A Poem dedicated to George W. Bush and Cronies of whatever political party
by Martha Pedroza
Words and words
And nothing but words:
Words on paper
Words in the air
Words on screens swirled around
Diarrhea of campaign words.
Mountains of meaningless words
Empires covered by words
The iron fist hidden by words
Tanks and weapons and death covered by words
We eat salads of words
And stews and soups of words
And leave satisfied
with the meal of words we've just had
Meetings of words bandied about
Meaningless, worthless words
Words to placate
and put you to sleep with
Words to tie us up with and mollify us
to cover theft
to cover torture
to cover greed
Blankets and blankets of words
eat the word democracy with bullets
Pass the dressing of words
to cover the salad of words
to calm our hunger for justice
Justice? That's another word
rhymes with poultice and mortise
We are glutted obscenely with words
I don't want any more words!!
Oh, shut up, sit down and finish all your words.
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About Us
- Communist Party of Illinois
- We are active in Logan Square, Humboldt Park and other North Side neighborhoods in Chicago, IL.
NEW GROUP AFFIRMS ITS AFRO-LATINO IDENTITY AND STRUGGLE AGAINST RACISM
By Sijisfredo Avilés
The Afro-Latin@ Institute of Chicago was recently inaugurated at the San Lucas United Methodist Church.. Its mission is to help strengthen research and build activist networks among Latinos of African descent in the United States. Carlos Flores, chair of the institute, explained that the organization “questions the separation of Black versus Brown” and is proposing “a unifying Black and Brown agenda.“ Some Blacks are also Latinos — and that many Latinos are victims of racial as well as cultural discrimination,” he said. Afro-Latinos are here to stay, and “we will not continue to be invisible.”
As if to illustrate, Dr. Ricardo Millet, formerly of the Woods Fund and the Kellogg Foundation, related how, when he arrived in the U.S. as a student from Panama to attend an East Coast school, he waited at the station to be picked up by his host family. Millet waited and waited, but the family did not show up. He finally called them. The family said they had gone to the station but did not recognize him. They told him they only saw a Black person at the bus terminal, not a Latino."
Afro-Latinos are often 'invisible' in the history textbooks of their home countries, too" said another speaker. "For example, few people know that the army of Simon Bolivar, the Great Liberator of South America, was composed of large numbers of blacks who joined Bolivar on the promise that his movement would abolish slavery."
"It is the same story in Latin America and here in the United States,” said a musician from the Spiritual Journey Percussion Ensemble. “The contributions of people of the African diaspora are ignored and not recognized.” Izabel Leme-Harris, host of the radio program “Gateway to Brazil,” said many people in U.S. think that Brazil’s population is mostly white, when the reality is that Brazil has the largest black population in the continent. The marginalization of blacks in politics, education and entertainment contributes to that impression, she said, not only in Brazil but also elsewhere in Latin America.
A member of the audience noted how racism causes “many problems of alienation and division.” He related his experiences as a poor, black child in Puerto Rico. Each day, his sixth-grade teacher called him to the front of the class to ridicule him about his clothes, and to demonstrate that because he was poor and black, he was not intelligent or worthy enough to be in school.
Another person said, “That is why the institute is very important, so that we all know our true history and accomplishments as a people in Latin America and here in the U.S.”
The program concluded with a musical and dance celebration from Sones de Mexico, the Spiritual Journey Percussion Ensemble, Africaribe, Nuestro Tambó and Grupo Yuba, all of which showed how “the spirit of Mother Africa survives in the New World,” as one person said. The audience responded enthusiastically.
For information about the activities or to become a member of this organization contact Carlos Flores, Afro-Latin@ Institute of Chicago, San Lucas United Methodist Church, 2914 West North Ave., Chicago IL 60647. E-mail: afrolatinstitute@sbcglobal.net.
The Afro-Latin@ Institute of Chicago was recently inaugurated at the San Lucas United Methodist Church.. Its mission is to help strengthen research and build activist networks among Latinos of African descent in the United States. Carlos Flores, chair of the institute, explained that the organization “questions the separation of Black versus Brown” and is proposing “a unifying Black and Brown agenda.“ Some Blacks are also Latinos — and that many Latinos are victims of racial as well as cultural discrimination,” he said. Afro-Latinos are here to stay, and “we will not continue to be invisible.”
As if to illustrate, Dr. Ricardo Millet, formerly of the Woods Fund and the Kellogg Foundation, related how, when he arrived in the U.S. as a student from Panama to attend an East Coast school, he waited at the station to be picked up by his host family. Millet waited and waited, but the family did not show up. He finally called them. The family said they had gone to the station but did not recognize him. They told him they only saw a Black person at the bus terminal, not a Latino."
Afro-Latinos are often 'invisible' in the history textbooks of their home countries, too" said another speaker. "For example, few people know that the army of Simon Bolivar, the Great Liberator of South America, was composed of large numbers of blacks who joined Bolivar on the promise that his movement would abolish slavery."
"It is the same story in Latin America and here in the United States,” said a musician from the Spiritual Journey Percussion Ensemble. “The contributions of people of the African diaspora are ignored and not recognized.” Izabel Leme-Harris, host of the radio program “Gateway to Brazil,” said many people in U.S. think that Brazil’s population is mostly white, when the reality is that Brazil has the largest black population in the continent. The marginalization of blacks in politics, education and entertainment contributes to that impression, she said, not only in Brazil but also elsewhere in Latin America.
