys". I began to explain that Dr. King and many people, men and women, were arrested for trying to make a difference in the lives of people who were not being treated fairly and that often times large groups of people were put in prison for the smallest of reasons. She gave me the same look she gave me while looking at the burnt bus. I stated to her that one of Dr. King's most famous letters was written from a jail cell. I also told her that a jail cell, when occupied for justice, is more a place of triumph than it is a place of shame and degredation (Dr. King taught me that lesson).

The tour ends with a view of the rooms Dr. King and his people were staying in before he was assasinated. The rooms are said to be left in the condition they were in at the time of the killing. Mahalia Jackson (at least at the time of my visit) was singing in the background. At this time, I was not talking to my daughter, I was working very hard to hold back the tears. I was always emotional over this event, but seeing the room-the plates, coffee cups, bed turned back-and looking out at the spot on the balcony AND hearing Mahalia sing was a bit too much. I was glad my daughter did not ask me a question at that time, nothing would have come out.

I encourage all of us to pick up a speech and read it, pick up a book of Dr. King's life and read it, or find someone who kinda knows about the man and the movement and speak to them about it. I encourage all of us to re-engage in the study of what it meant to speak out when death could have been the result of our words and actions.

On the eve of Dr. King's observance, let us endeavor to re-educate ourselves and educate others of the cost of freedom....

Until the next time,

Cyrus Marcellus Ellis

Of Barry Bonds and the Record

All,

Many years ago, I was a small child in Trenton, NJ. I was probably no more than 7 years old. I know that because my parents divorced when I was eight and I left that comfortable living room in Trenton, NJ never to return. I say this to say that I have a fond and precious memory as a child with his father and a lesson taught to me by my father.

It was an evening like any other in New Jersey. This evening there was a baseball game on. I do not remember being a big fan of baseball, but I did like enjoying nights with my father when I could have them. My father was a truck driver and many nights he was on the road earning the family's money. This evening he was home and that was what really mattered for me.

The team that was playing was the Atlanta Braves. I do not remember who the Braves were playing that night, but again, it did not really matter. My father was in his favorite chair, like Archie Bunker, and was enjoying some food, probably ice cream, daddy liked ice cream. While the game was on, he was talking to me about a certain player on the Braves, Hank Aaron. I knew who he was, but my dad was telling me things less about his baseball ability but more about who he was and why everybody was watching this particular game.

Daddy began to state how he was going to hit a homerun and change everything. I knew what a homerun was. I did not know what dadddy meant by his homerun changing everything. Daddy continued his story by stating that he was about to hit more homeruns than Babe Ruth. I knew who Babe Ruth was. I also knew who other famous ball players were like Lou Gherig and Ted Williams. I thought Hank Aaron was just like the rest of them. Common thought for a little kid. Daddy kept telling me the story of how Hank Aaron, a black man, is about to break a record set by a white man that many thought could not be broken or should not be broken by a black man. He continued to tell the story about how black men weren't given the same fair shot as others going back to Jackie Robinson. In retrospect, it was probably sad for me not to know who he was or his importance. As daddy continuted to tell the story, the story became less about racial fairness but more about race based pride (my words, not daddy's).

Daddy began to talk about how black people can be proud tonight. I did not know how much pressure was on Hank. All the while he began approaching this record, the hate towards him and his family grew. He was receiving hate mail and death threats over this record in baseball. He was being threatened and so was his family. They used words like 'nigger' this and 'nigger' that. It reminded me of what I knew about King and his attempt to march and the signs would be saying 'nigger' go home and such. Every night Hank woudl get these threatning messages, it must have been difficult to play ball when you walk onto the field and any person in the stands could have a gun and they can make an attempt to kill you-back to daddy. Daddy was saying that they did not want a black man to do this because it would tear away at what white folk thought we could not do. Daddy would always remind me of how the attitude that he learned growing up in Mississippi about how Black folk can't do things has not gone away in the 70's. Daddy spoke of the pride he will feel and many black folk at the barber shop, bar room, truck yard and everywhere will feel when Hank hits this homerun. He will show the world that Black men can do a lot.

That was the lesson I took away from daddy's lecture. What Hank is doing and the way he is doing it is a testament to a people. We, as a people, share Hank's achievement as a part of our race based pride, he conquered the doubts, attitudes, death threats, and isolation to achieve a monumental athlectic achievement. Daddy and I watched as that ball cleared the (as I remember) left centerfield fence and the scoreboard flashed the number of homeruns. I saw it real time with my dad and saw the smile on his face and the screams that went out for this achievement-not just for Hank but for a people.

Daddy's gone now ('87) and I don't know what he would have to say about Bonds. He may say he should have not done steroids, but he could also see how race could play a role. It would be an interesting discussion to have with him, I wish I could have it no matter the outcome.

