Various Topics.

 

 

Malcolm X believed in Pan-African unity. Malcolm X didn't just oppose imperialism, colonialism, and capitalist exploitation. He also disagreed with the Vietnam War and wanted total global Pan-African unity. What is Pan-African Unity? That is about the growth and strengthening of social, political, and economic bonds of solidarity among people of black African descent worldwide. The African Diaspora is found globally even in Antarctica and the rest of the continents of the Earth. As for me, I was born and raised in North America, being a black American with distinct cultural traditions from an Afro-French person. Subsequently, there is nothing wrong with that. We can honor our cultural diversity along with recognizing our common humanity as black people, simultaneously.

 

The fiftieth year anniversary of the successful Selma voting rights movement and the 1965 Voting Rights Act ought to make us have a lot of appreciation of the sacrifice of heroes who stood up for our freedom like Sheyann Webb and Rachel West (who were little children back in 1965), Amelia Boynton, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Hosea Williams, Diane Nash, Kwame Ture, and other human beings. The black masses of human beings worked courageously in the movement. The organizations of DCVL, SCLC, and SNCC were crucial in the Selma movement for real social change. The Selma Voting Rights movement was also multiethnic, filled with people of every color back then who wanted to see the black people of Selma and nationwide in America to have equality, justice, and liberty. Back then, the American ruling class knew full well that it was greatly hypocritical to proclaim themselves as the arbitrators of "democracy," but see segregation in America and imperialism overseas (with the U.S. government's conduct in the imperialistic actions in Vietnam, the Dominican Republic, Greece, Congo, etc.). So, the progressive, freedom-loving people in America worked with diligence to allow the Voting Rights Act to be passed. 1965 was a transition year in world history. By this time, the postwar economic boom started to unravel. This era saw West Germany and Japan compete with America and Western Europe for resources. Automation was a reality, causing industrial jobs to decline involving manufacturing and other type of jobs. Also, the Vietnam War by the late 1960s not only stripped away resources for anti-poverty measures, but the war increased inflation, causing stagflation. In 1965, the Civil Rights Movement debated on what to do next. Some civil rights leaders wanted to continue in voting rights activism in the South, some wanted to go into the anti-war movement, some wanted to build a coalition in the Democratic Party to form an alliance to gain economic and political reforms, and some wanted to go into addressing the massive economic inequality in America.

Immediately after the Voting Rights Act was signed, the Watts rebellion happened in Los Angeles, California. The events of Watts inspired Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to go into the next phase of the movement. That phase dealt with economic issues and social issues. As Dr. King said, it's fine to have civil rights, but that means little if a person doesn't have bread to eat or having a living wage to survive in the complexities of modern-day society. A lot of us black people from the South back then didn't realize the suffering and the hurt of the black people in the North, Midwest, and the West Coast (by 1965, many of those regions had civil rights legislation but they still had de facto segregation, which was segregation by unwritten rules, not literal laws). The rebellion in Watts took place in August 1965. It came after a dispute between a black family and the police. Black residents in Los Angeles were sick and tired of discrimination, economic oppression, racism, and other injustices inflicted on them like being treated as a colony under occupation. The Watts rebellion was so large that President Lyndon Baines Johnson called the California National Guard in Watts to stop it. There was the occupation by the police and the National Guard. The events resulted in 36 people died, about 1,000 people injured, 4,000 people arrested, and $200 million in buildings and other property being destroyed. More than 15,000 troops and 1,000 people were mobilized. Almost a 50 square mile area, the rebellion happened. The Watts rebellion was a product of massive racism, police brutality, and economic deprivation. Watts had more than 100,000 people lived in a small, crammed area. There were many people living in run down housing projects, and black families faced housing discrimination. Back then, the unemployment rate in Watts was 30 percent and half of the population was on welfare. These conditions were in the height of the postwar boom. Times were changing, and ore had to be established to make society truly egalitarian. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. came to Watts to try to calm people down and promote nonviolence, but he was booed by many black residents in Watts. That was taboo as Dr. King was rarely booed by black people back then. Dr. King later realized that people booed not at him personally per se but at the system that deprived them of basic human rights and the chance to achieve their own dreams in the midst of the richest nation in human history. They were desperate for a social change. Therefore, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. changed to see that a radical redistribution of economic and political power was necessary in order to give black people true liberation.

In other words, it's fine to dismantle segregation. Back in the day, our ancestors fought Jim Crow not to bow down to white people or make ourselves extinct. We wanted desegregation, so we can control the resources in our community and have self-determination without legalized oppression. Malcolm X, Black Power advocates, and even Dr. King advocated black self determination in developing our own institutions plus political and economic power. The problem with Jim Crow is that it was a system that the government controlled that forced black people to have lax rights and lax opportunities to have freedom. At the end of the day, we (who are black people) desire true independence and real freedom worldwide. The problem is that we need to do more that eliminate Jim Crow apartheid. We need to provide decent jobs and improve the social conditions of the entire people. Political and economic power should be in the hands of the people. The real definition of a revolution is a radical change in society where the people have the power to control their own destinies socially, politically, and economically (with a radical redistribution of political and economic power). You can't have justice and true social equality without economic justice. Also, there is no solution without the end of the system of white racism point blank period exclamation point.  Dr. King went to Chicago in 1966 to promote housing rights for black residents and true justice. He witnessed thousands of white reactionary racists wanted to hurt him. He was hit in the head with a rock. Therefore, Dr. King wanted to promote economic justice and an end to racist practices in society. Also, Dr. King wanted to promote the greatness of black personhood as he was right to proclaim publicly that Black is Beautiful. Dr. King also talked about the necessity to help the poor (to eradicate poverty with the Poor People's Campaign) and to have solidarity with international movements against colonialism and imperialism overseas. 

