Nappy-head: The Real Remedy

Gov. Eliot Spitzer should take the same approach. These corporate entities enjoy similar benefits in New York and New York is also subsidizing our oppression. Curiously, the New York Legislature and the New York City Council have been conspicuously quiet on the question of slavery. Black selected officials are always accessories.

[COLUMN: I WRITE WHAT I LIKE]

 

Black people are unable to comprehend the depth of Don Imus’ characterization of the Rutgers University women’s basketball team as a “hardcore� group of “nappy-headed hos.�

Racial misogyny and racial defamation are rooted in the enslavement of Africans. The Rutgers University women’s basketball team is a victim but the target is all Blacks. Unfortunately, we have no working definition of victimhood. This is a problem in Sean Bell et al. Blacks have a provincial definition of victimhood.

In any civil litigation, an apology is not a defense to defamation. American jurisprudence is based on “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.� Imus’ punishment must be commensurate with the harm. This means alimony coupled with a divorce from the airwaves. His conduct is a ground for divorce.

Any self-serving apology that Imus might make to the Rutgers team falls far short of redressing 400 hundred years of racial defamation which is still enshrined in the U.S. Constitution and it is promoted by the white media, which is the real party in interest. I know of no leading Black who has the intelligence and integrity to fashion a remedy. This is our dilemma.

Racial defamation was a prime element in the enslavement of Africans. Slavery seeks to rob a people of its humanity. The dehumanization of Black people is still enshrined in Article 1, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution.

This three-fifths provision is still the measuring stick for all economic, political and judicial decisions concerning descendants of enslaved Africans. The income of Blacks, the level of political representation and prosecution of hate crimes, for example, are based on this formula.

Gov. Jon Corzine of New Jersey should be ashamed of himself for behaving like a colonial governor. Racial defamation is a cause of action which belongs to all Blacks and it preceded New Jersey allowing Blacks to attend Rutgers University. The buck stops at Corzine’s office.

He has no authority to re-define racial defamation unless slavery is still in effect in New Jersey. Racial defamation is a crime against humanity and it is an offense against all Blacks. Imus intended his comment to constitute racial terrorism and to cause the intentional infliction of emotional distress on all Blacks. This is a tort.

Instead of wrongfully placing the onus on the women’s basketball team at Rutgers to get Imus off the hook, Corzine should be initiating legal action against Imus’ corporate handlers. New Jersey has authorized NBC, MSNBC, CBS Sports and WFAN-AM to do business in New Jersey as corporations.

These state-sponsored licenses allow these corporate entities to enjoy tax benefits and limited liability. Stated differently, New Jersey is subsidizing the oppression of Blacks, in violation of the Thirteenth Amendment. Corzine is trying to get slick.

Gov. Eliot Spitzer should take the same approach. These corporate entities enjoy similar benefits in New York and New York is also subsidizing our oppression. Curiously, the New York Legislature and the New York City Council have been conspicuously quiet on the question of slavery. Black selected officials are always accessories.

As the U.S. Supreme Court correctly pointed out in the Civil Rights Cases, the Thirteenth Amendment is intended to not only outlaw the institution of slavery but also the badges and incidents of slavery. Racial defamation is a badge of slavery and it is also a cause of action in civil litigation.

No reason exists for civil rights mercenaries to continue to frustrate the right of Blacks to institute a class action lawsuit against Imus and his corporate sponsors and handlers unless these mercenaries are actually media addicts trying to get a fix.

Unlike the Fourteenth Amendment, state action is not an element of the Thirteenth Amendment. This means that Blacks can sue or prosecute private concerns and individuals directly under the Thirteenth Amendment. Congress has the authority and the obligation to insulate Blacks from all badges and incidents of slavery including racial defamation.

This is a special right reserved for descendants of enslaved Africans. It is clearly the original intent of the Thirteenth Amendment. Hornbook law prohibits all other ethnic or religious groups from suing for group defamation. The Constitution requires that Blacks enjoy a special preference under the law.

