Friday, March 31, 2017

Empire Files: Anti-Black Racism Reveals Israel’s White Supremacy




While the Israeli state espouses multiculturalism and diversity, it oppresses not just the Palestinian population, but also any Black person within its borders. 

From warehousing African asylum seekers in giant prison camps, to criminalizing and carrying out eugenics programs against its Ethiopian Jewish citizens, Israel’s treatment of Black people reveals that the Zionist project is not just about Jewish supremacy, but also white supremacy.

In this on-the-ground investigation, Abby Martin talks to Osman Ali, a refugee from Darfur, at Holot prison camp about the treatment of refugees by the government, and Tehune Maharat, an Ethiopian Jewish activist whose cousin was killed in an apparent hate crime by Israeli police, about the rampant and institutional racism in the country.

Tuesday, March 28, 2017

"ISLAMOPHOBIA" "Do you see it?"




'When Dylann Roof killed 9 innocent black people, we did not question his God' #WorldPoetryDay

Sunday, March 26, 2017

Baltimore mayor vetoes $15/hour minimum wage

Mayor Catherine Pugh speaks near City Hall in Baltimore May 2, 2015. (REUTERS/Sait Serkan Gurbuz/File photo)




Baltimore’s mayor said on Friday she would veto legislation that would nearly double the Maryland city’s minimum wage to $15 an hour in a setback for advocates of a “living wage” for restaurant workers and other low-wage earners.
The legislation raising the minimum wage from $8.75 an hour would have put the city at a competitive disadvantage with neighboring cities and suburban counties, Mayor Catherine Pugh said.
Raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour would have linked Baltimore, a port city that once had a vibrant steelmaking industry, to efforts across the United States to boost the standard of living of many low-wage service workers.
A fourth of the residents of Maryland’s biggest city live below the federal poverty level, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Maryland has already mandated a minimum wage increase to $9.25 an hour in July and to $10.10 in 2018.
Baltimore would become a “hole in the doughnut” if it required a $15-an-hour increase, the Democratic mayor said at a news conference.
The measure would boost pay for about 100,000 workers, or 27 percent of the city’s workforce, according to an estimate from the Economic Policy Institute, a nonpartisan Washington think tank.
The City Council voted 11-3 this week to approve the increase, with one supporter of the measure absent. Lawmakers need 12 votes to pass it over Pugh’s veto.
Even so, the legislation’s sponsor, Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke, said she was not confident that fellow lawmakers would be able to override the veto.
“To vote against a mayor’s wishes sometimes changes people’s minds, whatever the subject,” she said in a telephone interview.
The vetoed measure would raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2022 for businesses with 50 or more employees and by 2026 for businesses with fewer than 50 workers.
Elsewhere, New York and California are raising their statewide minimum wages to $15 an hour, along with such cities as Seattle, San Francisco and the District of Columbia.
Voters in Arizona, Colorado, Maine and Washington approved increases in minimum wages in November, but at rates below the $15 level. The federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour.
But in Montgomery County, Maryland, a Washington suburb, the county executive vetoed a $15-an-hour basic wage measure in January.

Saturday, March 25, 2017

Dj Scantastic (Dollar Van Scan)_Tablemannerz 3/24/2017



Playing new classics! Raekwon, Malik Rashad, Soulsciencelab, Friction, Planet Asia, Westside gunn

Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Trump's America: Two coal plants announce closures in Ohio, layoffs at Carrier factories in Indiana

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - DECEMBER 01:  President-elect Donald Trump speaks to workers at Carrier air conditioning and heating on December 1, 2016 in Indianapolis, Indiana.  (Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)

