Op-Ed Columnist - Too Long Ignored - NYTimes.com

Too Long Ignored
By BOB HERBERT

A tragic crisis of enormous magnitude is facing black boys and men in America.

Parental neglect, racial discrimination and an orgy of self-destructive behavior have left an extraordinary portion of the black male population in an ever-deepening pit of social and economic degradation.

The Schott Foundation for Public Education tells us in a new report that the on-time high school graduation rate for black males in 2008 was an abysmal 47 percent, and even worse in several major urban areas — for example, 28 percent in New York City.

The astronomical jobless rates for black men in inner-city neighborhoods are both mind-boggling and heartbreaking. There are many areas where virtually no one has a legitimate job.

More than 70 percent of black children are born to unwed mothers. And I’ve been hearing more and more lately from community leaders in poor areas that moms are absent for one reason or another and the children are being raised by a grandparent or some other relative — or they end up in foster care.

That the black community has not been mobilized en masse to turn this crisis around is a screaming shame. Black men, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, have nearly a one-third chance of being incarcerated at some point in their lives. By the time they hit their mid-30s, a solid majority of black men without a high school diploma have spent time in prison.

Homicide is the leading cause of death for young black men, with the murderous wounds in most cases inflicted by other young black men.

This is a cancer that has been allowed to metastasize for decades. Not only is it not being treated, most people don’t even want to talk about it. In virtually every facet of life in the United States, black people — and especially black boys and men — are coming up short. White families are typically five times as wealthy as black families. More than a third of all black children are growing up in poverty. In Ohio, according to the National Center for Children in Poverty, the percentage is more than half.

There are myriad reasons for this awful state of affairs. As with so many other problems in American society, a lack of gainful employment has been a huge contributor to the problems faced by blacks. Chronic unemployment is hardly a plus-factor for marriage and family stability. And the absence of strong family units with mature parental guidance is at the very root of the chaotic environment that so many black youngsters grow up in.

The abominable incarceration rates among blacks are the result of two overwhelming factors: the persistence of criminal behavior by a significant percentage of the black population, and a criminal justice system that in many respects is racially discriminatory and out of control. Both of these factors need to be engaged head-on, and both will require a staggeringly heavy lift.

Education in the broadest sense is the key to stopping this socioeconomic slide that is taking such a horrific toll in the black community. People have to understand what is happening to them before they can really do much about it. Young blacks who have taken a wrong road, or are at risk of taking a wrong road, have to be shown a feasible legitimate alternative.

The aspect of this crisis that is probably the most important and simultaneously the most difficult to recognize is that the heroic efforts needed to alleviate it will not come from the government or the wider American society. This is a job that will require a campaign on the scale of the civil rights movement, and it will have to be initiated by the black community.

Whether this is fair or not is irrelevant. There is very little sentiment in the wider population for tackling the extensive problems faced by poor and poorly educated black Americans. What is needed is a dramatic mobilization of the black community to demand justice on a wide front — think employment, education and the criminal justice system — while establishing a new set of norms, higher standards, for struggling blacks to live by.

For many, this is a fight for survival. And it is an awesomely difficult fight. But the alternative is to continue the terrible devastation that has befallen so many families and communities: the premature and often violent deaths, the inadequate preparation for an increasingly competitive workplace, the widespread failure to exercise one’s intellectual capacity, the insecurity that becomes ingrained from being so long at the bottom of the heap.

Terrible injustices have been visited on black people in the United States, but there is never a good reason to collaborate in one’s own destruction. Blacks in America have a long and proud history of overcoming hardship and injustice. It’s time to do it again.

Op-Ed Columnist - Too Long Ignored - NYTimes.com.

[blackpowermovement] WILLIE LYNCH IS A LIE !!!!!

Black people its time to move beyond the Willie Lynch mythology.

 

Many African Americans are familiar with the story of the Willie Lynch narratives. For they that are not familiar with this story: it is the story about a British slave owner from the West Indies who in 1712 came to the United States and taught America ’s slave owners in Virginia of a full proof method for controlling their slaves. It tells the story of a psychological conditioning program of where in which the African slaves were actually conditioned to be loyal to their masters, while hating themselves and doubting their intellectual abilities.

 Once these feelings were indoctrinated into the minds of the African slave this process is suppose to regenerate it self continuing for hundreds of years. Several renowned African American psychologists, educators, and historians share the consensus that much of the disparities afflicting African Americans today as stemming from this historic mortifying indoctrination process. The belief is that these mortifying feelings remain subconsciously embedded within the Black psyche and is still being regenerated today.

