WORLD WAR II ALIEN ENEMY CONTROL PROGRAM
CURRICULUM GUIDE AND LESSON PLANS
__________________________________________________ __________________
LESSON PLAN TEN: “Raids and Arrests of Enemy Aliens”
APPROPRIATE GRADES/COURSES:
8-14, U.S. History; Civics, American Government, Political Science
TOPIC BACKGROUND SUMMARY:

Even before the United States formally entered World War II on December 7,
1941, government officials had been thinking about what measures to take on the home front when and if war broke out. Unnaturalized immigrants from all three potential enemy nations lived in the United States, and the question became how best to deal with them. Should their loyalty be questioned? Should restrictions be imposed upon them?

Should they be allowed to remain at large? Congressional debate on the issue resulted in laws such as the Hobbs Act of 1939. The Hobbs Act made it possible to arrest and detain individuals who had not committed any crime, but who were considered “security risks.”

President Roosevelt’s 1939 Emergency Detention Program reinforced this act, ordering the Department of Justice to make plans to “arrest and detain those persons deemed dangerous in the event of war, invasion, or insurrection.”

Citizens of an enemy country who lived in the USA during World War II, were required to have a "Enemy Alien" card and register monthly with the authorities. Similar regulations existed in Canada and Mexico.

Still, not everyone agreed that it was necessary to suspend the protections
guaranteed by the Constitution to “all persons,” including aliens. Particularly in the
Justice Department, officials were mindful of mistakes made in WWI, when thousands ofinnocent German immigrants were attacked by mobs, arrested, and interned. The Attorney General, Francis Biddle, wanted his Justice Department, which had theauthority for executing regulations concerning enemy aliens throughout the United States, to avoid such actions if possible. So even before war was declared, Earl Harrison,head of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), wrote in September 1941 about the unique situation of the “American alien”:

The American alien is neither a refugee nor an enemy alien; he is an immigrant, a
product of American history.

Harrison was pointing out that unlike a temporary foreign resident--a diplomat,
or a student, or a visitor--the “American alien” had made a choice to leave his home
country and live in the United States. As a permanent resident his loyalty need not be
automatically suspect. Like other Americans, he was an immigrant to, not an enemy of
his adopted country.

This view entered the struggle between the Department of Justice and the War
Department over who should control the 1,000,000 enemy aliens within the nation, and
how. Eventually, officials agreed that the Department of Justice, including the FBI,
would take charge of arresting and then detaining in INS facilities all enemy aliens who
were considered “potentially dangerous.” If a hearing board agreed that the person might
be a danger, he would be ordered into the custody of the War Department—to be interned
at camps on Army bases run by the military. If the person was judged not dangerous, he
could be either held in detention for a longer period, or paroled, or released outright. The
Department of Justice also took charge of issuing regulations for enemy aliens--like those
limiting their movement, and the one ordering enemy aliens to turn in all “contraband”
such as short-wave radios or signaling devices--and arresting those who violated them.
For the first month of the war, the War Department seemed satisfied with this
arrangement. Soon, however, army officials grew impatient with what they considered
the Justice Department’s leniency.

When Rowe arrived in early January, he found that General DeWitt had prepared
three basic demands: 1) force all enemy aliens to carry identity cards; 2) declare zones from which all enemy aliens could be evicted; and 3) provide authority to raid all alien homes and “search and seize immediately without waiting for the normal processes of law.” (p. 33, Irons: Justice at War). Though he was stunned by the scope of these demands, and had to wait for the approval of the Attorney General, Rowe and the Justice Department eventually agreed to two: requiring identity cards and setting up prohibited zones.

Concerning the third, however, the Justice Department hesitated. The procedures
for mass raids on homes without a warrant, Rowe knew, would violate the Fourth
Amendment. That amendment guaranteed that every American could be secure at home:

In the end, Attorney General Biddle refused to allow mass raids on the homes of
all enemy aliens. If the military wanted that, he maintained, they would have to ask the President for martial law. The Attorney General offered a compromise instead. He wrote that the Justice Department would still require warrants to conduct searches of homes, but
obtaining one would be easier. Now, “the question of probable cause will be met only by the statement that an alien enemy is resident in such premises.”

