The foreword was written by Bruce George, co-creator of HBO’S Def Poetry Jam. Contributors for Don’t Shoot the Hostages, hand selected for their in your face approach, include Carlos Andres Gomez (winner of the 2004 Red Bull Word Clash, recipient of the Best Spoken Word CD Award for 2006 and actor whose roles include a starring role in the film Inside Man), J DEE (member of the militant west coast rap group, Da Lynch Mob), Nancy Winters (prison rights activist, advocate and friend of Mumia Abu Jamal), the Mad Rabbi (member of the prolific rap group, Pens and Needles) and Abstract Rude (former member of the legendary Hip Hop groups, Freestyle Fellowship and Abstract Tribe Unique).

What Don’t Shoot the Hostages offers the reader is the opportunity to live out the following scenario:

Imagine walking into a heavily populated section of any major city and having the ability to read the minds of everyone you passed. You would quickly realize the masses are starving, doing dope to cope, and as a result, severely failing in personal and social relationships. Don’t Shoot the Hostages reminds the reader that the main problem poor, working class people face, are themselves. From beginning to end, Don’t Shoot the Hostages is an unflinching look into the minds of society's forgotten. The poetry, social commentary and contributions in this book are radical, angry, and at times, terrifying.



(Preface)

First and foremost this book was born out of a great understanding felt by many, but not vocalized enough: It’s okay to be a poet.

When I came up with the idea to share a poem and have other poets contribute to it by way of posting on Facebook, I never thought it would garner such attention. The idea behind this book came on March 4^th of this year, when I shared a poem titled “Rebel Poetry” during a radio interview with Jill Dellbridge on The Artist Lounge (hosted on Talk Shoe). I knew prior to the interview that Ms. Dellbridge would ask me to recite one or two poems. So earlier in the day as I was looking for pieces to read, it hit me that I should try and connect with the audience in a much more personal way.

A great artist is one who constantly tries to keep their performance fresh. I realized not long ago that throughout my career I have followed the same template when it comes to doing radio interviews: introduce myself, answer twenty to forty minutes of questions, then end by reading a couple of poems. I feel I have always excited the listening audience but constantly felt as soon as the interview was over the poems and energy were forgotten. I wanted this time to be different. 

I say this because every time I sit down to write a new poem, I can’t help but think of all the great poets who will never have their work read or heard due to the business that surrounds poetry and publishing. As far as human conditioning goes, nothing positive can be said for how we treat each other’s dreams and ambitions. Take the phrase, "It’s not what you know, but who you know.” This razor sharp saying has become a popular rule of broken thumb. Web sites will tell you it’s mostly used in business and government. The origin is unclear but due to human ego it has sadly withstood the test of time, proof that we have failed the test.

Some may point out that those starving in the killing fields of poetry, music, and art best realize this. I have to agree. To an artist it is the ultimate break it or make it reality. Shame on us. How can we continue to call ourselves civilized or approach the arts with integrity when it’s blatantly known it’s not about the talent you possess, but how many favors are given or owed? And most importantly, how many connects/friends will vouch for your on-line stats at the deal table.

This is why so many poets awake hung over, pissed off and miserable. Not because they want to, but because they have no say in the day that lies ahead. Point being, you shouldn’t feel like you're dying every time you arrive at your place of employment. But I do. I’m not exaggerating either. I literally feel poisoned to the extreme of blacking out. It’s gotten to the point where I don’t know if I’m punching the clock, or if it’s punching me.

I know a lot of you are thinking, “You fucking ingrate. There are orphans in Malawi selling grilled mice on skewers to motorists. You should be content you even have a job.” Exactly. And like the kids in Malawi, I believe eighty-five percent of the population are misplaced, subjecting themselves to the wrong route, task or trade, and hating their fucking existence every day, as I do mine.

Don’t kid yourself; this is what happens when you can’t be what you are. Repeat that if you have to. Now imagine how productive we as a planet could be if everyone believed they had a place--that they did count. Not as a barcode, but as a needed contributor to the human collective with your talent being your worth. That alone would motivate people to levels of humanity unseen by our divided lie-balls.

I’m a poet, not a plumber. I need to work with words, not septic tanks. Ask yourself: would you want your garbage man pulling your wisdom teeth? I want my creativity back. If I feel the urge to write at four thirty in the morning, I should be able to. But it’s impossible when the alarm clock is holding you at knife point, it’s beady red eyes reminding you every second that your time is not your own. I don’t know about you, but when I hear the sound of an out of control alarm clock at six in the morning, I want to shoot my self. Why? Because I know it’s the sound of defeat.

This is why my poem for The Artist Lounge had to be different. I wanted my poem to let people know my story is theirs, and not to give up on their dreams and ambitions no matter how hard it becomes. To know there are others with the same fire who are not scared of saying what needs to be said. But at the same time, I wanted my piece to ask the hard questions: What is your poetry saying? What impact is it having on you and the community?

Then it clicked--start a poem and let the listening audience finish it. But keep the theme “I want my poetry to…” as the running thread to weave all the contributors words into one long poetic call for solidarity. I want everyone who contributed to realize that we, along with Inner Child Press are creating “our story” not his-tory… salute!

Now, what do you want your poetry to say?

Street Poet Monte Smith

Babylon

3/13/12

Please visit http://www.innerchildpress.com/ and order your copy today!