 

While I do not endorse the premise of the Willie lynch narratives it is however connected to a known historical truth. The forefather’s of African Americans were victims of a brutal racially mortifying slave indoctrination process. A process of where of which they were conditioned to believe in white superiority and their own racial inferiority. However, this true indoctrination  process was actually referred to by slave owners as “seasoning”. When ever a slave was being sold between one master to another, the purchaser would ask the seller: “Is your slave well seasoned? And the seller would reply “yes” and to prove it he would strike the slave in the face. The slave’s ability to restrain himself from retaliating demonstrated that he was well seasoned. The ways of which female slaves were required to show that they were well seasoned was often much more sexually vulgar.

To give it some legitimacy the Willie Lynch narrative has been connected to this mortifying indoctrination process used on our slave ancestors. It is this connection that makes the Willie Lynch narratives so effective. However  the story of Willie Lynch himself is untrue. The Willie lynch narrative ridiculously paints the picture that blacks are now hopelessly programmed to act as self hating crabs in a bucket.  If this were true how was it possible that so many African Americans were able to come together in such an unprecedented manner and confront white racism during the 1960’s. Black unity was the most significant factor in the success of the 1960's civil right movement. The remarkable degree of unity among African Americans then was made evident by the brilliant organization and mobilizations of mass bus boycotts, marches, freedom riders, and sit ins that were peacefully conducted through the unified protest of civil disobedience.  These methods of civil disobedience gave the world images of African Americans being violently attacked by Whites and not violently responding to them in return.  These images touched the hearts and consciences of others, gaining national and global support eventually leading to America ’s abandonment of blatant and legalized forms of Jim Crow racism.  While all ethnic groups possess the ability to bring about real change within the United States , only African Americans have produced such change. During the 1960’s African Americans confronted white racism on every front through militant means, non violent civil disobedience strategies, and legal arguments within America’s highest courts. These strategies resulted in the enactment of many civil right laws that improved the lives of all minorities. The degree of unity and organization demonstrated among African Americans then was extraordinary and arguably remains unrivaled by any other group in the history of America . If the Willie Lynch narratives were true how was it possible that so many African Americans were able to come together in such an unprecedented manner?

The Willie Lynch narratives also claims that Blacks are now program to never support each other. If this were true how did President Obama acquire 95% of the Black vote? Millions of African Americans stood in line for several hours to vote for him. Moreover, if the Willie Lynch story is true how is it that million of Black men showed up –at their own expenses –in Washington D.C. to support and participate in the Million Man March?  Furthermore, how likely is it that a British slave owner from the West Indies that had no formal training in psychology could develop a full proof program that could capture the minds of millions of Black people for hundreds of years? This is totally B.S.!  

 The Willie Lynch narrative is merely a propaganda literature used to psychologically demoralize African Americans. It does so by convincing African Americans to take the position that their core problem lies totally with themselves. It turns their collective attentions away from seeing the still present threat of white racism and instead turns them in ward against themselves. It also causes many African Americans to believe that their condition is hopeless and gives them a legitimate reason why they shouldn’t trust each other.

This method of using propaganda to turn a targeted population against itself is a very common practice of the CIA and FBI. In fact a common saying among these governmental agents is that” if you want to defeat a population you must first turn them against themselves”…”you accomplish this by convincing them that their problem is an internalized one”. These offices used this same technique against the original Black panthers during the 1960’s thru 70’s.  It is practice commonly used by the U.S. Governments intelligent offices.   

 

Surely these white manipulations experts are elated when ever they see or hear  Black leader sharing the story of the Willie lynch narratives to a large Black audience. This pleases them because this story meets their goals of taking blacks attentions away from them [whites] and turning it against each other. This actually then meets the goals of the fictional Willie lynch story because it now gives Blacks a legitimate reason why they shouldn’t trust each other. Once inundated by the U.S. media’s deplorable negative depictions of them this then confirms it within the minds of many African Americans that the Willie Lynch narratives  is true. Black people’s own negative interactions with other Blacks also confirmed it within their hearts and minds that the story is true. It is however not.  

 

Black people wake up! Our liberation from despair is dependent upon it. The Willie Lynch story is a part of a massive covert government deplored mass manipulation scheme. A psychological manipulation scheme deliberately designed to convince African American that their problem lies totally with themselves. This is a classic text book mass manipulation program. It is deliberately designed to demoralize African Americans and turn them away from realizing the present danger of white racism and instead turns their focus in ward against themselves.  Black people wake up! Our liberation from despair is dependent upon it. The white elites are defending their position of white dominance and control by turning Black people against each other.