Unfortunately for enemy aliens, this “capitulation,” as it has come to be called,
meant that the Fourth Amendment protections the Department of Justice had been
maintaining for them could now be violated. If simply being an “enemy alien” was now considered “probable cause” of a crime, it meant that whole groups of people were automatically suspect. Birth in Italy, or Japan, or Germany had become an official signal of suspicion, of disloyalty, of likely criminal activity. And even those homeowners who had been born in the United States, but whose live-in parents or relatives were not yet U.S. citizens, would now have to submit to searches of their homes and possessions.

Beginning in January, arrests and searches of enemy alien homes followed this
procedure. Sometimes arrests were based on government records--failure to register, for example. But many arrests were based on rumors, or on information from informants who had seen or heard something they considered suspicious, or who simply carried a grudge. Whatever the cause, the FBI began to raid homes where enemy aliens lived, searching for “contraband” or any other evidence of violations. These violations included not carrying identity cards, traveling without permits, not abiding by the 8:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. curfew for enemy aliens in California, and enemy aliens setting foot in West Coast prohibited zones. As a consequence of these alleged violations, arrests soared.

Aristide Bertolini, of Santa Rosa, California, was delivering a load of tomatoes to
a customer. It was evening, but he thought he could make the delivery before curfew.

Antonio Orsini was seventy years old, a laborer who could not read or write in
any language, when he was arrested by the FBI. Living with his American-born son and daughter-in-law, Orsini was arrested because he had “access to a radio and a gun.”

FBI files are filled with cases like these, cases of enemy aliens whose homes were
entered and searched, and who were sometimes arrested for contraband of which they had no knowledge, or which belonged to their U.S. citizen children. Some of those children became so worried about such raids that they tried to surrender items they were actually allowed to keep. Mary Ferrante, for example, a U.S. citizen, visited the U.S. Attorney in Portland, Maine, to surrender a radio. She feared arrest for possession of contraband, because she was living with her parents, both of whom were enemy aliens.

Stockton, California, was the location of an enemy alien raid that made the front
page of the Stockton Record on January 7, 1942: “Jackpot Hit as Police Investigate Alien.” The article described how two detectives:

went to the home of Matteo Gosso, 45, of 338 W. Market St to investigate a
shotgun owned by another resident of the home. Although Gosso is a naturalized citizen, Pete Darunga, 58, alleged owner of a shotgun, is registered as an alien.

They alsofound a shotgun, previously owned by Darunga, in Gosso’s bedroom. They also found
300 gallons of home-made wine in Gosso’s basement, which he admitted he owned without a license. And in another room, occupied by another enemy alien, Giuseppe Cardoni, they found barber equipment. Having entered the home of a

FBI records are filled with additional arrests for violations of curfew, travel
restrictions, and movement restrictions. Barbara Lena Linda, of San Francisco, wasvisiting her sister one night when the police came to check her home. Linda was arrestedand booked at City Jail for being out after curfew. Carlo Simontacchi of South SanFrancisco was arrested for changing his place of employment without permission.

Whether arrests like these and thousands of others helped to keep the United
States safe is an open question. At one point, Attorney General Biddle commented that out of the thousands of arrests, not a single case of sabotage or espionage had been discovered. Regardless of whether the arrests were justified, the larger question remains:

Flexible: three to four class periods (one to read background; two-three for
discussions and assignments.)

Learn how World War II restrictions on enemy aliens were enforced, and how
that enforcement relates to the U.S. Constitution.

Have students read the Topic Background Summary in class. Make sure they
are familiar with key terms, as noted below.

Help them focus on the main issue in the
debate over control of enemy aliens:
how much control did the government require to
keep the nation safe from possible sabotage and espionage--so-called Fifth Column
Activity? The spectrum runs from martial law (as pertained in Hawaii--see Lesson Plan
Six) to full constitutional protections for all, regardless of birthplace or citizenship.

Havethem discuss the likely differences in attitude between government officials in the Justice Department, most of whom are lawyers, and officials in the War Department, many of
whom are military officers. Point out that while both are involved in maintaining order
and safety, Justice Department officials are ever mindful of protecting individuals and
their rights, while military officials must be more concerned with protecting and
defending the nation from foreign invasion. Conflict between the two agencies is not inevitable, but it is likely.

Why did the military think the normal procedures for search and seizure,
requiring a warrant, were too limited? (They required officers to go to court for a warrant;
the army did not want to go to court and explain its “probable cause.”)

What was the position of the Attorney General regarding search and seizure?
(Even though it was not required—i.e. enemy aliens could be arrested, and their
possessions seized, with no other authority—Biddle wanted to maintain constitutionally sanctioned procedures to the extent that he could.)