Remember when Donald Trump appeared in Indiana to announce he’d saved 1,100 jobs at that Carrier and United Technologies were planning to send to Mexico? A refresher from early December:
“But I will tell you that United Technologies and Carrier stepped it up and now they’re keeping — actually the number’s over 1,100 people, which is so great, which is so great …. I just noticed — I wrote down because I heard it — since about six years ago, 260 new federal regulations have passed, 53 of which affect this plant. Fifty-three new regulations. Massively expensive and probably none of them amount to anything in terms of safety or the things that you’d have regulations for.”
His fans cheered and chanted, hailing their king of bankruptcy for saving all those jobs. Except, as the Washington Post later mentioned, those numbers were—the jobs and the regulations— false. 
United Technologies confirmed Friday that the first wave of about 50 layoffs happened last week at its electronics plant that had about 700 workers in Huntington. The plant in the northeastern Indiana city is slated for closure.
Steps are also being taken toward about 550 job cuts anticipated at a Carrier Corp. factory in Indianapolis, where Trump's intervention last fall curbed job losses but didn't halt them altogether. Layoffs could start within a month at a 350-worker Rexnord industrial bearings factory in Indianapolis, according to United Steelworkers Local 1999 President Chuck Jones, who represents workers at the Carrier and Rexnord plants.
There is no snark here, only heartache for the Indiana families who are soon to be out of work entirely.
Meanwhile, over in Southern Ohio, where Donald Trump’s promise to bring back those coal jobs took a hit this week as not one, but two coal plant closures were announced:
Dayton Power & Light, a subsidiary of AES Corp. (AES), said in an emailed statement that it planned to close the J.M. Stuart and Killen plants by June 2018 because they would not be “economically viable beyond mid-2018.”
Coal demand has flagged in recent years due to competition from cheap and plentiful natural gas.
The plants along the Ohio River in Adams County employ some 490 people and generate about 3,000 megawatts of power from coal.
Those coal jobs aren’t coming back, despite the promises candidate Donald Trump made:
The plants sit at the heart of a region Trump vowed to revitalize with more jobs and greater economic security during his 2016 campaign. As part of his pledge to reinvigorate the area, Trump also said he would “bring back coal.”
Where are you now, Donald Trump? Can you spare a weekend away from your private golf course to ride in and save the day in Indiana and Ohio? 

Friday, March 17, 2017

Empire Files: Abby Martin Exposes Steve Bannon




Steve Bannon has been propelled over the last year from fringe media outlier to top propagandist of the U.S. Empire as Trump's Chief Strategist. 

From his Wall Street roots and apocalyptic film career to his cultivation of alt-right bigots at Breitbart News, Abby Martin exposes Bannon's true character in this explosive documentary.

Dissection of Bannon's ideology of "economic nationalism" and desire to "Make America Great Again" reveals the danger of his hand in Trump's agenda

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HelSaMSy8HY

Friday, March 10, 2017

Giant 3,000-year-old statue of Pharaoh Ramses II found buried in a Cairo slum is hailed as 'one of the most important discoveries ever'

  • Researchers from Egypt and Germany found the bust of the statue and the lower part of the head
  • They also found upper part of a life-sized limestone statue of Pharaoh Seti II, Ramses II's grandson
  • Discovery was made in the working class area of Matariya among unfinished buildings and mud roads
  • It shows the importance of the city of Heliopolis which was dedicated to worship of Ra - the sun god 


  • Archaeologists from Egypt and Germany have found a massive 26ft (8 metre) statue submerged in ground water in a Cairo slum.
    Researchers say it probably depicts revered Pharaoh Ramses II, who ruled Egypt more than 3,000 years ago.
    The discovery, hailed by the Antiquities Ministry as one of the most important ever, was made near the ruins of Ramses II's temple in the ancient city of Heliopolis, located in the eastern part of modern-day Cairo.


    Archaeologists from Egypt and Germany have found a massive 26ft (8 metre) statue submerged in ground water in a Cairo slum. Researchers say it probably depicts revered Pharaoh Ramses II, who ruled Egypt more than 3,000 years ago 

    Archaeologists from Egypt and Germany have found a massive 26ft (8 metre) statue submerged in ground water in a Cairo slum. Researchers say it probably depicts revered Pharaoh Ramses II, who ruled Egypt more than 3,000 years ago 

