MF GALAXY

The true legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. has been dangerously distorted by corporate media and white washing official historians. While the first half of King’s career has been preserved--that of nonviolent protest against legal segregation and the resulting legislative victories-- the second half has been all but erased . That second half is the radical phase which began when Martin King and Malcolm X forged a secret alliance in 1964 , as documented in Karl Evanzz’s book The Judas Factor: The Plot to Kill Malcolm X. Martin Luther King had moved well beyond what would become his most over-quoted and ultimately clichéd phrase “I have a dream,” a phrase which was only the poetical culmination of a much more aggressive indictment of the threat posed by wealth and White supremacy that was the United States government and corporate establishment. King had moved into the American north, fighting de facto segregation inside the supposedly liberal heartland. But muc...

Just watch. And, oh, hell, I know I should stop, but really, see "35 Balls to the Face in 32 Seconds" ( this is the correct link , now) and also see "Boo!"

Check out video of my man Br. Travis right here. And you can listen to him here discussing Attack of the Clones.

Thanks to the always wise Sister Pam Noles of And We Shall March for alerting the world to this wonderful piece of video merriment.

I'll be signing copies of The Coyote Kings of the Space-Age Bachelor Pad today at Chapters on Whyte Avenue & 105th Street (an area featured in the novel, incidentally). Please come down to chat and pick up a book, if you want. And since my next book is coming out soon , I can tell you a bit about that, too.

Ishmael Reed writes: "African-Americans have a number of individuals who are willing to serve as mind doubles. Some are supported by right wing think tanks like the Manhattan Institute's John McWhorter, black front man for the Eugenics movement . The Manhattan Institute boasts that they can provide enormous publicity for their fellows--the kind of clout that enables them to impose their viewpoints upon discussions about black issues--by using proxies who are unknown to black Americans. "When McWhorter attacks me in Commentary , a magazine that praised Charles Murray's The Bell Curve , or in his books, where do I go to get equal time? He once challenged me to a debate, threatening 'to wipe up the floor with me,' but when I accepted, he backed out. "Another proxy person-of-color intellectual for right wing interests is Shelby Steele of the Hoover Institute. He just got three hours on C-Span to explain his one-note theory that blacks complain too much ...

"While thousands of people were celebrating the contribution America's undocumented immigrants make to our economy, and demanding justice and recognition for workers who are denied basic rights, the government was making plans for large-scale detention centers in case of an 'emergency influx' of immigrants. "KBR, the Halliburton subsidiary recently reprimanded for gross overcharging in its military contracts in Iraq , won a $385 million contract to build the centers. According to the Halliburton website , 'the contract, which is effective immediately, provides for establishing temporary detention and processing capabilities to augment existing ICE Detention and Removal Operations Program facilities in the event of an emergency influx of immigrants into the U.S., or to support the rapid development of new programs.' "What new programs might those be? The web was abuzz with speculation after the contract was awarded on January 24. Pacific News...

Nashville, TN: "The Nashville Kemet Jubilee (NKJ) is celebrating the 81st anniversary of Malcolm X’s birthday. To wit, the Jubilee is holding an 'I Am Malcolm X' celebration at the Village Cultural Arts Center in East Nashville. I Am Malcolm X: A Celebration of Brotherhood and Humanitarianism will be an exciting evening of music and song (including Reggae, Blues, & Soul), Spoken Word and African Drum and Dance. "After the entertainment there will be a community discussion on the ideals of Malcolm X and their relevance to the contemporary community and our issues today. This is an artistic event for the whole family."

Who has the power to kill a King? Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a brilliant organiser and theoretician for what is usually called the American Civil Rights Movement, but what should really be called the American Human Rights Movement . While no mass movement can achieve victories without the work of every person involved, in this case, hundreds of thousands of people, no one can deny that Dr. King was instrumental in inspiring and teaching the many activists who would join the movement. Unfortunately, the legacy of Dr. King has been distorted. Conservative forces, especially in corporate media, have frozen Dr. King at 1963’s March on Washington, repeating endlessly the empty phrase “I Have a Dream.” The effect is to limit King to someone who merely had visions rather than plans, who was a prophet rather than a democratic organiser, who had heart rather than intellect.   This limitation also places the blame for American White Supremacy solely on the h...

