Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Racism is Universal - Let's Acknowledge that Fact Shall We?

On top is a photo of twin sisters Lamb and Lynx Gaede. On the bottom is Autum Ashante (yes, that is how her name is spelled). Last fall, the Gaede twins became a rather big news story, because hiding behind those cute bubbly faces is an insidious hatred that they express in the music and dancing they perform as the "white nationalist", Bakersfield-based rock group, Prussian Blue. That hatred is prominently illustrated by their t-shirts. There is nothing like a have-a-nice-day smiley face made up like Adolf Hitler to brighten your day. Yeeeuck! During their live performances, Lamb and Lynx have been known to do a circle dance around a Nazi swastika on the stage floor. Here is an example of some of their lyrics. They are from a little song with the charming title, Aryan Man Awake:
When the man who plows the fields is driven from his lands. When the carpenter must give away what he's built with his own hands. When a mother's only children belong to her no more. And black masked men with guns come bashing down the doors. Where freedom exists for only those with darker skin. Where lies and propaganda will never let you win. Where symbols of your heritage are held with such contempt, and benefits of country 'cept tax are you exempt .

Aryan man awake, How much more will you take, Turn that fear to hate, Aryan man awake.

Can you see how they lie to warp your daughter's minds? Can you let your sons be trodden down or held behind? Can you apologize for things you did not do, and leave this battle that we fight to the proud and the few? What will it take for you to waken to the truth? What will it take for you to remember your own youth? What will you give up to help this worthy Cause, and strike with force and fury, without a single pause?

What will it take for you to remember your own folk? What will it take for you to break that heavy yoke? Why do you still cast your eyes downward to the ground? Worry lest what you say have prejudicial sound. Who will stand beside us when the war begins? Who will run and hide their heads and wait to see who wins? Who will face the end and watch a Valkyrie ride forth To join the gods and fallen stormtroopers of the North?
Ah yes, "Turn that fear to hate". That will solve your problems. These two are still in the news; I listened to two local morning talk hosts talking about them a couple of weeks ago, and there is an article about them in the latest edition of GQ magazine.

With their continuing national coverage in mind, I now bring your attention to Autum Ashante. Autum is a 7 year old New Yorker, and is in big demand as a poet. She recently came to the attention of the New York press after her controversial poetry reading at a high school and middle school in Peekskill, New York. Why was little Autum's poetry reading so controversial? Here is her poem, entitled, White Nationalism Put U in Bondage:
White nationalism is what put you in bondage
Pirate and vampires like Columbus, Morgan, and Darwin
Drank the blood of the sheep, trampled all over them with
Steel, tricks and deceit.
Nothing has changed take a look in our streets
The mis-education of she and Hegro — leaves you on your knee2grow
Black lands taken from your hands, by vampires with no remorse
They took the gold, the wisdom and all of the storytellers
They took the black women, with the black man weak
Made to watch as they changed the paradigm
Of our village
They killed the blind, they killed the lazy, they went
So far as to kill the unborn baby
Yeah White nationalism is what put you in bondage
Pirates and vampires like Columbus, Morgan, and Darwin
They drank the blood of the sheep, trampled all over them with
Steel laden feet, throw in the tricks alcohol and deceit.
Nothing has changed take a look at our streets.
So I, being a white person, am a vampire who has sucked the lifeblood of the black race? Someone might retort to me that, No no Chanman, she isn't calling you a vampire, she is referring to men like Christopher Columbus, Charles Darwin, and J.P. Morgan. Little Autum and her father cleared up any confusion about that when they were asked for comment about the backlash from members of the Peekskill audience following Autum's poetry reading, and the recorded apology that school officials sent out to the parents of the children at those schools. According to Michelle Malkin, Autum was quoted in a Westchester newspaper as saying, White people are "devils, and they should be gone. We should be away from them and still be in Africa." Batin Ashante, Autum's father, called the school officials, "racist crackers". "Cracker"? I believe that is a racist term itself there Batin. In the same linked article, it was revealed that Autum led only the black and hispanic students in a recital of the "Black Childrens' Pledge". She told the white students to remain seated.
Once again, we have a clear double standard. The Gaede twins of Prussian Blue have been universally condemned, as they certainly should be. However, when it comes to the racist rhetoric of Autum Ashante and her father, they have in their corner such local heavyweights as The "Reverend" Al Sharpton (remember folks, he was considered by the Democrats to be a legitimate candidate for President of the United States), and NYC Councilman Charles Barron, a former Black Panther who famously replied a couple of years ago that he would like to slap white people. This has always been the difference between the left-wing and the right-wing in this country - the loony right (e.g. David Duke and company) is condemned by the mainstream right. The loony left (Jesse Jackson, Cindy Sheehan, etc.) is embraced by the mainstream left.