    'Last Tuesday they called me to announce the big discovery of a colossus of a king, most probably Ramses II, made out of quartzite,' Antiquities Minister Khaled al-Anani told Reuters on Thursday at the site of the statue's unveiling. 
    Ramses the Great was the most powerful and celebrated ruler of ancient Egypt. 
    Known by his successors as the 'Great Ancestor', he led several military expeditions and expanded the Egyptian Empire to stretch from Syria in the east to Nubia in the south.  
    He was the third pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt and ruled from 1279 to 1213 BCE. 
    'We found the bust of the statue and the lower part of the head and now we removed the head and we found the crown and the right ear and a fragment of the right eye,' Anani said.
    Yesterday, archaeologists, officials, local residents, and members of the news media looked on as a massive forklift pulled the statue's head out of the water
    The joint Egyptian-German expedition, which included the University of Leipzig, also found the upper part of a life-sized limestone statue of Pharaoh Seti II, Ramses II's grandson, which is 80 centimetres long.

    Link: 
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4297944/Colossus-probably-depicting-Ramses-II-Egypt.html#v-6913925944395153308

    Trump administration : Jeff Sessions dismisses 46 US attorneys

    The Department of Justice is shown on November 3, 2016 in Washington, DC. On Monday Attorney General Loretta Lynch met with FBI Director James Comey regarding the bureau's investigation of newly discovered messages related to Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server.

    The Department of Justice is shown on November 3, 2016 in Washington, DC.  On Monday Attorney General Loretta Lynch met with FBI Director James Comey regarding the bureau's investigation of newly discovered messages related to Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server.

    Attorney General Jeff Sessions has asked for the resignation of 46 US attorneys, the Justice Department announced Friday.
    "As was the case in prior transitions, many of the United States attorneys nominated by the previous administration already have left the Department of Justice. The attorney general has now asked the remaining 46 presidentially appointed US attorneys to tender their resignations in order to ensure a uniform transition," Justice Department spokesperson Sarah Isgur Flores said.
    "Until the new U.S. attorneys are confirmed, the dedicated career prosecutors in our U.S. attorney's offices will continue the great work of the department in investigating, prosecuting, and deterring the most violent offenders," Flores said.
      Administrations have the right to replace and nominate US attorneys. President Bill Clinton, for instance, dismissed dozens of US attorneys in his first year of office.
      A list of the US attorneys asked to resign was not immediately available.

      ObamaCare's Last Stand



      Ryan Grim (Twitter.com/RyanGrim) reports from Capitol Hill on the tortuous process to repeal and replace Obamacare. It's started off so bad for Congressional Republicans that President Trump is already floating a tactic that is tantamount to continuing as an opposition party even though they are in power (hoping Obamacare fails, but otherwise doing very little other than obstruction).


      Thursday, March 9, 2017

      How America’s 'first black middle class village' was destroyed to make way for Central Park

      Community of African American property owners was flattened to accommodate growing Manhattan population
      Seneca Village, New York, was an interracial community of African American homeowners and Irish and German immigrants that spanned from 82nd to 87th Streets created in 1825 (pictured). The community was destroyed to make way for Central Park in 1857
      Seneca Village, New York, was an interracial community of African American homeowners and Irish and German immigrants that spanned from 82nd to 87th Streets created in 1825 (pictured). The community was destroyed to make way for Central Park in 1857

    • Seneca Village was a predominantly African American village spanning 82nd to 87th Streets along what is now the western edge of Central Park
    • Created in 1825, the village was flattened and people were forced to move to make way for the creation of Central Park in 1857
    • By the 1850s Black people in Seneca Village were 39 times more likely to own property than their counterparts throughout the city 
    • About 30 percent of the population were Irish and German immigrants who lived harmoniously with their Black neighbors
    • The community was said to have had connections to the Underground Railroad with abolitionist Albro Lyons owning property and living in the village
    • An excavation of the site  in Central Park was conducted in 2011 by the Seneca Village Project and the group hopes to find descendants of settlement 


    • Andrew Williams owned three blocks of land with a home valued at $4,000 ($113,000 in today's money) between 85th and 86th streets Seventh and Eighth Avenues.
      An African American man, he lived in what would be the Upper West Side of Manhattan for more than 30 years but now - in 1855 – he was being forced to move. 
      The Government had enacted eminent domain to take his land and after supposedly offering him $3,500 ($99,000), Williams was now being forced to take $2,335 ($66,600) and leave immediately.
      Williams, along with close to 300 people were forced off their property by New York so that the city could embark on one of its most recognizable attractions – the creation of Central Park.
      Seneca Village, New York, was an interracial community of property owning African Americans and Irish and German immigrants that spanned from 82nd to 87th Streets along what is now known as the western edge of Central Park and a few blocks above the American Natural History Museum. 