By 1966, Kwame Ture promoted the call for Black Power. Black Power was one of the most praised and debated movements of the overall black freedom struggle. It means many things to be many people. It has been slandered as racist by far-right extremists and even some establishment liberals back then. Richard Wright wrote about Black Power long before 1966, but Kwame Ture was the first person to modernize it by 1966 when he called for it in Greenwood, Mississippi. In Mississippi, Kwame Ture, Dr. King, and other civil rights leaders came to defend the rights of black people after a black man was shot in the street. Black Power is the view that black people have the right to own and control the resources in their communities to gain political, economic, cultural, and social power to benefit black people collectively. There are many factions of the Black Power Movement. Some Black Power advocates were more conservative who wanted black capitalism (which was supported by President Richard Nixon in his 1968 Presidential campaign) or a piece of the action. Many of them were in the Republican Party and embraced conservative nationalism. This issue is that many conservative nationalists ignore the necessity to deal with environmental issues, health care, economic inequality, and other progressive issues that benefit black people collectively. The conservative black nationalists may use some "radical rhetoric," but some of them represented a rival middle class faction that doesn't oppose the current capitalist system (just seeking a piece of the pie in that capitalist system, which does nothing to eradicate poverty and economic exploitation. That is a profound contradiction, because an economic and political system based on the exploitation of human beings in a competitive, selfish mechanism can never enact true liberation for all). This doesn't mean that Stalinist Communism is great, as Stalinist Communism makes a human just a cog in the wheel of the state. The state should be controlled by the people, not by a select few to limit human creativity. As Dr. King rightfully said, Capitalists forget that life is social, and Communism forget that life is individual, so we need independence, not the worship of Communism or Capitalism. The lie is that Communism and Capitalism are infallible. The truth is that these 2 economic philosophies are man-made philosophies with imperfections. One proponent of Communism was Karl Marx, who was an anti-religious bigot, racist, self-loathing anti-Semite, and deceiver. In his Communist Manifesto, he bashed morality, and his rare works outlined his hatred of society. For example, Karl Marx made the following words: “The chief mission of all other races and peoples, large and small, is to PERISH in the revolutionary holocaust." (Published by Karl Marx in 1849 in his political journal ‘Neue Rheinische Zeitung’). If I knew of this information for years, don't you think fake liberals who defend Marx to this day know this? Many do. When you think about it, from God's Holy Spirit, the enemy of truth resides in those who use cartel capitalism (which makes nearly an idol of money and outlines the worship of self-interest at the expense of human altruism. Such nefarious teachings are promoted by Ludwig von Mises and the Austrian School, the Mont Pelerin Society, the Eugenics Societies, and the Chicago School, as well as the Republican and Libertarian Parties) and Stalinist communism to promote monopolies, depopulate people, and try to gain the world's resources and control the people unjustly. Dr. King gave a nuanced view of Black Power saying that black people need economic and political power, while he rejected separatism. 

The progressive side of the Black Power movement had been represented by the Black Panther Party of Self-Defense (which existed in Oakland, California by October 1967. Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton found that Black Panther Party for Self Defense) and other organizations. The Black Panther Party represented a natural evolution found in the black freedom struggle that wanted more human rights beyond just civil rights. Regardless of the diversity of thought found in the black community, we all desire the same goal (which is which is freedom, justice, and equality for black people and the rest of the human race). The growth of Black Power and Black Nationalist ideologies were prominent from 1966 onward in Civil Rights circles. SNCC would evolve and ally with the Black Power movement. Power. On July 4, 1966, the 23nd annual convention of the Congress on Racial Equality or CORE adopted Black Power as its political slogan for the U.S. civil rights movement. The convention also adopted resolutions opposing U.S. military involvement in the Vietnam War and offered support for draft resisters. Its new national director was Floyd D. McKissick. He criticized President Johnson and the more conservative civil rights organizations. He also invited members of the Nation of Islam to the conference, who attended dressed in military style uniforms. James Farmer by this time retired as director of CORE in March 1, 1966. So, CORE by the late 1960’s, embraced Black Nationalism. Likewise, many moderate civil rights leaders would engage even more in the capitalist system (especially after 1968) to follow the agenda of the corporate 2 party system instead of embracing political independence. The masses of black working people including the poor must be part of the solution making process (to oppose economic exploitation and promote economic, racial, environmental, gender, and social justice) in order for justice to be made real. A real revolutionary wants the end of a corrupt system and replace it with a system of justice.