One other comment/question: is Mr. Ashante aware that the season after summer is spelled a-u-t-u-m-n? Just wondering.

Good Day to You, Sir

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

I remember the story about the girls with the "Hitler" shirts being on t.v. Unbelievable. I forget the whole story line but I remember the girls saying "we think the Holocaust was exagerated with the number of people/jews that were killed". What kind of parents teach these ideas to their children?????

Anonymous said...

Great post--- nice pic of "Little Autum." So here we have two extremes! I found your post and a few others that are similar. Guess we were all thinking the same thing at the same time! I've linked to your post from mine HERE.

Deborah said...

Both of these stories are CRAZY! Yikes. Thanks for the reminder that we live in such a screwed up world :)
Seriously, great post. Thought-provoking.

Anonymous said...

Great post,

You know more and more I notice there is a race war going on only difference is that in the autum's poem there was truth. I don't think she is doing anything different from white slave owners who wanted to justify slavery. I don't think you connect to this poem because of the "Vampire" reference.

Being a poet and avid reader and critique of poetry, I see a vast difference between the poems, the first twin's poem's were rhyme without no reason, no vaild history or back up of what they were trying to convey. Just spoon-fed racism. The second poem, autum's made clear references and if you read any slave journals or literature of the time these facts are true. There rituals of drinking the blood of animals, because a lot of white foreigners were dying off from malnutrition and they believed that drinking the blood of the animal would save them, ( Who drinks blood? vampires)this is actually documented and the Historical figures she made reference true had a hand in slavery and racist beliefs.

I think the feelings are so strong because some whites feel as if they are being blamed because they reaped the benefits and privelage of slavery as where as black americans feel they are lost in history, they only have slavery as a reference to their ancestry and they don't feel an equal share of the country and resources they helped built and cultivate.

Just my observation.

also, on the flip side, I actually agree with the twins, suprisingly, I don't think that there were as many jews killed in the holocaust as have been reported, unless germans started exterminating themselves to.

just my observation.

W.R. Chandler said...

What bothers me much more than any antiquated reference to white vampires is the fact that now, in 2006, Autum and her father are calling white people devils and crackers, and telling white people to sit down while the minorities stand up. As horrible (yet allowable) as that is, what makes it unacceptable is that this behavior was financially subsidized by the state of New York, and excused by local politicians.

Any idiot can go and splatter verbal vomit if they wish, but once tax dollars are used to help him/her say it, that is when we have a big, big problem. People may have the right to freedom of speech, but that does not mean they have the right to demand that the government buy them megaphones.

Anonymous said...

An interesting if not very accurate take on Aryan Man Awake.

When the man who plows the fields is driven from his lands.

Have you ever lived a an area that went black. I did we had to sell out because it was no longer livable.

When the carpenter must give away what he's built with his own hands.

Ever hear of taxes being taken and given out in so called social programs. Blacks and illegal’s are the biggest drain. Now were also paying billions for the new chocolate city.

When a mother's only children belong to her no more.

Even been to a public school? Most are nothing more the indoctrination centers for multiculturalism.

And black masked men with guns come bashing down the doors.

Ever hear of Waco or Ruby Ridge, guess not!

Where freedom exists for only those with darker skin. Where lies and propaganda will never let you win. Where symbols of your heritage are held with such contempt, and benefits of country 'cept tax are you exempt.

Be white and need welfare or medical care. Black, Mexican, illegal no problem. White forget it.

"Turn that fear to hate”

Quit taking the screwing you’re getting because of the non-white whiners. A quit accepting the white guilt trip blacks and other keep dumping in your lap.

I think you get the drift and if not then I guess the truth is something you see in a selective way and why the problem exists. Have a nice day.

Anonymous said...

Take up the White Man's burden--
Send forth the best ye breed--
Go bind your sons to exile
To serve your captives' need;
To wait in heavy harness,
On fluttered folk and wild--
Your new-caught, sullen peoples,
Half-devil and half-child.

Take up the White Man's burden--
In patience to abide,
To veil the threat of terror
And check the show of pride;
By open speech and simple,
An hundred times made plain
To seek another's profit,
And work another's gain.

Take up the White Man's burden--
The savage wars of peace--
Fill full the mouth of Famine
And bid the sickness cease;
And when your goal is nearest
The end for others sought,
Watch sloth and heathen Folly
Bring all your hopes to nought.

Take up the White Man's burden--
No tawdry rule of kings,
But toil of serf and sweeper--
The tale of common things.
The ports ye shall not enter,
The roads ye shall not tread,
Go mark them with your living,
And mark them with your dead.

Take up the White Man's burden--
And reap his old reward:
The blame of those ye better,
The hate of those ye guard--
The cry of hosts ye humour
(Ah, slowly!) toward the light:--
"Why brought he us from bondage,
Our loved Egyptian night?"

