Wake County: Books Busing and Bigots

Wake County: Books, Busing and Bigots


Paul Scott




My first brush with racism occurred when I was five years old. I was playing with a little white girl at a beach in White Lake, NC when her grandmother motioned for her to get out of the water. "Sally" came back a few minutes later to inform me that she was not allowed to play with (insert "N word" here), as the old hag sat mean muggin' me under her beach umbrella. In retrospect, at least Granny was honest about her feelings, which is more than I can be say about the folks in Wake County.

There has been a big brouhaha brewing in Wake County over the last year. Seems like some folks (mostly white) are fighting for "community schools", while other folks (mostly black) are condemning it as an attempt at re-segregation. The conflict came to a boiling point last week when school board chairman, Ron Margiotta , made a statement about "animals let out of cages," allegedly referring to the anti-segregation protesters.

Of course, most of the good hearted Wake County citizens are saying that there is nothing racist about the anti-busing efforts, they are merely trying to protect the ecosystem by conserving gas. Also, even though Margiotta's statement is committed to the Youtube viral universe, what he really said was " the way those Tar Heels are playing is outrageous."

I'm not sure what ticks me off the most, the Wake County School Board's racial insensitivity or their attempts to insult my intelligence.

I'm sure that Margiotta and the rest of his homies on the school board know that "community schools" is the modern day PC translation of "no Blacks allowed."

Then again, I bet ol' Ron has never been dissed at the beach by an old lady while wearing swimming trunks decorated with dolphins and starfish.

Let's keep it real. For many of the community schools folks in Wake County, it's not really about Lil' Molly sitting next to Tyrone Jackson in homeroom but the idea of her bringing him home for cookies and milk; the age old fear of miscegenation. So, the whole argument is not really about education but the fear of contracting "colored cooties."

Desegregation of public schools has been a controversial issue in this country since the end of the Civil War.

According to Harold Cruse in his book, "Plural but Equal," during the 1880's there was an unsuccessful attempt to pass a bill by Senator Henry Blair that would have required the government to provide $77 million dollars to be spent "equally for the education of all children, without distinction of race or color, " making "separate but equal" a reality.

In 1954, the Supreme Court rendered its Brown vs the Board of Education decision that put in motion the process of integrating school systems across the United States.

It can be argued that if the Blair Bill would have passed, desegregation would not have even been necessary. However, during that period, some black folks believed that integration was some sort of magic elixir to cure all of the black community''s ills. As if, by some sort of telekinetic osmosis black kids would become smarter by simply being in the same classroom with white kids.

It must be noted that not all African Americans have favored integration. According to Dr. Noliwe Rooks in her book, "White Money, Black Power," in 1968, African Americans in the Ocean Hill-Brownsville section of Brooklyn attempted their own version of community control of schools courtesy of a $59,000 grant from the Ford foundation.

Also, black leaders such as Haki Madhubuti have long championed the cause of the creation of independent black educational institutions.

All of these efforts have one thing in common; better educational opportunities for black children.

It must be understood that even within an integrated school system, there still can be educational segregation in the classroom. As the late black psychologist, Dr. Bobby Wright wrote in his essay, "The Black Child: A Destination in Jeopardy," "even sitting in the same classroom, white children will be 'educated' and black children will be 'trained.' "

Many in the black community would have no problem with community schools if it meant that they would be funded, equally. Unfortunately, there is a well founded concern that the lion's share of the resources would go to the more affluent, predominately white schools.

As the controversy rages on, we must be careful not to give black children the false impression that the ultimate goal of desegregation is to earn the love and respect of the white parents of Wake County. It is about securing the necessary resources to insure that they obtain a first class education so they won't be treated as second class citizens; nothing more, nothing less.

Our ultimate goal must be to teach black children how to love and respect themselves and to instill in them the self confidence to know that their self worth does not have to be validated by white America.

No child should feel the way I did on that hot summer day back in 1972.