      Map showing where Seneca Village would be today in Central Park between 82nd and 87th Street


      ‘Most people don’t associate African Americans and New York City before the 20th century and before the Great Migration,’ said Diana Wall, a member of the Seneca Village Project and Professor Emeritus of City College of New York that has been excavating the site in Central Park since 2011.
      ‘We tend to think of African Americans as poor but they were middle class and education of their children was very important. A lot of them owned their own homes.
      ‘We think of them on plantations in the South. Up here they were living a different kind of life in New York City.’
      And the Seneca Village Project has since been looking for the descendants of the 264 residents of the community, unable to pinpoint what exactly happened to these families after they were forced to move.  

      Created in 1825 when Williams first purchased his property, Seneca Village became a safe haven for Black property owners who sought to not be limited to the slums of the Five Points in Lower Manhattan where poorer African Americans lived.
      Speculation surrounds the origins of the name with some citing Senegal as being the place where many Africans came from at the time. The small town was also commonly referred to as Yorkville but was predominantly known as Seneca Village.
      By 1855, the New York State Census reported approximately 264 men, women and children living in the village that consisted of three churches, several cemeteries, a school, homes and stores.  
      But in two years all of this would be destroyed to make way for Central Park.

      In 1855 the New York City government authorized the taking of land between 59th and 106th Streets between Fifth and Eighth Avenues after wealthy elite pressed for a public space similar to the lavish parks in Europe

      In 1855 the New York City government authorized the taking of land between 59th and 106th Streets between Fifth and Eighth Avenues after wealthy elite pressed for a public space similar to the lavish parks in Europe

      As early as 1849, notable New York elite began discussing the idea of creating a massive urban park that would resemble those popular throughout Europe.
      As time passed supporters of a new park included State Senator James William Beekman, editor of the New York Evening Post William Cullen Bryant, writer and landscape gardener Andrew Jackson Downing, merchant Robert Minturn, and Mayor Fernando Wood.
      Battery Park, Jones’s Wood and what would eventually become upper Manhattan were selected as tentative locations for Central with the first seeming as the most feasible because a majority of New Yorkers lived downtown.
      In 1853, a plan to add 300 feet of landfill was approved but as more people began moving further north, the Battery Park location became less desirable.
      The city government authorized the taking of land between 59th and 106th Streets between Fifth and Eighth Avenues in 1855 to adjust to the new demand.
      Many settlements had to be uprooted to make way for Central Park including Harsenville (though part remained intact), the Piggery District and the Convent of the Sisters of Charity. These areas were home to Dutch, Irish and farming villages
      Nearly 7,500 lots of land home to roughly 1,600 people were displaced to make way for the grand park.
      Land was flooded for the Central Park Lake and soil was brought in to cover the land and all the agriculture that had existed on it.
      The entirety of Seneca Village was destroyed and lost as families were forced to move to Queens, Brooklyn, other parts of the state and New Jersey. 
      Wall said: ‘It was political because people who owned land near the park knew that their land values would go up if the park was there.’ 
      'What’s sad is that they had been a community': Seneca Village was a growing settlement where most children went to school and there were three churches including one with German and African American members
      In 1824, a white couple John and Elizabeth Whitehead bought and subdivided land in what is now Manhattan’s Upper West Side.
      A year later on September 27, Andrew Williams purchased three lots of their land for $125 ($3,090).
      He was joined by trustees for the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church who bought six lots of land near 86th Street designated for a ‘colored’ cemetery. Epiphany Davis, a Black store clerk and trustee of the church, paid $578 for 12 lots.