As a forty year old African American man I can honestly say that I am not in the Bonds camp. I do not have the same feeling about what he will most likely do like I had for and still have for Hank. I see a stark contrast between Hank and Barry with regard to the race based feeling I had for Hank.

I struggle with the fact that I don't get the sense that Barry's pursuit is for and a part of the people like Hank's journey seemed to be for me. Barry's journey could very well be that, but I can't connect with it. I need to be clear, Barry owes me nor anyone else nothing in my book. He is a free man which means he is free to choose his path based on where his conscience leads him. He may be connected to something that I do not possess the understanding to follow. But in view of this, I still don't take any joy into this record. I do not recognize the same cultural importance of this event like I did for Hank.

Is it the steroids? Probably. Is it his manner? Possibly. Is it what I hear? Most likely. Is it that I see his and other Black athletes moving further and further away from the proud tradition that produced them? Most assuredly so.

Whether we are professors, writers, actors, athletes, business men or whatever, I cannot separate our occupations from our traditions. I want the reader to know that I am not referring to just the traditions of the civil rights movement, but what is good about tribal people from any land, that tradition being that the tribe must survive before any individual survives. That the young need to be the warriors to protect the old and the widows. That we are, as Cornel West personally taught me, from a wounded and scarred people and we can never forget that.

I saw and still see Hank's pursuit to be about baseball and his people. I don't see that with Barry Bonds. I could be wrong, but I don't see it. Perhaps it is hard to see it through the fog of the market culture of athletics, advertising dollars, multimillion dollar contracts to players who have not won any significant amount of games or championships and the bitterness and hatred that still permeate these kinds of endeavors.

I don't think, if I had a son, I would be having the same conversation my father had with me when Barry hits his record breaking homerun. I will probably use the event to talk of the man I saw hit a similar homerun many years ago. I will probably give the lesson of race based pride that stands in opposition to white supremacist thought that one group can't perform and one group is the performance standard.

Until the next time...

Support Our Troops

All,

I am a twenty year veteran of the U.S. Army. You all know that. I have been in Washington recently as the scandal over Walter Reed Army Medical Center has come out. As a citizen, soldier and public intellectual I am disgusted.

How can we, Americans, allow for such disgrace. How can we believe anything that our President says about supporting our troops. That word support does not just mean sending candy bars to Iraq and other places. Most of us can get along without those things when deployed, what we want by way of support is to know that if we get blown up, parts of us gone forever, that there will be a place that we can go to be medically treated and respected for the service and sacrifice that we have displayed in difficult places.

John Kerry was made to look like a fool by George Bush during his presidential campaign over a vote for some money. Yet no one is on the full scale attack on Pres. Bush for having these kinds of conditions exist on his watch. How can you start a war and not estimate casualties? How can you start a war and not expect to have your aftercare in place? How can you start a war and not plan for extended medical care? How can you start a war and plan to close down the hospital that will receive the wounded and severely crippled? And he wants to urge us to support our troops, this is the pinnacle of lunancy.

Support the troops, send your representatives letters, phone calls and emails. Do not let my brothers and sisters returning from battle have to live like this. Not again. Give those who are willing to go and do the job the respect they deserve.

Many of you will ask, "Doc, if you see this stuff will you still go back in if they ask you to?". Yeah, I might. Funny thing about being a soldier, your pride for duty, honor, country may be greater than your personal sense of equity. For my Army I would do much and have done much. I wonder if the civilian leadership would do the same...from where I sit right now, it dosen't look like it.

THE NEW PLAN

All,

Last evening the President of the United States stated that the mistakes made in Iraq, and there have been many, rests with him. The President stated that troop strength, Rules of Engagement (ROE), and the Iraqi government were among the mistakes that were made and these mistakes created, or at least, help to create the current condition inside of Iraq.

Anyone who has read my profile knows that I am a former warrior for the United States. Twenty years of my life have been devoted to the United States Army. I loved my service and truly love soldiers and their families. In fact, I am re-applying for re-appointment in the Army. I may know my status at the end of February. I have to fulfill my Army destiny, even after twenty years.

But I would be less than if, as a public intellectual, I did not comment on this "new direction" in Iraq. Mistakes have cost the American taxpayer over 357 billion dollars. Mistakes have kept the US in a war for over four years just inside Iraq, not around the globe. Colin Powell told the President that, "if you break it you bought it.", Gen. Shinseki told the President and then Defense Secretary Rumsfeld that you will need a sizeable force (i.e. 250,000 troops) to secure the country. Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney and the President dismissed the General's claims and they also dismissed the General. There was a huge mistake in judgement that an entire nation will welcome us as a liberation force. There was a thought that the "insurgency" is going to end and that in a short time the Iraqi people will be able to handle their own issues without the assistance of the American military.

