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Thursday, February 11, 2010

My Day at The Haiti Relief Awareness

We are in a hurting time of our lives, as we observe the suffering victims of Haiti. I have been studying different reliefs and supports organizations to utilize. Yesterday The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan bless us here in Phoenix, Arizona with his presence. He hosted a meeting called "Haiti Relief Plan & Disaster Preparedness." Speaking out to many of the local leaders and politicians. One valued point he expressed to us was, "Do you know where your money goes to." Many people support different non-profit organization, but do not know there agenda. Where does all of the money go that the Red Cross receives?

So before you decide to donate, do some research and see where and how much of your donation will actually go to the cause.

Councilman Mike Johnson

Clovis Campbell

Local Participant

Local Participant

Local Haitian

Local Haitian

The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan


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Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Religion and Spirituality Coming from Youth

In The Name of Allah, The Beneficent, The Merciful.


I am so gracious, and grateful our dear Brother Hannibal would even think enough of me to allow me to have a spot in his blog. All praise is due to Allah for all who strive to expose, and represent to the public the truth. No matter what you claim or subscribe to, Christianity, Islam, or Judaism, the master Jesus said the truth will set you free.


Our dear Brother Hannibal proposed the question "From a youths perspective why is religion important, and having a spiritual foundation. I can earnestly say that from a personal perspective that religion has deeply affected my life. The teachings of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad have boosted me in my understanding of the very sole purpose for my very existence today.


As a young man I was chosen by almighty God Allah to partake of such powerful life reforming teachings at the very young age of 6 years old. I remember my father always playing Minister Farrakhan lectures, and as a young man I loved to quote the bible, but as I grew as a teenager, adolescent not knowing what God had in store for me. I was like Jonah in the belly of the fish running from my assignment.


I really did not know to what extent the value of what Allah had blessed me with as a youth until I saw the fruit of my choices, and the path that was before I was a pool of death. The principles my parents taught me were still embedded in me, but every person will be tested on how well they paid attention, especially when the stewards are not present.


I did some things in high school that I regret like shooting dice, fighting amongst my peers, and almost came close to deaths door, but we plan, and Allah plans, but his will subdues, and overrides are minuscule plans especially if he deems you the right material that can be used to make an outfit. I barely graduated high school. I realized that all the things my parents had been telling me were now before my eyes borrowing down on me fast. I remember sitting in my room asking Allah to forgive me for my mistakes, I began to study the teachings of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad for myself were I grew in understanding more thoroughly of a knowledge of self which propelled me in the direction of self love first. I invited my friends, family, etc over to watch Minister Farrakhan, and I remember shortly after a couple of weeks past then that next Sunday I stood up, and embraced Bro. Student Minister Jeffrey Muhammad, and he already knew what was in me, I grew up in the teachings, but I was like a sleeping lion just like my black contemporaries.


I do not judge our youth I strive to be humble, caring, loving, respectful, and serve them in any form or capacity. Sometimes they don't want to even talk about religion. People have been bad shepherds, and wicked husbandmen over the flock, the bible says all that came before me were thieves, and robbers. The youth are not unintelligent they might show ignorance, but most of them are plagued because of the lack of bright sincere guidance, but they know game when they see it. We expect them to function right when in reality we live in a dysfunctional society. We go into these different religious houses of worship, and people who claim or put on the garments of righteousness or backbiting, slandering, gossiping, and defaming one another. You see one Baptist Christian church then right around the corner they allow artificial barriers to inflict separation between there Methodist Christian family, but Minister Farrakhan said. So many of us today are steeped in religiosity that we lose our own spirituality. So many of us are bound in rituals that we have lost the truths to which the rituals are pointing us. So many of us are spiritual hypocrites who strain at a gnat, while swallowing a camel.


That’s why Jesus said let he who is without sin cast the first stone. No sin is bigger than the next one. Some sin may cause more physical, spiritual, emotional hurt than others, but nobody is so holy they can throw down on another person. We should strive to be good examples of what we preach. All of us have the potential to master the forces within especially those desires, and urges of the flesh that yearn for attention. We cannot grow vertically until we battle the horizontal, bestial plane, but we have plenty of weaponry if we would utilize it. The bible and Holy Quran for example.

