we came before columbus.

"it is in contradiction to the most elementary logic and to all artistic experience that an indian could depict in a mastery way the head of an [Afrikan] without missing a single racial characteristic, unless he had actually seen such a person. the types of people depicted must have lived in america... the [Afrikan] element is well proven by large olmec stone monuments as well as the terracotta items and therefore cannot be excluded from the pre-columbian history of the americas.

--alexander von wuthenau, the art of terracotta pottery in pre-columbian south and central america

*excerpted from "they came before columbus" by ivan van sertima, pg.21

contact with police: be careful

"if you've been stopped in a relatively calm environment, try to keep it that way. tell him your name and address (even though you are not required to) and perhaps a general description of what you are doing but do your best to say nothing more. same goes for the pat-down.

this is pretty difficult. after all, if the nice man in blue asks you what you do for a living, why not not tell him? if you've said you're on your way to your friend's house, why not give the address?

the answer is that you will incriminate yourself. whether it seems likely or not, this is the first phase of an investigation and the cop, by asking you questions, is interrogating you. he or she is listening carefully to everything you say and you aren't going to outwit them. cops have been trained for this and have got lots of practice, so don't expose yourself."

*excerpted from "you are going to prison" by jim hogshire, pg.10

modern-day physical enslavement.

"in developing countries, we see the abduction and auction of child slave laborers, families trapped in debt-bondage toiling in fields, phony 'adoptions' of poor children, false promises of good jobs used to lure and enslave domestic labor across borders, and even the use of the enslaved as sources of organs to be sold in a burgeoning [gray] market. yet many people vulnerable to these dangers continue to avert their eyes, if only because the need to survive leads to denial. after all, how could slavery exist in the same world with modern police and the united nations?"

*excerpted from "enslaved" by jesse sage & liora kasten, pg.x

slaughterhouse - a disassembly line

"ideally, the animal will be moved calmly and without stress into the handling facility, which funnels the animals down to single file, where they are restrained in a stanchion. the employee called a knocker renders the animal unconscious. the catcher attaches a shackle to one of the animal's rear legs, and the animal is hoisted up and begins moving along a conveyor line. the sticker slices through the carotid artery, and the animal bleeds out and dies. skinners remove the hide, the head, and the intestines. the animal is cut in two lengthwise (here's where the term 'side of beef' came from), then cut up and packaged for shipment.

what goes wrong? not every animal is successfully stunned, which means an animal may end up hanging by its back leg, terrified and kicking. the sticker's job suddenly becomes very dangerous, and he may not do it successfully, so the animal continues, dazed but alive, farther down the line. you get the picture."

*excerpted from "the compassionate carnivore" by catherine friend, pg.150-151

from pre-school to prison

*contributed by http://www.myspace.com/2black4mtv and http://www.youtube.com/uhurutv

illegal immigration

"...debate on the subject is too often framed in ethnic or cultural terms. at heart it is an economic question. huge disparities of wealth have long existed between developed and developing nations. the huge migrations of the past two decades have been fueled in large part not by a shift in the inequality between nations, but by the ability of employers to make use of [grey] market labor. in many respects illegal immigration is a symptom of market failure. companies that are willing to break the law gain a competitive advantage over those that employ legal residents, that pay good wages and fully pay their taxes. dipping into the underground rewards employers who cheat."

*excerpted from "reefer madness" by eric schlosser, pg.217

cigarettes kill.

"tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable deaths in the united states, responsible for an estimated 444,000 deaths every year."

*excerpted from "reefer madness" by eric schlosser, pg.50