During this time (of the late 1960’s), Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. became more progressive. CORE was founded in 1942 as originally a progressive organization. It worked in desegregating interstate travel, voter registration, lunch counter sit-ins, and the Freedom Rides of the early 1960’s. CORE ironically by the end of the 1960’s would be more conservative. For example, CORE supported the Presidency of Richard Nixon (who modernized the War on Drugs, attacked the Black Panthers, and he followed many reactionary policies) in 1968 and 1972. In 1968, Roy Innis declared CORE (which accepted a 1968 grant from the Ford Foundation to work for Carl Stokes’ mayoral campaign in Cleveland) to be a Black Nationalist and separatist organization. Many left wing, liberal people left the organization including the entire Brooklyn branch because of the rightwing turn of CORE (Innis changed CORE from its originally progressive mission. Multinational corporations like Monsanto fund CORE. Innis’ son Nigel Innis continues in his father’s conservative agenda). During the 1970’s, Roy Innis and CORE supported Republicans and he even ran as a Republican political candidate. Roy Innis supported George W. Bush when he was President. Therefore, CORE was into the conservative wing of the black freedom movement by the late 1960’s and in the 1970’s. I disagree with Roy Innis ideologically on many issues. Roy Innis recently passed away at the age of 82 on the day of January 8, 2017 from Parkinson’s disease. I do send condolences to his family and friends. Today, during the 21st century, we are still fighting against imperialism, evil drone strikes, economic inequality, misogyny, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and other evils.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. allied with LBJ on the Voting Rights Act. Yet, Dr. King would later criticize he Johnson administration in public for Johnson shortchanging the War on Poverty while spending billions of dollars on the brutal, unjust Vietnam War. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave a great, eloquent speech criticizing the Vietnam War in 1967 in New York City in the Riverside Church. Dr. King was a vociferous opponent of the costly, unjust Vietnam War. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was also right to say in August 31, 1967 in Chicago that capitalism was built on the backs of black slaves as capitalism is highly exploitative and perpetrates injustices against the workers and the poor. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. discussed more about class issues. Dr. King was a great friend of the great, intelligent Marxist historian Brother C.L.R. James. As early as 1966, Dr. King gave a great, accurate criticism of capitalism in the following words to his staff:

“...We are now making demands that will cost the nation something. You can’t talk about solving the economic problem of the Negro without talking about billions of dollars. You can’t talk about ending slums without first saying profit must be taking out of slums. You’re really tampering and getting on dangerous round because you are messing with folk then. You are messing with the captains of industry...Now this means that we are treading in difficult waters, because it really means that we are saying that something is wrong...with capitalism...There must be a better distribution of wealth and maybe America must move towards a Democratic Socialism...”

President Truman felt that the United States has the right to intervene in Korea to try to stop Communist influence. By July 5, 1950, the first U.S. Marines (leading the U.N. Force) join the battle shortly after landing on the Korean Peninsula.  U.S. troops suffer heavy casualties and the four American divisions are driven back into a perimeter around the southern port city of Pusan. The U.S. military had an intergrated force of soldiers. The Battle of Osan, the first significant US engagement, involved the 540-soldier Task Force Smith, a small forward element of the 24th Infantry Division flown in from Japan. On July 5, 1950, Task Force Smith attacked the KPA at Osan but without weapons capable of destroying KPA tanks. The KPA defeated the US, with 180 American casualties. The KPA progressed southwards, pushing back US forces at Pyongtaek, Chonan, and Chochiwon, forcing the 24th Division's retreat to Taejeon, which the KPA captured in the Battle of Taejon. The 24th Division suffered 3,602 dead and wounded and 2,962 captured, including its commander, Major General William F. Dean.

By August, the KPA steadily pushed back the ROK and the Eighth United States Army southwards. The impact of the Truman administration's defense budget cutbacks was keenly felt, as US troops fought costly rearguard actions. Facing a veteran and well-led KPA force, and lacking sufficient anti-tank weapons, artillery or armor, the Americans retreated and the KPA advanced down the Peninsula. By September, UN forces were hemmed into a corner of southeast Korea, near Pusan. This 230-kilometre (140-mile) perimeter enclosed about 10% of Korea, in a line defined by the Nakdong River. The KPA purged South Korea's intelligentsia by killing civil servants and intellectuals. On 20 August 20, 1950, MacArthur warned Kim Il Sung he would be held responsible for KPA atrocities.

Kim's early successes led him to predict the war would finish by the end of August. Chinese leaders were more pessimistic. To counter a possible US deployment, Zhou secured a Soviet commitment to have the Soviet Union support Chinese forces with air cover, and he deployed 260,000 soldiers along the Korean border, under the command of Gao Gang. Zhou authorized a topographical survey of Korea and directed Lei Yingfu, Zhou's military adviser in Korea, to analyze the military situation. Lei concluded MacArthur would likely attempt a landing at Incheon. After conferring with Mao that this would be MacArthur's most likely strategy, Zhou briefed Soviet and North Korean advisers of Lei's findings, and issued orders to PLA commanders to prepare for US naval activity in the Korea Strait.

In the resulting Battle of Pusan Perimeter, UN forces withstood KPA attacks meant to capture the city at the Naktong Bulge, P'ohang-dong, and Taegu. The United States Air Force (USAF) interrupted KPA logistics with 40 daily ground support sorties, which destroyed 32 bridges, halting daytime road and rail traffic. KPA forces were forced to hide in tunnels by day and move only at night. To deny military equipment and supplies to the KPA, the USAF destroyed logistics depots, refineries, and harbors, while U.S. Navy aircraft attacked transport hubs. Consequently, the overextended KPA could not be supplied throughout the south. On 27 August, 67th Fighter Squadron aircraft mistakenly attacked facilities in Chinese territory, and the Soviet Union called the Security Council's attention to China's complaint about the incident. The US proposed a commission of India and Sweden determine what the US should pay in compensation, but the Soviets vetoed this.

