Hope, Change and Morality: Fading Fast

By Opio Sokoni, J.D.

A child is going to say her prayers and while she is counting sheep or goats or camels, a bomb is going to make the loudest noise she has ever heard. Nights before, the bombs may have not been as loud. They hit other areas; but not this time. This poor little girl will probably live disfigured for the rest of her life. The next morning, she is going to find out that many of her friends lay at the bottom of rubble. Some alive and some will die - lucky enough to escape the horrible pain. The voice of right and reason will be too soft to hear. No one can save the children of a small country from the damaging might of the powerful. Just a few years ago, people in that village heard beautiful speeches from the man who orders the bombs. They thought that when he took over as president he would bring light to the darkness. But now they get to feel the power of tricks. Politics as usual this time includes their destruction. There is no more hope for the father who is running down the streets with his badly battered little girl.

The people who would have once spoke out against this are still on the honey moon that made history. The idea of the first African American president is too big to fail. The resolve to speak out against your brother in power is weakened by the adoration. But to know about the senseless bloodshed usually strengthens the decent person to speak out. The harm that is produced by the decision of Barack Obama to bomb Libya is as powerful as the silence of the groups that usually screams the clarion call against human rights abuses. The verses, “study to show yourself approved” and “harden not your heart” are useless verses in such a climate. Furthermore, the problem with speaking out about it now, after such a long delay, is that the morality is no longer there. Libya has said that it wants to talk – more bombs. It says that it wants to negotiate – more bombs. They say they want to have free and open elections and still more bombs. It reminds me of a story I saw on television few years ago.

A teenage girl was working in a drive through window of a McDonalds. An officer comes through and makes an order. He is served and is on his merry way. A few minutes later, the cop pulls up to the window again. But this time he is angry. He tells the girl that he got short-changed a few dollars. The girl rechecks and tells him he is mistaken. The powerful officer begins yelling at the girl to give him his change. She gets into an argument that many of us have gotten into when our orders are messed up. The officer gets mad and comes into the fast food place – badge on his chest and gun on his waist. He tells the girl to come with him. She refuses and tells him that she wants to call her mother. She is a minor. He refuses to allow her to make the call. Her manager is powerless to help her. The cop and the girl are both heated. However, the big officer, his hands shaking mad, pulls out his can of mace. He sprays the girl in the face. She lets out blood curdling screams and now begins to plead for mercy. The officer then drags her out of the restaurant saying to her, “No, it’s too late.” It probably doesn’t matter that the girl was black and the officer was white. Just as it probably matters even less that Obama is black and Libya is an African country. However, children bearing the harm of senseless power do matter. Is it right to continue to rain down force on someone who pleads to the contrary?

The problem with those who will support this action is that there will be another president in power one day. This president may be as hated as W. Bush – give or take a few centrists. They will not have the passion to speak out against an unjust, unprovoked attack on another country. Passion dies when a person has gone down the wrong road for too long. Moral outrage is placed on auto check when a person decides to support wrong-headed politics for loyalty sake. So, we toughen up and refuse to make the right decision in the face of clear wrong. We remain happily vague and/or ignorant. NATO is powerful. And, what the average person must come to terms with is the question of being wrong. What if we are wrong? The world knows that nothing will happen to correct this wrong. No one will bring charges against the U.N. for crimes against humanity. Only leaders of small, powerless countries that find themselves in conflict with the U.S. and NATO get to go before the world court. Nothing happens to the powerful countries that breaks laws. They only answer to those of us who make them powerful. Too many good people, however, got it wrong this time. This means that more innocent children will die and the bulk of the justifications will come from human rights activists and progressives. This is a sad day – but who cares? We won’t see the mangled little bodies in the so-called free and independent U.S. press. And, the Reagan conservatives are agreeable to these types of brutal acts.

At the end of the program that showed the story about the fast food worker and the cop, we find out that the little girl did not short change the officer after all. And, nothing was legally done to the abusive officer involved. The high school student had no good people to come to her aid – before or after the abuse. Libya’s children may be in the same boat.

Min.Farrakhan's statement to United Nations

Minister Farrakhan exposed the U.S. and NATO's criminal War Libya and Africa during a June 15, 2011 Press Conference at the UN Plaza Hotel. Also presenting were former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, Human Rights Activist Viola Plummer and International Actitivst Cynthia McKinney.

Selling bean pies — and maintaining a tradition

Selling bean pies — and maintaining a tradition

Is race a factor in LeBron vs. Dirk face off?

Nearly one year ago LeBron James told the world after shunning the Cleveland Cavaliers for the Miami Heat that he would accept the role of villain that has been placed upon him, courtesy of an ad by Nike.

As the NBA Finals begin tonight, millions will gather around their televisions in anticipation of seeing James and his posse get what's coming to them. James along with Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh have dealt with the upstart 76ers, the aging Celtics and MVP Derrick Rose and the Chicago Bulls in that order. In order to win his first NBA title James must get past the Dallas Mavericks led by sharpshooter Dirk Nowitzki whose performances in these playoffs has evoked the memory of Larry Bird given Nowitzki exceptional shooting ability.

So what angle will the mainstream media seek out in this series?