THE BLACK MATRIX IS REAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

To learn more please visit www.divineBlacktruth.org 

 

 

The US government’s intelligence divisions have developed advances in the studies of behavioral psychology that have given them much more control over its population. It initially used these advancements to develop psychological warfare programs used to manipulate foreign populations, but it was eventually decided that this same method of psychological warfare could be used domestically as a tool to manipulate public opinion.
Today to control and produce uniformity among the masses, the U.S. government disseminates propaganda domestically among its own citizens. The main sources that it uses to spread its propaganda are the Press, the Cinema, Education and the Radio. These four sources abilities to manipulate and control the masses are over-whelming. The great majority of people derive their ideas and perceptions, from these sources.  Most of the things that we believe we do so because we have heard them affirm through these sources; We do not remember how or why they were affirmed, and are therefore unable to be critical even when the affirmation was not backed by any evidence whatsoever. This situation gives those who control the media, the inherent ability to define, manipulate and control targeted groups as they see fit. The U.S. Government has an extensive history of conducting planned campaigns of extensive strategic psychological operations through the national media to domestically direct the perceptions and climate of the nation towards its governmental objectives. Information given through the media can greatly influence every facet of our lives. When these propaganda programs are directed at particular targeted groups they can be effectively used as psychological manipulation tools.  Through the noted media sources propaganda may be used to adversely manipulate and shapes the minds and collective perceptions of targeted groups. By inundating targeted groups with deliberately  misinformation about themselves these programs can produces, within the targeted group, the sort of character and beliefs that the controllers of the program wants them to believe. Upon their so formed personalities, docility will be imposed on the targeted group. Strategies against their oppressors will be discouraged in these groups of people, and insubordination will be psychologically purged out of them. This system can even make any serious criticism of the powers that be psychologically impossible. Even if all within the targeted groups are miserable, all will believe themselves at fault for their miseries, because these systems will be used to tell them that they are so.
To domestically defend its position of white dominance that was lessened by civil rights gains made by the unprecedented civil rights strategies of African Americans, the U.S. Government secretly employed this well proven mass manipulation programs against its entire Black population.
Although the U.S. Government publicly professes equality for all of its citizens, it secretly holds an unyielding commitment towards the preservation of its White dominance and control. Given that the nineteen sixties were a period of massive black rebellion that increasingly challenged its position of white dominance, this quite logically necessitated that the U.S. Government employ this same proven method of mass manipulation programs to domestically defend its position of white dominance against its Black population.
The present despairing state of Black America, as depicted through out America ’s national media outlets, is neither a baffling phenomenon, nor the result of some innate racial deficiency among Blacks, but rather instead the result of a governmentally deplored mass manipulation program.
The United States media’s distorted portrayal of Black America that amplifies the negative to the point that it distorts reality is more than just biased media reports. They function as media manipulation/ psychosocial programs. Its unrelenting daily assault on the Black psyche is deliberately designed to adversely manipulate and shape the minds, and collective perceptions of African Americans.
From their established positions of power, prominent white governmental elites monopolizes all given information deliberately disseminating only those that implies their white superiority over its Black population.  Its constant deplorable depiction of African Americans is being done to perpetuate and frames the myth of Whites’ racial, moral, intellectual and ethical superiority. This psychosocial program subjects African Americans to seeing only the fraudulent worst in themselves-- while implying that they admire, respect, and trust only Whites. It is designed to break down African Americans’ sense of racial unity and allegiance, mold the character of self-hatred, self-doubt, self-loath, and distrust among their group. This program conditions Black people to accept white dominance over their lives by misleading them to believe that they are now themselves their own worst enemies. Through totally white controlled media outlets African Americans are seeing themselves through lenses that have been deliberately assigned to them by white mass media manipulation experts. It is a covert and sophisticated method of control that ensures the continuance of America ’s White racial hierarchy by manipulating and shaping the minds and collective perceptions of its Black population. This insidious, yet very sophisticated mass manipulation program works by using the science of psychology. It prevails by affecting the unconscious mind through deception. Its weapon is the message that it carries and the way that it adversely affects the targeted recipient group in terms of their behavior. To the detriment of many African Americans this applied psychological conditioning program has been extremely effective. It has engendered within the psyche of many African Americans profound feelings of internalized self contempt that pulverizes Black unity and halts Black upward mobility.  It also totally detaches African Americans’ from their sense of power and reality.
And while many African Americans have successfully navigated through this psychologically mortifying mine field and have gone on to lead successful, productive lives, for far too many this immense devaluation can seem inescapable and tragically, over time, many begin to accept subconsciously and painfully the negative portrayals of themselves. Many also become discouraged by the acceptance that their society is also preconditioned to see the worst in them and that, therefore, if they were ever to gain acceptance, if it is to be won at all, that success would be hard won. This in turn manifests negative internalized psychological pain and distress within many African Americans that can take many forms. In fact, this mortifying psychosocial program is so fundamentally detrimental to the Black human condition and psyche that it may even affect the extent to which many African Americans realize their full human potential.
All African Americans have experienced the burden of this system of applied psychological conditioning, some more severely than others have.  This mass manipulation program is at the root of both the profound division and self hatred now afflicting so many Black Americans and is at the heart of internalized feelings of superiority that many whites possess.