Meanwhile, US garrisons in Japan continually dispatched soldiers and military supplies to reinforce defenders in the Pusan Perimeter. MacArthur went so far as to call for Japan's rearmament. Tank battalions deployed to Korea, from the port of San Francisco to the port of Pusan, the largest Korean port. By late August, the Pusan Perimeter had 500 medium tanks battle-ready. In early September 1950, UN forces outnumbered the KPA 180,000 to 100,000 soldiers.

General Douglas MacArthur wanted a victory against the Communists. By September 1950, the Pusan Perimeter defenders were rested and had reinforcements. The KPA of North Korea were undermanned and were poorly supplies. They lacked naval and air support. THe UN forces had this support. To relieve the Pusan Perimeter, General MacArthur had a plan. He wanted an amphibious landing at Incheon, near Soeul over 100 miles behind the KPA Lines. By July 6, 1950, he ordered Major General Hobart R. Gay, commander of the U.S. 1st Cavalry Division, to plan an amphibious landing at Incheon; on 12–14 July, the 1st Cavalry Division embarked from Yokohama, Japan, to reinforce the 24th Infantry Division inside the Pusan Perimeter. The Pentagon opposed MacArthur's plan. When authorized, he activated a combined US Army and Marine Corps, and ROK force. The X Corps, consisted of 40,000 troops of the 1st Marine Division, the 7th Infantry Division and around 8,600 ROK soldiers. By September 15, the amphibious force faced few KPA defenders at Incheon: military intelligence, psychological warfare, guerrilla reconnaissance, and protracted bombardment facilitated a light battle. However, the bombardment destroyed most of Incheon. The battle of Incheon was successful from General MacArthur. 

On September 16, 1950, the Eighth Army breakout from the Pusan Perimeter. Task Force Lynch, 3rd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, and 70th Tank Battalion units advanced through 171.2 km (106.4 mi) of KPA territory to join the 7th Infantry Division at Osan on September 27, X Corps rapidly defeated the KPA defenders around Seoul, thus threatening to trap the main KPA force.

On September 18, Stalin dispatched General H. M. Zakharov to advise Kim to halt his offensive around the Pusan Perimeter, and redeploy his forces to defend Seoul. Chinese commanders were not briefed on North Korean troop numbers or operational plans. Zhou suggested the North Koreans should attempt to eliminate the UN forces at Incheon only if they had reserves of at least 100,000 men; otherwise, he advised the North Koreans to withdraw their forces north. On September 25, Seoul was recaptured by UN forces. US air raids caused heavy damage to the KPA, destroying most of its tanks and artillery. KPA troops in the south, instead of effectively withdrawing north, rapidly disintegrated, leaving Pyongyang vulnerable. During the retreat, only 25,000-30,000 KPA soldiers managed to reach the KPA lines. On September 27, Stalin convened an emergency session of the Politburo, where he condemned the incompetence of the KPA command and held Soviet military advisers responsible for the defeat.

By September 27, 1950, General Douglas MacArthur recieved secret National Security Council Memorandum 81/1 from Truman reminding him operations north of the 38th parallel were authorized only if "at the time of such operation there was no entry into North Korea by major Soviet or Chinese Communist forces, no announcements of intended entry, nor a threat to counter our operations militarily." On September 29, MacArthur restored the government of the Republic of Korea under Syngman Rhee. The Joint Chiefs of Staff on 27 September sent MacArthur a comprehensive directive: it stated the primary goal was the destruction of the KPA, with unification of the Peninsula under Rhee as a secondary objective "if possible"; the Joint Chiefs added this objective was dependent on whether the Chinese and Soviets would intervene, and was subject to changing conditions. On 30 September, Zhou warned the US that China was prepared to intervene if the US crossed the 38th parallel. Zhou attempted to advise KPA commanders on how to conduct a general withdrawal by using the same tactics that allowed Chinese Communist forces to escape Nationalist encirclement campaigns in the 1930s, but KPA commanders did not use these tactics effectively. Bruce Cumings argues, however, that the KPA's rapid withdrawal was strategic, with troops melting into the mountains from where they could launch guerrilla raids on the UN forces spread out on the coasts.

By 1 October, the UN Command had driven the KPA past the 38th parallel, and RoK forces pursued the KPA northwards. MacArthur demanded the KPA's unconditional surrender. On 7 October, with UN authorization, the UN Command forces followed the ROK forces northwards. The Eighth US Army drove up western Korea and captured Pyongyang on 19 October. On 20 October, the US 187th Airborne Regiment made their first of their two combat jumps during the war at Sunchon and Sukchon. The mission was to cut the road north going to China, preventing North Korean leaders from escaping Pyongyang, and to rescue US prisoners of war.

At month's end, UN forces held 135,000 KPA prisoners of war. As they neared the Sino-Korean border, the UN forces in the west were divided from those in the east by 80–161 km (50–100 mi) of mountainous terrain. In addition to the 135,000 captured, the KPA had suffered some 200,000 soldiers killed or wounded, for a total of 335,000 casualties since end of June 1950, and lost 313 tanks. A mere 25,000 KPA regulars retreated across the 38th parallel, as their military had collapsed. The UN forces on the peninsula numbered 229,722 combat troops (including 125,126 Americans and 82,786 South Koreans), 119,559 rear area troops, and 36,667 US Air Force personnel. MacArthur believed it necessary to extend the war into China to destroy depots supplying the North Korean effort. Truman disagreed and ordered caution at the Sino-Korean border. 