Take up the White Man's burden--
Ye dare not stoop to less--
Nor call too loud on Freedom
To cloke your weariness;
By all ye cry or whisper,
By all ye leave or do,
The silent, sullen peoples
Shall weigh your gods and you.

Take up the White Man's burden--
Have done with childish days--
The lightly proferred laurel,
The easy, ungrudged praise.
Comes now, to search your manhood
Through all the thankless years
Cold, edged with dear-bought wisdom,
The judgment of your peers!

W.R. Chandler said...

My "take" on "Aryan Man Awake"? My "take" consisted of a criticism of one lyric, which was, "turn that fear to hate". Then you went off on all that other stuff based on "turn that fear to hate". You must some kind of genius to be able to deconstruct my entire political philosophy based on the critique of one lyric. So remain seated and let me explain something to you. Do you think I like all the race-based inequities going on in our country? Of course not. I agree with a lot of the problems you list. But don't you throw that "white guilt" crap on me, thank you very much. The way to solve this racial problem of ours is not to separate into our own little racial enclaves; it is to come to a common consensus, to live and let live, keep government out of people's private relationships (including commerce), and return to a true free market economy rather than a socialistic racial spoils system. By the way, I know that proportionally, minorities receive more welfare, but in raw numbers, may I remind you that there are more white people on welfare than any other racial group. Believe me, when given the chance, whites have no problem sucking off the government teat either, and they should not do so any more than any other racial group. I think you and I are arriving at the same conclusion, but are approaching it from different directions. I believe that the way to address the problems we face does not include embracing the ghoulish philosophy of Nazism, which those twin sisters apparently have. In the same vein, I don't agree with the racial separatist philosophy of Black Nationalism either. Call me an optomist, but I do think that the races can live together, provided that a system is in place that does not favor one over the other. I have already stated what that system is.

Before you start spouting off about my political knowledge and beliefs, perhaps you should read more of my blog. Your questions betray your ignorance. You asked "Ever been to a public schools..." Uh yeah, I have. I am a school teacher; it says so right in my profile and in many of my posts. And rather than accept "the white guilt trip that blacks and others keep dumping in [my] lap" as you put it, I lay my professional ass on the line every day in the classroom as I do not tolerate the "ghetto" behavior exhibited by my students that many other more "tolerant" teachers overlook.

Do your homework before questioning my positions, and thank you for taking the time to comment on my humble blog.

Regards,
Chanman

Anonymous said...

What is so great about our country is that we are allowed to voice our opinions. I feel that these children have been mislead by others beliefs. If we teach hate we will always live hate. Instead of dwelling on history and the mistakes of others we need to look at history and not repeat those mistakes. There is not one race better than the other. There are however individuals who choose to live a better life. Live for the moment not for what has gone on in the past. Live each day to the fullest. Take all this negative energy that all of us are guilty of at some point and time and try to convert it into being positive. There is good and bad in all races. There is no need to hate we all bleed the same and we are here on this earth for only a short period of time why live in misery?

I am white. I live in a mix neighborhood and my neighbors are the best. In times of need we pull together. We don't teach our children to judge others by their race we teach them to live in harmony with others. To build strong and lasting relationships.

You would think that as much as we have advanced in other areas i.e. technology we would be able to overcome this racism obstacle. In the United States of America opportunity knocks every day. It is up to the individual whether he/she opens the door. It is time that we ALL advance and break the barrier.

Anyway....that is my opinion.

Anonymous said...

Since children learn the hate that they know then the true problem is the attitudes of the adults and care givers. Racism is a cycle that constantly turns. I truly believe that worrying about todays world based on the past is getting everyone no where. And honestly this first poem was not even so ignorant but I have had the opportunity to read some of Autum's other "daddy writings" and she does nothing but preach hatred. This is what I have a problem with. Freedom of speech is the right of every individual but I think that it is sad that we pick and choose who truly has this right. I agree with the two little blond girls in One of their comments. White people in this country are being blamed for what white people did hundreds of years ago and then people wonder why they may feel or have a negative attitude towards the black people who are blaming them. I have never owned a slave and as a matter of fact my children are half black but I'll be damned if anyone will cluster me in a group of white people whose actions had nothing to do with me.

And Chanman, I just want to commend you for saying something about ebonics. I CAN'T STAND IT!!!! These ghetto kids talk like trash and act thuggish and wonder why people do not take them seriously. (And to clarify I am not necessarily saying blacks kids because white kids do it also)

Great blog. I really enjoyed reading it as you have a unique post that is different from all of the other sites reciting the same things over and over.

Darren said...

I sure hope Aaron (previous commenter) is correct.

But not I'm not always sure.