A serial killer is a person who kills multiple people within a period of time----their motivation is often predicated on some sort of psychological gratification. And mass murderers usually murder multiple victims in the same place at the same time. This is often done by an individual, or more. These two profiles fit America and her various organs, almost perfectly. Since the inception of this white settler state (America), it has worked hard to perfect its serial killing ways, especially when murdering people of color. Whether systematically instituting genocide on the Indigenous people of Turtle Island (North America) or killing tens of millions (conservatively) of enslaved Africans – it made no difference to the European barbarians that initiated the bloodbath. And in 2012 it makes no difference whether it is a 17 year old black boy from Florida, named Trayvon Martin, who was murdered in cold blood by a neighborhood “watchman”, or 16 Afghan civilians mass slaughtered by a member (and his accomplices) of the US military – America consumes lives with a voracious appetite. America has a particular taste for non-white lives. This country devours people of color.

America has never allowed its artificially manufactured (and stolen) borders to prevent it from initiating killing sprees. A simple look at the mass carnage caused by US military campaigns of aggression, the world over, will irrefutably highlight that fact. And when America kills its victims (men, women and children), it, like most serial killers, shows little or no remorse. It is adept at justifying its crimes against humanity. However, the US rarely sees its inhumane and violent actions as crimes of any sort. America has sociopathic tendencies riddled throughout its institutionally racist society. If America had even one iota of remorse for the countless lives it has taken (most being people of color), it would have stopped its murderous ways a long time ago. Libya, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq are merely recent examples of America’s reckless, yet calculated, killing sprees. The US government is built to uphold imperialism, among an amalgam of nefarious characteristics – this country's military is a most powerful tool at its disposal.

“This country devours people of color.

The civilians they murder are deemed “collateral damage”. Over 90 percent of persons killed in US military “engagements” since Vietnam are, in fact, civilians. Those totals, in the case of Iraq, hover right around one million killed. Americans, by and large, are completely desensitized to what should be seen as a massive, one sided, blood bath. Americans, however, are easily programmed and will virtually fall for whatever propaganda is thrown their way. Most Americans are not able to see beyond the coordinated program of indoctrination they have received since childhood. They have been trained not to critically think; therefore they accept almost whatever messages that are methodically presented to them.

In March 2012 Americans, like the rest of the world, were fed a heaping helping of bullshit, otherwise known as Kony 2012. Besides they fact that Kony 2012 is a well-produced psychological operation aimed at reinforcing US military operations throughout Central and Eastern Africa, it is blatantly hypocritical. If most Americans were not so indoctrinated with “American Exceptionalism,” they would understand a few basic things regarding their own mass murdering government. The US government and its military have taken far more lives of children of color than Lord’s Resistance Army “leader”, Joseph Kony, could ever dream of.

Through deadly sanctions on countries like Zimbabwe and Iraq, the US has ripped the life away from innumerable children. Through military engagements of imperialism and brutal aggression, America has slaughtered innocent civilians in places like Panama, Iraq, Cambodia, Afghanistan, and Libya – to name a few. Where are the white liberal reactionaries, like Invisible Children, when it comes to speaking out against the destruction of children from these countries? Where is the 30-minute, Hollywood production styled video detailing the role America has played in committing crimes against humanity and why it should be brought to justice? Where are their tears of sorrow and anger demanding that the selective International Criminal Court bring US government officials, from multiple presidential administrations (including the Obama administration), to the Hague?

“Over 90 percent of persons killed in US military “engagements” since Vietnam are, in fact, civilians.”

Invisible Children and organizations of their ilk are frauds and supporters of US military campaigns of murder. That is why these con-artists will say nothing about the mass murder of 16 Afghan civilians (including 9 children) carried out by Staff Sgt. Robert Bale (and his accomplices). Staff Sargent Robert Bale was trained by the most fierce and effective killing machine known to man---the US military. Actions like his were routinely carried out by US soldiers during the Vietnam War. The precedent has been established that if you are US military personnel and you do something like that, you will most likely get away with it, just as American police officers regularly get away with killing unarmed black and brown people. Even though the thuggish so-called “neighborhood watchman” that killed our young brother Trayvon Martin in cold blood was not a real police officer, his actions were not unlike that of many American police. The institutionally racist and lethal US system of policing facilitates a culture that allows cops to kill unarmed men of color. The excessively flawed and corrupt judicial system, then allows these police officers to get away with it. The American prison industrial complex feasts on black and brown people, yet detests the taste of racist corrupt cops.

George Zimmerman’s actions in killing Trayvon Martin were similar to the actions of the police officer that, in 2010, murdered Aiyana Stanley Jones, a seven year old African/black girl, in Detroit. His actions were also not unlike that of murderous police who killed the likes of Sean Bell, Timothy Stansbury, and Oscar Grant, to name a few of the countless African/black people that have been murdered within the US, by its state sponsored “law enforcement”.

Those who are surprised by the recent murder of our young brother Trayvon Martin are either delusional or disingenuous, including US president Barack Obama. When president Obama recently said, “I think all of us have to do some soul searching to figure out how does something like this happen,” he knows very well how something like the coldblooded murder of an Africa/black boy happens. It happens in America all the damn time! How quickly Obama supporters forget that it was he who refused to send a US delegation to a United Nations Conference on Racism (Durban Review Conference). Perhaps president Obama believes institutional racism had nothing to do with the death of our brother Trayvon Martin and the non-arrest of the thug (George Zimmerman) that killed him. If president Obama believes that, he is as delusional as many of his supporters who cling to the myth that he actually gives a damn about the black community.

“The institutionally racist and lethal US system of policing facilitates a culture that allows cops to kill unarmed men of color.”

It was candidate Obama in the summer of 2008 that justified the wrongful verdict that allowed the police officers who murdered Sean Bell, to be fully acquitted. Obama said, “The judge has made his ruling, and we’re a nation of laws, so we respect the verdict that came down.” He made these comments as rightfully infuriated black people were peacefully protesting the unjust verdict. He made these comments as if he had the authority to speak on behalf of African/black people. Obama was concerned with his presidential campaign and making sure he did not make white liberals too uncomfortable. Those people had every right to peacefully rally and protest as they did.

