Grassroots and Brass Tacks

If Grassroots means poor, I've been that all my life. Born that way, I found such happiness that I never struggled for the finer elements of consumerism, but worked to serve and increase the peace wherever I went. That is the purpose of grass. But our urban, industrialized world is composed of brass tacks that keep the fabric of America together.

They have been lacking and we are in disarray. America's most virulent and consistent enemy has always been the segregationist and the white supremacist. To their delight, the immigrant population has taken up that flag. Blacks in America have no native tongue or other cultural attributes, not even a proper name (black is an adjective), in and through which to develop, conduct, and exclusively advertise business. All our businesses, by default, conduct in English in service to the Anglo-interest. By such culturally exclusive merchandising practices of immigrant populations, we feel barred and intimidated.

A recent Travel section in a Sunday Los Angeles Times promoted a tourist attraction in Brazil, The Pelourinho, a word which they described as being Portuguese for "whipping post", built by African slaves and where African slaves were broken from humanity and auctioned as chattel, as a delightful destination. A later article produced a map showing the ethnic distribution of Los Angeles's population, but failed to note how regrettable it is that the maps show a condition of absolute segregation, without a single area showing any, (implying that there is no, or very little) integration.

Meanwhile, the "brown" invasion from and through Mexico, comes to compete complete with a whole set of recognized and encouraged cultural attributes, to occupy and receive the vast considerations for "minority" support that were gained in protest by and for Afrimericans. Afrimericans, despite our status as a founding and stabilizing population of America, and our horrific history of downtrodden citizenship in contributing to the Anglo (English) development of this land into America, are held to be no more deserving of consideration than are the members of undocumented, recent immigrant populations, who, though posing as an indigenous culture, are actually representing, in their Hispanic and Latino claims of heritage, merely the dissatisfaction of England's prime European rival for America, Spain, and engineer a shifting of white supremacist oppression and power from the honor of the European English culture to the honor of the European Spanish culture. Now, New Orleans is a prime example of the effect, if not the intent, of these politics, as the native black population is driven and held away, and being replaced by undocumented "Hispanics" who, despite being taken rough advantage of, are willing to stick it out in order to receive a great, supplanting place in the "new" New Orleans, as America barrels towards a White ordained hegemony reflecting its European values, in search for the ultimate paradise where blacks are essentially absent and functionally utilitarian to European purpose and amusement.

My devotion to America is grassroots and I realized the need to pick up America where the sixties were stopped and move forward toward full accreditation of Afrimerican contribution and culture. As our roots dig and our stalks sway let's enrich the land and clear the air. Get HIP to where forward is. Embrace truth with justice. Don't let the dreams of the sixties be murdered as were their dreamers. The brass tacks of truth may hurt where liars stand, but hang its fabric in your home, for brave and free command.

Suggested readings toward a true America: "Witnesses for Freedom", "Thirteen Against the Odds", "Gay Marriage and Democracy", "Racial Matters", and "The Isis Papers". Search for or request these books at your local library, bookstore, or on the Internet. For more information on these and other titles.