Haiti is suffering now. One of the reasons is because of the effects of U.S. policies and others from the West. U.S. aid and trade policies deal with Haiti in a strange way. Many of these policies have been greedy and harmed Haiti. The U.S. government agencies say that their programs have been meant to alleviate hunger and advance agricultural production. The issue is that some of these programs have caused new consumers for U.S. agricultural products like rice, poultry, pork, and other products, while undermining local agricultural production (and changing Haitian eating habits). Haiti is heavily agricultural. There has been a lowering of tariffs that once protected Haitian sugar, rice, and chicken. This according to a study from Christian Aid estimated that 831,900 people have been directly affected by this policy. The U.S. is the world's largest food aid donor. Haiti's food aid mostly comes from U.S. government programs. The non-emergency food aid program, called “Food for Peace” (established under Public Law or PL 480), cost U.S. taxpayers US$1.5 billion in fiscal year 2012. It was created in 1954. It is legally obligated to be based almost entirely on U.S.-produced food, at least half of which must be shipped on U.S.-flagged boats. (In 2008, the George W. Bush administration authorized a small pilot “local and regional procurement pilot program, but most U.S. food aid still comes from U.S. farmers). In his 2010 book Travesty in Haiti, anthropologist Timothy T. Schwartz deplores the damage done by U.S. food: “Food assistance to Haiti during the 1980s tripled reaching a yearly average of over US$50 million in gratuitous U.S. surplus beans, corn, rice and cracked wheat. Put in simpler terms, that was enough food to meet the calorific needs of over 15% of the Haitian population.” In 2010 and 2011, 10% of food consumed in Haiti was food aid food. Now that number is down to about 5%, according to Pierre Gary Mathieu, head of the government’s food security office, the Coordination Nationale de Sécurité Alimentaire (CNSA). Five percent is still considerable. “When you have a country that depends in part on food aid to function, you are in a really serious situation,” Mathieu told Haiti Grassroots Watch (HGW). “In other words, that food aid becomes a strategic and a political element… [and] the food aid you have is imported food aid, which comes from overseas. But, paradoxically, while food aid is being distributed in some regions, in other regions you are experiencing overproduction.” Some food money has been squandered instead of feeding the hungry. Some forces have discouraged food production by local farmers. This action has been opposed by Oxfam and even CARE. There has been a surplus of goods from the U.S. and some Port au Prince merchants re-export cracked wheat to Miami. There is still corporate welfare in the farm bill. When you have neoliberalism, forcing open ports, dropping protective tariffs in Haiti, it will be devastating for Haitian farmers (and a bonanza for U.S. rice farmers and other U.S. grain and food exporters). In his article on rice, Oxfam’s Cohen decries what he calls the U.S. “neo-mercantilist trade policy” that “aims to maintain free access to the Haitian market for U.S. food exports (particularly rice).” Before 1995, rice and other Haitian agricultural products were protected by tariffs as high as 50 percent. This was changed. In its 2006 report Agricultural Liberalisation in Haiti, Christian Aid called the tariff drops “disastrous,” noting that Haiti went from being recently largely self-sufficient in food to using most of its export earnings to buy foreign food, mostly from the U.S. A diet consumed with rice and chicken increased in Haitian as a result of these policies (instead of a true diversified eating of foods in Haiti). The U.S. Congress will eventually vote a new Farm Bill, which may or may not have changes to both food aid and farmer subsidies. But massive damage from U.S. farmer subsidies, food aid and lowered tariffs has already has been done. Haiti is a poor country, so they have the right to have high tariffs according to even WTO rules. Neoliberal policies are preventing national production in Haiti for resources. Haiti must have food sovereignty since most farmers working the land do not own it or have dubious deeds. So, we need agricultural development in Haiti and food aid should legitimately assist the Haitians without being a detriment to Haitian agricultural resources at all.