Despite Obama making those callous statements about the Sean Bell murder verdict, he can now display himself as if he has been a strident opponent to the kinds of crimes that are routinely committed upon African/black people in America. He can do this because he knows very well that most of his supporters back him unconditionally, regardless of what he does. If they (many Obama supporters) gave a damn about justice, they would have been protesting his presidency long ago, especially given the fact that he has continued and expanded the war mongering ways of his dim witted predecessor, George W. Bush. Obama, like the American “justice” system, is banking on these rallies in protest of the murder of our young brother Trayvon Martin to die out after some time, even if the murderous thug (George Zimmerman) goes free.

There are protests each time a person of color is killed in cold blood by the police, and rightfully so. However, each time, after a few rallies, the chants of injustice grow fainter by the day. Some of us seem to forget that the same old system, and society, that makes these crimes possible, is still intact. Those that support and uphold this system can behave like chameleons as if they are genuinely concerned with the systematic killing of people of color, like Trayvon Martin. They do this while playing significant roles in upholding a system of human destruction. They expect the majority of us not to connect crimes like the murder of Trayvon Martin to the crimes of murdering Afghan and Iraqi children via airstrikes, drone strikes, night raids, and war in general. The same way we see Trayvon Martin as our brother, is the same way we must see children from other countries, whose lives are being lost each time the US government’s military decides to bomb their villages in to oblivion. And we must (as a collective) be much more consistent in our work, before and after, injustices that fall upon children like Trayvon Martin and Aiyana Stanley Jones.

“Each time, after a few rallies, the chants of injustice grow fainter by the day.”

If we become more consistent and organized with our work we may be able to prevent these murders from ever happening. However, if we don’t, the kind of scum that uphold and operate their state sponsored crimes, within this system, will continue to do so---unabated. We all have a role to play in confronting this unforgiving and destructive system. Raising awareness is imperative (rallies, utilizing progressive media, community forums, teach-ins, etc.). Mobilization and organizing is crucial (domestic and international legal tactics). Consistent and uncompromising political actions will be paramount. Developing and sustaining strategies is vital. Committing ourselves to put an end to institutional racism, white supremacy and imperialism must be a goal we seek. These are a few of the types of strategies that must be employed, community by community and state by state. They all must be done consistently and by a critical mass.

Remember that only one percent of the US population actively participated in the Civil rights Movement. It won’t be easy, however – freedom, justice, and equality seldom are. I can’t think of any better way to honor the lives of young people like Trayvon Martin and the countless Afghan and Iraqi children who have perished because of American military aggression and sanctions. There can be no justice without peace. Right now the US is facilitating violence and injustice throughout the globe (including within its own borders). Untold lives depend on our unrelenting commitment towards tangibly creating a society founded, not on injustice and inequality, but on peace, justice, and equality----FOR ALL.

Solomon Comissiong is an educator, community activist, author, public speaker and the host of the Your World News media collective (www.yourworldnews.org). He can be reached at: solo@yourworldnews.org.



Skin Deep: Copyright Scientific American, Incorporated Oct 2002 Nina G Jablonski;George Chaplin;

Throughout the world, human skin color has evolved to be dark enough to prevent sunlight from destorying the nurtrient folate but light enough to foster the production of vitamin D.

Among primates, only humans have a mostly naked skin that comes in different colors. Geographers and anthropologists have long recognized that the distribution of skin colors among indigenous populations is not random: darker peoples tend to be found nearer the equator, lighter ones closer to the poles. For years, the prevailing theory has been that darker skins evolved to protect against skin cancer. But a series of discoveries has led us to construct a new framework for understanding the evolutionary basis of variations in human skin color. Recent epidemiological and physiological evidence suggests to us that the worldwide pattern of human skin color is the product of natural selection acting to regulate the effects of the sun's ultraviolet (LTV) radiation on key nutrients crucial to reproductive success.

From Hirsute to Hairless

THE EVOLUTION OF SKIN PIGMENTATION is linked with that of hairlessness, and to comprehend both these stories, we need to page back in human history. Human beings have been evolving as anindependent lineage of apes since at least seven million years ago, when our immediate ancestors diverged from those of our closest relatives, chimpanzees. Because chimpanzees have changed less over time than humans have, they can provide an idea of what human anatomy and physiology must have been like. Chimpanzees' skin is light in color and is covered by hair over most of their bodies. Young animals have pink faces, hands, and feet and become freckled or dark in these areas only as they are exposed to sun with age. The earliest humans almost certainly had a light skin covered with hair. Presumably hair lossoccurred first, then skin color changed. But that leads to the question, When did we lose our hair? The skeletons of ancient humans-such as the well-known skeleton of Lucy, which dates to about 3.2 million years agogive us a good idea of the build and the way of life of our ancestors. The daily activities of Lucy and other hominids that lived before about three million years ago appear to have been similar tothose of primates living on the open savannas of Africa today. They probably spent much of their day foraging for food over three to four miles before retiring to the safety of trees to sleep. By 1.6 million years ago, however, we see evidence that this pattern had begun to change dramatically. The famous skeleton of Turkana Boy-which belonged to the species Homo ergaster-is that of a long-legged, striding biped that probably walked long distances. These more active early humans faced the problem of staying cool and protecting their brains from overheating. Peter Wheeler of John Moores University in Liverpool, England, has shown that this was accomplished through an increase in the number of sweat glands on the surface of the body and a reduction in the covering of body hair. Once rid of most of their hair, early members of the genus Homo then encountered the challenge of protecting their skin from the damaging effects of sunlight, especially UV rays.