What was the compromise that was reached? (Authorities could get a warrant to
search a home as long as an enemy alien lived there.)

What was the purpose for regulating the movement and possessions of enemy
aliens? (To control enemy alien possessions and movement in order to prevent attempts
at sabotage or espionage).Many of those arrested were turned in by informants.

Should enforcement agencies pay attention to tips by citizens?
What might be benefits involved? the dangers?

PERIOD TWO--CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
For the teacher and students

Direct students to look up all they can about the principle of “probable cause.” To
use this as a group activity, let one group focus on the term’s history, including
specifically why the framers of the U.S. Constitution felt it was necessary to add the
Fourth Amendment to the Constitution.

A third group can look into related concepts like “due process” and the clauses in the
Constitution and Bill of Rights which specifically govern due process.

As a further activity, an advanced group might investigate changes to the standard
of probable cause such as those embodied in the Federal Wiretap Act of 1968 (expanded
in 1986), the FISA Act of 1978, the Material Witness Statute of 1984, and the Patriot Act
of 2001. This investigation should look into the rules concerning the government’s
authority to search a suspect’s home, person, office, car, possessions, computer, as well
as conversations or other communications subject to electronic surveillance or
wiretapping. In this regard, students should find out what is meant legally by the concept
of “necessity.”

(For these activities, students can Google terms like “probable cause” and
“material witness statute” to get sufficient information for writing and discussion. Also
note the recent Brandon Mayfield case—see reference below, Washington Post,
11/30/06—which directly concerns “probable cause”.)

Conduct a debate on whether the Constitution should or should not be interpreted
as protecting “enemy aliens.” During World War II, Attorney General Francis Biddle
tried to maintain at least some of those protections. The military was more eager to
ignore all such protections. The same controversy pertains today. In his book, Enemy
Aliens, Prof. David Cole of Georgetown University Law School argues that protecting the
civil liberties of aliens may well be of greater importance than protecting the rights of
citizens. While citizens have recourse to voting as a way of obtaining rights denied them,
aliens have no recourse but the due process protections provided for them in the U.S.
Constitution. Also relevant to such a debate is the remark about the special nature of
American immigrants made by INS Director Earl Harrison quoted above.

Should aliens be given equal protection of the law, as they are embodied in the
“due process” clauses of the Constitution? Should enemy aliens? Explain.
Should enemy aliens be given the Constitutional presumption that they are
innocent until proven guilty or, as in World War II, should they be presumed guilty until
they can prove their innocence?

Should such rules apply to all aliens or some aliens? (Note the difference between
“permanent resident aliens”--usually immigrants--and aliens who are visitors or students).
Which agency of government, the Department of Justice or the Department of
Defense, the Congress or the President or the Supreme Court, should make these
decisions?

See Lesson Plan One for a general list of Key Terms/Concepts. For this lesson
Plan, the following terms/concepts are important:

: an immigrant who is not naturalized, i.e., one who has not

completed the process by which immigrants become citizens. Such unnaturalized

: to confine a person temporarily, usually while legal authorities decide

whether to hold that person permanently, charge him with a crime, or release him.

Regulations: rules and procedures issued by government authorities. During

Custody: care or control of a thing or person according to legal or judicial rules.

Detention: a period of temporary custody before legal authorities make more

Contraband: material or items whose possession is forbidden. During WWII,

Provost Marshal General: the chief police officer in the military. During war,

Martial law: military rule by a nation over its citizens where they are not

Search warrant: a document issued by a judge or magistrate authorizing an

Probable: something that can reasonably and fairly be accepted as true or

SPECIFIC READING MATERIAL FOR THIS LESSON PLAN:

Evacuation and Internment During World War II, (Heyday Books: 2001).

War II, (Universal Publishers: 2000)

Krammer, Arnold, Undue Process: The Untold Story of America’s German Alien

Persons of Italian Ancestry During World War II, (U.S. Department of Justice,

The Constitution of the United States, including Amendments.

: Report

of the Assembly on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians, April 8-9, 2005,

November 24, 2002; Page A01, “Material Witness Law Has

Many In Limbo,” Steve Fainaru and Margot Williams

Tuesday, December 20, 2005; Page A31; “Vital Presidential

Power,” William Kristol and Gary Schmitt.