"Public school education in Canada is not race-neutral. It expresses a cultural specificity, rooted in British legacies. It has always had race as a classifying theme, and its structure is centred in customs and traditions that have limited utility for black learners. Far from being the 'great equalizer,' in many respects schools have served to preserve inequality." "As an adult educator and as an anti-racism educator, having worked with black youth for over 20 years, I am utterly convinced that the public school system does not respond well to the needs of black learners. Education integration has not resulted in equitable outcomes. Black learners and parents continue to express feelings of alienation in their schools." (Thanks to Charlene for this.)

Democracy Now reports: "For nearly two decades a part of the city’s jails known as Area 2 was the epicenter for what has been described as the systematic torture of dozens of African-American males by Chicago police officers. " In total, more than 135 people say they were subjected to abuse including having guns forced into their mouths, bags places over their heads, and electric shocks inflicted to their genitals. " Four men have been released from death row after government investigators concluded torture led to their wrongful convictions. "Extraordinary rendition. Overseas prisons. Abu Ghraib. Guantanamo Bay. Practices and places that have become synonymous with the abuse of detainees in US custody are getting renewed attention at the United Nations this week, where the UN Committee Against Torture is holding hearings on U.S. compliance with its international obligations . But there is one name expected to arise this week that few people in this country will ...

Phenomenal. Should perhaps be called "Charlie Murphy's True Hollytrek Stories." Thanks to the always amazing DJ Mick Sleeper (and fellow Big-4 member and CJSR DJ ) for the link . While you're on the site, be sure to check out the other " Star Trek Cribs." For those of you who, like I do, live outside the US, MTV Cribs is a programme featuring (although without, in my limited experience, irony or critique) the grotesque, narcissistic opulence and mindless consumerism of American musical celebrities. Rome falls! (Although, as Philip K. Dick warned repeatedly in VALIS , " Rome never died ").

"We're talking about a rally urging a U.S./NATO intervention in Africa's largest country, legitimated by the UN strong-armed by a thuggish neocon -led administration in Washington. We're talking potentially about regime change in Africa's second-largest oil producer , in the context of planned U.S. strikes against Syria and Iran . "Should anyone in the antiwar movement with a minimal knowledge or recent history be comfortable with that, or suppose that it could be fully benign?"

"Captain America is about to battle his most fearsome foe yet: The government of the United States. "Today, Marvel Comics is releasing the first in its miniseries Civil War , which can only be described as a gutsy comic-book series focusing on the whole debate over homeland security and tighter government controls in the name of public safety. "The seven-issue series once again puts superheroes right back in the thick of real-world news, just as DC Comics has Batman battling al-Qaeda in a soon-to-appear comic and Marvel's X-Men continue to explore themes of public intolerance and discrimination. "It also recalls the plotline during the Watergate years when Captain America's alterego, disillusioned by White House politics, stopped donning the patriotic costume. "But with Civil War, hero is pitted against hero in the choice of whether or not to side with the government, as issues ranging from a Guantanamo-like prison camp for superheroes, embedded report...

Congressional Black Caucus (Washington, DC) PRESS RELEASE May 2, 2006 "After more than three years of suffering at the hands of the Government of Sudan and the Janjaweed, the people of Darfur are faced with a proposed peace agreement which falls short of the aim to end the violence and create a just and lasting peace in the region. " All Africa.com provides the following links: A Million Voices for Darfur Appeal Save Darfur Web Site List of U.S. and Canadian Sunday Rallies Chicago Darfur Coalition Bay Area Darfur Coalition Canadian Students for Darfur Vancouver Rally Thousands Expected at 'Save Darfur' Rallies [press release] Protect Darfur Campaign - United Kingdom Collectif Urgence Darfur - France Save Darfur Banner Campaign Washington Post: Groups Plan Rally on Mall To Protest Darfur Violence

"In The Far Enemy: Why Jihad Went Global , his latest book on al-Qaeda , Middle East analyst Fawaz Gerges says that by the mid-1990s, the jihadi movement was nearly a spent force, having been ruthlessly repressed by 'the near enemy' - Egypt, Syria, and Saudi Arabia. "To revive their flagging movement, al-Qaeda decided to take its fight to the West , 'the far enemy', but this caused a rift with other militant movements who feared US military power would ultimately destroy them."