 

One question is if LeBron James the GOAT of the NBA? You answer what my answer is. Yet, I can't hate on people who view LeBron James as their GOAT. They have the right to their view and opinion. LeBron James earned the right to be in the Mount Rushmore of the NBA's greatest players by his records, his longevity, his skills, his basketball IQ, and his influence in the game. You can't take that away from him, regardless of how you feel about him. To me, Michael Jordan is the Greatest Basketball Player of NBA's History. The reason is that he made more accomplishments and had more efficiency in a shorter period of time than LeBron James and the greats of basketball. Many people forget that Michael Jordan played baseball at his prime and came back to win another 3 peat in the NBA Finals. Wilt, LeBron, Russell, Kareem, Dream, Oscar, Milken, and Kobe never did that feat in their careers at all. To do that takes courage, resiliency, and greatness. Many of these men that I have mentioned were taller than Michael Jordan. Michael Jordan was 6ft. 6 being 215 pounds making records and other deeds on the basketball court that few people on Earth can do. According to player BJ Armstrong, Jordan had a lack of sleep. With more sleep and rest, Michael Jordan could have been better. Involving statistics, the debate is closer than people think. Michael Jordan has a larger points per game average than LeBron Jaems, but James has a greater rebound and assists rate. Michael Jordan is a greater defender than LeBron James as Jordan led the NBA in steals three times and won the Defensive Player of the Year before. LeBron James has a clear advantage over Michael Jordan on longevity as you can make the case that LeBron James is the greatest longevity player in NBA history being over 40 years old (being the first and only NBA player to have at least 10,000 points, 10,000 rebounds, and 10,000 assists). Michael Jordan has a greater free throw percentage and LeBron James has a greater 3 point percentage as the times have changed. Also, Michael Jordan played in a rougher era were defense was more harsher against players. Jordan overcame the Pistons, which had fierce defense to win the title. Jordan has a higher player efficiency rating than LeBron. Michael Jordan played more competition in the Eastern Conference (against the Pistons, the Cavaliers, the Pacers, the Knicks, the Heat, and Magics) than LeBron James. In terms of overall NBA accolades, Michael Jordan has a clear advantage over LeBron James. You can't hate on anyone saying that James is the Greatest in their eyes as he has a legitimate case to be in that conversation by the record. LeBron James won 4 championships, 4 MVPs, 4 FInals MVP, 20 All-NBA, 6 All Defense, 21 All-Star titles, and 3 Olympic Gold medals. Michael Jordan won 6 Championships without a loss, 5 MVP Awards, 6 FInals MVP Awards, All-NBA 11 times, All Defense 9 times, 14, All-Star appearances, and 10 scoring titles including 2 Olympic Gold Medals. So, the answer in my eyes is that Michael JOrdan is the greatest of all time as he done more in a shorter period of time with more efficiency plus played baseball during his professional sports career at the same time. I have been blessed to live watching Jordan and LeBron play in their primes, and there is only one Jordan. That is my view. 

 

After Carmelita Jeter retired in 2017, she moved forward with other adventures in her life. She was a great sprinter and her career was iconic. Outside of track and field, she has been involved in fundraising for breast cancer research. In 2014, she was the official ambassador for Susan G. Koleman's California Circle of Promise Initiative. This program was created to raise awareness about breast cancer in the African American community. This is personal for her as her aunt Brenda Washington passed away from breast cancer. Her aunt is Carmelita Jeter's inspiration. Carmelita Jeter revealed that “the women I look up to are every day women.” She honors the women role models in her family. She is a fan of Serena Williams and Candace Parker (as Jeter was a former basketball player). Jeter loves to watch the WNBA and other sports. Carmelita Jeter in interviews have said that education is very important to study in an university. Carmelita Jeter has been a motivational speaker and track and field coach now. She has served as an assistant coach at USC. In May 2023, she was named the new head coach of the track & field and cross country programs at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). 

 

With her accomplishments on the track field, Carmelita Jeter earned the Jesse Owens Award, one of the most prestigious track and field accolades. Carmelita Jeter has refuted the old stereotypical lie that women have no right to be strong physically. She said that, "“I love that women want to strong not just mentally, but physically.” Carmelita Jeter  also clarifies ” it is definitely  inspiring to see the movement to be strong is relating to women and is trickling down to young girls.” Recently, Carmelita Jeter gave birth to her first child. Giving birth to a child is always a blessing. 

 

The Torress Strait Islander people culturally and lingustically different from the mainland Aboriginal peoples. They were seafarers and got their livelihood from seasonable horticulture and the resources of their reefs and seas. Agriculture developed on some islands and villages appeared by the 1300s. By the mid 18th century in northern Australia, contact, trace, and cross-cultural engagement has been formed between local Aboriginal groups and Makassan trepangers, visiting from modern day Indonesia. Aboriginal society consisted of family groups organized into bands and clans averaging about 25 people, each with a defined territory for foraging. Clans were attached to tribes or nations, associated with particular languages and country. At the time of European contact there were about 600 such groups and 250 distinct languages with various dialects. Estimates of the Aboriginal population at this time range from 300,000 to one million.