, Thursday 30 November 2006; “US Settles Suit Filed by Oregon
Lawyer,” Dan Eggen

Peace be upon you
http://www.gaic.info/lps/LP%2010%20-%20Raids.pdf

RAP MUSIC: THE USUAL SUSPECT
by Yvonne Bynoe









http://www.urbanthinktank.org

Three years ago after the Notorious B.I.G. was killed, I wrote a piece that was published in the Baltimore Afro-American Newspaper entitled "Don't Blame Rap for America's Violence." The gist of the commentary was that rap music was being used as a scapegoat for America's inability or unwillingness to deal with its own violent propensities. In short, rather than dealing with the sources of violence [readily available guns, poverty, alcohol and drug abuse], the conservative pundits touted that the end of rap would spell the end of the nation's problems. My comments were initially leveled at white journalists who blamed the artist's lifestyle for his death, and politicians who talked ad nauseum about the deleterious effects of rap music, yet also supported cuts in education spending and the National Rifle Association. Unfortunately, now I am directing similar comments to the leaders of New York's National Puerto Rican Parade Committee.

In June of this year, more than 50 women were sexually assaulted by marauding groups of men during the National Puerto Rican Parade in New York City. The police have charged 30 men in the attacks and are searching for 17 others. Aside from the depravity of the assailants, contributing factors to the assaults included drug and alcohol use and a laizze faire attitude by the NYPD. Now in the aftermath of this violence against women, the parade's directors are considering a ban on some floats carrying rap performers whose music, they claim, glorifies violence and attracts the unruly mobs that have damaged the parade's reputation. Frederico Perez, a board member since the 1960s and a former councilman from the Bronx, was reported as saying that some of the rap music had "negative connotations;" attracting youths who take their shirts off and become boisterous hordes. Perez stated that, "We want music that is representative of us. That is representative of the Hispanic." To make a statement like that, Perez shows that he is unaware of the Latino contribution to Hip-Hop.
Anyone who traces the history of rap music and hip-hop culture knows that Blacks and Puerto Ricans in New York City were the originators of the art form. Individual MC's and DJ's were in well-known groups like Fearless Four and Fat Boys. After Kurtis Blow, the Fearless Four was the first rap group to be singed to a major record label [Elektra]; creating classics like "Rockin' It" and "Problems of the World." The crew included a Puerto Rican named "Devastating Tito" Dones and DJ Oscar "O.C" Rodriguez. Also there is also the legendary DJ Charlie Chase who spun for the Cold Crush Brothers. Although rap artists like Mase, Puffy and LL Cool J have dabbled in Spanglish [the hybrid of Spanish and English] on some of their records, they were not breaking any new ground. In 1981, an MC crew called the "Mean Machine" put the first bilingual rap on wax with the song the "Disco Dream" for Sugar Hill. Additionally, Mellow Man Ace's 1990 song, "Mentirosa," was the first Latino rap record to go gold. Today Latino artists like Fat Joe, the late Big Pun, Noreaga and radio personality Angie Martinez are considered just as much a part of hip-hop as Busta Rhymes or Redman.
For years the parade has attracted Latino and African-American rap artists and DJs who pay for their own floats or are sponsored by radio stations. Rap artist Fat Joe, whose real name is Joseph Cartagena, was quoted as saying that he and other artists believed that the parade officials failed to welcome them despite their popularity among Puerto Rican youth. According to Fat Joe, "The problem with the board is that that everyone is very old, and even without this problem happening this year, we always have different problem with them each year." He added, "It seems like our money is good and the attention we bring to the Puerto Rican Day Parade is good, but our cause is not really accepted." Parade board member, Madelyn Lugo, echoed Frederico Perez's statement about the music being "representative of Hispanics," by saying that "If they play music, they can play something in rap, but they should identity at least with Puerto Rican culture." It would be easy to write off these people as old fogies who seem to be clinging to memories of mambo king, Tito Puente, in the way one wrote off the Reverend Calvin Butts when he choose to steam roll rap CDs in Harlem several years ago. The difference in this instance however is that the parade officials' comments are tinged with racism.