      Seneca Village's Black population grew in the 1830s when neighboring African Americans from York Hill moved to the community as their own town was torn down to make room for the Croton Reservoir. Located on 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue it served as a storage unit for the Croton Aqueduct

      Seneca Village's Black population grew in the 1830s when neighboring African Americans from York Hill moved to the community as their own town was torn down to make room for the Croton Reservoir. Located on 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue it served as a storage unit for the Croton Aqueduct

      By the end of the 1820s there were nine houses in Seneca Village. This number would continue to grow throughout the 1830s as African Americans from neighboring York Hill moved to the area.
      They were displaced to make room for the Croton Reservoir on 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue - a storage unit for the water gathered by the Croton Aqueduct - after William Mathews sold his land to the government for the project. 
      Providing fresh water to the city, the reservoir was eventually torn down in the 1890s.
      Following the potato famine of the 1840s and 50s, many Irish immigrants made their way to New York City in hope of escaping the perils of starvation and death.
      They settled in Seneca Village eventually comprising most of the 30 percent of white people that made of the entire settlement population.
      Both George Washington Plunkitt and Richard Croker, Irish politicians associated with the infamous Tammany Hall political regime, were said to be from Seneca Village.
      The Irish were joined by a small group of Germans and the two harmoniously integrated into Seneca Village society.

      264 men, women and children were recorded to live in Seneca Village in the 1855 census. They were comprised of mostly African Americans but also included Irish and German immigrants

      264 men, women and children were recorded to live in Seneca Village in the 1855 census. They were comprised of mostly African Americans but also included Irish and German immigrants
      The groups cohabited harmoniously, attending integrated churches and marrying within each other's communities

      The groups cohabited harmoniously, attending integrated churches and marrying within each other's communities
      Housing conditions had been terrible for African Americans and immigrant groups in Lower Manhattan with the tight and often overly dense slums causing widespread disease and infestation.
      Slavery in New York officially ended on July 4, 1827 and with that came new waves of citizenship and the desire to vote.
      But the only way to register was to own $250 (roughly $6,180) in property and for approximately 12,000 African Americans, this proved to be a difficult feat as employment discrimination and racism left many confined to poor working jobs.
      Living expenses were also discriminatory high and resulted in many people having to rent so they could have a home. But housing up north was considerably cheaper since most of the land was rural and undisturbed.
      And by the 1850s Black people in Seneca Village were 39 times more likely to own property than their counterparts throughout the city.
      With approximately 12,000 African Americans living in New York by 1855 and only 100 being able to vote, Seneca Valley had a tenth of eligible voters living in its community.

      The only way to register to vote at this time was to own $250 (roughly $6,180) in property and land which was difficult due to employment discriminationApproximately 12,000 African Americans living in New York by 1855 and only 100 being able to vote, Seneca Valley had a tenth of eligible voters living in its community

      Layout drawings of Seneca Village show the location of some of the properties. By the 1850s, Black people in Seneca Village were 39 times more likely to own property than their counterparts throughout the city
      African Americans and Irish and German immigrants lived on these lots harmoniously and even attended church together at All Angels

      African Americans and Irish and German immigrants lived on these lots harmoniously and even attended church together at All Angels
      The cohabitation of the African American, Irish and German communities extended beyond the social as citizens of Seneca Village were receptive to the taboo of interracial intimacy.
      In 1949, after four women donated the land, the All Angels’ Church opened. About a third of its members were German while the rest were African American.
      Wall who has excavated the site since 2011 said: ‘What’s sad is that they had been a community and you can see that in the church records at All Angel’s church where people were god parents of each other’s children.’

      The wooden structure to the far right (circled) is believed to be a part of the original All Angels' Church from Seneca Village. The Church was forced to move to 11th Avenue between 80th and 81st Streets with the building of Central Park and the brick addition was added in 1859. All Angels' Church was the integrated church of predominantly Black and German members

      The wooden structure to the far right (circled) is believed to be a part of the original All Angels' Church from Seneca Village. The Church was forced to move to 11th Avenue between 80th and 81st Streets with the building of Central Park and the brick addition was added in 1859. All Angels' Church was the integrated church of predominantly Black and German members