Aboriginal society was egalitarian with no formal government or chiefs. Authority rested with elders and group decisions were generally made through the consensus of elders. The traditional economy was cooperative, with males generally hunting large game while females gathered local staples such as small animals, shellfish, vegetables, fruits, seeds and nuts. Food was shared within groups and exchanged across groups. Some Aboriginal groups engaged in fire-stick farming, fish farming, and built semi-permanent shelters. The extent to which some groups engaged in agriculture is controversial. Some Anthropologists describe traditional Aboriginal Australia as a "complex hunter-gatherer" society.

Aboriginal groups were semi-nomadic, generally ranging over a specific territory defined by natural features. Members of a group would enter the territory of another group through rights established by marriage and kinship or by invitation for specific purposes such as ceremonies and sharing abundant seasonal foods. As all natural features of the land were created by ancestral beings, a group's particular country provided physical and spiritual nourishment. Aboriginal Australians developed a unique artistic and spiritual culture. The earliest Aboriginal rock art consists of hand-prints, hand-stencils, and engravings of circles, tracks, lines and cupules, and has been dated to 35,000 years ago. Around 20,000 year ago Aboriginal artists were depicting humans and animals. According to Australian Aboriginal mythology and the animist framework, the Dreaming is a sacred era in which ancestral totemic spirit beings formed The Creation. The Dreaming established the laws and structures of society and the ceremonies performed to ensure continuity of life and land.

Later, we see Dutch exploration in Australia. The Dutch East India Company ship, Duyfken, captained by Willem Janszoon, made the first documented European landing in Australia in 1606. Later that year, Luís Vaz de Torres sailed to the north of Australia through Torres Strait, along New Guinea's southern coast. In 1616, Dirk Hartog, sailing off course, en route from the Cape of Good Hope to Batavia, landed on an island off Shark Bay, Western Australia. In 1622–23 the ship Leeuwin made the first recorded rounding of the southwest corner of the continent. In 1627, the south coast of Australia was discovered by François Thijssen and named after Pieter Nuyts. In 1628, a squadron of Dutch ships explored the northern coast particularly in the Gulf of Carpentaria. Abel Tasman's voyage of 1642 was the first known European expedition to reach Van Diemen's Land (later Tasmania) and New Zealand, and to sight Fiji. On his second voyage of 1644, he also contributed significantly to the mapping of the Australian mainland (which he called New Holland), making observations on the land and people of the north coast below New Guinea. Following Tasman's voyages, the Dutch were able to make almost complete maps of Australia's northern and western coasts and much of its southern and south-eastern Tasmanian coasts. 

Later, the British and French people came to Australia. William Dampier, an English buccaneer and explorer, landed on the north-west coast of New Holland in 1688 and again in 1699, and published influential descriptions of the Aboriginal people. In 1769, Lieutenant James Cook in command of HMS Endeavour, travelled to Tahiti to observe and record the transit of Venus. Cook also carried secret Admiralty instructions to locate the supposed Southern Continent. Unable to find this continent, Cook decided to survey the east coast of New Holland, the only major part of that continent that had not been charted by Dutch navigators. On April 19, 1770, Endeavour reached the east coast of New Holland and ten days later anchored at Botany Bay. Cook charted the coast to its northern extent and formally took possession of the east coast of New Holland on 21/22 August 1770 when on Possession Island off the west coast of Cape York Peninsula. In March 1772 Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne, in command of two French ships, reached Van Diemen's land on his way to Tahiti and the South Seas. His party became the first recorded European to encounter the Indigenous Tasmanians and to kill one of them.

In the same year, a French expedition led by Louis Aleno de St Aloüarn, became the first European to formally claim sovereignty over the west coast of Australia, but no attempt was made to follow this with colonization. European colonization and imperialism in Australia existed. Many Europeans from the British to the Swedish had plans to colonize Australia long before 1800. After the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783), Britian lost most of its North American colonies and consider establishing replacement territories. Britain had transported about 50,000 convicts to the New World from 1718 to 1775 and was now searching for an alternative. The temporary solution of floating prison hulks had reached capacity and was a public health hazard, while the option of building more jails and workhouses was deemed too expensive. In 1779, Sir Joseph Banks, the eminent scientist who had accompanied James Cook on his 1770 voyage, recommended Botany Bay as a suitable site for a penal settlement. Banks's plan was to send 200 to 300 convicts to Botany Bay where they could be left to their own devices and not be a burden on the British taxpayer. Under Banks's guidance, the American Loyalist James Matra, who had also travelled with Cook, produced a new plan for colonising New South Wales in 1783. The British wanted to send convicts to Africa, but it failed. 

The colony of New South Wales was established with the arrival of the First Fleet of 11 vessels under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip in January 1788. It consisted of more than a thousand settlers, including 778 convicts (192 women and 586 men). A few days after arrival at Botany Bay the fleet moved to the more suitable Port Jackson where a settlement was established at Sydney Cove on January  26, 1788. This date later became Australia's national day, Australia Day. The colony was formally proclaimed by Governor Phillip on February 7, 1788 at Sydney. Sydney Cove offered a fresh water supply and a safe harbour, which Phillip described as being to him as the greatest harbor in the world. The territory of New South Wales claimed by Britain included all of Australia eastward of the meridian of 135° East. This included more than half of mainland Australia. The claim also included "all the Islands adjacent in the Pacific" between the latitudes of Cape York and the southern tip of Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania). In 1817, the British government withdrew the extensive territorial claim over the South Pacific, passing an act specifying that Tahiti, New Zealand and other islands of the South Pacific were not within His Majesty's dominions. However, it is unclear whether the claim ever extended to the current islands of New Zealand. 