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I know the power of God to elevate human life, especially trough the word, and for me my parents striving to be good examples really pushed me from the firm grips of Satan. That’s why the bible says "train the child up in the way it should go, and when it is older it will not depart" I have so much to be thankful for, because now that I am looking back The teachings of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad through my parents, and the principles they taught me. I never smoked, drank alcohol, and I am saving my virtue for my future wife (smile).


Religion is a way of life it is not just something we do on Sunday. You know how we masquerade all righteous, and holy acting when we are amongst one another with our bow ties on, and white garments. I heard Bro. Jeffrey say "We really have to understand that when nobody is around us that is who we really are". The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad through the guidance of Master Fard Muhammad has given us a restrictive law why? We live in a society were evil is so extensive that every time we turn on the TV, computer, radio we most of the time are being bombarded, and enticed to enjoin in evil. I have really learned to seek refuge in Allah through patience, and prayer, the Holy Quran says this is hard except for the humble ones. We have to realize Allah is the only reality we are all illusions.


The flesh gives a temporary satisfaction, enjoyment but as Minister Farrakhan said "for every action there is an opposite, and equal reaction”. When the spirit of God is in you with Allah's help you feel like you can conquer the world. So the scripture says "I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me". That's how we have to grow, and understand that’s where the real power is in pleasing our Allah (God), and when we began to love pleasing Allah (God) then you start seeing Allah's attributes, characteristics comes right across our expression or intentions.


When we fall in love with one another, and began to treat one another as we would desire to be treated. The scripture says" you can tell we have passed from life unto death, because we love the brotherhood”. Jesus said ", and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment”. And the second is "love thy neighbor as thyself". There is none other commandment greater than these. When we manifest these traits then the religion which we subscribe to has proven the power by the results of the interaction between human beings throughout these great monotheistic religions, and the principles of the prophets who went before us that undergird them, but Allah has come to make us like the Sun himself. Jesus said be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect!!!


Your brother and servant,

Bro. Monroe Muhammad JR

Monday, February 8, 2010

GAT TURNER XMAS IN FEBRUARY



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www.noisd.org

Anyone can Change their Life with "Determination"

Brother Adrian

I'm 19 years old attending Portland Community College(P.C.C.) right now as a sophomore and planning to transfer to a University of my choice and matriculating Fall 2010 as a junior to finish up my last two years. I plan to get my B.S. in Communication Studies and minor in biology and complete pre-requisite science courses to be applicable for dental schools.

I haven't always wanted to be in the dental field, however, I have always known that I wanted to 1) own my own business and be independent, and 2) Work in a service capacity, doing something to make a change and benefit people everyday.

Today I have a 3.51 gpa but I have certainly not always done as well as I am in school. In fact, I struggled a lot in my freshman and sophomore years of high school, and I fell behind in credits and attendance. I transferred to an alternative school here in Portland in a hope to make something out of nothing it seemed. Nonetheless, before things would get better, things would get worse. I dropped out of the alternative school toward the end of my junior year.

When I was 15 years old I was introduced to the Nation of Islam and the teachings of the Most Hon. Elijah Muhammad. At first it started out as an every other Sunday meeting being picked up by my uncle (an FOI for years) and grew into an every Sunday, Monday, Wednesday routine. I began looking forward to more than just the bean pie and final call newspaper, but gained a love for the brotherhood and the teaching I had never heard anywhere else before. When I dropped out, the brothers encouraged me to not give up but go back to school and get my diploma. I did. Despite being behind in credits, and missing a semester of junior year, I graduated with my class on time, All praise due to Allah.

Now, I am pursuing a career I never imagined I would be going after prior to joining the Nation. I will become a dentist. I got interested in dentistry in my senior year of high school when I entertained the thought of completing a two year degree program for dental hygiene. With the inspiration from the Hon. Minister Louis Farrakhan however, I decided to not just settle for dental hygiene, but to go for what deep down I really wanted to become, the dentist.
I am planning to complete my last two years of undergrad either here in Oregon or at Howard University. I will later attend dental school to become a professional dentist, and I plan to open my own dental office, "Muhammad Family Dentistry". I want to be the Dr. Alim of the Dental field, traveling throughout the country and serving the believers of the Nation. I want to teach young black males and motivate them to not settle for doing something they feel will be "easier" to accomplish, but to go for their hearts desire and bring it into reality. I want to lead innovative research and developments in the dental industry, and most importantly, be a servant of Allah.