Built-in Sunscreen IN CHIMPANZEES, the skin on the hairless parts of the body contains cells called melanocytes that are capable of synthesizing the dark-brown pigment melanin in response to exposure to LTV radiation. Whenhumans became mostly hairless, the ability of the skin to produce melanin assumed new importance. Melanin is nature's sunscreen: it is a large organic molecule that serves the dual purpose of physically andchemically filtering the harmful effects of UV radiation; it absorbs LTV rays, causing them to lose energy, and it neutralizes harmful chemicals called free radicals that form in the skin after damage by UV radiation.Anthropologists and biologists have generally reasoned that high concentrations of melanin arose in the skin of peoples in tropical areas because it protected them against skin cancer. James E. Cleaver of theUniversity of California at San Francisco, for instance, has shown that people with the disease xeroderma pigmentosum, in which melanocytes are destroyed by exposure to the sun, suffer from significantly higherthan normal rates of squamous and basal cell carcinomas, which are usually easily treated. Malignant melanomas are more frequently fatal, but they are rare (representing 4 percent of skin cancer diagnoses)and tend to strike only light-skinned people. But all skin cancers typically arise later in life, in most cases after the first reproductive years, so they could not have exerted enough evolutionary pressure for skin protection alone to account for darker skin colors. Accordingly, we began to ask what role melanin might play in human evolution.

The Folate Connection IN 1991 ONE OF us (Jablonski) ran across what turned out to be a critical paper published in 1978 by Richard F. Branda and John W. Eaton, now at the University of Vermont and the University ofLouisville, respectively. These investigators showed that light-skinned people who had been exposed to simulated strong sunlight had abnormally low levels of the essential B vitamin folate in their blood. The scientists also observed that subjecting human blood serum to the same conditions resulted in a 50-percent loss of folate content within one hour. The significance of these findings to reproduction-and hence evolution-became clear when we learned of research being conducted on a major class of birth defects by our colleagues at the University of Western Australia. There Fiona J. Stanley and Carol Bower had established by the late 1980s that folate deficiency in pregnant women is related to an increased risk of neural tube defects such as spina bifida, in which the arches of the spinal vertebrae fail to close around the spinal cord. Many research groups throughout the world have since confirmed this correlation, and efforts to supplement foods with folate and to educate women about the importance of the nutrient have become widespread.

We discovered soon afterward that folate is important not only in preventing neural tube defects but also in a host of other processes. Because folate is essential for the synthesis of DNA in dividing cells,anything that involves rapid cell proliferation, such as spermatogenesis (the production of sperm cells), requires folate. Male rats and mice with chemically induced folate deficiency have impaired spermatogenesis and are infertile. Although no comparable studies of humans have been conducted, Wai Yee Wong and his colleagues at the University Medical Center of Nijmegen in the Netherlands have recently reported that folic acid treatment can boost the sperm counts of men with fertility problems. Such observations led us to hypothesize that dark skin evolved to protect the body's folate stores from destruction. Our idea was supported by a report published in 1996 by Argentine pediatrician Pablo Lapunzina, who found that three young and otherwise healthy women whom he had attended gave birth to infants with neural tube defects after using sun beds to tan themselves in the early weeks of pregnancy. Our evidence about the breakdown of folate by UV radiation thus supplements what is already known about the harmful (skin-cancer-causing) effects of UV radiation on DNA.

Human Skin on the Move THE EARLIEST MEMBERS of Homo sapiens, or modern humans, evolved in Africa between 120,000 and 100,000 years ago and had darkly pigmented skin adapted to the conditions of UV radiation and heatthat existed near the equator. As modern humans began to venture out of the tropics, however, they encountered environments in which they received significantly less UV radiation during the year. Under these conditions their high concentrations of natural sunscreen probably proved detrimental. Dark skin contains so much melanin that very little UV radiation, and specifically very little of the shorter-wavelength UVB radiation, can penetrate the skin. Although most of the effects of UVB are harmful, the rays perform one indispensable function: initiating the formation of vitamin D in the skin. Darkskinned people living in the tropics generally receive sufficient UV radiation during the year for UVB to penetrate the skin and allow them to make vitamin D. Outside the tropics this is not the case. The solution, across evolutionary time, has been for migrants to northern latitudes to lose skin pigmentation. The connection between the evolution of lightly pigmented skin and vitamin D synthesis was elaborated by W. Farnsworth Loomis of Brandeis University in 1967. He established the importance of vitamin D to reproductive success because of its role in enabling calcium absorption by the intestines, which in turn makes possible the normal development of the skeleton and the maintenance of a healthy immune system. Research led by Michael Holick of the Boston University School of Medicine has, over the past 20 years,further cemented the significance of vitamin D in development and immunity. His team also showed that not all sunlight contains enough UVB to stimulate vitamin D production. In Boston, for instance, which islocated at about 42 degrees north latitude, human skin cells begin to produce vitamin D only after mid-March. In the wintertime there isn't enough UVB to do the job. We realized that this was another piece of evidence essential to the skin color story. During the course of our research in the early 1990s, we searched in vain to find sources of data on actual UV radiation levels at the earth's surface. We were rewarded in 1996, when we contacted Elizabeth Weatherhead of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado at Boulder. She shared with us a database of measurements of UV radiation at the earth's surface taken by NASA's Total Ozone Mapping Spectrophotometer satellite between 1978 and 1993. We were then able to model the distribution of UV radiation on the earth and relate the satellite data to the amount of UVB necessary to produce vitamin D.