A boy and his beach ball, standing in the middle of a lake wondering what was wrong with him.


Courtesy of No Warning Shots Fired.com. For more information contact (919) 451-8283 or info@nowarningshotsfired.com
"No Warning Shots Fired.com, bringing you the issues that the mainstream media are afraid to touch."

Raleigh's Racist Radio

Raleigh's Racist Radio

Paul Scott


If you see a black dude in the car next to you swerving down Highway 40 banging his fist on the dashboard while cussin' at the top of his lungs, he probably was channel surfing between K97.5 (the area Hip Hop Station) and Foxy 107 (the R@B station) and stumbled upon the WRDU's (106.1)
"Morning Rush Morning Show" with hosts KC O'dea and Carmen Connors, the Right Wings new dynamic duo.
http://wrdu.com/pages/morningrush.html

Every morning they host a 100,000 watt Klan convention where they, basically, bash black folks for 3 1/2 hours.

See, while black folks in this part of NC are busy bobbin' their heads to Jay Z playing on the Russ Parr Morning Show or hee hawing over a Jay Anthony Brown funny courtesy of the Tom Joyner Morning Show, the Carolina conservative bigots are holding war room strategy sessions; planning a hostile take back of their country.

Besides the usual, "help, please save me...the coloreds are taking over the country !" mumbo jumbo, O'Dea and Connors make a point of bashing black leaders. There favorite targets being, of course, President Barack Obama,whom they, unaffectionately , call "P.BO" and now the head of the NC NAACP, Rev. William Barber, who they get a kick out of calling "Rev. Soul Glow."

This morning they thought one of their news stories about a bunch of Nazi yahoos in Detroit who put racist messages in Easter eggs at a church's children's Easter egg hunt was darn hilarious.

Of course, the excuse that Connors gave was the usual hypothetical example that white folks often parrot...

"If a black DJ had done it..."

Wrong Carmen...

Black radio stations are too afraid of losing their hip white listeners to risk offending them and secondly, they know that their sponsors would have a fit; unlike Right Wing Radio sponsors who feel that the more racist a talk show, the better for business. Especially since you have millions of Jim Bob's out there who still haven't gotten over the fact that if the president of the US of A puts on a bow tie and a pair of black spectacles, he would bare a striking resemblance to Malcolm X (in the right light.)

Most importantly, the folks who call into the station with their "fried chicken" jokes aren't listening for entertainment. They are waiting for their marching orders from the "Grand Dragons of morning drama."

As we enter into the first election cycle since WRDU (owned by the media giant Clear Channel) changed it's format to Right Wing Talk, don't be surprised if the station plays a major role in galvanizing their Conservative Storm Troopers to head to the polls decked out in white bed sheets and carrying Confederate flags while whistling , "I wish I was in Dixie."

Why aren't more black folks outraged?

I don't know.

Maybe they're scared that they might wake up in the middle of the night to the smell of crosses burning in their flower beds.

Or maybe the strategy is "ignore them and they'll go away.

Don't count on it.

Like Malcolm X said, keep playin' and they'll be building those gas ovens.

Maybe WRDU should change its motto to "Where Racists Dare Unite!"

Don' take my word for it. Listen to some of their clips yourself.


http://a1135.g.akamai.net/f/1135/26472/1h/cchannel.download.akamai.com/26472/RushRadio/Friday/RRFRI05.mp3

http://a1135.g.akamai.net/f/1135/26472/1h/cchannel.download.akamai.com/26472/RushRadio/Friday/RRFRI06.mp3

http://www.wrdu.com/cc-common/mainheadlines2.html?article=6823749


Paul Scott writes for No Warning Shots Fired.com. He can be reached at (919) 451-8283 or info@nowarningshotsfired.com

Integration vs Segregation

Integration vs Segregation:
Looking for Love in all the Wrong Places

Paul Scott



A few years back I got into a deep discussion with an older gentleman regarding integration. The man asked me how did I know that most black folks wanted integration since we never held a plebiscite to discuss the issue.

