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| The Starspangled Banner/Public Domain/(Fake) Son House: The Star Spangled Banner |
Patrioism is very much up to date these days in the US, and with it the insigments of its power: peoplesmarches and activistsdemonstrations, patriotic hymnes and the National Anthem and of course many many flags.
The US-National-Flag - that famous star-spangled Banner - is together with the National Anthem, that honours that Banner, the symbol underneath all Americans should gather, of whitch they all should be proud of in the same way - no matter what race or class they belong to or at what time they lived.
To get clear for myself how much on the the surface, how unrealitsic, even cynical, this patriotic wish often is, especialy in a time when ultra-rightwing whites have just claimed the dream and the fight of Dr. Martin Luther King jr and the Black Activistmovement of the 60th in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC for themselves, I opened Dr Neal Hall's Book "Nigger for Live" (that we published an article about, a little while ago). Here the Surgeon and AfroAmerican shows authentic and impressiv with his sensative but powerful poets-language what it can mean to live in America nowadays as a Black man.
The first poem speaks of that starspangled banner and the hymne with the same name, about the (his)story of the men who once created it and made it the symbol of freedom - and the story of the other ones, who lived underneath that banner, often without freedom at all:
Between Soiled Sheets
By the dawn's early light,
the founding fathers of freedom and
democracy found their way to rape the
mothers of my mother.
At twilight's last gleaming
there, on the shore dimly seen
thro' the mists of the deep.
they raped our shackled black mothers
between kneeling and praying
to that white Jesus the white man
sold them would come
to save them from him...
...raped our slaved mothers
between pleading and screaming,
between screamin'g and weeping,
between weeping and whimpering
between the soiled sheets of
freedom and democracy.
Raped, one at a time,
time after time until the distant moon
reflecting in their detached silent gazes
turned away to shet tears as founding
fathers of liberty undressed the mothers of
my mother one at a time, time after time,
between the soiled sheets
of freedom and democracy.
Between their rockets' red glare, and bombs bursting in air
there, between the soiled sheets
of freedom and democracy,
the founding fathers of liberty
raped our mothers until their defiant curly
hairs acquiesced and fell limp down, across
their undressed shoulders.
Raped until our slave mothers'
black skin bred and bled
laddered mulattos caste(d) by hue,
to pave the road to our despair,
our affliction with self-hate, our addiction to
dependency and division.
Raped until our slave mothers'
black skin bred and bled
our identity in white things
and white dreams.
There beneath that
star-spangled banner yet wav(ing)
the founding fathers of liberty
raped us of our mothers' dreams,
our fathers' history,
our human dignity,
our methods and means,
our manhood, our selfhood,
the legacy handed to legacies,
there, between those soiled sheets of
star-spangled freedom and democracy.
Neal Hall, M.D.
[Italics] - From Star Spangled Banner by Francis Scott Key, 9.14.1814]
Here you can find the Original words of the National Anthem as well as a translation into German, history and a historic tape with the National Anthem:
The Star-Spangled Banner – Wikipedia
The Diamond Four – “The Star Spangled Banner” mp3 | PublicDomain2ten
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| 24.07.2010: Die Ultra-Rechte demonstriert in Washingtion DC/AFP/Spiegel online Demo in Washington: US-Rechte gegen Obama - SPIEGEL ONLINE - Nachrichten - Politik |
Martin Luther King's birthday
has been transformed into
a day of atonement.
The one day white America uses to absolve
itself of the previous 364 days of continuous
racial opression, injustice and exploitation.
Neal Hall, M.D.
Massendemonstration: Obamas Gegner rühmen Martin Luther King
Glenn Beck Rally:Beck Says US Has `Wandered In Darkness’ Too Long
Not Much Talk About MLK at Glenn Beck Rally
Writer Claims Glenn Beck Is The White Version Of Malcolm X
Commentary: The Rhetoric of Hate - Essence.com
I feel better already.
Progress
Today,
they don't call you Nigger.
Well!
not loud enough for you to hear.
Neal Hall, M.D.
Even though
we've been given more room
to roam about since the days of slavery,
the sign on the fence
that keeps us in our place
and defines the boundaries
of our life, liberty and pursuit of happiness
still reads plantation.
Neal Hall, M.D.
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| Thousands of people joined the Rev. Al Sharpton and other leaders Saturday to commemorate the anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s March on Washington in 1963. The event, billed as “Reclaim the Dream,” included a five-mile march that culminated at the Mall, where conservative talk show host Glenn Beck had organized the simultaneous “Restoring Honor” rally./Sharpton's Reclaim the Dream Rally Recalls the 1963 March |
VIDEO: Who Owns The Civil Rights Movement?