A member of the audience noted how racism causes “many problems of alienation and division.” He related his experiences as a poor, black child in Puerto Rico. Each day, his sixth-grade teacher called him to the front of the class to ridicule him about his clothes, and to demonstrate that because he was poor and black, he was not intelligent or worthy enough to be in school.
Another person said, “That is why the institute is very important, so that we all know our true history and accomplishments as a people in Latin America and here in the U.S.”
The program concluded with a musical and dance celebration from Sones de Mexico, the Spiritual Journey Percussion Ensemble, Africaribe, Nuestro Tambó and Grupo Yuba, all of which showed how “the spirit of Mother Africa survives in the New World,” as one person said. The audience responded enthusiastically.
For information about the activities or to become a member of this organization contact Carlos Flores, Afro-Latin@ Institute of Chicago, San Lucas United Methodist Church, 2914 West North Ave., Chicago IL 60647. E-mail: afrolatinstitute@sbcglobal.net.
FREEDOM, WELL-BEING OR OPPRESSION: THE GREAT ENIGMA OF THE AMERICAN DREAM.
By Arquímides Stevenson-Carrillo
Are we perhaps puppets or victims of the reality of an utopia democracy where we live?
When I moved to United States I did it convinced that I would come to a nation full of opportunities, peace and freedom. Nevertheless, the reality I have lived has been another one.
Since my arrival to the yearned for "Land of the American Dream", I have experienced the hysteria that one lives every day in our diverse communities and, in my case, the life I have experienced here in the Logan Square and Humboldt Park communities of Chicago, Illinois.
Here one lives a collective hysteria created by unscrupulous people who benefit from the excessive enrichment and the concentration of power. At the same time these are the "birds of prey" who accuse the gangs, the poor people and to the most disadvantaged of the social crises and the evils that affect our environment; without admitting that society is a reflection of their government and political leadership.
I found a society full of absurd regulations and restrictions that in anything contribute to the quality of life and well-being of the individual. When I go out I can feel the injustices of the government and its other entities. For example, the police, whose mission is to provide security and protection, abuses its law given power to create legal cases against innocent young people. Crime, unemployment and poverty reach high rates while the government spends public funds in frivolous and superficial items.
At the same time, the social inequality and bad distribution of wealth reaches almost all the spheres of society leaving behind thousands of families without homes, medical insurance and food.
To this you add the 911 incident, which transcendentally changed the way to make public policy and inaugurated the imposition of laws that control our daily decisions and activities. As a result of that so called extreme preventive security, we feel intimidated in airports, train stations, parks, festivals, in short, in all public places.
From a practical point of view, I think that national security can be handled strategically by establishing an assertive logistic that entails prevention, effective planning and citizen education.
It is not just that psychological terrorism is continually fed to people and that unnecessary conflicts like the war in Iraq that obviously contribute nothing to the common welfare are organized. The system has used its foreign policy simply to advance the private and economic interests of the few.
Doubtlessly in this search of the coveted "American dream" I have found a nightmare of which it has not been easy for me to escape. As of now, the solution is to encourage citizen participation and train new leaders so that they take charge of the future of humanity
Are we perhaps puppets or victims of the reality of an utopia democracy where we live?
When I moved to United States I did it convinced that I would come to a nation full of opportunities, peace and freedom. Nevertheless, the reality I have lived has been another one.
Since my arrival to the yearned for "Land of the American Dream", I have experienced the hysteria that one lives every day in our diverse communities and, in my case, the life I have experienced here in the Logan Square and Humboldt Park communities of Chicago, Illinois.
Here one lives a collective hysteria created by unscrupulous people who benefit from the excessive enrichment and the concentration of power. At the same time these are the "birds of prey" who accuse the gangs, the poor people and to the most disadvantaged of the social crises and the evils that affect our environment; without admitting that society is a reflection of their government and political leadership.
I found a society full of absurd regulations and restrictions that in anything contribute to the quality of life and well-being of the individual. When I go out I can feel the injustices of the government and its other entities. For example, the police, whose mission is to provide security and protection, abuses its law given power to create legal cases against innocent young people. Crime, unemployment and poverty reach high rates while the government spends public funds in frivolous and superficial items.
At the same time, the social inequality and bad distribution of wealth reaches almost all the spheres of society leaving behind thousands of families without homes, medical insurance and food.
To this you add the 911 incident, which transcendentally changed the way to make public policy and inaugurated the imposition of laws that control our daily decisions and activities. As a result of that so called extreme preventive security, we feel intimidated in airports, train stations, parks, festivals, in short, in all public places.
From a practical point of view, I think that national security can be handled strategically by establishing an assertive logistic that entails prevention, effective planning and citizen education.
It is not just that psychological terrorism is continually fed to people and that unnecessary conflicts like the war in Iraq that obviously contribute nothing to the common welfare are organized. The system has used its foreign policy simply to advance the private and economic interests of the few.
Doubtlessly in this search of the coveted "American dream" I have found a nightmare of which it has not been easy for me to escape. As of now, the solution is to encourage citizen participation and train new leaders so that they take charge of the future of humanity
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