Indianapolis' Rubicon*
Since slavery very wealthy and influential white people have seen people of African descent throw away people. During slavery free black labor from enslaved black people had enormous worth to these wealthy white folks. Since slavery has ended this wealthy white folks see people of African descent as being in the way of white survival. Therefore, people such as Warren Buffet and Bill Gates, I said wealthy white people, support the genocide of people of African descent. You heard what I said. The proof is in the pudding. Listen to excerpts from "Maafa 21) that I played on a recent show. The image of the slave image going up in Indianapolis is a test to see if people of African descent will mentally support our own demise. It is a test to see how in control white folks are of black people's mindset. White folks have made the decision that if black folks want to be free equal citizens in America then America must come up with a way to kill all black folks. This is not a joke. It is very serious. You had better wakeup!! Our very lives are at stake. Listen to the show here
INDIANAPOLIS’S RUBICON*
©2011 by Janet Cheatham Bell
“The cultural trail is about positioning Indianapolis for the 21st century…, how does the Soldiers and Sailors Monument really relate to the 21st century?” Brian Payne, president Central Indiana Community Foundation that funds the Cultural Trail.
I want to offer my sincere thanks to Fred Wilson, the brilliant and subversive conceptual artist. Mr. Wilson, a New Yorker, born and bred, was invited to my hometown to come up with an artistic idea for the Cultural Trail. And did he ever!
After touring downtown Indianapolis and observing the number of monuments and memorials (Indianapolis is second only to the nation’s capital in its propensity to erect monuments), Mr. Wilson was struck by the fact that the only person of color in a monument was a newly freed slave in the Civil War commemoration on the Circle. Mr. Wilson, who specializes in drawing attention to racial inequities via his artistic reconfigurations and installations, decided to “free” this anonymous slave yet again. Wilson figuratively removed the slave from the Circle’s Civil War monument to give him a prominent place of his very own, atop a pedestal holding a flag. The unknown slave is still shirtless and shoeless, but his broken chains have been removed and he’s sitting up a bit. This is, after all, “a twenty-first century empowered African American.”
When Wilson presented his idea to the Curatorial Advisory Committee for the Cultural Trail, they accepted it without hesitation. And I understand that. After all, they commissioned a prominent and much-acclaimed African American artist to come up with a concept for their cultural trail; what effrontery it would have been to question his concept.
I interrupt here to point out that it appears Indianapolis is striving to emulate places like Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Boston—attracting tourists, hosting a Super Bowl, and more important, keeping their young educated talent in town to give the city some pizzazz and help it to grow. If this city could just stop the “brain drain,” or even slow it down, perhaps we wouldn’t be seen as such a backward place and the talented young wouldn’t flee to other places. I’ve lived all around the country, including in several major cities, so I know how we are perceived from outside. I won’t repeat the responses I get when I tell people where I’m from, but I do recall a particularly stinging remark I read in a newspaper column. The writer said, “I stepped off the plane in Indianapolis and set my watch back twenty-five years.”
Back to the Cultural Trail. I noticed that the other art works on the Trail are mostly whimsical or symbolic; certainly not in any way controversial. Mr. Wilson says he intended his art to be in that same mode, but instead his decision to reproduce a slave to “be the first public art work dedicated to the African American community in Indianapolis’s downtown public art collection,” has stirred the proverbial hornet’s nest. By the way, these are not Mr. Wilson’s words, but are taken from the Cultural Trail’s press release. Wilson had no idea his conceptual art was to be the city’s signal tribute to the African American community. Wilson’s intent was for it to be a “work of art and a catalyst for asking the question, ‘Why are there no other representations of African Americans in Indianapolis?’”(There is a sculpture of Martin Luther King Jr. in a neighborhood park; however, Wilson was referring to downtown monuments.)
What an excellent question! Why are there no representations of African Americans who have contributed to Indianapolis? As a black woman who was born and reared in Indianapolis, and who considers herself knowledgeable and aware, especially regarding African American history and culture, I am ashamed to admit that I never considered that question until now. That is why I am grateful to Mr. Wilson.
I’ve never met Wilson, and only know him from what I’ve seen online, but I can’t get this imaginary scene out of my head of him in a discussion with his New York friends.
Wilson: “I actually proposed a gigantic permanent sculpture of a slave to be prominently displayed in downtown Indianapolis.”
Friends: “You’re kidding! What did they say?”
Wilson: “They went for it.”
Friends: “Are there any black people there?”
Wilson: “Oh yeah. Lots of black folks live there.”
Friends: “Well, black folk won’t stand for a sculpture of a slave in 2011!”