Will it seek out to paint Nowitzki as the anti-LeBron -- a player who has become a fixture in Dallas community for 13 seasons. Despite the possibility of free agency, he remained loyal to the Mavericks and is in a position to win bring Dallas their first basketball championship. Despite being on great regular season teams that turned out to be even greater playoff disappointments, Nowitzki has become somewhat of a sentimental favorite since sweeping Kobe Bryant and the Lakers and defeating the Oklahoma City Thunder with the NBA's best young player in Kevin Durant.

Imagine the media crush that would shower over Dirk and the Mavericks if they could dispose of James and the Heat?

Could there be a racial motivation for the press to sway in the direction of Nowitzki and the Mavericks? After all the NBA has been dominated by black superstars and Nowitzki is the first white superstar in the Finals of note since...Larry Bird. It's been a generation since Bird won his last title in Boston and was in fact the last white player to win the Finals MVP. So there is a motivating factor here.

Add to the mix that the majority of anyone you speak with regardless of color has some hint of resentment towards James for the way that he handled things last summer and you have the makings for your classic "Good vs. Evil" match up. Negative comments from ex-greats like Charles Barkley and Magic Johnson have only fanned the flames of hate in the direction of James and the Heat. In retrospect, was there any wrongdoing on the part of James? Who followed the NBA's free agent infrastructure guidelines and no tampering was founded.

And while "The Decision" show may have been a little over the top, the same can be said for the reaction of Cleveland Cavaliers' owner Dan Gilbert labeling James' move as "narcissistic" and a "cowardly betrayal" as well as some Cavalier fans burning James #23 Cavs jersey in effigy.

Never has the media been more critical of one team in any given season than the 2010-2011 Miami Heat. In the midst of a mid-season slump that included a sound defeat at the hands of the Bulls, the press was almost taunting in their questioning.

Reports of members of the Heat crying provided fodder for late night talk hosts as well as headlines on ESPN. Any Heat loss was met with a foot to the ribs. After the Miami Heat defeated the Celtics in five games in the second round, James and his teammates spoke glowingly of clearing a hurdle needed to be considered title contenders only to be deemed arrogant and cocky.

The Heat find themselves -in a no-win situation -- losing to the Mavericks increases scrutiny and victory will increase the antagonists. While the Mavericks are sitting in a pretty good position in terms of being on a low flame in a high pressure situation, everyone knows the pressure is on the Heat -- and the Heat know as well.

The mainstream press has a way of painting distorted pictures of real situations, particularly in sports (see Duke vs. UNLV 1990), this is one of those times. LeBron James is anything but a bad guy and that assessment by some to imply that is unfair. There are no heroes or villains in this series, just basketball players -- pretty darn good ones, and whoever leaves with the Larry O'Brien trophy will have deserved it.

Fat Joe Speaks On His Weight Loss &How to eat to Live

Fat Joe Speaks On His Weight Loss & What Made Him Lose The Pounds!

Black Panther Geronimo Pratt Dies

Former Black Panther Elmer “Geronimo” Pratt died Thursday in Tanzania, according to his attorney. Pratt spent 27 years in prison for a murder he did not commit. He died at the age of 63, and authorities do not yet know his exact cause of death.

“He could’ve been a great leader. He was very charismatic,” said Scott Hanlon, Pratt’s attorney. “His legacy is that he never gave up. He never got despondent or angry.”

Hanlon also describes Pratt to be a true and loyal American, noting that the former Panther did two tours of duty in Vietnam before joining the party. He was convicted of the 1968 murder of Caroline Olsen, who was killed on a tennis court in Santa Monica. His conviction was overturned in 1997 after prosecutors were found to have concealed evidence.

Pratt was not identified by the woman’s husband to have been the killer. The husband had actually identified another man in the police lineup. The jury was not informed of this information, which would have obviously hurt the case of the prosecution. Several attorneys, including both Hanlon and the great Johnny Cochran, played a role in getting Pratt’s conviction overturned before he died in 2005.

What’s most amazing is that Pratt said that he holds no ill will for his conviction.

“I don’t think bitterness has a place. I’m more understanding,” Pratt said in a 1999 interview with CNN. “Understanding doesn’t leave any room for bitterness or anger.”

For eight of his 27 years in prison, Pratt was placed in solitary confinement. This fact alone would be enough to drive most of us to the mad house. The idea that a man who put his life on the line for America would be treated in this way is nothing less than shameful. To lose 27 years of a 63 year life is devastating, and my psyche fills with the tears of rage as I think about what was done to this man.

Without question, Geronimo Pratt should be saluted for being the great American hero that he was. He was driven to stand up on behalf of the oppressed while living in a nation that had trained its young to be so evil that they learned to hate an entire group of people without even knowing them. I’ve often wondered to myself (as I watched an interesting documentary last night about a known racist by the name of Walt Disney) how these folks, whose lives hardly seemed to intersect with African Americans (there was not one black face in the entire documentary) could find the time to learn to dislike us so much. This kind of evil must be taught, for it is not natural for anyone to harbor this kind of innate animosity.

What must be remembered is that Geronimo was not the only African American to be wrongly accused and sentenced for a crime they did not commit. There are tens of thousands of other men and women just like him who were either wrongly convicted or given an excessive sentence that they would never have received had they not been poor and black. It’s time that our nation take a serious look at the criminal justice system and find out how many other lives we’ve destroyed, for I am convinced that there is another Geronimo in a cell somewhere right now.
R.I.P.Mighty warrior and Revolutionary Heru.Your spirit will never Die.