Good Question.

I don't think that Grandma ever got a call from the Gallop Poll people asking about her opinion about integration.

I reflected on this conversation while watching the news coverage of the big brouhaha over busing in Wake County.

Seems like some of the white folks over Raleigh way don't like their little angels going to school with the Boyz in tha Hood.

I can see them now kicking rocks all the way through the Board of Education parking lot cussin' that darn Brown vs the Board of education decision.

We'll I've got news for you Sparky, integration hasn't worked out too well for black folks either! For the most part attempts at integration have only been a continuance of the same old master -slave relationship, only in closer proximity. Also, it has been written that because of integration, not only did we lose our cultural identity but many black teachers and principals lost their jobs after the Brown vs Board of education decision.

Some argue that the Brown decision wasn't really necessary in the first place to insure that black children received a proper education.

According to Harold Cruse in his book, "Plural but Equal," during the 1880's there was an attempt to pass a bill by Senator Henry Blair that would have required the government to provide $77 million dollars to be spent "equally for the education of all children, without distinction of race or color."

This would have made the whole Brown vs the Board of education thing, unnecessary. Unfortunately, then as well as now, there are black folks that feel black kids being in the same room with white kids will make them smarter.

Although, it is rarely discussed, there has always been a segment of the black community that thought integration was a bad idea, going as far back Martin Delaney in the mid 1800's. Black leaders such as Marcus Garvey championed black self reliance and Malcolm X once talked about the foolishness of trying to "integrate into a burning house."

Also, black leaders such as Haki Madhubuti have dedicated their lives to promoting the necessity of developing independent black institutions.

Let's face it. At the end of the day the Wake County fiasco is not about kids sitting together in math class, it is the age old fear of racial miscegenation.

That's right sex.

Dr. McGillicutty just can't bear the thought of his little Molly bringing Tyrone Jackson home for some milk and cookies.

I, for one, have never been the type of dude that was in favor of trying to make folks like me.

If you don't like me, I didn't ask you to...

I am in favor of what Harold Cruse referred to as "pluralism." That is when people of different nationalities can come together as equals without compromising their own cultural identities.

But in order to do that black folks must first teach black children to love themselves and not seek affirmation from white America.

Until then, we'll just keep on looking for love in all the wrong places.

Paul Scott writes for No Warning Shots Fired.com He can be reached at (919) 451-8283 or info@nowarningshotsfired.com

Time to Flush Rush: Rebellin' Against Right Wing Radio

Time to Flush Rush:
Rebelling Against Right Wing Radio


Paul Scott




Like many folks over 30, I barely listen to the radio anymore. Hearing Jay Z and Lady Ga Ga in heavy rotation gives me a migraine. Unfortunately, courtesy of of a busted cd player, I, recently, found myself channel surfing for the first time in months. Last week, I came across the usual hate filled Republican paranoid ramblings about how the evil Obama must be stopped, the vast Left Wing conspiracy to to turn us all into Commie zombies and how illegal aliens and welfare cheats are going to bring this country to ruin. Even the tragedy in Haiti couldn't stop the self-righteous Right from getting in a few partisan cheap shots under the guise of concern over misappropriation of funds.

Welcome to the wacky world of Rush Radio.

Raleigh NC's 106.1 FM has once again undergone a metamorphosis, this time transforming itself into a conservative talk station known as "Rush Radio" because of the acquisition of its star player, Rush Limbaugh and his homies, Sean Hannity and Glen Beck. This is not limited to the Tarheel state but seems to be a trend sweeping the nation as radio mega corporations such as Clear Channel have found a bigger market in catering to Obama haters rather than Kenny Rogers music lovers.


Talk about overkill. The residents in my neck woods, the Raleigh-Durham area, are already surrounded by wall to wall Right Wing sound 24 hours a day. The area has the extremely popular WPTF 680 AM as well as, WZTK Talk 101FM beaming in Mike Savage a few counties over , courtesy of a 100,000 watt high powered system.