The delightful Mur Lafferty , host of the popular podcast, Geek Fu Action Grip , was kind enough to ask me a few questions about my 2004 novel The Coyote Kings of the Space-Age Bachelor Pad , my thoughts on writing, and my advice to new writers. I like Mur. Her voice reminds me of that of Jodi Foster as Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs. You can find out conversation here.

Excelsior, faithful folks! (Or something suitably Stan Lee-ish). At long last, I can announce that my new book is coming out, in February , to be exact. It's a book within a book, a self-help book for superheroes. The novel is called FROM THE NOTEBOOKS OF DOCTOR BRAIN , and the book inside it is called Unmasked: When Being a Superhero Can't Save You from Yourself, by Doctor Brain . The image you see above won't be the actual cover, of course. I just like making fake covers. Here's my own take on back-cover copy, though: Meet the F*O*O*J, the World’s Greatest Heroes OMNIPOTENT MAN A body with the density of steel, and a brain to match THE FLYING SQUIRREL Aging playboy industrialist by day, avenging krypto-fascist by night IRON LASS Mythology’s greatest warrior, but the world might be safer if she had a husband X-MAN Formerly of the League of Angry Blackmen, but not formerly enough THE BROTHERFLY Radioactively fly POWER GRRRL Perpetually deciding between fighting crime o...

Regarding Darfur, some argue the word "genocide" may be standing in the way of peace... others have argued that its absence guaranteed war. Whether genocide or not, it's one of the greatest crimes of our times. Thanks, Br. Tav. Listen here. Unfortunately, as I just heard while listening to the sound file, Tavis's editorial is literally "brought to you by Wal-Mart." I kid you not. Hell's bells... look, I'm not comparing an international network of sweatshop gulags which exploit tens of thousands of poor factory workers and tens of thousands of underpaid, under-employed, under-benefitted, union-denied workers in order to siphon billions of dollars into the hands of a tiny number of corporate kingpins (breathe!)... I'm not comparing that to genocide. If I were forced to choose between ending: a) Wal-Mart's cruel and greedy global super-exploitation, OR b) mass-murder and destruction in Sudan, then I'd choose to end the latter. But the ...

I really appreciate the work that the excellent Br. Professor Michael Eric Dyson does in analysing complex issues around race, gender, sexuality and, to some extent, power. The Black Commentator carries the following intriguing response to Dyson's cordial discussions with John McWhorter of the Manhattan Institute , the folks who are bringing you Corey Booker and who brought you The Bell Curve . Br. Dyson, just because I'm posting this doesn't mean I don't love you. But it does sound as if you might need a better choice for a weekly recurring guest.

The Free Speech Zone kindly includes the following: " Robert Scheer: Now Powell Tells Us . On Monday, former Secretary of State Colin Powell told me that he and his department’s top experts never believed that Iraq posed an imminent nuclear threat , but that the president followed the misleading advice of Vice President Dick Cheney and the CIA in making the claim. Now he tells us."

Good ol' Colbert. Check out these video segments while you still can, recorded at the White House press corp dinner for Lil Caesar himself. Okay, You Tube has yanked it. So now check out the video at this swell place. Thanks to Dino who let me know about the switch.

I'm back--sorry for the long delay. Much is happening, and much has been happening--some personal, some professional, and almost everything good. I've never gone such a long time without posting to THE BRO-LOG, so there's much to catch up on. The picture, while not me, accurately depicts the luscious hair I once had (though less glistening).