WHEN AND HOW THIS BLACK MATRIX WAS IMPLEMENTED

It is surmised that this massive manipulation program was implemented in 1968, in the face of widespread violence that ensued after the death of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.   Dr. King’s brutal assassination amplified Black angry demonstrations and riots within the United States .  Such incidents were reported in more than 100 cities across the nation immediately following the assassination.  America ’s racially motivated brutality toward African Americans appeared to have reached its boiling point, creating much unrest and discord; and it increasingly challenged the stability of America ’s white statuesque.  These factors led U.S. Government agents to quickly reform their techniques of institutionalized racism.
The noted problems resulted in President Lyndon B Johnson ordering the formation of the Kerner Commission.  Its mission was to investigate and prescribe a cure or recommendations for the problem.  The Commission concluded that blatant White racism was the single aggravating factor for the collective problems. The Kerner report’s findings required that the U.S. Government abandon its open, blatant forms of racist systems used to defend its position of White dominance.  This abandonment of outdated tactics necessitated an implementation of an improved method for ensuring the continuance of white dominance and control.  Clearly its proven method of mass media psychological manipulation through media propaganda meets this need.

 

This new covert method of maintaining white dominance was a logical progressive choice because it provides America ’s white elites with a more socially acceptable means of ensuring the continuance of its White racial hierarchy. Unlike the blatantly brutal forms of racism used in the past, which Blacks were able to identify easily and therefore unify and form counter strategies, this modern system is more covertly deplored.
Not only does this psychosocial program manipulates the self perceptions of African Americans, it also creates a national climate that is insensitive to their plight —thus fostering a consensual national setting of where in which Blacks are more easily mistreated and suppressed. This psychosocial program meets this additional objective by changing the root problem of racism in America to be due to Black’s behavior rather than White’s proclivity for racism. This deliberately done to create a shift of victimization—in favor of whites-- that makes the nation and the entire world insensitive to the plight of African Americans, tranquilizes efforts on their behalf, lessens pressure for social change on their behalf and makes any serious criticism of White racism almost impossible today.
This program also produces false justifications for the legal system’s mistreatment of African Americans. Wherein they are disproportionately incarcerated, given stiffer sentences, and are more likely than other racial groups to be treated brutally, beaten, and fired upon by police officers while they are unarmed. These injustices now goes ignored because the perception has become that it’s all now justified.
When contempt of Blacks is made to appear to be justifiable, it is the most fiercest and effective type of racism because its witnesses, bystanders, and even world audiences will sit by idly allowing African Americans to be brutally mistreated disproportionately incarcerated under the belief that it is justified.] It also affects attitudes that when enacted through governmental policies, laws, and other legislation actions, serve to ensure that African Americans will not advance. Its effects are manifested in ideas, education, governmental policies, economic stratification, social segregation, housing markets, hiring and promotion practices, psychological issues, and minority access to a variety of social services and opportunity.
The objective of the United States government has always been to maintain its White dominance over its Black population, and clearly, this mass media psychological manipulation campaign meets this need—because it covertly manipulates the self perceptions of African Americans and creates a national climate that allows the government to consensually suppress the advancement of its African American population-thus maintaining its White racial dominance and control. In order for those who have been misled to begin to see “correctly”, they must have a clear, analytical understanding of the origin, strategies, mechanics, purpose and methods of the device that has blinded them in the first place. Therefore it is imperative that this email is forwarded –Please do!
“When the truth comes along and you know in your bones that it’s the truth yet you still refuse to accept and defend it you then really begin to die.” By Franklin Jones
 "I for one believe that if you give people a thorough understanding of what confronts them and the basic causes that produce it, they'll create their own program, and when the people create a program, you get action."  -- Malcolm X          Learn more at www.divineblacktruth.org