We found that the earth's surface could be divided into three vitamin D zones: one comprising the tropics, one the subtropics and temperate regions, and the last the circumpolar regions north and south of about45 degrees latitude. In the first, the dosage of UVB throughout the year is high enough that humans have ample opportunity to synthesize vitamin D all year. In the second, at least one month during the year has insufficient UVB radiation, and in the third area not enough UVB arrives on average during the entire year to prompt vitamin D synthesis. This distribution could explain why indigenous peoples in the tropics generally have dark skin, whereas people in the subtropics and temperate regions are lighter-skinned but have the ability to tan, and those who live in regions near the poles tend to be very light skinned and burn easily.One of the most interesting aspects of this investigation was the examination of groups that did not precisely fit the predicted skin-color pattern. An example is the Inuit people of Alaska and northern Canada. The Inuit exhibit skin color that somewhat darker than would be predicted given the LJV levels at their latitude. This is probably caused by two factors. The first is that they are relatively recent inhabitants of these climes, having migrated to North America only roughly 5,000 years ago. The second is that the traditional diet of the Inuit is extremely high in foods containing vitamin D, especially fish and marine mammals. This vitamin D-rich diet offsets the problem that they would otherwise have with vitamin D synthesis in their skin at northern latitudes and permits them to remain more darkly pigmented. Our analysis of the potential to synthesize vitamin D allowed us to understand another trait related to human skin color: women in all populations are generally lighter-skinned than men. (Our data show that women tend to be between 3 and 4 percent lighter than men.) Scientists have often speculated on the reasons, and most have argued that the phenomenon stems from sexual selection-the preference of men for women of lighter color. We contend that although this is probably part of the story, it is not the original reason for the sexual difference. Females have significantly greater needs for calcium throughout their reproductive lives, especially during pregnancy and lactation, and must be able to make the most of the calcium contained in food. We propose, therefore, that women tend to be lighter-skinned than men to allow slightly more UVB rays to penetrate their skin and thereby increase their ability to produce vitamin D. In areas of the world that receive a large amount of UV radiation, women are indeed at the knife's edge of natural selection, needing to maximize the photoprotective function of their skin on the one hand and the ability to synthesize vitamin D on the other.

Where Culture and Biolon MeetAS MODERN HUMANS MOVED throughout the Old World about 100,000 years ago, their skin adapted to the environmental conditions that prevailed in different regions. The skin color of the indigenous people of Africa has had the longest time to adapt because anatomically modern humans first evolved there. The skin-color changes that modern humans underwent as they moved from one continent to another-first Asia, then Austro-Melanesia, then Europe and, finally, the Americas-can be reconstructed to some extent. It is important to remember, however, that those humans had clothing and shelter to help protect them from the elements. In some places, they also had the ability to harvest foods that were extraordinarily rich in vitamin D, as in the case of the Inuit. These two factors had profound effects on the tempo and degree of skin-- color evolution in human populations.Africa is an environmentally heterogeneous continent. A number of the earliest movements of contemporary humans outside equatorial Africa were into southern Africa. The descendants of some of these early colonizers, the Khoisan (previously known as Hottentots), are still found in southern Africa and have significantly lighter skin than indigenous equatorial Africans do-a clear adaptation to the lowerlevels of LTV radiation that prevail at the southern extremity of the continent.

Interestingly, however, human skin color in southern Africa is not uniform. Populations of Bantu-language speakers who live in southern Africa today are far darker than the Khoisan. We know from the history of this region that Bantu speakers migrated into this region recently-probably within the past 1,000 years-from parts of West Africa near the equator. The skin-color difference between theKhoisan and Bantu speakers such as the Zulu indicates that the length of time that a group has inhabited a particular region is important in understanding why they have the color they do. Cultural behaviors have probably also strongly influenced the evolution of skin color in recent human history. This effect can be seen in the indigenous peoples who live on the eastern and western banks of the Red Sea. The tribes on the western side, which speak so-called Nilo-Hamitic languages, are thought to have inhabited this region for as long as 6,000 years. These individuals are distinguished by very darkly pigmented skin and long, thin bodies with long limbs, which are excellent biological adaptations for dissipating heat and intense LV radiation. In contrast, modern agricultural and pastoral groups on theeastern bank of the Red Sea, on the Arabian Peninsula, have lived there for only about 2,000 years. These earliest Arab people, of European origin, have adapted to very similar environmental conditions by almost exclusively cultural means-wearing heavy protective clothing and devising portable shade in the form of tents. (Without such clothing, one would have expected their skin to have begun to darken.) Generally speaking, the more recently a group has migrated into an area, the more extensive its cultural, as opposed to biological, adaptations to the area will be.

Perils of Recent Migrations DESPITE GREAT IMPROVEMENTS in overall human health in the past century, some diseases have appeared or reemerged in populations that had previously been little affected by them. One of these is skin cancer, especially basal and squamous cell carcinomas, among light-skinned peoples. Another is rickets, brought about by severe vitamin D deficiency, in dark-skinned peoples. Why are we seeing these conditions? As people move from an area with one pattern of UV radiation to another region, biological and cultural adaptations have not been able to keep pace. The light-skinned people of northern European origin who bask in the sun of Florida or northern Australia increasingly pay the price in the form of premature aging of the skin and skin cancers, not to mention the unknown cost in human life of folate depletion. Conversely, a number of dark-skinned people of southern Asian and African origin now living in the northern U.K., northern Europe or the northeastern U.S. suffer from a lack of UV radiation and vitamin D, an insidious problem that manifests itself in high rates of rickets and other diseases related to vitamin D deficiency. The ability of skin color to adapt over long periods to the various environments to which humans have moved reflects the importance of skin color to our survival. But its unstable nature also makes it one of the least useful characteristics in determining the evolutionary relations between human groups. Early Western scientists used skin color improperly to delineate human races, but the beauty of science is that it can and does correct itself. Our current knowledge of the evolution of human skin indicates that variations in skin color, like most of our physical attributes, can be explained by adaptation to the environment through natural selection. We look ahead to the day when the vestiges of old scientific mistakes will be erased and replaced by a better understanding of human origins and diversity. Our variation in skin color should be celebrated as one of the most visible manifestations of our evolution as a species.