Black fathers are great human beings. The enemy always places our fathers and our mothers as scapegoats for the ills of society. The victim of oppression is readily blamed for the actions of the oppressor itself. Reactionaries claim that single parent households are more vulnerable to abuse. The enemy talks about absentee fatherhood and deadbeat dads all of the time. Now, the truth is that fathers and mothers should be in the lives of their children. Yet, parenting alone is not responsible for the social ills ranging from high school dropout rates to drug use, physical abuse, and crime. This scapegoating of many fathers and many mothers is related to the culture of poverty lie that blames poor people for their situation not neoliberalism, not economic exploitation, or not the evil system. This false narrative is used as a means for some to scapegoat black human beings in an insidious and racist fashion. This narrative is false since high black unemployment and incarceration rates are caused by the evil policies from the establishment (which comes from the system of white supremacy). We see that some talk about 64 percent of black children growing up in homes without fathers. Even President Barack Obama uses this stat as a means to promote marriage and encourage fatherhood in his mind (while refusing to expose the evil imperialist Empire of society). Now, this blame the victim approach of scapegoating black families grew into a high level with the advent of the racist 1965 Moynihan Report. That report described the Black family as a "tangle of pathology." That racist 1965 report also blamed black mothers for the issues in the black community, which is false. The oppression, discrimination, racism, and poverty has harmed the black community not black women at all. The enemy always have a perverted hatred of black women. Anyone that harbors evil hatred of black women is by definition an agent (I don't care who it is). The reality is very different. Poor and Black fathers in this country do make real efforts to be involved in the lives of their families and children. But these relationships are structured and constrained by poverty, racism and the criminal injustice system in ways that are rarely discussed. Most black children live in single parent homes, but this doesn't mean that their fathers are not involved in their lives. Studies have shown that unmarried Black fathers are highly involved in their young children's lives, with the majority seeing their kids three to five times per week. Combining this figure with the fathers who live with their children, it means that almost three-quarters of Black children have a father present in their lives. This is hardly the crisis level that we hear about in the media so frequently. Numerous studies show that black fathers are more involved in certain aspects of parents. Studies show that Black fathers are more involved in certain aspects of parenting. For example, Black men are more likely to provide physical care for their children, including preparation of meals, bathing and help with getting dressed. A Boston College study found that Black men were more likely than any other racial or ethnic group to remain in contact with their non-residential children. In fact, 99 percent of unmarried fathers state a desire to be in their children's lives. So, we know that issues exist because of unemployment and poverty not black men or black women collectively at all. Almost 40 percent of unmarried Black fathers make less than $10,000 per year, and 70 percent of uncollected child support payments are owed by men making less than $10,000 per year. Nonetheless, researchers have found that poor, unmarried Black fathers make substantial efforts to provide for their children. The majority of these fathers contribute physical necessities such as diapers, clothing or school supplies. Because they are likely to be unemployed or have irregular work, they also provide support in the form of homework help and childcare so that mothers can work, go to school or run errands. Unlike state-mandated child support payments, these activities involve fathers directly and visibly in the care of their children. Mass incarceration has harmed many fathers having the chance to provide for their children in real life. Absentee fathers exist, but mass incarceration has torn a much more hold in the lives of many children. The oft cited and alarming statistics showing that children raised in single-parent households are more likely to commit crime, drop out of school or go to prison mistake correlation for causation. Absent fathers don't cause these issues. In fact, the same factors that make it difficult for poor, Black fathers to be consistently involved with their children--racism, poverty and mass incarceration--are also the ones that diminish the hopes and life chances of those children. All children deserve adults in their lives that love and care for them. Fathers and Mothers should not be scapegoated for the evils in a wicked society. There must be a social responsibility to build up society. In other words, we must confront racism and social inequality as a means to build the lives of families in the world.