Latinos and African-Americans have always had a precarious relationship. In many states like California, New York, Texas and Florida, all of which have large Latino populations, the two groups often occupy the same low-end of the economic totem pole. Despite our proximity to one another, there is real tension between Blacks and Latinos. It seems that many Latinos seem to harbor the same racial prejudices against Blacks that Whites do. In a recent New York Times series on race, white Cubans warned a new immigrant, a white Cuban, to stay away from Black people and Black neighborhoods in Florida because Blacks were deemed lazy and prone to criminality. Now two boyhood friends, one a white Cuban and the other an Afro-Cuban, once in America have ceased to associate with one another since here white Cubans can publicly exhibit their racial bias more openly than in Cuba.
In New York in particular, the mass migration of Puerto Ricans to New York began in the 1950s, and from that time on, African-Americans and Puerto Ricans [as well as other Latino groups] have lived near each other, worked together, and married each other, yet there are still issues around race. When Puerto Rican actress/singer, Jennifer Lopez appeared in court to testify for her boyfriend, rap artist, Sean "Puffy" Combs, I saw a Puerto Rican spectator say to the television news reporter that Lopez was "disgracing her race," by defending Combs. The last time that I checked, Puerto Rico was not a race but an island comprised of the descendents of Taino Indians, African slaves and Europeans. An acquaintance of mine, when mistaken for an African-American, will instantly state that she is "Puerto Rican, not Black" as if the two were mutually exclusive. The connotation in those statements is that Puerto Ricans are different, if not superior, to average Black people.
Similarly, although the attackers were a mix of Black and Latino men, in one television interview a parade official stated that after viewing the videotape of suspects, he knew that were from "outside of their community;" i.e. was not Puerto Rican. As a viewer I thought that this was an asinine statement, since there are White Puerto Ricans, Black Puerto Ricans and everything in-between, so how could he tell from a videotape who was Puerto Rican, much less who is even Latino? People often approach me speaking Spanish, so looks alone definitely cannot identify an "average Black woman" from a Latina. Such presumptions are based on what the Latino deems is Latino; Perez and his ilk live in one reality while the people who approach me live in another.
Many Latinos, including rap artists and radio personalities, oppose the rap ban. Bronx Assemblyman Ruben Diaz, whose district includes the Bronx River Houses where rap music was born, said that he thought that Perez's assertions were off the mark. Diaz is quoted as saying, "I love rap music and I didn't grow up hassling women." Diaz, whose parents are from Puerto Rico also said, "Somebody who says rap music or hip-hop is not part of Puerto Rican culture would be sadly mistaken." Parade officials, by targeting rap music as disruptive, from "outside" elements and not "Hispanic," are merely exposing their own latent racial biases.
At issue is not cultural pride but acknowledgements that rap music, with its African-American roots and following, is indeed part of Latin youth culture. Parade officials indeed have the right to limit music that they deem offensive, however banning rap alone will not necessarily prevent future incidents.