There was a thought that there was going to be a coalition of nations in support of a free Iraq. But our President did not speak of other nations last night. He spoke of American troops on land and on the sea. Where is Great Britian, Russia, Turkey and other free nations. Inside Iraq exists a government that has ties to the past, a past that we have seemingly overlooked. How does the rest of the world recognize the dangers inside of Iraq and our government missess it?

Of all the mistakes the President spoke of, the issue of ROE is a monumental one. For the none soldier, ROE is how we know (as American fighters) who to shoot at and who most likely will be shooting at us. It describes the protocol that allows us to fight any enemy. Historically, ROE caused a great problem in Vietnam. ROE made the American military not go into Cambodia, not fly over the capital of North Vietnam, it made American soldiers not pursue the enemy, it made soldiers second guess with the finger on the trigger. All dangerous situations indeed.

But how can President Bush tell us that that was a mistake. If his operating premise was to find the killers and insurgents and kill or capture them, how could he have allowed Iraq to set up rules that made American soldiers not have that ability. How could he assume that a large group of Iraqi people, some with revenge on their heart, would not protect one of their own from western invaders. How is this possible? And now we are being asked to believe that he and the Iraq government is at a better place so that now can happen. For those who don't know, it truly means that American soldiers and Marines will be tasked to take back land that they already paid for with the lives of soldiers and marines.

No matter what the spin is, America is doing this duty by ourselves. Generals have come and gone and military units are going back for the third, fourth and fifth time. The new Secretary of Defense is stating that we need 90 thousand more soldiers and marines. Rumsfeld thought that to be unnecessary.

If the new Secretary has his way and I have mine, I may be a part of that new build up. Either in Iraq or in the Active Army. Either way I will serve. It is a funny thing to know so much about the manner by which my life and service might be used through the ideological views of others, but that's the way love goes.

I love my Army and it is in need...I just have a desire for people to love their positions of authority as much as we soldiers love our desire to serve in the mud and stench of war.

Until the next one...

To Soul Brother Number 1

For those who know, and maybe a lot more who don’t, Soul Brother #1 James Brown was more than a performer, he was a movement. Do not be easily swayed by his latter years to forget his early ones. He was a man who carried the rhythm section of the Black Power Movement of the late 1960’s while paying the price of fame and influence from supremacist ideology like Martin and Malcolm. He allowed a generation of people to stand up and “Say it Loud” when standing up could mean being laid out. His screams and yells came from within the soul of a man who knew hardship trial and tribulation and perhaps that is why some of us can’t get James, we may not have, as Malcolm said, “a concrete connection” with the pain and struggle of the invisible people. Perhaps we need to…

Sweet rest to the Godfather of Soul and the top of the pyramid of soul, R&B and shows that didn't stop the action…

IT HAS BEGUN TO COME LOOSE

To all,

We have reached that special time in America~election season. As many politicians plan to pack up their Washington offices for election season, the talk of the town is how can they begin to convince their electorate that they are doing the job elected to do in the face of mounting criticism from Americans towards their elected officials in the House and the Senate. While some politicians are trying their best to define how they are either with the war and its essence, but not the policies-they want to be a part of the Republican or Democratic party-without aligning themselves with the President or other party leaders who may initiate thought and policies that are seen to be ineffective, as well as trying to convince an American public (voting or not-but more to the voting) that a war costing billions in Iraq and Afghanistan will allow us to 'win' a war on terror where the battlefield is around the world.

In the midst of this kind of debate (a) an Israeli/Palestinian conflict that is not over and has not been difused where healing can begin, (b) A war in Iraq where soldiers/marines and others are still there at high levels and will remain there (as recent as 24 September) at high levels until next spring and possible beyond, (c) we have discord within both US parties and the United Nations over the war, Iran, domestic policy and the cost on American initiatives and (d) we find that our government-no matter their rationale-did have secret prisons, have engaged in questionable interrogations, tried to be above the law and in some cases re-write the law. Now we find our President on a political branch by himself while his party tries to maintain control in the areas of our government where he can operate without overt oversight.

As a citizen I wonder sometimes on how all of this will make the world safer for me and my children. At one level it is a unique thought to have that somehow a strained military (of which I was a part for 20 years of my life) can 'defend' America from people who are willing to die individually. I wonder what my President means when my President says we can 'win' a war such as this. Who are we fighting? He says Islamic extremist. Where are they? He says they are around the world. How do we defeat them? He says be using our intelligence community and our military to meet these terrorists around the world before they strike us at home.

I may not be old, but I have lived for a little bit of time. I do not recognize a time in my life that Islamic extremists (as they are called) have always had the power to send in few people to a community~sporting events, schools, train stations, buses, etc.~and create havoc. Large, proud military professionals can respond, but have a hard time to prevent. What has stood out to me, over the course of my life as well as in recent times, is the complete denial of the lives of the people we talk about. I do not see how we can continue to tell people of other nations to 'act' right when we don't recognize how people act in their part of the world. We allow allies to conduct operations that go against, in some cases, the basic premise of America and what we promote that we are around the world.