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Posted via email from blackcotton's posterous

National Jazz Museum Acquires Savory Collection - NYTimes.com

Museum Acquires Storied Trove of Performances by Jazz Greats

By LARRY ROHTER

For decades jazz cognoscenti have talked reverently of “the Savory Collection.” Recorded from radio broadcasts in the late 1930s by an audio engineer named William Savory, it was known to include extended live performances by some of the most honored names in jazz — but only a handful of people had ever heard even the smallest fraction of that music, adding to its mystique.

After 70 years that wait has now ended. This year the National Jazz Museum in Harlem acquired the entire set of nearly 1,000 discs, made at the height of the swing era, and has begun digitizing recordings of inspired performances by Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Billie Holiday, Count Basie, Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Bunny Berigan, Harry James and others that had been thought to be lost forever. Some of these remarkable long-form performances simply could not fit on the standard discs of the time, forcing Mr. Savory to find alternatives. The Savory Collection also contains examples of underappreciated musicians playing at peak creative levels not heard anywhere else, putting them in a new light for music fans and scholars.

National Jazz Museum Acquires Savory Collection - NYTimes.com.

Stop-and-Frisk Heads For a Record Year | www.thechief-leader.com | The Chief-Leader NYC Civil Service Newspaper

Stop-and-Frisk Heads For a Record Year

Bloody But Unbowed

By MARK TOOR

DONNA LIEBERMAN: ‘Not wise or effective policing.’ DONNA LIEBERMAN: ‘Not wise or effective policing.’ The NYPD is on track to pass its stop-and-frisk numbers from last year, according to Police Department figures for the first two quarters of 2010.

Police officers stopped 319,156 persons between Jan. 1 and June 30. If officers keep up that pace, they will stop 638,312 people by New Year’s Eve, 11 percent more than the 575,304 detained in 2009.

Attacked by NYCLU

Eighty-five percent of those stopped were black or Latino. Just 7 percent of those stopped were arrested, and another 7 percent were given summonses. That continues the trend of previous years, when most of those stopped were members of minority groups and were released without police action.

“The NYPD is on track to stop and interrogate a record number of totally innocent New Yorkers in 2010,” the New York Civil Liberties Union said in a statement Aug. 11.

“A practice that wastes an officer’s valuable time with a 90-percent fail rate—while at the same time humiliating hundreds of thousands of black and brown New Yorkers—is not a wise or effective policing technique,” said Donna Lieberman, NYCLU executive director. “The NYPD is turning black and brown neighborhoods across New York City into Constitution free zones. It is not a crime to walk down the street in New York City, yet every day innocent black and brown New Yorkers are turned into suspects for doing just that.”

The Police Department has said it concentrates its stop-and-frisks in high-crime neighborhoods, many of which are heavily minority. It also says the stops are in rough proportion to the identity of criminals as described by their victim. In the first half of 2010, 72 percent of crime victims described their attackers as black or Latino, according to the police figures.

75th Precinct Leads City

By far, the precinct with the most stop-and-frisks was the 75th in East New York, Brooklyn, which has long been troubled by high crime. For the first half of this year, 12,251 people were stopped. The second-busiest precinct was the 115th in Queens, which includes Jackson Heights. Other busy Brooklyn precincts were the 79th, which includes Bedford- Stuyvesant, with 4,425 stops; the 70th, covering Flatbush and Ditmas Park, with 5,473; and the 73rd, in Ocean Hill-Brownsville, with 4,869.

Most Queens precincts, with the exception of the 100th, including the relatively quiet western Rockaways, approached or exceeded 4,000 stops. Most Bronx precincts exceeded 3,000 stops. In Manhattan, the busiest precinct was the 28th in Harlem, with 3,730 stops. The precinct numbers include stops by officers assigned to the precinct but not by Transit, Housing or Narcotics officers.

The NYCLU has opposed stop-andfrisk and has fought against the NYPD’s practice of keeping a database of people stopped as a source of suspects or witnesses in crimes. Governor Paterson signed a bill this summer ordering that the names of those not summonsed or arrested be deleted from the database. The NYCLU is su- ing to remove the names of those who were summonsed or arrested but not convicted of crimes.