Wilson: “We’ll see. If the folks in charge want a slave sculpture, and the black folks allow it, then the world will know exactly where Indianapolis is coming from. I hope we have it ready for the Super Bowl.”
Wilson and friends: ROFL
Apparently, the answer to Brian Payne’s question is that in Indianapolis, African Americans will continue to be seen as slaves.
*The expression, “crossing the Rubicon” means to pass a point of no return. Indianapolis is at the Rubicon. We have yet to see whether or not the city will cross it. Or perhaps, the city is just a rube, being conned.
Submitted by:
Janet Cheatham Bell
1513 South Dorchester Drive
Bloomington, Indiana 47401
812/330-0514
janetcheathambell.com
Janet Cheatham Bell is the author of The Time and Place That Gave Me Life, a memoir about growing up in Indianapolis, Indiana University Press, 2007.
Rev. Ajabu
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Reader Comments (16)
Kathy Makeda M Global "population reduction", mainly of African people throughout the diaspora.
Aren't you worried that they will come after you and kill you for speaking this?
Eddie,
Unbought, unbossed and unafraid. Somebody has got to tell the truth. I guess it's me. This is why I am running for Congress as an independent. Somebody has got to sound the alarm. I would rather die on my feet than live as a slave. Up you mighty race. Accomplish what you will!! Those that are afraid to die are also afraid to live. I love living life.
Mmoja Ajabu is a "great man we need more of them!!!"
That's the whole story.
Charles,
No so!! Listen to the whole program. We are under an intentional murderous assault.
Vaccines!!
You might not know or heard about AFRICOM. If you saw the name once, you might have dismissed it thinking AFRICOM is a new company to sell cement like Afrisam. Some might conclude that since it has a ‘com’ at the end, maybe it is something online.
These are wrong conclusions. At the end of this column, you will know what AFRICOM is, its activities and why it is a security threat.
AFRICOM, standing for Africa Command, was established by blood covered former US President George W. Bush and his Secretary of Defence Robert Gates. You will notice that Robert Gates, has continued with his duties under Obama who misled many of you except me. The idiots believed AFRICOM’s raison d’être terrorism in Africa. I would not expect you to know AFRICOM’s mission statement since many of you don’t read.
Allow yourself an Education as I make it known that the AFRICOM mission statement is “United States Africa Command, in concert with other U.S. government agencies and international partners, conducts sustained security engagements through military-to-military programs, military-sponsored activities, and other military operations as directed to promote a stable and secure African environment in support of U.S. foreign policy.” Meaning AFRICOM is a fundamental tool of US Foreign Policy.
We will return to it later. It’s ok that you didn’t know, even your leaders, many without education, didn’t know. AFRICOM is headquartered at Kelley Barracks, Stuttgart in Germany and is led by General William Ward.
Why and how is AFRICOM a security threat to Africa? Firstly, its mission suggests so. In a 2009 journal article on Contemporary Security Policy, Laurie Nathan exposes four key fundamental principalities as regards to AFRICOM. The author correctly argues that AFRICOM, in undermining state sovereignty, will “alter the regional balance of power, and be divisive and destabilizing…It would undermine the unity and collective decision-making.” AFRICOM was to be located in Africa, General Ward probably plans to locate it in countries such as Botswana and Namibia with pro-western leadership.
Locating AFRICOM in Africa is a military opportunity for America to overthrow African governments and to attack countries seen as anti-American. Since African and American interest never gels, it would mean that AFRICOM would pursue American interest, on an African soil, at the expense of African interest. Those with sharp medulla oblongata know that AFRICOM is undermining the African Union (AU) and its Peace and Security Council which deals with Peace and Security on the continent. We might as well sell the AU to Americans.
I had mentioned American foreign policy. In this domain, Nathan (2009) sees American foreign policy in light of its “unsympathetic attitude to the liberation movements, its unwavering support for Israel despite the illegal occupation of Palestine, its exceptionalism in relation to the International Criminal Court, and its long history of unilateralism, aggression, and disdain for international law …pursues its own interests at the expense of others, and is willing to deploy force offensively to advance those interests.” So if AFRICOM is to achieve its mission statement we discussed earlier, Africa must support and embrace the above as discussed by Nathan.
As your teacher, I need to share recent information made available to us by Wikileaks.
The communication cable dated on Monday, 11 January 2010, at 17h30 UTC, indicates a meeting of AFRICOM Commander’s discussion with French officials on Aqim and other African Security Threats. The meeting, held in Paris, was attended by President Sarkozy’s Diplomatic Advisor Jean-David Levitte, Sarkozy’s Military Advisor, Admiral Edouard Guillaud, and others briefed U.S. AFRICOM Commander General William E. Ward. Wikileaks has also revealed to us how AFRICOM planned the assassination of legendary RG Mugabe and the fall of his government through the so-called Operation Shumba (damn bastard, may God bless Zimbabwe).