      In the transcripts for All Angels’ Church Records of 1849-50 Egbert Stairs is said to have ‘colored’ but married Catherine Cochran, a white woman. The couple had a still born child who died on November 18, 1949.
      Margaret Geery, a white woman, served as the midwife for both African American and white families in the area.
      And the everyday life of Seneca Village, with its remoteness, was fairly different from the bustling New York City that was mostly in what is today’s Greenwich Village.
      ‘They kept goats. We found a lot of sheep and goat remains among the farming stuff,’ said Wall.
      ‘They were using more bowls compared to plates than the Euro-American families that were living in Greenwich Village at the time.
      ‘Does that mean their cuisine was different? Traditional African cuisines involve people eating from small bowls which had some starch with rice or cassava and enhanced with protein or vegetables.’

      The Seneca Village Project began excavating the Central Park location in 2011 where they found bowls amongst other household items. Diana Wall of the Project said: ‘Does that mean their cuisine was different? Traditional African cuisines involve people eating from small bowls which had some starch with rice or cassava and enhanced with protein or vegetables’

      The Seneca Village Project began excavating the Central Park location in 2011 where they found bowls amongst other household items. Diana Wall of the Project said: ‘Does that mean their cuisine was different? Traditional African cuisines involve people eating from small bowls which had some starch with rice or cassava and enhanced with protein or vegetables’

      The people of Seneca Village lived in homes ranging to one to three stories and were spread out which was in stark contrast to the crowded homes of poorer black people in the city.
      The three churches also provide an in depth view of the type of people that lived in the settlement.
      The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church was established by Reverend Richard Allen in 1801 and was the most prominent African church in the country.
      The First African Methodist Episcopal Church Branch Militant opened its doors in Seneca Village on August 4, 1853. A box put into a cornerstone contained a Bible, hymn book, the church’s rules, a letter with the names of its five trustees and copies of newspapers The Tribune and The Sun.
      The church buried African Americans in Seneca Village until 1852 when a law prohibiting burials south of 86th Street was enacted. They had had at least two burials between 85th and 86th but were forced to bury their loved ones in the Cypress Hills Cemetery in Brooklyn the following years.
      The African Union Methodist Church opened in 1837 when William Mathews a deacon purchased land on 85th street. Colored School #2 was located in the church’s basement with Wall and her cohorts finding that a majority of the children of Seneca Village pursued education.
      Something that is speculated about the Seneca Village is that it had ties with the Underground Railroad.
      In fact, researchers looked to the name of the city to help discern this as Lucius Anneaus Seneca was a Roman philosopher and statesmen whose book Seneca’s Moral was read carefully by many African American activists in abolition.

      Seneca Village has been speculated for having ties to the Underground Railroad. Abolitionist Albro Lyons owned land and lived in the community with his wife and children

      Seneca Village has been speculated for having ties to the Underground Railroad. Abolitionist Albro Lyons owned land and lived in the community with his wife and children

      Prominent Underground Railroad abolitionist Albro Lyons owned land lived in Seneca Village so the possibly of a potential connection is further solidified.
      Wall said: ‘Particularly after the Fugitive Slave Law was passed in 1850 a lot of people were being grabbed on the street and being sent down South into slavery because they weren’t allowed to testify against themselves.
      ‘So a place up North like Seneca Village away from the city is very attractive for the Underground Railroad.’
      And if Seneca Village was actually a destination for slaves to escape to freedom, then the Irish who lived there were also complicit in making sure they stayed safe.
      When New York City decided to move the park to the Seneca Village and surrounding area, they gave the residents of the settlement two years to pack up their things and leave.
      The government also offered to buy the properties but often for much lower prices for what the land was actually valued for.
      Andrew William filed an Affidavit of Petition to the Commissioners of Central Park in the State Supreme Court of New York where he detailed his annoyance with the low valuations the city placed on his property.
      In the petition he details how the Commissioners wanted to give him only $2335 even though Williams had declared that the lots he owned and his house were actually valued at $4000.
      And while Williams was eventually able to secure funds closer to his property’s value, many like Epiphany Davis saw their whole lives destroyed for not much money reconciliation.
      It is uncertain, however, whether everyone in the village was compensated for their losses.  