Stop-and-Frisk Heads For a Record Year | www.thechief-leader.com | The Chief-Leader NYC Civil Service Newspaper.

 

Investigation Announcement: Multistate Outbreak of Human Typhoid Fever Infections Associated with Frozen Mamey Fruit Pulp

August 12, 2010

Click Here for Advice to Consumers

Persons Infected with the Outbreak Strain of Salmonella Typhi, by State, United States

Click map to view a larger image.

Infections with the Outbreak Strain of Salmonella Typhi, by Week of Illness Onset

Click graph to view a larger image.

CDC is collaborating with public health officials in two states and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to investigate an outbreak of Salmonella infections, serotype Typhi. Salmonella Typhi is the bacterium that causes typhoid fever. Typhoid fever is a very rare illness in the United States among non-international travelers and can cause serious symptoms, often times requiring hospitalization. Typhoid fever is contracted when food and water are contaminated by an infected individual and are then consumed by other people. Investigators are using DNA analysis of Salmonella bacteria obtained through diagnostic testing to identify cases of illness that may be part of this outbreak.

As of 9:00am EDT on August 12, 2010, a total of 7 confirmed and 2 probable individuals infected with a matching strain of Salmonella serotype Typhi have been reported from 2 states since May 25, 2010. Confirmed cases are persons with illness on or after January 1, 2010 and a DNA fingerprint matching the outbreak strain. Probable cases are persons with a Salmonella Typhi infection and a strong epidemiologic link to the outbreak. The number of ill persons identified in each state with this strain is as follows: CA (3 confirmed and 2 probable) and NV (4 confirmed).

Among persons with reported illness onset dates available, illnesses began between April 10, 2010, and July 23, 2010. Infected individuals range in age from 4 to 31 years old and the median age is 21 years. Sixty-seven percent (67%) of cases are female and 100 percent report Hispanic ethnicity. Among 7 patients with available clinical information, 5 (71%) were hospitalized. Five (83%) of 6 patients interviewed reported no international travel in the 60 days prior to illness onset. As of August 12, 2010, no deaths attributed to this infection have been reported.

The outbreak can be visually described with a chart showing the number of persons who became ill each day. This chart is called an epidemic curve or epi curve. Illnesses that occurred after May 30, 2010, might not yet be reported due to the time it takes between when a person becomes ill, when laboratory testing is completed, when the diagnosis is confirmed, and when the illness is reported. For typhoid fever outbreaks, this takes an average of 8-10 weeks. This delay is denoted by the gray box on the epi curve.

Investigation of the Outbreak

CDC and public health officials in two states conducted an epidemiologic study comparing foods eaten by ill and well persons. Among interviewed ill persons, 5 (71%) of 7 reported consuming frozen mamey fruit pulp in a milkshake or smoothie, also called a “batido” or “licuado.” Upon further investigation, it was found that 4 (80%) of 5 ill persons consumed Goya brand frozen mamey fruit pulp. Among well persons, 0 (0%) of 33 reported exposure to frozen mamey fruit pulp. No other food was found to be associated with illness. These results suggest that eating frozen mamey fruit pulp is a likely source of these illnesses. This investigation is ongoing. CDC and its public health partners will update the public on the progress of this investigation as information becomes available.

Mamey, also called “zapote” or “sapote,” is a tropical fruit grown primarily in Central and South America. It is prepared by removing the inner seed and consuming the flesh raw, or adding it to milkshakes, jellies, or other foods or beverages. When preparing frozen mamey fruit pulp, it is peeled and mashed, and then consumed as a shake or smoothie. Frozen mamey fruit pulp can be purchased in grocery stores throughout the U.S., and packages have a 2-3 year shelf life.

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Clinical Features/Signs and Symptoms

Most persons infected with Salmonella Typhi develop high and sustained fever, headache, constipation, malaise, chills, and myalgia 2 to 5 weeks after infection. Infection is usually diagnosed by a blood culture. The illness can last from 3 to 4 weeks and infections may be severe or fatal if untreated. Typhoid fever should be treated with appropriate antimicrobial medications. More general information about Salmonella Typhi can be found here.

Advice to Consumers

• Until further notice, do not eat or drink Goya brand frozen mamey fruit pulp.
• Individuals who think they might have become ill from eating frozen mamey fruit pulp should consult their health care providers.