Anyone with a basic understanding of military science knows the strategic advantage of controlling the airwaves. The first thing that you do when conquering a country is to take over the radio stations. Since the Right Wingers see themselves as being engaged in a life or death struggle against the Obama Administration and all things left, it makes perfect sense that they are planning to convert your local country music station into a Conservative central command center .

Now the Conservatives will argue that there is a disproportionate number of liberal media folks.

Cow chips!

Name me one Left Wing commentator that can mach the amount of venom spewed by the Right's treacherous trio of "Hear all Evil, See All Evil" and Speak All Evil." (Beck, Hannity and Limbaugh.) For every Alan Colmes there are 100 Bill O'Reilly wannabes in cities across the country.

In NC, I wonder which "liberal" station will be able to hold back the red tide of Republican racism?

NPR's affiliate, WUNC?

Don't be ridiculous.

I can't listen to NPR more than five minutes without developing a severe case of narcolepsy. I have this reoccurring nightmare that after listening to Morning Edition on my morning commute, I run off Interstate 40 and wake up in the ER serenading the nurses with a morphine induced rendition of "Imagine."

This is a really tough spot for black dudes like me. While the Right is busy turning morning radio shows into Conservative chat war rooms, we are busy boppin' to Lil Wayne lyrics and hearing DJ's joke about the celebrity gossip they saw on the Wendy Williams Show the previous night.

Even in an area where there are many historically black colleges and financially well off black folks, black talk radio is limited to a low watt AM station and a few hours on the local urban station on Sunday morning while most folks are headed to church.

Although there are a few African American anchors on the tube, for the most part ,they play the roles of objective journalists and not the fire breathing demagogues on Fox News.

As much as we enjoyed seeing Roland Martin On CNN last summer, to middle America, he will simply be remembered as the black fill -in who taught his rather stiff co-anchors how to get down, get funky and get loose while delivering the news.

The print media are no different, as the black columnists are either Conservatives or have found a niche airing black folks' dirty laundry in public, ala Bill Cosby.

So, the local newspaper is more likely to hire the suit and tie wearin' , clean cut dude who, politely, enters the morning staff meeting with a cup of decaf and a doughnut than the dude sportin' shades and military fatigues who swaggers in with a can of Red Bull and a fist full of rage.

See, the liberal media run away from controversy. For the Right, controversy sells.

The liberal media outlets are scared of losing the Francine's Flower Shop account if they get too radical but the more racist the Conservative talking heads get, the more advertising dollars they receive from "Big Bubba's Bullets and Beer."

Somebody has to put a stop to the Right Wing plague that is infecting the radio.

I suggest that this Martin Luther King Day we start a rebellion against Rush Radio aka Flush Rush and use our Facebooks and Twitters to combat the poison propaganda of the Ultra Right menace.

Seems like the Left is in dire need of a shot of testosterone or, as they say in the Hip Hop vernacular, some thug motivation.

Now, I don't consider myself a Lefty but what ever Limbaugh is for I'm against and whatever Beck is against, I'm for. So, excuse me if I don't speak proper Liberal-ese but:

"Get out there and win one for the Gipper...um"

"Fight for your right to party...urr"

"Open the window and yell "I'm mad as..."

Aw, you get the point.


Paul Scott writes for No Warning Shots Fired.com. He can be reached at (919) 451-8283 or info@nowarningshotsfired.com
To join the campaign to get No Warning Shots Fired in your local paper, contact the editor, today! Coming in February, the "Take Back Black History" lecture tour.

Let's Hear it for the Boyz

Let's Hear it for the Boyz:
The Need for Black Male Empowerment


Paul Scott



For the last 10 years, Radio One has sponsored an event in Raleigh NC called, "Women's Empowerment," where sistas from across the country gather to discuss everything from baby's daddy drama to gettin' their hair and nails "did."