Governor Phillip wanted the inhabitiants to have harmonious relations with the Abrorginal people and try to reform the convicts of the colony. People struggled at first. Early efforts at agriculture were fraught and supplies from overseas were scarce. Between 1788 and 1792 about 3546 male and 766 female convicts were landed at Sydney. Many new arrivals were sick or unfit for work and the condition of healthy convicts also deteriorated due to the hard labour and poor food. The food situation reached crisis point in 1790 and the Second Fleet which finally arrived in June 1790 had lost a quarter of its passengers through sickness, while the condition of the convicts of the Third Fleet appalled Phillip. From 1791, however, the more regular arrival of ships and the beginnings of trade lessened the feeling of isolation and improved supplies. Many settlers were in Tasmania. By the late 1790s, there were freed convicts. Farms grew in more fertile areas around Paramtta, Windsor, Richmond, and Camden. The New South Wales Corps was created in England in 1789 as being part of the British army. Australia grew. The amount of convicts and free settlers increased in New South Wales. More colonies grew in Western Australia and Tasmania. In Australia, conflicts among convicts, free settlers, and Aboriginals grew. 

Families of convicts were also offered free passage and about 3,500 migrants were selected under the English Poor Laws. Various special-purpose and charitable schemes, such as those of Caroline Chisholm and John Dunmore Lang, also provided migration assistance. Women fought for their rights too. Back then, most people in Australia who were settlers and convicts were of the Church of England. The Church of England worked with many Governors. Catholic Churches grew by the 1830s and the 1840s. Secular schools grew. Matthew Flinders led the first successful circumnvatigation of Australia from 1801 to 1802. 

Many Abroginals died after Euroepeans settlements via smallpox as the Aborginals had little resistance to many introduced diseases back then. An outbreak of smallpox in April 1789 killed about half the Aboriginal population of the Sydney region. The source of the outbreak is controversial; some researchers contend that it originated from contact with Indonesian fisherman in the far north while others argue that it is more likely to have been inadvertently, or deliberately, spread by settlers. There were further smallpox outbreaks devastating Aboriginal populations from the late 1820s (affecting south-eastern Australia), in the early 1860s (travelling inland from the Coburg Peninsula in the north to the Great Australian Bight in the south), and in the late 1860s (from the Kimberley to Geraldton). According to Josephine Flood, the estimated Aboriginal mortality rate from smallpox was 60 per cent on first exposure, 50 per cent in the tropics, and 25 per cent in the arid interior. Other introduced diseases such as measles, influenza, typhoid and tuberculosis also resulted in high death rates in Aboriginal communities. Butlin estimates that the Aboriginal population in the area of modern Victoria was around 50,000 in 1788 before two smallpox outbreaks reduced it to about 12,500 in 1830. Between 1835 and 1853, the Aboriginal population of Victoria fell from 10,000 to around 2,000. It is estimated that about 60 per cent of these deaths were from introduced diseases, 18 per cent from natural causes and 15 per cent from settler violence. Many racist British settlers attacked and murdered Aboriginal people, because they believe in the myth of the superiority of British civilization. Many Aboriginals were kidnapped including men, women, and children. Some Aboriginals burned the crops of British settlers and the burning of property. These were acts of resistance to the loss of traditional land and food resources.  There were serious conflicts between settlers in the Sydney region and Aboriginals (Darug people) from 1794 to 1800 in which 26 settlers and up to 200 Darug were killed. Conflict also erupted south-west of Sydney (in Dharawal country) from 1814 to 1816, culminating in the Appin massacre (April 1816) in which at least 14 Aboriginal people were killed.

In Van Diemen's land, the Black War broke out in 1824, following a rapid expansion of settler numbers and sheep grazing in the island's interior. Martial law was declared in November 1828 and in October 1830 a "Black Line" of around 2,200 troops and settlers swept the island with the intention of driving the Aboriginal population from the settled districts. From 1830 to 1834, George Augustus Robinson and Aboriginal ambassadors including Truganini led a series of "Friendly Missions" to the Aboriginal tribes which effectively ended the war. Around 200 settlers and 600 to 900 Aboriginal Tasmanians were killed in the conflict and the Aboriginal survivors were eventually relocated to Flinders Island. Racists used the Australian native police (made of native troopers under white officers) to disperse Aboriginal tribes in eastern Australia, especially in New South Wales and Queensland. 

In central Australia, it is estimated that 650 to 850 Aboriginal people, out of a population of 4,500, were killed by colonists from 1860 to 1895. In the Gulf Country of northern Australia five settlers and 300 Aboriginal people were killed before 1886. The last recorded massacre of Aboriginal people by settlers was at Coniston in the Northern Territory in 1928 where at least 31 Aboriginal people were killed. Some in Australia wanted self government. There were the gold rushes of the 1850s in Australia. There were new constitutions in New South Wales, Victoria, and Van Diemen's Land. Women's suffrage was formed in Victoria by 1884. Political parties, entertainment, and other strikes existed in the 1800s and 1900s. Australia used its troops in WWI and WWII. There was Robert Menzies and the Liberal Party of Australia having a large political influence in the country. 