General Information

• Typhoid Fever
• Description of the Steps In a Foodborne Outbreak Investigation
• CDC's Role During a Multi-State Foodborne Outbreak Investigation

CDC's Role in Food Safety

As an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), CDC leads federal efforts to gather data on foodborne illnesses, investigate foodborne illnesses and outbreaks, and monitor the effectiveness of prevention and control efforts. CDC is not a food safety regulatory agency but works closely with the food safety regulatory agencies, in particular with HHS's U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Food Safety and Inspection Service within the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). CDC also plays a key role in building state and local health department epidemiology, laboratory, and environmental health capacity to support foodborne disease surveillance and outbreak response. Notably, CDC data can be used to help document the effectiveness of regulatory interventions.

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Page last modified: August 12, 2010

Content source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (NCEZID)
Division of Foodborne, Waterborne,and Environmental Diseases (DFWED)

Page Located on the Web at http://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/typhoidfever/?s_cid=tw_epr_183#advice

The piccaninny stereotype

 

The piccaninny stereotype

via Abagond by abagond on 8/6/10

The piccaninny stereotype (c. 1852-1950s) was the common way that White Americans pictured little black children in the late 1800s and early 1900s:

Rupert Bear visits Coon Island in the 1950s (British)

• eyes: big and wide
• lips: big and red on a wide mouth
• hair: sticks out in all directions
• dress: ill-clothed to naked
• favourite foods: watermelon, chicken
• parents: where are they?
• language: Coon English – “I is”, etc.
• threats: alligators and other wild animals
• intelligence: low
• darkie status: a helpless darkie meant for amusement

Examples:

• 1852: Uncle Tom’s Cabin: Topsy
• 1899: Little Black Sambo: Little Black Sambo
• 1922-1944: The Little Rascals: Farina, Buckwheat
  
• 1939: Gone With the Wind: Prissy - “I don’t know nothin’ ’bout
• birthin’ babies.”
• 1980s: Saturday Night Live: Buckweat again, played by Eddie Murphy

Related stereotypes:

• coons - grown-up piccaninnies;
• golliwogs - a common toy in Europe in the early 1900s with the same eyes and lips;
• helpless darkies – what they are an example of.

Buckwheat

The word “piccaninny”, also written “picaninny” or “pickaninny”, means a little black child. It seems to come from the Portuguese slave traders, who probably called them pequeninhos, “little ones”. In the Caribbean, Melanesia and Australia forms of the word are used as mere description. It seems it was used that way in America too, but since at least the 1960s it has become a racist slur both in America and Britain.

The first recorded use of the piccaninny stereotype was Topsy in “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”. The book was written against slavery so Topsy was meant to show what slavery does to children. But she quickly became a character to laugh at in the minstrel shows.

From the minstrel shows they made it onto film, like “The ‘Gator and the Pickaninny” (1900), Thomas Edison’s own “Ten Picaninnies” (1904) and Hal Roach’s “The Little Rascals”.

G.H. Thompson's "Ten Little Nigger Girls" (c. 1900)

One of the old minstrel songs was made into a book for children: “Ten Little Nigger Girls” (c. 1900) by G.H. Thompson. It shows ten girls, drawn as piccaninnies, disappearing one by one, sometimes harmlessly by, say, leaving the room, but sometimes in presumably deadly ways, like by being burnt alive, taken by a bear or eaten by a fish.

Ellen Bannerman's "Little Black Sambo" (1899)

The hero of Helen Bannerman’s “Little Black Sambo” (1899) is not a pure piccaninny: he is well-dressed, speaks Standard English, outwits his enemies and is the hero of the story – no helpless darkie, he. Yet he is threatened by wild animals and is drawn like a piccaninny. Also, even in Bannerman’s time “sambo” was a racist slur. The book’s huge success makes the Little Black Sambo the most damaging piccaninny of all.

What is so wrong about piccaninnies:

• They stereotype blacks as bad parents. This part of the stereotype still seems to be alive.
• They make black children seem less than human through:
  • their not-human appearance,
  • frequent nakedness,
  • being threatened by wild animals as a form of entertainment for whites

That last bit about wild animals is utterly sick. So sick that I have to seriously wonder about the minds of white people.

Thanks to commenter Eshowoman for suggesting this post.