-Bro. Adrian

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

A Saviours' Day Priceless Gift

February of last year the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan blessed all of the believers with a gift.

Do you remember what that gift was?

When was the last time you had fun with your gift?

Sometimes we forget the value of sharing and loving one another.

So show some love this year by giving someone you do not know a gift this at Saviours' Day 2010.

Get A FREE Copy of Study Guide No. 21
Click Picture Below
Photo by: Brother Jesse Muhammad




Hear The Honorable Minister Louis Farrahan and in Person.....

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Thursday, January 28, 2010

Why You should be at Saviours' Day 2010

In celebration of Master Fard Muhammad:

He taught us the ways of love and peace, of truth and beauty. We are being led into the path of a new spiritual culture and civilization of complete harmony and peace, one of refinement in the pursuit of happiness and eternal joy in the Supreme Knowledge of God and the Science of everything in life.

Click Below to Read More History......


Last years Saviours Day participants:

Snoop Dogg Speaks @ Nation of Islam's SD2009


INation Media Workshop




"What Does SD Mean To You"




You do not want to miss this historical weekend. Make your registrations now.... and do not forget to sponsor a friend.

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Monday, January 25, 2010

Hugo Chavez accuses U.S. of using weapons to cause Haiti quake

http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/286145



Hugo Chavez accuses U.S. of using weapon to cause Haiti quake

By Andrew Moran.
Jan 21, 2010 by ■ Andrew Moran -


Listen - (click link above to view video of Pres. Chavez)



Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has accused the United States of causing the devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake in Haiti, which killed possibly 200,000 people. Chavez believes the U.S. was testing a tectonic weapon to produce eco-type devastations.
Last week, Digital Journal reported that the Venezuelan President accused the United States of using Haiti’s earthquake as a pretext to occupy the Caribbean country, and since then the US has deployed thousands of troops to the region to bring law and order.
Chavez is blaming the US for causing the 7.0 magnitude earthquake in Haiti as part of testing a “tectonic weapon” that can cause eco-type disasters, according to Russia Today. The Latin American leader added that the US should “stop playing God.”
Chavez said these “weapon earthquakes” would eventually be used against Iran and be taken over by the US military.
Chavez says these weapons can alter the climate and set off earthquakes and volcanoes remotely through the use of electromagnetic waves.
Although Chavez did not reveal his source, Press TV reports the Venezuelan media are reporting the earthquake may be associated with the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP), which has been accused of generating violent and disastrous changes in climate.
HAARP has been met with controversy since the mid-1990s when the State Duma of Russia issued a press release written by international affairs and defense communities on HAARP and signed by 90 deputies:
“The U.S. is creating new integral geophysical weapons that may influence the near-Earth medium with high-frequency radio waves ... The significance of this qualitative leap could be compared to the transition from cold steel to firearms, or from conventional weapons to nuclear weapons. This new type of weapons differs from previous types in that the near-Earth medium becomes at once an object of direct influence and its component.”
In 1997, US Secretary of Defense William Cohen also expressed concern over such eco-terrorism “whereby they can alter the climate, set off earthquakes, volcanoes remotely through the use of electromagnetic waves."
However, the U.S. government claims HAARP’s primary objective is to analyze and investigate the Earth’s ionosphere and the possibility of developing technology for communications and surveillance purposes.
article:286145:115::0



copyright © 1998-2010 digitaljournal.com



Information Researched By: Sister Anonymous



Haiti is full of oil

Haiti is full of oil say Daniel and Ginette Mathurin

Scientists Daniel and Ginette Mathurin indicate that under Haitian soil is rich in oil and fuel fossible which were collected by Haitian and foreign experts. "We have identified 20 sites Oil, launches Daniel Mathurin stating that 5 of them are considered very important by practitioners and policies.