self turned . . .

i have been Accused
i have been Tried
i have been Convicted
i have been Sentenced
i have been Condemned
all by my own choosing . . .
“Self” has turned on me
“dimed” me out
why . . . i don’t know
i trusted him with my life
like a brother
just like he was my own
and he turned on me

i mean we shared everything together
we were the same Mind
the same Heart Beat
the same Breath
when you saw him . . . you saw me
we were inseparable . . .
or so i thought
“Self” has turned on me

over the years i have cared for him
i have fed him
we have dined at the finest restaurants
ate the most exotic foods
drank some of the finest wines
together
i have nurtured him
i even gave in to his small petty bullshit demands
i tolerated him
i clothed him
i even brushed his teeth and wiped his ass
i took him for walks
even though he did not really appreciate them
but i did it for his own good
we danced together
sang together
played together
i took him shopping
i even allowed him to be wasteful
and purchase so much shit we did not need
nor want
he did not appreciate my sacrifices
many times
more times than none
and
“Self” has turned on me

i have taken that asshole traitor on Vacations
to exotic places
introduced him to women
and good friends
i thought we were having fun
together
i even taught him to try different things
why, i even taught him to read and write
i have sat up long nights keeping him company
discussing all his vexations
and foibles
when he was down on him self, it was i who picked him up
encouraged him
dusted him off
i supported him in every way i could
and this is how this ungrateful bastard repays me
yes . . .
“Self” has turned on me

perhaps that is why they call him “Selfish”
for it seems in the end all he does care about is him self
but what about “me”
i have shed tears for him
i have laughed with him
i even embraced his issues
and his problems
and his trials and tribulations
as my own
i even shared his Joys
and his laughter
and his smiles
when he was happy . . .
i was happy
wait until i see him
he is a superficial
self delusional
self justifying
self edifying
self praising
lazy no good for nothing . . .
“Self” has turned on me

No , , , Wait . . . .
i can not allow my “Self” to go out like this
Me, i am loving
i am kind
so i shall . . .
i must . . .
forgive him
for all of his transgressions
past
present
and those to come
for
i am a loving God Created Divine Entity
i can not grow as long as i embrace this attitude
if i come to hate . .
what would become of me ?
perhaps i will just seek “self” out
and sit in silence with him
perhaps this is the time he really does need me
perhaps he too is hurting
and truly in need a friend
a hug
a smile
perhaps
i know we are truly brothers
perhaps we are truly one
Yes,
let me reach out
yes, though “Self” has turned on me
i am encouraged
for i am blessed
i can bring Goodness to this situation
i can bring Love
i can bring Hope
i can bring Joy
for . . . “I AM”
yes
for when Self turned on me
i turned on “Self”
and now we shall come together
in love of “Self”
for when “Self” turned on me
my eyes have opened
and i shall turn on Self
as
self turned . . .

(c) 19 November 2010 : William S. Peters, Sr.

Breez Evahflowin

A little word on Breeze:

A founding member of the Stronghold underground rap collective, MC Breez Evahflowin (born Enrique DaSilva) emerged as a leading force in the New York and national battle rap scenes during the late '90s, and was crowned the national grand champion of the famed Blaze Battle competition in 1999. During his freestyle rap days, Breez released his own independent solo 12-inch "Forsaken" in 1996, which appeared on the BBE Music compilation Hip-Hop Forever (1998) by DJ/producer Kenny Dope. In the early 2000s, Breez recorded singles for an assortment of different indie labels, including the Boston-based Detonator Records, as well as contributing a slew of guest appearances on records and tours. During his tenure, Breez has worked with several underground rap artists including Vast Aire, Slug, Chali 2na and the Molemen, and released his own solo EP "Fly" on Just Be Records in 2003. Breez Evahflowin's first proper full-length album "Troublemakers" - a collaboration with producer Dirt E. Dutch - was released on Little Ax Media

Taken from Discogs.com

Street poetry is the unheard voice of the common man and woman. It has no ties to the world of academia. People today cannot benefit from Shakespearean style poetry. We need poetry that reaches the youth and at the same time unifies the elders and everyone in between.

Street poetry needs to be threatening even though speaking out comes with a price, as Langston Hughes--who I consider one of the first American street poets---found out with the 1927 release of his blues inspired second volume, Fine Clothes To The Jew.

Black middle class critics hated it, writing things like “Langston Hughes’ book of poems--trash” and “Langston Hughes, sewer dweller.”

In a 1926 review of WC Handy’s Blues Anthology the reviewer wrote, “Whereas the spirituals are always concerned with escape from this world, faith, hope and a certain ‘joy in the Lord’, the blues are very much of this earth, dirty with pain and lazy with the weariness of life.”

Today’s street poetry is yesterday’s blues, and modern street poets are writers like Amiri Baraka, Gil Scott-Heron (RIP), the Watts Prophets, the Last Poets, Lenny Bruce, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Mutabaruka, Bob Marley, Richard Pryor, George Carlin, Bill Hicks, Chuck D and KRS-ONE to name a few.

2. You mentioned in an interview that you believe street poetry is rap's nucleus. Can you build further on that so that some clarity can be left on that?