In the next month and a few weeks, we will here from many people who feel that we are under seige and need to stop anyone from hurting us. These folk will try hard to convince people in a variety of states that they have the answer for the ills of our nation. They will master the art of saying nothing about a lot and they will make campaign promises out of what many have not been able to do in previous political terms on the hill.

In the final analysis, schools will still suffer from cutbacks, social services will continue to lose necessary funding for the elderly and poor, social security will remain at risk, soldiers and possibly more soldiers will be risking their lives in a nation that has no idea on what they are going to do with themselves~to include paying for their own nation in money and in blood; although we broke it so we had to buy it (Colin Powel's statement to the President in 2003).

Whatever happens on our political front I am sure that it will be interesting...

Until the next time

Of the Media

There are so many news outlets in the world today. Twenty-four hour news coverage, internet news coverage as well as blogs like this fill the airways and internet with a daily assault of views, stories, reports and analysis. Or do we?

I am an avid watcher of T.V. news. I watch MSNBC, CNN, FOX (not as much as the other two), ABC, NBC, CBS and all those in between. What strikes me the most is that the days of news coverage that is indicative of textbook definitions of fair, balanced and challenging seem to be gone and a thing of the past. What remains are anchors who lack seasoning. Reporters who don't know how to report and interviews that lack interviewing skills.

What do I see? I see female anchors on major news programs who do not know how to dress for their profession. I see analysts not speaking to the public but to the person sitting next to them. I see sensationalized questions to speak to personal pain and trauma and not to underlying causes of the circumstances that lead to the events of the day.

I see death and devastation around the world and I see people called to be reporters not asking questions that involve the inconsistency of policies of the governments that state their claim for justice and freedom. Where are the true investigative reporters? Where are the days of comprehensive coverage or are we locked into a paradigm of tabloid T.V. and ratings over investigation?

At least we have Tim Russert...

War...again in the Middle East

To All,

The last set of weeks we have seen a crisis (if one can call it a crisis when viewed through a historical lens) of uneven proportions in Israel and Lebanon. Like the volcanoes of the world, the undercurrent of hatred, injustice, and fear have caused an erruption of war that grips two nations with displacement and hardening personal, racial and religious views of each other. It is no secret that Israel has the upper hand when it comes to military might. Afterall, their gunships are American made, their tanks, rifles, artillery pieces and some practices are American. They attack and enter a nation that has, as a part of their people, the group Hezbollah. I wonder...?

What would happen if the Mexican government said that the Klan, operating inside the United States were creating terroist type attacks inside of their country by running drugs and or weapons that were killing their people. Would we allow a foreign military to attack "strongholds" of the Klan and then move their military into our nation to seek out these people Mexico has determined as terroists?

I don't support terrorists nor do I support cowards who kill innocent people anywhere in the world. I am just amazed at the world's response to Israel attacking Lebanon. I know they say it is to push Hezbollah out and end their ability to create terror on Israel, but is that possible? By all military accounts you cannot kill off people who fight the cause because they are everyday people. Hezbollah members are community members. They are shop owners and they are construction workers and civil servants. They are the people of their community. As this is the case, their families and friends are benefiting from the "humanity" they provide their own when the larger society, somewhat dominated by ethnic differences and hatred, fail to address human issues for all. Therefore, the members of Hezbollah fight, some die, and new ones are created.

I wonder how long it will be before Lebanon, as a nation, will decide to allow foreign soldiers destroying their nation. Israel has said it is not just after the soldiers that Hezbollah fighters have taken, it is also after a larger mission that involves the nation of Lebanon. It sounds familiar to the US position on the war on terror. We knew Iraq was not responsible for 9-11, but we found a way to invade that nation and occupy it because of a threat that we thought could happen. It is a unique phenomena to witness the world asking the US to broker a peace deal for Lebanon when we told the world just three years ago that we have the right to eliminate threats to the US. Israel is saying the very same thing and I don't see how the influence of the US can work to provide relief to the people of Lebanon when we have not found out how to provide relief to the people of Iraq.

Iraq-funny how for a short time Iraq escapes modern media. The story there is the same. US generals have moved troops back into Baghdad. Civilians are dying daily in large numbers. No one is able to stop the two warring groups from killing each other. The leader of Iraq says he will not have his nation fall into civil war-some say you are already there.

In the middle of all of this are hundreds of people displaced. Homes and lifes uprooted and destroyed. Death and hatred are in large supply. Peace, love and tolerance almost extinct. What will the US do to help? Can we tell a nation to stop doing what we are doing? Time will tell.