The Central Plateau, including the region of Thomond, the plain of the cul-de-sac and the bay of Port-au-Prince are filled with oil, he said, adding that Haiti's oil reserves are larger than those of Venezuela . An Olympic pool compared to a glass of water that is the comparison to show the importance of oil Haitian compared to those of Venezuela, "he explains.

Venezuela is one of the world's largest producers of oil.

Daniel Mathurin reveals that investigations of several previous governments have allowed to verify the existence of these large deposits of oil. It reminds a document of Lavalas party to power in 2004, had specified the number of sites in Haiti hydrocarbons.

According to Daniel et Ginette Mathurin, the lake region, with cities like Thomazeau and Cornillon, contains large deposits of oil.

Asked about the non-exploitation of these sites, Ginette Mathurin said that these deposits are declared strategic reserves of the United States of America. While stating his incomprehension of such a situation, it reminds that the Caribbean is considered the backyard of the United States.

But Daniel and Ginette Mathurin indicate that the U.S. government in 2005 authorized the use of strategic reserves of the United States. This door must be used by the Haitian political négiciations to launch with U.S. companies with a view to exploiting these deposits adds Daniel Mathurin

Experts argue that the government acted Jean Claude Duvalier had verified the existence of a major oilfield in the bay of Port-au-Prince shortly before its fall.

Moreover, Daniel et Ginette Mathurin show that uranium 238 and 235 and the deposit zyconium exist in several regions including in Jacmel. Uranium is used in nuclear reactors to produce electrical energy.


Information Researched By: Sister Anonymous



US Quake Test Goes “Horribly Wrong”, Leaves 500,000 Dead In Haiti

US Quake Test Goes “Horribly Wrong”, Leaves 500,000 Dead In Haiti
By: Sorcha Faal, and as reported to her Western Subscribers