Civil rights mercenaries are simply unable to comprehend the parameters of the law or they are simply accommodating white supremacy. In collaboration with public relations firms, leading Blacks use their capitalist instincts to cover for white supremacists like Don Imus.

They came into being after the assassination of Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. and with the blessings of President Richard Nixon. Blacks were encouraged to exploit the pains and sufferings of their own people for their personal enrichment.

With the help of two prominent civil rights mercenaries, attorney Gloria Allred was able to steer Michael Richards of “Seinfeld� around legal minefields for referring to Black patrons of a comedy club as “niggers.� This same mercenary effort is afoot for Don Imus.

Special mistreatment is reserved for Black women in this country. No Caucasian, Asian, Latino nor any Indian woman has been murdered by the New York Police Department.

This is not the case for Black women. The NYPD has murdered a multitude of Black women in recent times. Imus and Richards have simply engaged in criminal solicitations.

On November 28, 1987, fifteen-year-old Tawana Brawley was found unconscious, smeared with feces all over her body and with “KKK� and “nigger� written on her body. The smeared feces and the racial epithets were part of a political message.

She had also been kidnapped and raped by law enforcement officials. This was racial terrorism in addition to racial defamation. Tawana was the victim and, at the very least, all Black women were the target. Most Black women were unable to connect the dots, however.

Civil rights pacifists saved Richards and they have rushed to Imus’ rescue. On the other hand, I am still paying for speaking the truth and preventing judicial errors in People v. Sharpton. My suspension from the practice of law started in May 1990. Imus’ suspension from the airwaves must also be permanent.

Congress is under the control of the Democratic Party. Yet, no leading Black has demanded that Congress make Don Imus a “Khallid Muhammad,� who delivered a speech at Kean College which Congress defined as derogatory and offensive to Jews. Within three months, Congress passed a bill of attainder against Khallid.

The British parliament employed the bill of attainder during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to issue death warrants against any person guilty of sedition. For making the speech at Kean College, Congress found Khallid Muhammad guilty of sedition. A bill of attainder, otherwise, is unconstitutional.

Soon afterwards, an assassination attempt was made on his life. Later, he would die under mysterious circumstances in Cobb County, GA. This is the intent of a bill of attainder. Leading Blacks, who led the charge against Khallid, are now advocates in the Richards and Rutgers basketball incidents.

The New York Legislature called on the judiciary to pull the plug on my law license. The same can happen to NBC, MSNBC and WFAN. The mere fact that these media outlets have FCC licenses is meaningless if they are unable to do business as corporations.

We have no game plan nor a blueprint for racial defamation. Our initial need is for a think tank. Before we set off on wild goose chases, we need someone who can think critically and engage in legal reasoning. Stated differently, Blacks need an architect.

We also need competent and zealous Black lawyers. When Blacks seek to put pressure on government, they need someone who knows which buttons to push and this is beyond the ken of civil rights pacifists. These issues will ultimately be decided in courtrooms. So far, we are simply engaging in empty rhetoric.

Let’s give Don Imus a final bon voyage on Friday, April 13, 2007 at the Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square from 5:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.

UAM will hold its weekly forum at the Elks Plaza, 1068 Fulton Street in Brooklyn on Wednesday, April 18, 2007 at 7:30 p.m. The discussion will focus on “Blacks and FCC Law.� Take the “C� train to Franklin Ave.

United African Movement will sponsor an overnight bus trip from Brooklyn to Baltimore and Washington, DC on April 21-22. There will be a visit to Reginald F. Lewis Museum with optional visits to the National Aquarium and the Maryland Science Center on Saturday. The hotel stay is in Washington with a field trip, on Sunday, entitled “Exploring Egypt on the Potomac.� The guide is Anthony Browder, noted author and lecturer on ancient Egypt. Call 718-834-9034 for further information.

Seminar on Critical Thinking and Legal Reasoning on Saturday, May 5, 2007 at City College in Harlem. For further information call 718-834-9034.

See: www.reinstatealtonmaddox.com for Maddox’s letter to Sen. Barack Obama.

 

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