In order to curb parade violence, officials of National Puerto Rican Parade need to acknowledge that they have failed to take responsibility for any part of the melee not educating revelers [of any race or color] not to bring drugs and booze to the parade.

Additionally, their voices have been virtually non-existent in admonishing the NYPD for their shoddy paroling.

Ultimately, rap is a form of entertainment that does not appeal to all, but violence will be curtailed not by censoring the messages, but by getting to their origins.

:blackidea: It is far too easy to say that youth are feeble brained and thus susceptible to rap's messages rather than do the necessary work to alleviate the poverty and dysfunction that mar their existences.



JURASSIC 5: LAUSD

[Jurassic 5]
Yo, we are no superstars
Who wanna be large and forget who we are
Don't judge us by bank accounts and big cars
No matter how bright we shine we're far from being stars
Cause stars fall, and disintigrate before they hit the
Asfalt, they incinerate cause we came
Not to destroy the law but to fulfill
For those who appreciate those with skills
And fresh windmills, and graf that kills
What is a DJ without the scratch to build?
Without the elements, it's all irrelevant
Niggas love to Freestyle but hate to Fellowship
[Zaakir]
Yeah, taste the city's agenda, most of you outta town niggas
Get caught up and turn bitter, the city of bullshitters
Where hopes are blown, not even money for the phone
Now tell me what's the solution, how to get back home?
[Charli 2na]
Yo, don't get caught up in glamor and glitz and camera tricks
The Land of the Dead, before you come examine your set
Where drama collects and women use special effects
Where amateur stunts can make a nigga damage your fronts
[Akil]
Uh, the California Sunkist with a twist of limelight
Some set trip on the Sunset Strip
Belive the Hide Boulevard nice, the glamorous life
Many searching for the fame but can't afford the price
[Marc 7even]
She would turn you out if you wasn't prepared
She would tell you the things you wanted to hear
She would blur your vision when it once was clear
This chick is full of tricks so approach with fear, cause
[Jurassic 5]
Yo, we are no superstars
Who wanna be large and forget who we are
Don't judge us by bank accounts and big cars
No matter how bright we shine we're far from being stars
[Zaakir]
You say you love LA, you say the weather is great
Plenty sun in your face, you like the cars with bass
You like the way we paperchase and the women that shake
In the land of earthquakes and high crime rates
A lot of people is fake, this is Hollywood
We shape the minds of kids in every hood
We make your past situation look good
The nights filled with Shugs and I wish you would
[Marc 7even]
Can dance with Alvin Haley and Les Miserables
In this century city, you can walk on the stars
Sex, money, and murder, yeah it's all 4 to 5
Cause fame and passerby with the name immortalized
[Akil]
On the avenue of stars, many names are called
On the boulevard, known for leaving permanent scars
Many dreams get robbed, real movie macabre
Young heartthrobs get young heart sobs, cause
"Good evenening ladies and gentlemen welcome to Hollywood, California"
[Charli 2na]
The city of angel's wings represents people's hopes and dreams
And the evil that men do that live life close to kings
And boast supreme, fancy cars, coats, and cream
Material things provoke more folks to scheme
Whether you paid your cost, Cali green made your call
The smog covers the city like a table cloth
Is it fame at fault? Entertainers labeled soft
The place where people come to lose their train of thought
[Zaakir]
Despite the claims of what LA is and what it ain't
The picture the city paints that overexaggerates
Within the circus, if you're filling this service purpose
Some feel it ain't worth it, the city that's got you nervous
And make you injure, and get up out of here nigga
Cause LA never considered for those that need baby sitters
This is the hot bed for singles and newlyweds
Some looking for better gigs or fiending to make it big
It's the only place where stars are born
And we are the only ones that can't be worn
Out, by any place regardless of the cost
Cause brothers with big dreams, sometimes they get lost cause
[Jurassic 5]
Yo, we are no superstars
Who wanna be large and forget who we are
Don't judge us by bank accounts and big cars
No matter how bright we shine we're far from being stars
Cause stars fall, and disintigrate before they hit the
Asfalt, they incinerate cause we came
Not to destroy the law but to fulfill
For those who appreciate those with skills
And..., and...
What is a DJ without the (scratching)
Without the elements, it's all irrelevant
(I represent the real from the beginning to the end of it)

If I may be so bold, I would like to put all the shucking and jiving so-called “Public Intellectuals” who pimp their snake-oil brand of Black history around the country, which excludes the heroic role of the Nation of Islam in their accounts, I would like to put them on notice that at least one writer—yours truly—will not countenance their shallow scholarship and faux intellectualism. Not without a complaint. Not without a scream!

To put it mildly, I am sick and tired of the cheap prevailing Black intellectual view of the Nation of Islam. It’s not just the Neo-Cons and the White Evangelicals of the World who have problems with Muslims, our own Black intelligentsia have issues with the Islamic influence–particularly the Nation of Islam–on Black literature and culture in the United States and they refuse to admit it.

To be fair, there are a few young, curious scholars who (as one told me) “make a living by reading and telling people what I’ve read,” who decry the pernicious exclusion of all positive references to the Nation of Islam’s contribution to the Black Power movement of the 1960s and 1970s and who exclude NOI scholars from their discussions of it. These scholars describe the omission as “anti-historical.” They’re correct. And the Muslim haters are fake, bogus, scholars in my opinion!

Three years ago, I was the skunk at a garden party organized by English professor and English department “legend,” Eleanor Traylor at Howard University. I was rudely escorted from the room when I respectfully demanded to know during the public comment session of a panel, why the Nation’s contribution had been omitted.

Now, here comes the vaunted Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture with a two day colloquium March 30-31 it calls: “1968 and Beyond: A Symposium on the Impact of the Black Power Movement in America.” Ha!

I predict there will be many devout references and libations over the name of Malcolm X, but only scorn and derision (if his name is mentioned at all) of Brother Malcolm’s mentor and teacher, the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad.

Shallow Black intellectuals and academics love to lionize Brother Malcolm, highlighting only the 14 months or so of his life after he broke with the Nation of Islam, while trying to wipe out his 12 years of steadfast service and leadership within the Nation—and to the Black Liberation Movement inside and outside the U.S.—which was his platform for earning national attention in the first place. They do the same with Muhammad Ali.