A grim report prepared by the Russian Northern Fleet for Prime Minister Putin is stating today that the catastrophic earthquake that has devastated the Island of Haiti was the ‘clear result’ of a United States Navy test of one of its ‘earthquake weapons’ planned to be used by the Americans upon the Persian Nation of Iran but had gone ‘horribly wrong’.
The Northern Fleet has been monitoring US Naval movements and activities in the Caribbean since 2008 when the Americans announced their intention to re-establish their Forth Fleet that had been disbanded in 1950, and which was responded to by the Motherland when later that year a Russian flotilla led by nuclear powered cruiser Peter the Great began their first exercises in this region since the ending of the Cold War.
Though virtually unknown to the American people, the use, and perfection, of earthquake weapon technology has a decade’s long history that began with the former Soviet Unions exploding of a 10 megaton nuclear bomb in September, 1978 and then ‘redirecting’ its shockwave towards Iran where it resulted in a catastrophic 7.4 magnitude earthquake, an event which hastened the downfall of the US backed regime headed by the Shah.
This attack upon Iran by the Soviets was countered by the Americans in April, 1979 when they unleashed one of their newly developed ‘atomic powered’ earthquake weapons against the former communist Nation of Yugoslavia which resulted in a 7.2 magnitude earthquake..
Since the late 1970’s, the United States has ‘greatly advanced’ the state of its earthquake weapons and, according to these reports, now employees devices employing a Tesla Electromagnetic Pulse, Plasma and Sonic technology, along with ‘shockwave bombs’ they have previously been accused by Russia of employing in their war against the Afghan peoples when one of these ‘devices’ was exploded in Afghanistan in March, 2002 triggering a devastating 7.2 magnitude earthquake.
Interesting to note in these reports are their stating that the earthquake weapons test conducted by the US Navy this week in the Caribbean that destroyed Haiti was ‘most probably’ based upon the same type of Tesla technology held responsible for the catastrophic January17, 1995, 6.8 magnitude earthquake that laid to waste the Japanese city of Kobe, and which the mysterious Aum Shinrikyo cult had warned 9 days prior was going to occur, and as we can read:
Note: The Aum Shinrikyo religious order was destroyed shortly after their releasing of this information to the public when blamed for the March 20, 1995 sarin gas attack upon the Tokyo subway system which resulted in 11 of their members, including their leader, being sentenced to death. FSB reports on Aum Shinrikyo further state that their knowledge of the planned use of these ‘doomsday’ devices was gained from the US computer hackers belonging to the Branch Davidian religious order who had penetrated some of the American defense establishments most secret files and resulted in their, likewise, being completely destroyed in what is now known as the Waco Siege ordered by then US District Attorney, and currently Obama’s US Attorney General, Eric Holder.
The Tesla weapons being developed by the United States are based upon the research of Nikola Tesla who was an inventor and a mechanical and electrical engineer. He was one of the most important contributors to the birth of commercial electricity and is best known for his many revolutionary developments in the field of electromagnetism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Tesla's patents and theoretical work formed the basis of modern alternating current (AC) electric power systems, including the polyphase system of electrical distribution and the AC motor, with which he helped usher in the Second Industrial Revolution. Tesla is also credited as the inventor of modern radio by the US Supreme Court.
To Tesla’s earthquake weapons research conducted in the early 20th century we can further read:
Important to note at this point are that modern day experiments seeking to discredit Tesla’s earthquake weapons technology have been directed against structures designed to withstand the effects of earthquakes, buildings which in the early 20th century, like those in Haiti today, were not built to withstand such resonance. A most critical difference when viewed in the light of the US Navy’s testing of 2 of these earthquake weapons this past week and where in their Pacific test it resulted in a 6.5 magnitude earthquake hitting the area around the Northern California city of Eureka causing no deaths, their Caribbean test has caused an estimated 500,000 innocents to die.
Equally important to note are these reports stating that ‘more than likely’ the US Navy had ‘full knowledge’ of the catastrophic damage this earthquake weapons test could potentially have upon Haiti and had pre-positioned their Deputy Commander of their Southern Command, General P.K. Keen, on the island to oversee relief efforts if needed.
To the end result of these weapons being tested by the United States , these reports warn, are for the Americans planned destruction of Iran through a series of catastrophic earthquakes designed to bring down their present Islamic regime.
Most unfortunately in all of these events are the peoples of Haiti, who are suffering under conditions so horrible, that even in the best of scenarios, their functioning as a viable Nation has completely come to an end, and for reasons and purposes they have no comprehension of at all as they have become just the latest victim in the New Great Game that will decide the winners and losers of this 21st Century.
© January 14, 2010 EU and US all rights reserved
[Ed. Note: Western governments and their intelligence services actively campaign against the information found in these reports so as not to alarm their citizens about the many catastrophic Earth changes and events to come, a stance that the Sisters of Sorcha Faal strongly disagrees with in believing that it is every human beings right to know the truth. Due to our missions conflicts with that of those governments, the responses of their ‘agents’ against us has been a longstanding misinformation/misdirection campaign designed to discredit and which is addressed in the report “Who Is Sorcha Faal?.]



Information Researched By: Sister Anonymous

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

“The Black Male Perspective on Intimacy”


“The Black Male Perspective on Intimacy”

By: Ebony S. Muhammad, Certified Thanatologist

How did you get started with this research study?

It initially began while I was taking my Research Methods course, I am in the process of completing my Masters degree, and I had to choose a research study to deconstruct. I chose an article entitled, “The Male Perception of Intimacy”, by a few students at Texas State University. One of the flaws I noticed in their study was that all of the men they interviewed were Caucasian. So to title their study in such a general fashion, to me, was a disservice to all of the other ethnicities and cultures of men who may not share those views given by the men regarded in that particular study. The second flaw was that the researchers only interviewed five men, which to me, doesn’t give an adequate amount of insight to the general male population.

I took it upon myself to conduct a research study on Black men, here in American, and of various backgrounds including religious and spiritual beliefs. I wanted to focus on the Black male because they have such a potent and unique history in this country which has contributed to their practice, experience, and view of intimacy as it pertains to a male: female relationship. No one can deny that slavery has taken a major toll on the Black man and woman and how we relate to one another especially in interpersonal and intimate relationships. Even in social settings, there is a tone of friction and animosity that someone from another culture or ethnic background would find puzzling.