The debacle of the HealthCare.gov is something else. The website is not fully working and it is a shame. The White House is facing more pressure to fix the technical problems of the website. The site wants to sell insurance via the Affordable Care Act or the ACA. Even some Democrats have criticized the website as dysfunctional. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said that the government is still working to fix the hundreds of problems with the federal health insurance website. She said these words before the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday. She refused the calls from politicians of both parties to delay the initial enrollment period beyond March 31, 2014. She argued that following: "...There’s plenty of time to sign up for the new plan.” The White House is determined to stick to the March 31 deadline, and has also rejected calls to temporarily take the site down until the technical problems have been resolved. The Affordable Care Act tells those who are not insured via their employer (or via a government program like Medicare or Medicaid) with a few exception that they must obtain insurance or pay a penalty. Pushing back the deadline or delaying it by as much as a year (as many Congressional Republicans demand) would block this key provision. The administration wants to force millions of people to purchase coverage from private insurers on the exchanges. The ACA allows millions of folks to join private insurance companies via the individual mandate. So far, there are no radical plans to train new doctors and nurse or to expand health care to the rural poor. There is no nationwide program aimed at eradicating hunger and disease. We do see a reform of the system in the midst of growing social inequality. The ACA is not universal health care. Even if the web site were running smoothly, the Congressional Budget Office has projected that the health care overhaul will leave 31 million people uninsured, and about 6 million of these will pay penalties. These figures include undocumented immigrants who do not qualify for government subsidies to purchase coverage, millions of the very poor whose resident states are not expanding Medicaid, and those who choose to pay a penalty because they cannot afford insurance, with or without government subsidies. Many least expensive plans in the website have the highest out of pocket costs due to annual deductibles and cost sharing. The White once said that: “If you like your health plan, you can keep it.” It has been revealed that the White House was aware as early as June 2010 that an estimated 40 to 67 percent of the 14 million Americans who purchase health insurance on the individual market would be dropped by their insurers. Millions of people have already received cancellation notices, and many are finding that replacement policies are priced substantially higher. The White House claimed that this was done replace weak plans as a means to give customers stronger plans with standards. Some employer based system of insurance has been changed in America. Modeling them after the ACA, major companies, including IBM, Time Warner and Caterpillar, have already shifted their retirees off of company-administered health care plans and into privately run health care exchanges. Others, such as Sears Holding and Darden Restaurants, have moved their active employees to these private exchanges. According to one estimate, within the next five years nearly a quarter of the 170 million people presently enrolled in company-sponsored plans will be dumped by their employers onto these private exchanges. Even in Detroit, some want to send folks into a stipend instead of having their current health insurance. We do not need a voucher system. We still have the wealthy getting the best costs out of pocket while the working class and the poor relegated to substandard care in many cases. We need universal health care indeed.
The leadership of the Confederacy wanted slavery to exist in the South by their founding documents. Everyone knows that other factors influenced the civil war from trade, exports, and other issues. Yet, the issue of slavery was a major reason on why the war existed in the first place. Many state Constitutions of Confederacy supported slavery and Confederate leaders expressed support for slavery by their own words as well. The state legislatures of the rebellious southern states made many pronouncements as to their reasons behind secession and the majority of them mentioned SLAVERY. So, I reject neo-Confederate dogma. Many abolitionists opposed the Confederacy like Frederick Douglas, Martin Delany (an early black pan-Africanist I might add), and others for legitimate reasons. Folks were killed under that racist banner and as a black man; I will never co-sign that flag of the enemy at all. The Confederate South did not have major corporate headquarters like the North. Yet, they did have brutal treatment against innocent black humanity. They did have bigots controlling state governments. They did economically exploit human life for selfish and immoral purposes. They did have Confederate members committing war crimes against innocent blacks like they did in the Fort Pillow Massacre over in TN. So, the neo-Confederates are wrong on so many issues. To put racists in their place is to fight for success as others mentioned. Yet, it is more than that. It is to fight injustice and to advance justice. See, true justice must be created into existence. Also, the system of white supremacy must be eradicated from the face of the Earth as a means for black human beings to have true justice in society. I believe in showing strength as a means to outline my black heritage and not being ashamed of their black identity. That is the point. I am black and I will defend my African heritage to the fullest. I do blame some white Euro terrorists for the origin of the Maafa. Also, I realize the historical dynamics of slavery. The reality is that there is a system of white supremacy in the world that humans have the right to oppose. Authors like Dr. Nelly Fuller have exposed this system and how even those who never participated in slavery benefit from. I will never forget a single drop of blood that my ancestors shed. I will never minimize the suffering of my people at all to placate some post racial narrative. All humans deserve dignity and respect. Humans can unite on common cause to solve problems. On the other hand, Black human beings have every God given to collaborate with each other to solve problems as other ethnic groups are doing. Why is it that when blacks advocate peaceful Black Unity, then that is falsely equated to white racism? It doesn't make sense at all. Black Unity is a great thing and it is legitimate. This story is about remembering the evils of lynchings. It has nothing to do with whining at all. I reject racism 100 percent. So, I will continue to advance Black Love, Black Unity, and Black Power as a real Black Man have every right to do. The crimes of some white people should not be ignored, omitted, or obfuscated at all. Now, this story is about the immorality of lynching and how real Sisters and Brothers like Ida B. Wells stood up to fight for justice. Black humanity fighting for justice has nothing to do with whining. It has to do with the strength of our community to combat injustice. That is the point. I do not hate other human beings, but I do hate oppression and I hate injustice. I love black people and certainly nothing is immoral about Black Love at all. I will forever have love for the Motherland of Africa forever. I will love Black Women forever (the black woman alone can fulfill my heart romantically as a black man) and Respect the Brothers doing what is right as well. I will always defend my Black People forever and nothing will change that.