Poetry is the heart of rap music. It’s not tied to money, your job, or your responsibilities. It’s your soul, vocalized. That is the essence of rap.

Before there was Kool Herc, Africa Bambaataa and Coke La Rock… there was Gil Scott (RIP), The Watts Prophets and The Last Poets. And before them, there was Willie Dixon, John Lee Hooker and Robert Johnson. All of these “outlaw” artists had a hand in the creation of what we know as Rap music. I personally believe Gil Scott was the first emcee, and I will also add he was the first emcee on wax.  

3. Tell us about North Carolina, how your advancement and mobilization began. Also pass some of the revolutionary history that has taken place in NC.

A. I cut my teeth writing anti-racist/sexist literature for groups such as S.H.A.R.P (Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice) and A.R.A. (Anti-Racist Action). I then went from writing to fighting. The groups that I was involved with decided that our best action would be to storm Ku Klux Klan rallies taking place in the South. We were successful in stopping the Klan from marching on several occasions in several cities.

At one time we had over a thousand kids from all over the eastern seaboard ready and willing to disrupt Klan rallies, violently if we had to, at the drop of a dime. The key to our movement and any movement is youth because kids actually believe they can change the world.

Today I hold youth and prisoner centered poetry workshops in order to teach people to release emotions in positive ways. If it wasn’t for poetry I know I’d be in prison because I, like many men, grew up being taught to repress my emotions.

B. North Carolina has a rich revolutionary history. Freedom fighters from North Carolina include David Walker, author of the Appeal, the first revolutionary manifesto in the United States for black liberation, and Robert F. Williams, author of Negroes with Guns, the book that single-handedly sparked the militant black movements of the Civil rights era, including the Black Panthers.

4. What was the [true] Plan Columbia about?

Plan Columbia was, on the surface, a plan to eradicate the Columbian cocaine trade for the betterment of Columbian and American society, as America is the world’s largest market for Columbian cocaine.

However it was actually a covert scheme to punish Columbia’s F.A.R.C. rebels for not giving in to US pressure to wash their cocaine money through the New York Stock Exchange.

Columbia’s F.A.R.C. guerillas manufacture cocaine to fund their insurgency.

One of the ways the CIA profits from the international drug trade is by coercing drug suppliers like F.A.R.C. to launder their drug money through stock exchanges like the New York Stock Exchange.

Most suppliers fold under CIA pressure, and, by paying their dues and laundering money through these exchanges, remain un-touched by international law enforcement, but F.A.R.C. refused to play ball so the US military decided to destroy F.A.R.C. by taking away their main income source, and sprayed a fungus called “Agent Green” on F.A.R.C.’s coca crops.

This was deadly for the Columbian people. The fungus went from the coca fields to the water systems poisoning thousands, and causing an incredible number of birth defects and infant deaths.

Two researchers who provide ample proof and documentation on plan Columbia include Michael Ruppert, the ex-Los Angeles police officer turned whistleblower who not only broke this story, but also blew the lid off the Gary Webb/Dark Alliance article explaining how the CIA was responsible for the crack epidemic that devastated South Central Los Angeles in the mid and late 80’s, and investment advisor Catherine Austin Fitts, former Assistant Secretary of Housing under George H.W. Bush turned White House whistleblower.

5. Name a few who move you and a few who don’t move you... and why on a few of them

Few Who Move Me:

Mumia Abu-Jamal. Locked down for over a decade and still a symbol of resistance against the beast, from within the beast! And the system knows they can’t execute him, because the streets would run red with pigs’ blood if they did.

Gil Scott-Heron… the ultimate wordsmith. No one has ever conveyed the depths of human despair; drug addiction, desolation and social isolation like Gil, and no one’s words have ever touched me like his. I loved this man, and wept when he passed.

Few Who Don’t:

Soulja Boy, Gucci Mane, corporate radio, the Amerikkan political shytstem and all stooges of Capitalism. They are the ruiners of hope and takers of dreams. They are the reason men and women grow old before their time, unable to do simple things like practice yoga, or go for walks, meditate, spend more time raising children then just yelling at them, etc. because we are too busy in the rat race, making the corporate wheels turn, turn, turn.

All soldiers have to be extra vigilant, and recognize the game that’s being played by corporate masters to keep the masses unaware and what’s more, not caring that they’re unaware. We have to be the ones who hold the red flags, organize flanks and give marching orders when the revolution comes.

6. What is the end game for capitalism? When it collapses what comes next?

Anarchism is a movement that deserves examination as an alternative system. Successful examples of Anarchist movements include the Provo movement of the 60s. The Provos were quite revolutionary and innovative, and many societal ideas from the movement are indelibly etched into the fabric of Dutch society today.

The Provos really pushed people in Sweden to think green way before the Green movement.

The Provos are who made bicycles synonymous with Amsterdam with their “White Bicycle Plan,” which proposed the closing of central Amsterdam to all motorized traffic in order to improve public transportation and save Amsterdam residents millions in gas every year.

The plan called for the government to buy 20,000 white bikes per year which were to be free for everybody to use. City authorities rejected the plan, but the Provos decided to go ahead anyway. They bought 50 bikes, painted them white and left them on streets for public use.

The Provos refused to live under rules they felt violated their humanity and said, “You know what? Fuck these fuckers. We have better ideas and we can create a better way of living.”

7. Illuminati, Freemasons, what do you say to someone interjecting these matters as the source of some of our current global problems

Some people believe that 13 families control the planet. That number might be correct. Or it might be 12. It might be 9…but certain families have tightly controlled the global economy and enormous amounts of money and property--much of it stolen--for centuries.