AFRICOM Commander General Ward visited Namibia in April 2010.
Reading his report was so disgusting in many ways. He referred to my country as “Southwest Africa.” Cleary Americans still use lenses of Cold War geopolitics.
General Ward met with Health Minister Dr. Kamwi, they apparently discussed how AFRICOM “could help the Namibian military and U.S. country team efforts to assist in health related issues.” At a meeting with the Ministry of Safety and Security, they discussed supporting the then “upcoming Namibian police visit to Ramstein Air Base in Southwestern Germany.”
The American was dignified with a fifteen minute appearance on Good Morning Namibia, with Kazembire Zemburuka, in order to brainwash, hypnotize and shower us with American propaganda. General Ward met Education Minister Abraham Iyambo to discuss the school AFRICOM will build in northern Namibia. Lastly and shockingly, he met with the then Defence Deputy Minister Lempy Lucas. He said “it was very gratifying to hear Ms. Lucas praise our bilateral relationship and her wish to see Africa Command play a greater role in military-to-military relations in the future.”(what?). A close friend said General Ward met significant others not mentioned.
These cosmetic initiatives are not genuine, they devil’s initiative are never genuine. These are attempts to win the hearts and the minds of the Namibian people.
What is in for them anyway? Also monitor and analyze the work of MCA very closely.
There is no good devil, the good devil is the dead one.
This is enough for today, add me on Facebook for a more robust engagement of these issues.
‘Shaamonathana omuti nomuti’ – We shall meet again
• Kamati kaTate is a Community Mobilizer whose area of interest is observing Politics as both an art of the possible and as a medium of distribution of resources as to who gets what, when, where and how. kamatikatate@gmail.com
what state will you chose to run for?
Yannick
I love your comment. We agree.
I will be running for the 7th District in the state of Indiana. I will need your help. Olatunji Mwamba Dr. King's words are right on point. We must not be afraid to be free. We must not be afraid to stay free. If that calls for a fight. We must not be afraid to get in the ring. Up you mighty race. Accomplish what you will!!
Wow, a disgraceful display of violence by a pack of Gorillas. Incredible. But not surprising.
http://sportales.com/football/violent-riot-breaks-out-at-football-game/
Jayson
Anyone who votes for this clown should be put in a straight jacket and put away for years...or at least lose your right to vote. Voting for him would be a vote for racism...since he and Sharpton and Jackson are the biggest racist out there.
Ajabu,
You choose to be "a slave" everyday, a slave to the mentality that you think you are "owed" something rather than going out to "earn" it, and that "The Gubberment" is going to "give it to you fo' free"...
You and I have a difference in our preferred use of the word "Free". You use is as meaning, "got from somebody else, without having to pay fo' it" = Free. You're a joke.
Jayson
Ajabu,
Stayed focused. Don't let Jayson or JJ distract you. People are listening. It is time for a change. You are that change. Stay FOCUSED!!
The below radio program shows how American Foreign Policy is a war on the people of color. Andre Carson voted to further this foreign policy by voiting to drop bombs on his own people. For this reason I am running for his seat in Congress. Indiana deserves representation that has integrity and a conscious. Click on the following link to hear must listen to radio. Somebody must tell the truth. I am unbought unbossed and unafraid for the truth to be told. Here's the link https://rcpt.yousendit.com/1215153193/c936c8a34647396f3ab108f5a1490b62
Subject: Scared Straight, U of Akron racist memo, Corrupt U.S. Foreign Policy
Date: Mon, 5 Sep 2011
Subject: Scared Straight, U of Akron racist memo, Corrupt U.S. Foreign Policy
Message: Andre Carson voted to drop bombs on Africa!! He has lost his way.
AjabuUnleashed45.mp3
Size: 27.98 MB
Expires: September 12, 2011 10:16 PDT
If the above link does not work, you can paste the following address into your browser:
https://rcpt.yousendit.com/1215153193/c936c8a34647396f3ab108f5a1490b62
What: Umar Abdullah Johnson: Nationally Certified School Psychologist who is a blood relative of Frederick Douglass. Evaluates children ages 3-21 to
determine learning disabilites. and need for special education services. Considered a national expert on learning disabilities and their affect on
black children.
Where: Crispus Attucks Museum
1140 Dr. MLK Jr. Street
Indianapolis, In 46202
Time: 3PM
Topic: From Similac to Strattera: How Breast Formula (Baby Crack) and Brain Drugs (Crack) are Being Used to Comatose the Entire Black Community!!