I successfully interviewed 14 Black men from single and double-parent households, with various relationship statuses (married, divorced, single, engaged), with different religious and spiritual backgrounds (Muslim-Nation of Islam, Christian, Moorish Science Temple, Nation of Gods & Earths), and with a vast array of experience within male:female relationships. Each gave their own definition of intimacy; they shared how they believe society influences or once influenced their view, and what they each need in order to feel safe with a woman enough to open up.

What was your purpose in accomplishing this study?

I wanted to get to the root of why intimacy, true intimacy, is such a scarce practice among Black people. I chose to study the Black male to challenge the stigma and misconception that men don’t feel and are not sensitive to relationships in the healthy sense. I wasn’t looking to prove or disprove the stereotype that most women place on men. I wanted to find out WHY those stereotypes even exist. I wanted to accurately display the Black male experience or lack thereof regarding intimacy from childhood to adulthood, and I explored the lingering effects of slavery as well. I sought to exhibit what Black men deem as important to them and what needs they have regarding relationships with Black woman and how that is being communicated or achieved. My ultimate purpose was to find and report the truth.

What did you learn?

One of the major lessons I learned is that men are much more compassionate and patient than what is being portrayed in the media and in society’s voice of what the Black man represents. These 14 brothers were so articulate and passionate in their expression as if they were longing for the opportunity to be heard. They displayed a level of emotion and sensitivity that I can recall thinking, “Will anyone believe me when I report what I am hearing”? It was such a profound and enlightening experience for me as a Black woman to be allowed into the minds of all of these brothers, who are in most cases still recovering from past experiences that were painful. I learned to appreciate the differences in how men express their emotions, which if one pays close attention, one will witness the emotions of men expressed on a daily basis. I have always been a little sister to the big brothers in my life and got a little bit of the “inside scoop”, but these brothers took me to another level of Black love and appreciation for them. There is most certainly a misunderstanding due to miscommunication among both the Black man and woman in America.

What are some different statements that were said?

When these brothers were asked to give their definition of intimacy and what comes to mind, this is what was conveyed, “Love and the action of showing someone love, caring, connecting emotionally and physically”, was one level of intimacy that was expressed. Others expressed, “Communication on a deeper and more personal level outside of a social atmosphere, and to make your mate feel wanted and needed as to project love more so than lust”, “Intimacy is to be compassionate”, “It means building a strong friendship by eliminating intimidation”, “Intimacy is sharing oneself spiritually, intellectually and physically. It is developing the nurturing nature of a relationship”, “Intimacy is the mental stimulation of the man and woman together; the thing that takes place before the bedroom action”, “The ability of a man and woman to elevate one another beyond sex”, “Trust, openness, honesty, and vulnerability”, “When you and your mate share a closeness that is unique to any other relationship”, and “When ones soul is being satisfied”.

When they were asked about how society defines intimacy as it relates to masculinity, they responded that society defines intimacy as being “weak” and that men are not suppose to “feel”. These brothers also stated that society promotes masculinity in only the sexual sense. They stated that society sabotages relationships by emasculating the Black man and degrading the Black woman to be a sexual tool.

When they were asked about their past relationships that didn’t go well and the anxieties that they may have as a result, they stated that they need to feel as sense of safety and loyalty. They stated that their devotion to women is earned through her patience and understanding of him as a Black man and not what the world believes he is or should be.

Anything else you want to add?

For the record I would like to say that I only knew a few of these brothers personally in terms of being around them on a weekly basis. However, the majority of the participants lived in other cities and states, and I didn’t know them. A few of the participants responded to an update I posted online and volunteered to be a part of this study. These men were not hand-picked, nor did I exclude willing participants to project an illusion of “good men”…they are a reality. These results are authentic and rich with wisdom and guidance for not only Black women but for Black men all over who may feel unsure about what it means to be a Black man here in America. I pray that they too not join with the world in rejecting such Godly attributes, but that they now feel encouraged to embrace the side of themselves that is ultimately the Source of their Power.

Friday, January 15, 2010

Pat Robertson Haiti comments: French view theory with disbelief

Pat Robertson Haiti comments: French view theory with disbelief

Pat Robertson calls quake 'blessing in disguise' APPat Robertson calls quake 'blessing in disguise'
US evangelist's Haiti comment 'utterly stupid': White House AFP/Getty Images/File – The White House on Thursday dismissed a comment by evangelical preacher Pat Robertson that Haiti's …

Paris – It took about five nanoseconds for evangelical Pat Robertson’s video verdict on the causes of the Haiti earthquake to start making the rounds in France.