Most global problems are the result of this 2% of the global population controlling all of the gold and using it to strong-arm third world countries into giving up their natural resources.

For the common man and woman, the money in their pocket is mere interest off the gold this “elite” stole.

8. Is Amerikkka the new Rome?

We create war and havoc everywhere we go, just like Rome. Henry Kissinger is our Nero. But tell the average American this and he or she will look at you like you’re robbing them at gunpoint. Why? Because Americans have been taught not to think for themselves.

All the majority knows is a distorted reality backed by lies, misinformation and a whitewashed history. We have been spoon-fed lies for so long the masses can no longer decipher fiction from reality.

As Bill Hicks would say, “Go back to bed, America. Your government is in control again. Here’s American Gladiators. Watch this. Shut up. Here’s American Gladiators. Here’s fifty-six channels of it. Here you go, America: you are free to do as we tell you.” 

Don’t let this happen to you. Don’t let the media tell you how to think. Don’t let Hollywood set our social tones. And most importantly, don’t let the American educational system get in the way of your real education--learning how to create social and economic systems that don’t require people to die or starve in order for them to work. Pretty fucking simple when you say it out loud.

9. I feel from your book that there is a feeling of [continuous hate build up] in society, how can we reverse that or is it to late

Most of the hate you see is a result of people living in a system that doesn’t benefit us. The cost of living is rising but wages are not increasing and unemployment is at an all time high.

Gas prices are also at an all time high, so now people can’t afford to drive to jobs that don’t pay their bills.

People can’t afford medical care and can barely feed their families and sometimes, working two, even three jobs isn’t enough to keep food on the table.

Nobody can buy shit in America anymore, but in America, happiness is bought.

Now, since nobody can buy shit, everybody is realizing they don’t look like the people in the movies, they’re not eating in the same restaurants they see celebrities eating in on TV and everybody hates themselves.

This is how capitalism works and it’s a shitty system so pardon me if I look like I wanna slap you when I see you in the morning at the train station.

10. Solidarity mobilization, how instrumental is that to the progress of mankind?

Love, compassion and tolerance are the key ingredients to any and every solidarity movement. That is what we need but mobilization is often difficult because we live in a system that thrives on choking the power out of us instead of helping us prosper.

Still, I’m supposed to pledge allegiance to the flag and smile at you when you see me at Mao-Mart? Fuck you! You’re lucky I’m not bucking at you.

11. Why have we lost respect for earth? Who is responsible for the campaign to keep it like that?

Nature was originally divine to humans, but greed, property rights and dick fights fucked it up. Instead of living without boundaries, we fenced everything in, divided everything up, locked everyone out and threw away the key.

The educational system is partly to blame. Why is the biggest lesson some boys learn in school is how to skip it?

Students aren’t being engaged, aren’t excited about learning and aren’t learning the most important things like why its so important to take care of our planet and how to grow our own food and grow into socially competent and engaged adults who are not guided by greed but by a higher purpose.

Our ignorance is also to blame. Most people with minor ailments would never have to see a doctor if they simply read about the healing powers of herbs. But instead of using herbal concoctions made from plants we can all grow we shuffle off to a doctor’s office where we’re treated like faceless numbers while receiving sub-par care and scripts for “medicines” sold by companies who provide big money scholarships and other initiatives for the medical school that doctor graduated from.

“Medicines” that in fact, often do not cure you and can potentially wreak havoc on your entire body.

Owners of pharmaceutical companies are some of the biggest culprits and should be yoked up by their starched collars and dragged out in the streets, where families of people killed by their “medicines” can beat them to death with spiked baseball bats.

12. What things would you say are indispensable to the mobilization of our consciousness and should be watched out for, to prevent government or corporation, sabotaging or advancement of taking over our agenda?

Remodeling of the educational system is a definite requirement to the mobilization of consciousness.

Unfortunately, we sabotage ourselves by raising ignorant youth. They are ignorant because we stuff their minds with shit.

Why must children watch so much bullshit on TV? Why must they be force-fed so many lies in school, like Columbus discovered America?

It’s also important to study past movements and how they were infiltrated so we can recognize the signs and patterns that occur when infiltration is being attempted.

13. What is it you want those who read the book to walk away with in their heads?

I want people to know that Don’t Shoot the Hostages is more than just another "conscious" or “radical” poetry book. It’s an outspoken contribution towards the clarification and understanding of: race, white guilt, religion, police brutality, the real Drug War, America the Plantation, 9/11, the Prison Industrial Complex and local/international poverty issues from the perspective of the revolutionary, the drug dealer/addict and the common man and woman.

Don’t Shoot the Hostages offers the reader the opportunity to live out the following scenario: Imagine walking into a heavily populated section of any major city and having the ability to read the minds of everyone you passed. You would quickly realize the masses are starving, doing dope to cope, and as a result, severely failing in personal and social relationships. Don’t Shoot the Hostages reminds the reader that the main problem poor, working class people face, is themselves.

I wanted Don’t Shoot the Hostages to be an unflinching look into the minds of society's forgotten. The poetry, social commentary and contributions in this book are radical, angry, and at times, terrifying.

14. Where can we see more, read more, buy the book and stay posted with your mobilization?

My new book, Don’t Shoot The Hostages: Poetry and Social Commentary for the New world Survivalist is only $12 for the paperback version and can be purchased from my website www.streetpoetmonte.com. You can download the e-Book version for $5.00 and keep up with my movements, thoughts and ideas there also.



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Hot new mix from Selecta pause and DJ Night Nurz. Kiddies under 30... go get ya shine box!!!!  

I had the Honor of Meeting Syl Johnson on Nov 19th at the Eccentric Soul Review in Durham, NC. His performance was phenomenal!!!!