The Menzies era (1949–1972) saw significant strides in civil rights for indigenous Australians. Over the period, Menzies and his successors dismantled remaining restrictions on voting rights for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples culminating in the Menzies Government's 1962 Commonwealth Electoral Act, while the Holt Government's landmark 1967 Referendum received overwhelming public support for the transfer of responsibility for Aboriginal Affairs to the Federal Government, and the removal of discriminatory provisions regarding the national census from the Australian Constitution. By 1971, the first Aboriginal Senator was sitting on the government benches, with Neville Bonner becoming a Liberal Senator for QLD. There was the problem of assimilation which deal with negating Aboriginal families and culture. There were forced removal of multiracial people from their families even in the 1960s and 1970s to brainwash them to view whiteness as superior. In 1997, the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission estimated that between 10 per cent and one-third of Aboriginal children had been removed from their families from 1910 to 1970. Regional studies indicate that 15 per cent of Aboriginal children were removed in New South Wales from 1899 to 1968, while the figure for Victoria was about 10 per cent. Robert Manne estimates that the figure for Australia as a whole was closer to 10 per cent. The Aboriginals fought for their civil rights too. Australia has been run by both progressive and conservative leaders for decades since the 1940s. The 1960s proved a key decade for Indigenous rights in Australia, with the demand for change led by Indigenous activists and organisations such as the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders, and embraced by the wider population as citizenship rights were extended. Lionel Rose and Evonne Goolagong were famous Aboriginal people. 

In 1965, Charles Perkins, helped organize freedom rides into parts of Australia to expose discrimination and inequality. In 1966, the Gurindji people of Wave Hill station commenced the Gurindji strike in a quest for equal pay and recognition of land rights. In 1966, the Australian government gave Aboriginal people the same rights to social security benefits as other Australians. A 1967 referendum changed the Australian constitution to include all Aboriginal Australians in the national census and allow the Federal parliament to legislate on their behalf. A Council for Aboriginal Affairs was established. Popular acclaim for Aboriginal artists, sportspeople and musicians also grew over the period. In 1968, boxer Lionel Rose was proclaimed Australian of the Year. That same year, artist Albert Namatjira was honoured with a postage stamp. Singer-songwriter Jimmy Little's 1963 Gospel song "Royal Telephone" was the first No.1 hit by an Aboriginal artist. Women's Tennis World No. 1 Evonne Goolagong Cawley was celebrated as Australian of the Year in 1971.

Country Liberal Adam Giles became the first indigenous Australian to head a state or territory government when he became Chief Minister of the Northern Territory in 2016.

Neville Bonner was appointed Liberal Senator for QLD in 1971, becoming the first federal parliamentarian to identify as Aboriginal. Eric Deeral (QLD) and Hyacinth Tungutalum (NT) followed at a state and territory level in 1974. In 1976, Sir Doug Nicholls was appointed Governor of South Australia, the first indigenous Australian to hold vice-regal office. By the 2020s, Aboriginal representation in the federal parliament had exceeded the proportion of Aboriginal people in the general population, and Australia had its first Aboriginal leader of a state or territory in 2016, when the Country Liberal Party's Adam Giles became Chief Minister of the Northern Territory. In January 1972, Aboriginal activists erected an Aboriginal "tent embassy" on the lawns of parliament house, Canberra and issued a number demands including land rights, compensation for past loss of land and self-determination. The leader of the opposition Gough Whitlam was among those who visited the tent embassy to discuss their demands.

The Whitlam government came to power in December 1972 with a policy of self-determination for Aboriginal people. The government also passed legislation against racial discrimination and established a Royal Commission into land rights in the Northern Territory, which formed the basis for the Fraser government's Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1976. Women have increased power in Australian government, more migrants and immigrants have came to Australia too. The Prime Minister of Australia now is Anthony Albense since May 23, 2022. Australia had high inflation in recent years. He is part of the Labor government. To this day, Aboriginals still fight for equality, home ownership, adequate employment, adequate education, and health care. 

 

In our time near the Summer of 2025, Trump has shown havoc in American society. He has promoted triple-digit percentage tariffs that threaten our economy. He has overreached so much that his approval is as low as 39 percent. This comes after 100 billionaire families spent $2.6 billion in the 2024 election. 70% of these donations went to the Republicans. Trump has allowed radical DOGE cuts that have allowed innocent federal workers to be fired unjustly, and harm tons of children and adults. Trump has been a threat to democracy by seeking to strip birthright citizenship (as found in the Fourteenth Amendment), defied a Supreme Court order (to allow a legal resident to come back to America from El Salvador after he was kidnapped without due process of law), tried to force Harvard University to accept whitewashing history policies, desires to annex Greenland (and the Panama Canal and Canada), threatened to arrest Liz Cheney (for Cheney's opposition the terrorism of the January 6th insurrection), pardoned January 6th insurrection terrorists, illegally jailed pro-Palestinian residents without due process (in violation of the First Amendment), and tried to intimidate the media (like trying to shut down Voice of America, shutting NBC News and NRP out of work spaces at the Pentagon, and the administration canceled subscriptions across agencies to publications like Politico and Reuters). These acts are done in just the first 100 days of the Trump regime. You have many cabinet members who are compromised, involved in scandals, and many GOP Congressional people refuse to go on town halls, as many people oppose the MAGA agenda. There are high prices of groceries, and threats to Medicaid and Medicare being cut in various budgets. Many people have held a sit-in on Capitol steps to protest the policies of the Trump administration. There are protestors now fighting against fascism and the wicked policies from a tyrant in the White House. We are in the middle of a movement and real change must be done in the streets, in Congress, in the courts, and in other places of our society. 

By Timothy