Mr. Robertson’s theory that Haitian slaves made a “pact with the devil” 200 years ago in order to free themselves from the hated clutches of Napoleon Bonaparte's regime – resulting in a curse that led to the destruction of much of Port-au-Prince and a massive loss of life in Tuesday's earthquake – got the usual chuckles of disbelief among local intelligentsia about American culture.

It was bad enough that he said the successful slave revolt came during the reign of "Napoleon III, or whatever" (the Haitian Revolution led by Francois-Dominique Toussaint L'ouverture was in fact completed in 1804 when Napoleon Bonaparte ruled France, 44 years before his nephew Napoleon III came to power). But here in Haiti’s former colonial master, talk about the Robertson “theory” clouds with myth an early if awkward chapter in self-determination: the Haitian slaves are considered the first to collectively and successfully overthrow their colonial masters. In this case, the French.

After the French revolution, in 1794, the 500,000 slaves brought from Africa to work Haiti's lucrative sugar and coffee plantations, were freed by decree. But Napoleon Bonaparte, seeking empire, wealth, and territory, tried re-enslave them in 1802.

Once slaves breathed the free air, they did not wish to return to their former status as drones or fodder for empire. Toussaint L'ouverture, a house slave whose father came from Africa, and whose master, Count de Breda, educated him – stepped up. Mr. L'ouverture’s reading of French enlightenment and revolutionary writers Mirabeau and Voltaire is thought to have been extensive. The slave revolt itself took place in the name of the values and ideals of the French revolution in many readings of history here.

Haiti had been “a hell on earth” for the slaves, writes Le Monde’s history specialist, Jerome Gautheret. “Each year, 50,000 slaves were brought to Haiti to compensate for the … terrible mortality among the slaves. In such a fragile society, order could only be precarious, based on terror and violence: the French Revolution shook it in an irreversible way. In Paris, while ‘Friends of the Blacks’ pled for civil equality for all free men and gradual emancipation of the slaves, a powerful colonial party [in Haiti] tried to maintain the status quo.”

Quoted Thursday on Salon.com, UCLA anthropologist Andrew Apter says the notion of a “pact with the devil” as behind the slave victory “is so absurd it is almost funny. This notion of a pact with the devil is basically an echo of an old colonial response to the successes of the 1790s Haitian revolution.”

The problem for Haiti is that if it was a hell on earth under slavery, it was also so after the slave revolt, French historians argue. Africans plucked and sent to Haiti to work under the lash and suddenly freed were not a model constituency for civil society. Haiti went from the largest sugar exporter in the world to chaos. “The plantations were deserted. The former slaves refused to work on the places they were enslaved,” Mr. Apter said.

An emerging understanding of Haiti during this time is of an island increasingly divided between the 30,000 to 40,000 mixed race former slaves, and the more recently arrived slaves from Africa.

UCLA’s Apter argues, “the reason Haiti is poor is because Europe imposed a blockade on trade after the slave revolt in 1804, and you have an extremely polarized class structure in which a few families stepped into the positions of the former colonial plantation owners. There has been a horrible cycle of plundering and autocracy within Haitian leadership.”

Follow the Global News Blog for updates on Haiti throughout the day.

Play Video




Information Researched By: Sister Anonymous



Monday, January 11, 2010

Some see racist theme in alien adventure 'Avatar'

Some see racist theme in alien adventure 'Avatar' (AP)

FILE - In this file film publicity image released by 20th Century Fox, the character Neytiri, voiced by Zoe Saldana, right, and the character Jake, voiced by Sam Worthington are shown in a scene from, 'Avatar.' 'Avatar' remains the top box-office draw in the U.S. for the fourth straight weekend with $48.5 million. (AP Photo/20th Century Fox, File) NO SALES

- Near the end of the hit film "Avatar," the villain snarls at the hero, "How does it feel to betray your own race?" Both men are white — although the hero is inhabiting a blue-skinned, 9-foot-tall, long-tailed alien.

