Washington, Wake County and Wal-Mart

Washington, Wake County, and Wal-Mart:
Slavery is Back in Effect

Paul Scott

"Racism was here but they didn't take it seriously and they said that I was crazy."

Final Solution:Slavery is Back in Effect- Sister Souljah

It was a typical Spring afternoon at the local Wake County "Up Against the Wall" Mart and African American budget hunters were busy trying to catch a deal on the latest Jay Z cd or the recent Tyler Perry dvd release when, suddenly, it happened. A voice came blaring over the store intercom announcing that "slavery was back in effect." On cue, store security began to herd the shocked black customers to the paddy wagons waiting outside the store aided by a bunch of good ol' boys, who just happened to be in the sports section rifle hunting at the time...

Last week, the Associated Press circulated a story about some goober who got on the intercom at a New Jersey Wal-mart and told all the black customers to leave the store. While this was ,obviously, the act of some bored trickster, the fact that the story made national headlines is alarming. While the above sci-fi type, futuristic scenario was based on a 1992 video, "Final Solution:Slavery is Back in Effect" by Hip Hop raptavist, Sister Souljah, the present climate of racial hate and hostility makes such an actual warning possible if not probable.

The best example could be the Tea Party protest, supposedly ,over the health care bill in Washington DC, last Saturday, where some members of the angry pseudo lynch mob of thousands of mostly white people, allegedly, hocked loogies at African American congressmen and yelled out "the N word."

Locally, one has to look no further than Wake County NC and the raging controversy over plans to end the school system's diversity program, hence, re-segregating the public schools. The head of the school board was caught on tape, allegedly, referring to the desegregation protesters as "animals."

While some would, naively, write these incidents off as "Democracy in action" in actuality, they are blatant cases of, at best, vigilante voter vengeance or ,at worst, militant mob rule. Although most folks on the Right would ,vehemently, deny it, there has been a steady push in this country, especially since the Obama presidential win, to "turn back the hands of time" in American history to when Negroes knew their place."

America stands on the verge of a racist, Right Wing revolution and issues such as health care reform and anti-busing legislation are merely part of a smoke screen to hide their true intention; to reduce African Americans to second class citizenship.

We have to call these recent events what they are; temper tantrums and attempts at disenfranchisement. I don' think that the Tea Party people in DC are concerned about my terminally sick neighbour or the Wake County segregationists are any more concerned about the black kids in the 'hood than the teenager in NJ who, allegedly, pulled that prank at Wal-Mart.

These are power moves. Disgruntled people flexing their collective muscles and preparing to roll over anyone who gets in their way.

The main strategy of the Tea Party and the rest of the Conservatives has not changed since Reconstruction. As Dr. Lerone Bennett wrote in his book, "Before the Mayflower," concentrate on local leaders." He also recorded "one by one local leaders were killed, driven out of state or compromised."

This is why the March 23 Wake County School Board vote will have major implications not only in North Carolina but across the country.

At the National Tea Party Convention, last Black History Month, a top NC Conservative bragged on C-Span how, in Wake County , the Republicans were able to "take back the school board " and now they are going to get rid of "diversity and busing"

Talk about birds of a feather flocking together.

There is an old saying that if you give a mouse a cookie, he's going to ask for a cup of milk. If the Conservatives in Wake County are successful, Tuesday, they are going to try to take the whole dairy!

Unfortunately while the Right Wing soccer moms were busy holding weekend war room strategy sessions with their hubbies in preparation for the upcoming Wake County diversity vote, black women were getting their hair and nails done for the "All Star Celebrity Women's Empowerment After Party."

Sometimes our priorities are just jacked up.

Maybe we don't believe that disenfranchisement can creep up like a thief in the night. Perhaps, we don't believe that there are a lot of folks in this country who believe that African Americans are only good for pickin' cotton and shinin' shoes. Maybe we think life is easier if we don't believe...

That is until the morning you turn on conservative WRDU Rush Radio and hear the hosts send out the clandestine, cryptic message that "it's coon hunting season again, Yeee Hawww!"

As Malcolm X warned back in 1965, "You're in a society that is just as capable of building gas ovens for black people as Hitler's society was."

Back during the 1800's, our ancestors used to sing songs like "Wade in the Water" or "Hush, Somebody's Callin' My Name," to alert runaway slaves that the slave catchers were a-comin'.

However, since this is the Hip Hop Era, the moment that you hear your favorite Beyonce song preempted by Public Enemy's "Fight the Power," know that it's on!

So the solution for black people?

As Sister Souljah, already told ya, the "brain is the weapon."

Put down your ghetto street romance novel and pick up a black history book. Log off of Facebook and log on to No Warning Shots Fired.com. Turn off BET and turn on CNN.

And for Heaven's sake, pull your darn pants up 'cause you are either gonna have to fight or flee when the slave catcher's hounds are bitin' at your heels.

Paul Scott writes for No Warning Shots Fired.com. He can be reached at (919) 451-8283 or info@nowarningshotsfired.com
"No Warning Shots Fired.com, going where other columnists fear to tread."

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.


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