Sharpton's Reclaim the Dream Rally Recalls the 1963 March
“Reclaim The Dream” Rally Bring Thousands To D.C. In Honor Of MLK
Glenn Beck Wants to Restore Honor to America? How Ironic
Drowning Out Hate Hustlers: Palin, Beck Cannot Steal America’s Soul
Glenn Beck’s Rally Turns Out An Unimpressive 87,000 Attendees
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| Der 1929 geborene Baptistenprediger widmete sein Leben dem Kampf um gleiche Rechte für Schwarze und Weiße. Seit Mitte der 1950er Jahre galt er als die führende Stimme der schwarzen Bürgerrechtsbewegung. Tief beeindruckt /Martin-Luther-King-Day in den USA - "I have a dream" - Bild 2 - Politik - sueddeutsche.de |
An effective black leader
is one who is
knowledgeable of,
but thinks and acts
outside, the white box
with clarity and conviction
and without compromise.
An effective black leader
is one who knows
that knowledge is not power.
Power is power.
But that knowledge,
tells one where best
and from which box
to wheel that power.
An effective black leader knows that
peace and freedom stand tranquil
atop the imminent threat, in their defence,
of measurable economic violence.
Neal Hall, M.D.
Inner Light
Our lives must shine
so that others traveling the same road of
hopes and desires may see their way through
the pain, success and adversity of life.
Neal Hall, M.D.
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| Dr. Neal Hall |
Dr. Neal Hall's powerful book shows on its 265 pages in many more facettes what it means to try to live in America nowadays as a Black man. The surgeon, who still works in this profession, wrote and collected his poems in the first years just for himself, 2009 he decided to publish and let the public take part. Meanwhile the book has drawn a lot of attention in the US - not only because of the provocant title. Literatur-sienticst, critics and last not least wellknown activist have said about the author that he does not only create very sensative but powerful pictures with his poems he also is capable of touching other people with his writing, so much that he sometimes even changes their lifes:
"Dr. Hall was born and raised in Warren, Ohio. He received his undergraduate degree from Cornell University where he achieved All Ivy, All East Coast, All America Honors, Co-Captained The Cornell Track and Field Team, Cornell's Athlete of the Year - 78', Gold Medalist 78' U.S. National Sport Festival Mini Olympics and Cornell University Athletic Hall of Fame Inductee.
Dr. Hall received his medical degree from Michigan State and his ophthalmology surgical subspecialty training from Harvard University.
As a young boy, Dr. Hall was taught to believe Washington never told a lie, Lincoln freed the slaves; that the American dream was a reality well within the reach of every American. All he needed to do to make this dream a reality was apply himself: self motivation, discipline, hard work and education. After years of academic rigors, freshly minted from a Harvard ophthalmic medical and surgical subspecialty in tow, Dr. Hall discovered - painfully - that despite all his hard work, enthusiasm and drive, America does not deliver equally.
Whether he works as an ophthalmologist or poet, his reality is clear-cut. In the eyes of "unspoken America" he is a Nigger For Life. Dr. Hall discovered that in "unspoken America", race is the one thing by which he is "first" judged; by which he is "first" measured, "first" against which his life and accomplishments are metered diminished value, dignity and equality; all of which have everything to do with accessing choice, opportunity, power and freedom. Now he can see - painfully - disguised from the eyes of the child he used to be, America's continued state of slavery."
HomeAbout the Author
Reader's Comments
Nigger For Life Book
Contact
Appearances
SurgeonPoet Blog
Trying to be a black man in America
is like freeddom's thirst trying to
clench water within broken hands.
Neal Hall, M.D.
Foto: Thank you! Dankeschön!
1. The Starspangled Banner/Public Domain/(Fake) Son House: The Star Spangled Banner
2. Dr. Neal Hall/bookcover, website/Nigger for Life Book, Neal Hall, M.D., Poet
3. 24.07.2010: Die Ultra-Rechte demonstriert in Washingtion DC/AFP/Spiegel online Demo in Washington: US-Rechte gegen Obama - SPIEGEL ONLINE - Nachrichten - Politik
4. Thousands of people joined the Rev. Al Sharpton and other leaders Saturday to commemorate the anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s March on Washington in 1963./Sharpton's Reclaim the Dream Rally Recalls the 1963 March
5. Dr. Martin Luther King jr.: Der 1929 geborene Baptistenprediger widmete sein Leben dem Kampf um gleiche Rechte für Schwarze und Weiße. Seit Mitte der 1950er Jahre galt er als die führende Stimme der schwarzen Bürgerrechtsbewegung. Tief beeindruckt /Martin-Luther-King-Day in den USA - "I have a dream" - Bild 2 - Politik - sueddeutsche.de
6. + 7. Dr. Neal Hall/website
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