Strange as it may seem for a film that pits greedy, immoral humans against noble denizens of a faraway moon, "Avatar" is being criticized by a small but vocal group of people who allege it contains racist themes — the white hero once again saving the primitive natives.

Since the film opened to widespread critical acclaim three weeks ago, hundreds of blog posts, newspaper articles, tweets and YouTube videos have said things such as the film is "a fantasy about race told from the point of view of white people" and that it reinforces "the white Messiah fable."

The film's writer and director, James Cameron, says the real theme is about respecting others' differences.

In the film (read no further if you don't want the plot spoiled for you) a white, paralyzed Marine, Jake Sully, is mentally linked to an alien's body and set loose on the planet Pandora. His mission: persuade the mystic, nature-loving Na'vi to make way for humans to mine their land for unobtanium, worth $20 million per kilo back home.

Like Kevin Costner in "Dances with Wolves" and Tom Cruise in "The Last Samurai" or as far back as Jimmy Stewart in the 1950 Western "Broken Arrow," Sully soon switches sides. He falls in love with the Na'vi princess and leads the bird-riding, bow-and-arrow-shooting aliens to victory over the white men's spaceships and mega-robots.

Adding to the racial dynamic is that the main Na'vi characters are played by actors of color, led by a Dominican, Zoe Saldana, as the princess. The film also is an obvious metaphor for how European settlers in America wiped out the Indians.

Robinne Lee, an actress in such recent films as "Seven Pounds" and "Hotel for Dogs," said that "Avatar" was "beautiful" and that she understood the economic logic of casting a white lead if most of the audience is white.

But she said the film, which so far has the second-highest worldwide box-office gross ever, still reminded her of Hollywood's "Pocahontas" story — "the Indian woman leads the white man into the wilderness, and he learns the way of the people and becomes the savior."

"It's really upsetting in many ways," said Lee, who is black with Jamaican and Chinese ancestry. "It would be nice if we could save ourselves."

Annalee Newitz, editor-in-chief of the sci-fi Web site io9.com , likened "Avatar" to the recent film "District 9," in which a white man accidentally becomes an alien and then helps save them, and 1984's "Dune," in which a white man becomes an alien Messiah.

"Main white characters realize that they are complicit in a system which is destroying aliens, AKA people of color ... (then) go beyond assimilation and become leaders of the people they once oppressed," she wrote.

"When will whites stop making these movies and start thinking about race in a new way?" wrote Newitz, who is white.

Black film professor and author Donald Bogle said he can understand why people would be troubled by "Avatar," although he praised it as a "stunning" work.

"A segment of the audience is carrying in the back of its head some sense of movie history," said Bogle, author of "Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies & Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films."

Bogle stopped short, however, of calling the movie racist.

"It's a film with still a certain kind of distortion," he said. "It's a movie that hasn't yet freed itself of old Hollywood traditions, old formulas."

Writer/director Cameron, who is white, said in an e-mail to The Associated Press that his film "asks us to open our eyes and truly see others, respecting them even though they are different, in the hope that we may find a way to prevent conflict and live more harmoniously on this world. I hardly think that is a racist message."

There are many ways to interpret the art that is "Avatar."

What does it mean that in the final, sequel-begging scene, Sully abandons his human body and transforms into one of the Na'vi for good? Is Saldana's Na'vi character the real heroine because she, not Sully, kills the arch-villain? Does it matter that many conservatives are riled by what they call liberal environmental and anti-military messages?

Is Cameron actually exposing the historical evils of white colonizers? Does the existence of an alien species expose the reality that all humans are actually one race?

"Can't people just enjoy movies any more?" a person named Michelle posted on the Web site for Essence, the magazine for black women, which had 371 comments on a story debating the issue.

Although the "Avatar" debate springs from Hollywood's historical difficulties with race, Will Smith recently saved the planet in "I Am Legend," and Denzel Washington appears ready to do the same in the forthcoming "Book of Eli."

Bogle, the film historian, said that he was glad Cameron made the film and that it made people think about race.

"Maybe there is something he does want to say and put across" about race, Bogle said. "Maybe if he had a black hero in there, that point would have been even stronger."

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Jesse Washington covers race and ethnicity for The Associated Press.