When I saw the Smithsonian’s 2009 announcement, just as I had done when I saw Howard University’s program in March 2006, I went bonkers! “They’ve done it again. They’ve kicked the Nation of Islam’s contribution to Black intellectual development to the curb.”

At these events they always get a truckload of fake Ph.D. candidates chaperoned by real professors, presenting papers and performances for days on end, talking about the Black intellectual revolution of the 1960s and 1970s–the Black Arts Movement, Black Power and such.

The topics sometimes even reflect the prevailing mood of that period: “It’s Nation Time.”

“Nation Time” that is, without “The Nation.”

As unseemly as it is for me to do so, I take personal umbrage at the insinuation when Muslims are excluded, that all these well educated organizers can’t find any “smart people” from within the circle of the Nation of Islam to talk about its role. Well, call me “ill mannered” then.
I’m not angry at the panelists themselves, they do not organize these shallow intellectual events and call them academic exercises. But at some point some of them (especially those who had personal experiences with the Nation of Islam in the 1960s and 1970s) ought to be curious enough when they go to seminar after seminar and only see the Nation’s contribution referred to anecdotally to at least ask once in a while if the Nation’s larger role shouldn’t be considered.

There are many living, breathing, members of the Nation who are much better speakers and presenters than me, who I will not embarrass by including their names in this personal rant, but I can say that for 40 years I’ve personally known of this Black “militant” intellectual bias against the Nation.

In 1970, after I had seen two of my poems published in subsequent Annual Poetry Editions, and a short story of mine featured in the Annual Fiction Edition with my portrait on the cover of Johnson Publishing Company’s Negro Digest and Black World magazines, I wrote Editor Hoyt Fuller over my joy at receiving my “X.” I had an X, “just like Brother Malcolm” I wrote. I never had another mumbling word published in any publication edited by Mr. Fuller.

But I went on with my career as a journalist who was involved in the Black Power movement, published in the pages of the Nation of Islam’s newspaper Muhammad Speaks. I can still put my hands on my original manuscript–sent by Western Union Telegram–of the article I wrote when Angela Davis was acquitted in San Jose California, June 4, 1972. I still have my manuscripts and photos from the funeral of Jonathan Jackson in 1970 and the murder of George Jackson in 1971.

Been there! Done that!

By the time I had reminded myself of my own role in the struggle and of my own fitness to recount it for a new generation of thinkers and writers, I was not just intellectually perturbed, I was personally offended all over again. Like I said: call me ill mannered.

Granted I wrote using the names Charles K. Moreland Jr. in poetry anthologies and magazines, and Charles 20X and Charles 67X in Muhammad Speaks before I was named Askia Muhammad. But we translated LeRoi Jones into Amiri Baraka, didn’t we? We know that Haki Madhubuti was Don L. Lee, don’t we? We know that Askia Muhammad Toure was Roland Snellings, don’t we? Of course we do, and the irony is that were it not for the influence of the Nation of Islam and the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, those giants of our struggle would still probably be known by their dreaded “slave names.”

The contradiction is, that the Black–just like the White–intellectual establishment does not want to know about Muslim writers, accept when they go against the Nation of Islam.

Maybe I should recognize that the Nation of Islam was simply a “change agent,” a catalyst like the War in Vietnam, like the Civil Rights movement–a completely unstudied change agent, I would complain–which helped make the climate in the Black community receptive to the Black Arts Movement and its new way of thinking. Maybe, I should concede that the Nation of Islam was a change agent and not the object of the change.
No. Heck no! The object remains the same, and in some vital ways it is independent of a religious label. It is to change the minds of Black people to realize what Mr. Muhammad taught us: that the six most important words for us in the English language today are: “Accept your own and be yourself.”

That is intellectually and artistically distinct. Name. Culture. Religion. Language. Diet. That is the new paradigm injected into our culture by the Nation of Islam, not by the NAACP, not by the SCLC, not by SNCC—as important as their contributions were. “Nation Time” is the thinking which the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s reflects. That is the 800 lb gorilla in the Black intellectual meeting room, which most scholars, even Black scholars and most recently those shallow thinkers at the Smithsonian apparently want to overlook, and try mightily to ignore.



Peace be upon you

Black Journalism Review
‘Black Power’ and shallow scholarship at the Smithsonian at Black Journalism Review