See also:

• Jim Crow Museum: The Picaninny Caricature
• Ten Little Nigger Girls – see it on Kanye West’s blog
• stereotype
  • The coon stereotype
  • golliwog
  • darkies
• minstrel show
• The hearts of white people: the science
• the eight stages of genocide
• Audre Lorde: Eye To Eye

In Brooklyn Store, Everything Is Always 100% Off

By COLIN MOYNIHAN

April Gariepy, 30, wheeled her bike beneath the white tent on Saturday afternoon looking for a wire basket she could attach to her handlebars. A moment later, Sharika Barrow, 17, approached, gazed at the shelves of books, clothing and other items displayed beneath the tent, then wondered aloud what sort of place she was visiting.

“It’s a free store,” Ms. Gariepy replied, having made that determination herself just a few moments earlier.

After browsing, the two emerged from beneath the tent without selecting anything but both said they would probably return.

“I just came from the Brooklyn Flea,” Ms. Gariepy, said. “This is kind of like the same thing, but everything at the flea is higher priced.”

For six weeks, a group of people have been engaged in an unusual project in Bedford-Stuyvesant that they are calling the Brooklyn Free Store, where everything is available for the taking and nothing is for sale.

The name of the store is painted on a purple banner hanging from a chain link fence fronting a bare dirt lot on Walworth Street, near De Kalb Avenue. Behind the fence a blue plastic tarp is stretched over a white tent, covering an array of items stacked atop sheets of weathered plywood.

A handwritten sign reads “Take what you want. Share what you think others may enjoy (not limited to material items).”

There were cans of green beans and a pair of used brown wingtips beneath the tarp on Saturday, along with a used toaster oven, a flashlight and a galvanized metal bucket.

NYTIMES-CLICK HERE FOR MORE

Triumph on Racial Gap Withers in New York Schools - NYTimes.com

Triumph Fades on Racial Gap in City Schools
By SHARON OTTERMAN and ROBERT GEBELOFF

Two years ago, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and his schools chancellor, Joel I. Klein, testified before Congress about the city’s impressive progress in closing the gulf in performance between minority and white children. The gains were historic, all but unheard of in recent decades.

“Over the past six years, we’ve done everything possible to narrow the achievement gap — and we have,” Mr. Bloomberg testified. “In some cases, we’ve reduced it by half.”

“We are closing the shameful achievement gap faster than ever,” the mayor said again in 2009, as city reading scores — now acknowledged as the height of a test score bubble — showed nearly 70 percent of children had met state standards.

When results from the 2010 tests, which state officials said presented a more accurate portrayal of students’ abilities, were released last month, they came as a blow to the legacy of the mayor and the chancellor, as passing rates dropped by more than 25 percentage points on most tests. But the most painful part might well have been the evaporation of one of their signature accomplishments: the closing of the racial achievement gap.

Triumph on Racial Gap Withers in New York Schools - NYTimes.com.

50 Shots and One Week Later, an Arrest Is Made - City Room Blog - NYTimes.com

50 Shots and One Week Later, an Arrest Is Made
By TRYMAINE LEE

Angel Alvarez, the 23-year-old man who was shot upward of 20 times by the police during a recent shootout in Harlem that left one man dead and several others injured, including two police officers, was arrested on Saturday upon his release from the hospital, said Paul J. Browne, the chief spokesman for the Police Department.

Mr. Browne said the charges will likely include attempted murder and weapons offenses.

Despite Mr. Alvarez’s arrest, it was not immediately clear if the Manhattan district attorney’s office intended to indict him for attempted murder. A spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office said that prosecutors have yet to determine if there is enough evidence to prosecute Mr. Alvarez on any of the charges he was arrested on.

“As in all arrests the district attorney’s office will determine what if any charges are appropriate at this time,” the spokeswoman said.

While details of the Aug. 8 shooting remain sketchy, the police said that Mr. Alvarez and another man, Luis Soto, were engaged in a physical altercation where a weapon,a .38-caliber revolver, was produced. It is unclear whose weapon it was, according to the police, but at some point Mr. Alvarez wrestled it free from Mr. Soto and shot at approaching police officers, the police said, adding that a total of four bullets were fired from that revolver.

Four police officers responded with 46 shots of their own. Mr. Soto, 21, was shot and killed during the shootout, likely by a police bullet. Three bystanders, all men, were also struck by flying bullets.

Two officers were also injured during the shooting. One officer suffered a graze wound to the hand. The other was shot in the chest by a colleague but was uninjured because he was wearing a bullet-resistant vest.

Mr. Alvarez and Mr. Soto were among hundreds of revelers at a block party that spilled into the early morning hours along Lenox Avenue near 144th Street in Harlem.

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50 Shots and One Week Later, an Arrest Is Made - City Room Blog - NYTimes.com.