There are more interesting facts about Africa and black humanity that many human beings do not know about. Liberia GDP's growth rate is nearly four times that of America. This trend is occurring in the past decade. Africa supplied six of the world's ten economies with the fastest growth. African entrepreneurs are very talented in the world. Africa's mobile telecoms market is the world's second largest/fastest growing after China. That is why the Economist magazine dubbed Africa the world's "Hottest Investment Frontier" in April of this year. Africa's economy is growing rapidly. The African millionaire growth rate is five times that of the United States and Africa has more billionaires than Latin America. Even the late black inventor Alexander Miles was awarded a patent for an automatically opening and closing elevator door design in in 1887. The great African American inventor Frederick McKinley Jones created innovations in refrigeration that caused great improvement to the long haul transportation of perishable goods. He was the winner of the National Medal of Technology and the inductee of the National Inventors Hall of Fame. During his life, Jones was awarded 61 patents. Forty were for refrigeration equipment, while others went for portable X-ray machines, sound equipment, and gasoline engines. In 1944, Jones became the first African American to be elected into the American Society of Refrigeration Engineers. Also, our cultural legacy as black people has always been in favor of justice and true morality. Even many Europeans centuries ago admitted that black Africans have an affinity or strong love for justice. The high esteem the ancients held blacks carried on into the Middle Ages. Ibn Battuta, writing about the 14th century West African Kingdom of Mali, recorded: "The small number of acts of injustice that one finds there, for the Negroes are of all peoples those who most abhor injustice and complete and general safety one enjoys throughout the land." So, as we can see that early evidence of agriculture in Africa can be found from 16,000 B.C. and metallurgy from ca. 4,000 B.C. The famous Kingdoms and Empires of ancient Africa include Nubia, ancient KMT, Nok, Mali , Ashanti, the Kingdom of Mapungubwe, Zimbabwe, Aksum, Songhai Mali, etc. Ancient black Nubians even ruled ancient Egypt for a while. It began under Kashta and it was completely by Piye during the 8th century. This was the birth of the 25th Dynasty of Egypt. Other rulers were Shabaka and Taharqa. They ruled ancient Eygpt for a hundred years. The Nubian pharaoh Tantamani was the last of the 25th dynasty. The city of Meroe was home to the Meroitic alphabet. They worked in iron making and cotton cloth of manufacturing in the Nubian Kingdom. The ancient land of Punt is found in Somalia. Thousands of years ago, ancient Somalia has been found with pyramidal structures, mausoleums, ruined cities, and stone walls like the Wargaade Wall. They traded heavily with ancient Egypt and Mycenaean Greece since the start of the second millennium B.C. The Puntites traded myrrh, spices, gold, ebony, short-horned cattle, ivory and frankincense with the Ancient Egyptians, Phoenicians, Babylonians, Indians, Chinese and Romans through their commercial ports. An Ancient Egyptian expedition sent to Punt by the 18th dynasty Queen Hatshepsut is recorded on the temple reliefs at Deir el-Bahari, during the reign of the Puntite King Parahu and Queen Ati.
By Timothy
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