So every year, socially conscious brothas, like myself, play the Left out Lamont" role. We always find ourselves asking,

"What about us? Can the bothas get some empowerment out of this piece?"

Don't get me wrong. I think that black women gettin' empowered is a beautiful thing and since it happens around NCAA basketball championship time it gives the fellas a whole day of peace and quiet.

But as I look around my community where black men darn near 30 are still walking around with their pants saggin' sippin' on 40 ounces...If anyone needs some motivation, it's us.

Although, conventional wisdom seems to say that black men will not show up for any event that doesn't involve some woman slidin' down a pole or a dude shootin' a ball in a hoop, history paints a different picture.

I am sure that those weren't all women who showed up by the thousands at Marcus Garvey's rallies back in the 1920's. And didn't well over a million black men show up in Washington DC just over 10 years ago?

So, black men will show up for a worthy cause. As the old saying goes, "build it and they will come."

This begs the question, couldn't somebody rub a few nickles together and have a Male Empowerment meeting once a year?

And I'm not talkin' about some Dr. Phil type action where brothas sit around rappin' about self esteem issues. I'm talking about real issues facing African American men socially, politically and economically.

It seems pretty simple, they could rent a venue and hire someone to speak like lil Wayne...

Um.. scratch that...

They could get somebody like Professor Griff to keynote.

Maybe, the failure to do so has something to do with the historical fear of more than two black men gathering in the same place.

Not to say that we would turn such an event into an insurrection but as the old heads would say the issue of "how to get the white man's foot off of our collective necks" would be the topic of at least one of the panels.

Perhaps the moral of the story is that it should not be left up to corporate sponsors to put on a Black Male Empowerment meeting. Maybe this great exercise in black male bonding should take place every day in hoods across America.

After all, that is the place where empowerment is needed the most.

Isn't it?

Paul Scott, the "TRUTH Minista" writes for "No Warning Shots Fired.com" He can be reached at (919) 451-8283 info@nowarningshotsfired.com

Has Kwanzaa Sold Out ?

Has Kwanzaa Sold Out ?

Paul Scott




On that old school Charlie Brown Christmas cartoon, there is a scene where Charlie is complaining about the commercialization of Christmas. If the token black kid, "Franklin" had more of a speaking role, he probably would have made the same point about Kwanzaa.

Kwanzaa, the African (American) festival that starts December 26 used to be strictly a holiday for black folks to get themselves reconnected to African based principles. The festival, which was started in 1966 by Dr. Maulana Karenga, has in recent years gone the way of Jazz, Rock and Roll and everything else that black folks have created and started to crossover, ie sellout.

http://www.officialkwanzaawebsite.org/index.shtml

Let me say from the jump. I like my Kwanzaa like I like my coffee; black!

Some things should be sacred. As a matter of full disclosure, I remember, I wasn't too happy when they integrated Soul Train, either. The music just wasn't as funky anymore.

Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with cultures admiring other cultures. But when white folks start "feeling" black culture, well, it starts losing its blackness. This is especially problematic when they start dictating the terms of black celebrations.

I don't see too many Irish people letting black folks tell them how to run St. Patrick's Day.

This is what is happening to Kwanzaa. It has gone from a time of black empowerment ,where issues affecting African people were discussed to a perpetual session of "Kwanzaa for Dummies."

Most times, the festival events are stuck in Kwanzaa 101 mode and are geared towards the handful of white folks in the audience and the bougie black folks who just discovered that they were black, yesterday. So, the moderator of the program never gets to the point of discussing the practical applications of the Kwanzaa principles (Nguza Saba.) but concentrates on teaching the new target audience how to pronounce Kujichagulia.

"Now, for the 100th time say it with me, koo- gee- cha- gu -lia"

Also, many people who put on these Kwanzaa programs have an innate fear of offending white folks, so many times the speakers are chosen from the "Safe Negro Temp Agency." Therefore, most Kwanzaa discussions rarely deal with anything deeper than explaining the meaning behind the Kwanzaa candles.