      The government used eminent domain to confiscate property but would offer lower property value prices to residents of Seneca Village so that they would leave. Andrew William filed an Affidavit of Petition to the Commissioners of Central Park in the State Supreme Court of New York where he detailed his annoyance with the low valuations the city placed on his property at $2333 when he listed it at being $4000

      The government used eminent domain to confiscate property but would offer lower property value prices to residents of Seneca Village so that they would leave. Andrew William filed an Affidavit of Petition to the Commissioners of Central Park in the State Supreme Court of New York where he detailed his annoyance with the low valuations the city placed on his property at $2333 when he listed it at being $4000

      After it was obliterated in 1857 the story of Seneca Village was lost for more than a century. It wouldn’t be until 1992 when Roy Rosenzweig and Elizabeth Blackmar published their book The Park and the People: A History of Central Park that the old town was brought to the public gaze.
      In the late 1990s the New York Historical Society launched Before Central Park: the Life and Death of Seneca Village which was an exhibit curated by Cynthia Copeland and Grady Turner.
      Wall, along with professors Nan Rothschild from Columbia University and Copeland, started the Seneca Village Project in 1998 working towards the ‘study of the village in an educational context and its commemoration.’
      The Seneca Village Project began excavating the location in Central Park where the community existed in 2011.

      The memory of the community had been lost for more than 100 years until Roy Rosenzweig and Elizabeth Blackmar came out with their book The Park and the People: A History of Central Park. In 2011, the Seneca Village Project conducted studies of historical maps, soils, and ground penetrating radar which allowed for the pinpointing of locations where artifacts could be found 

      The memory of the community had been lost for more than 100 years until Roy Rosenzweig and Elizabeth Blackmar came out with their book The Park and the People: A History of Central Park. In 2011, the Seneca Village Project conducted studies of historical maps, soils, and ground penetrating radar which allowed for the pinpointing of locations where artifacts could be found 
      Nan Rothschild, a member of the project, said: ‘The thing we are diappointed in is that we haven’t found any descendants of the community. We hoped that with a population of almost 300 people that there would be people who had as part of their family history'
      Nan Rothschild, a member of the project, said: ‘The thing we are diappointed in is that we haven’t found any descendants of the community. We hoped that with a population of almost 300 people that there would be people who had as part of their family history'
      They conducted studies of historical maps, soils, and ground penetrating radar which allowed for the pinpointing of locations where artifacts could be found.
      With the excavations the Seneca Village Project was able to find the foundation walls and cellar deposits of the home of church porter William Godfrey Wilson, his wife Charlotte, and their eight children. Included in the find were a child's shoe, a roasting pan, and a tea kettle.
      The collective was also able to pinpoint deposits from behind two houses that were buried in the ground and located in another part of the village.

      Foundation walls and cellar deposits of the home of church porter William Godfrey Wilson, his wife Charlotte, and their eight children were found

      Foundation walls and cellar deposits of the home of church porter William Godfrey Wilson, his wife Charlotte, and their eight children were found
      Included in the find were a child's shoe (pictured), a roasting pan, and a tea kettle

      Included in the find were a child's shoe (pictured), a roasting pan, and a tea kettle
      And while the group’s focus is to try to gauge what lives the people of Seneca Village lived, they’ve already began pinpointing their next goals.
      ‘The thing we are disappointed in is that we haven’t found any descendants of the community,’ said Rothschild. 
      ‘We hoped that with a population of almost 300 people that there would be people who had as part of their family history.
      ‘But we are trying to get knowledge of the Seneca Village into the New York City school curriculum and other school curriculum because people don’t know about middle class African Americans. 

      Monday, March 6, 2017

      Drug Boss Escobar Worked for the CIA



      The notorious cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar worked closely with the CIA, according to his son. In this episode of The Geopolitical Report, we look at the long history of CIA involvement in the international narcotics trade, beginning with its collaboration with the French Mafia to using drug money to illegally fund the Contras and overthrow the Sandinista government in Nicaragua. We also look at how drug profits are used to float Wall Street and the role big banks play in laundering huge amounts of illicit drug profits.

      Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bUN9azbYX8

      Privileged White GOP Block Minimum Wage Hike For Alabama Blacks



      TYT's Jordan Chariton (twitter.com/JordanChariton) and Eric Byler (twitter.com/EricByler) report live from Selma, Alabama as voting rights and civil rights advocates commemorate the 52nd anniversary of the most infamous act of police brutality in American history.

      On Sunday March 5, 2017, thousands will reenact the courageous bridge crossing, led by Civil Rights legend Congressman John Lewis. On March 7, 1965, the Alabama government had ordered law enforcement and deputized white civilians to prevent African Americans and their allies from marching from Selma to Montgomery to demand the right to vote. News footage of the resulting acts of political violence shocked the nation and led to the passage of be 1965 Voting Rights Act five months later. The VRA protected the right to vote for minorities in America until the Shelby v. Holder Supreme Court decision of 2013, the most decisive blow in the conservative backlash against voting rights until the swearing in of Selma-born arch-conservative Jeff Sessions as U.S. Attorney General three weeks ago.

      Saturday, March 4, 2017

      South Africa's President Zuma 'risks race war' as he demands land owned by white 'occupiers' can be taken without compensation

      South African president Jacob Zuma has called on lawmakers to help seize white-owned land without compensation - to establish 'pre-colonial' patterns.
      But he has been warned that the measure would trigger a racial war in a country historically blighted by racial tensions.  
      Speaking to parliament, he called for unity between black parties. The controversial move would require a change to the constitution.

      South African President Jacob Zuma has called for the country's constitution to be changed to allow land seizures without compensation

      Zuma's comments echo those of his rival Julius Malema, who said earlier this week: 'So, we are saying black people, all of us must unite so that we can change the constitution so that we can expropriate land without compensation. 
      'There is no white man that will understand it.' 
      Zuma told the Council of Traditional Leaders: 'The black parties should unite on this issue. We cannot fight about nothing.'
      Despite his ANC party having voted down a motion by the opposition EFF, headed by Malema, calling for land expropriation without compensation, Zuma spoke about his great-grandfathers, whose land had been confiscated.
      He said: 'It is now time for action. The time for talking, writing and analysis is over.'

      Zuma's comments echo those of his rival Julius Malema (centre), who said earlier this week: 'So, we are saying black people, all of us must unite so that we can change the constitution so that we can expropriate land without compensation'

      The president has revealed that an audit of 'pre-colonial land ownership', and said: 'Once the audit is completed, one law should be written so that we can handle land restitution without compensation. The necessary constitutional changes will be made. The black parties should unite on this issue.'
      His populist remarks follow a campaign by Malema, who has called on black South Africans to reclaim land taken by 'Dutch thugs'. 
      A racial breakdown of land ownership is not available in South Africa, but there is a widespread belief that it largely favours the country's white population. 
      Following Zuma's comments, The Telegraph reports, Andries Breytenbach, who heads the Boer Afrikaner Volksraad, described it as 'a declaration of war'.
      He stated: 'We are ready to fight back. We need urgent mediation between us and the government. If this starts, it will turn into a racial war which we want to prevent.'



      Link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4281088/Zuma-wants-land-owned-white-occupiers-taken.html

      Wednesday, March 1, 2017

      229 Republicans Vote to Hide Trump's Tax Returns



      The US House of Representatives passes a bill 229-186 on party lines to uphold the decision made by Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) to conceal Donald Trump's tax returns




      House Republicans voted en masse to block a resolution that would have forced Trump to turn his tax returns over to Congress on Monday night.
      The measure was introduced by Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ), a member of the House Ways and Means Committee. Under a 1924 law, the Ways and Means Committee is empowered to examine tax returns. The committee could then decide to release them to the full Congress, effectively making them public.
      Trump has broken with decades of precedent and refused to release his tax returns, citing an ongoing audit.
      Pascrell first brought his request to the Chairman of the Way and Mean Committee, Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX). Brady rejected the request, citing concern for Trump’s “civil liberties.”
      Pascrell was able to bring the issue to a full vote on the floor through a vehicle known as a “privileged resolution.”