How many times have you heard a Kwanzaa speaker start his presentation with the obligatory, "Kwanzaa is not just for black people but for all people" and you said to yourself "what kind of Umoja Juice has he been sippin' on ?"

The reason why black folks allow our culture to be misdirected is simple.

Money, Cheddar, lucci (I'm not sure how to say it in Swahili)

I just can't see Denny's sponsoring a real, in depth workshop on African Ujamaa (collective economics.)

Every year, we are forced to chose between having a small event in the back of a black bookstore or having a "great extravaganza" at some large convention facility. We have to chose between an event where a few black folks scrape together a few dollars for an African pot lock dinner and presentations by a few local activist speakers or a corporate sponsored mega event where even the African drummers go home with a fat paycheck.

Fortunately, there are folks who have championed the cause for Kwanzaa purity like the S.T.E.P. organization in New Jersey.

http://www.steptothefuture.org/

The O'Jays once sang "Christmas just ain't Christmas and New Years just ain't New Years..."

Until we get our "Kujichagulia" act together, Kwanzaa just ain't Kwanzaa either.



TRUTH Minista Paul Scott writes for No Warning Shots Fired.com http://www.nowarningshotsfired.com/
He can be reached at info@nowarningshotsfired.com (919) 451-8283

The Death of Public Affairs

If you are from the ol' School, you can remember the now extinct creature called public affairs programming. Thanks to the Black Power era, radio and television stations used to have shows that catered to the black community serving as forums to discuss issues. Even the white owned stations used to give up at least 30 minutes every weekend to discuss so called "minority issues." Part of that was public service, part was marketing and part was just a way to see what black folks were talking about, just in case they were planning a riot, the power structure would have a heads up.

But that was then, this is now. FCC regulations that once required a certain amount of public programming began to fade, as well as rules against mega corporations owning multiple stations in a single market. Also, since the '70's, the black community began to become less angry and after the '92 LA rebellion, public outrage became almost nonexistant. So the demand for public affairs programming began to fade.

Fast forward to 2008, an election year which is, auguably , one of the most important times in a post Katrina, post Imus, post Jena 6, black America.

In North Carolina, the major "urban "radio stations are owned by Radio One out of DC/Maryland; WQOK and WFXC. WFXC similcasts on frequencies 104.3 and 107.1 FM which gives them the ability to reach almost every black person in darn near the entire state.
Yet, between the two stations, they only have two "public affairs" programs for one hour, "Talk Back" and "Connections," which alternate between Sundays on 104.3 and 107.1 Out of the two, only Talk Back actually takes call ins and talks about what is happenin' in tha 'hood.

"Connections" is a different story.

The program, which consists of one or two hosts, mostly , talking about what's good with the Democrats and what's bad with the Republicans, stopped taking call ins about a year ago. Now it is just an hour long monologue, every other Sunday.

Who wants to hear someone give their opinions on politics for a solid hour, no matter how valid or invalid they may be?

If I just want to hear someone's opinion, I'll just go down to the corner and rap to Mr. Willie, the wino.

In a way, to, I guess, appease the haters, the host did announce on the air, today, that they will have a book signing at a resturant in Raleigh where listeners can come and discuss the issues that they have been monologuing about.

Here's the kicker....

They "may" just tape your comments and play them back on a future show...

Big whoop...

So, let's get this straight. In order for me to take an active part in the so called public affairs program, I have to get in my car, drive 20 miles to the next city, go to a resturant and listen to Mister Monologue radio host hawk his book ?

Call it what you want...But that ain't public affairs. The reason that it is allowed to pose as "public affairs" is that we, as a community, have not raised the issue, especially when it gets close to FCC license renewal time.

We will never get better, until we demand better...

Until then as Jay Z said ,

I guess we can't "knock tha hustle."

Min. Paul Scott's blog is http://www.nowarningshotsfired.com/ He can be reached at (919) 451-8283