According to the study, which was summarized by Rady Ananda at Food Freedom, “Three varieties of Monsanto’s GM corn – Mon 863, insecticide-producing Mon 810, and Roundup® herbicide-absorbing NK 603 – were approved for consumption by US, European and several other national food safety authorities.” [SOURCE]. Huffington PostKatherine Goldstein/Gazelle Emami
I’m bringing this story to you because I am concerned about what is happening in this country against its own people. There is a sinister agenda behind this corporation other than greed. Is it population control, or perhaps the pharmaceutical corporation has a stake in this. What is clear to me is that there has been a paradigm shift in America. Read labels and call your food source companies when in doubt, to ask if there are genetically engineered ingredients in their food.
(NaturalNews) Food that contains genetically engineered organisms can transfer genetic material into the DNA of bacteria in the intestinal tract leading to a myriad of health consequences. Responsible scientists have been warning about the potential dangers of releasing genetically modified organisms into the food supply for years. Unfortunately these warnings have fallen on deaf ears and GMO production has continued to increase. New research is surfacing validating the grave warnings of these scientists. Studies showing infertility, insulin resistance, abnormal cell proliferation, and a host of serious health implications of consuming genetically modified organisms are growing in number. The American Academy of Environmental Medicine warned against the use and consumption of GMO’s stating, “Several animal studies indicate serious health risks associated with GM food.” These health risks include: infertility, decreased immunity, antibiotic resistant bacteria, and poor insulin regulation.
Companies pushing for GM crops state that the research shows no negative consequences for the environment or public health. The reality is a host of research shows troubling consequences from the consumption of Genetically modified food. A study in Nature reported that the food we consume does create genetic changes in our children. The food and chemicals consumed in our diet change the mechanisms that turn on and off certain genes. In one GMO study, hamsters fed genetically modified soy had hair growth inside the pouches of the mouth. The incidence of hair growth within the mouth was markedly higher by the third generation of hamsters fed GMO soy. This single study should raise awareness of the potential ramifications of genetic engineering of food crops but it does not stand alone. Studies have shown high pup mortality with GM soy flour consumption, abnormal and damaged cells in mice fed Bt potatoes, reproductive problems in both female and male animals fed GM soybeans, and the list goes on.
Consumption of genetically modified organisms can lead to infestation of transgenes in the intestinal bacteria which could lead to serious health consequences. In 1989 a company in Japan produced L-tryptophan supplements using genetically engineered bacteria to increase production. During this time there was an outbreak of a painful disease labeled eosinophilia-myalgia syndrome. Eosinophilia-myalgia is characterized by: debilitating muscle pain and cramping, numbness, weakness, burning sensations, tenderness and swelling of the extremities, severe fatigue, headache, cardiac arrhythmias, internal fibrosis, short term memory loss, and a long list of other symptoms. Eosinophilia-myalgia was easily linked to the genetically engineered supplement because symptoms were experienced rapidly after consumption. Unfortunately, tracking serious health consequences of genetically modified food in the future will prove difficult as many effects could take years or decades to appear. Scientists have warned that it may take years for transgenes to displace the natural friendly flora in the intestinal tract.
The widespread threat is evident as recent research has found 80% of unborn babies tested had Bt toxins in their blood. The bacteria in our intestinal tract could be permanently altered to contain genetically engineered genes designed to produce pesticides. Animal studies have shown that the DNA in the food we eat can travel throughout the body, having an effect on many organ systems and even on an unborn baby. Antibiotic resistant bacteria and destruction of the immune enhancing intestinal flora are just the tip of the iceberg. Despite current research genetically modified crops are increasingly making their way into our food supply. It is critical to join organizations that fight against the genetic engineering of food, or at a minimum lobby for labeling of these foods so that consumers can make educated choices at the grocery store.
[Editor`s Note: NaturalNews is strongly against the use of all forms of animal testing. We fully support implementation of humane medical experimentation that promotes the health and wellbeing of all living creatures.]
I had been thinking about Haiti, so I began to look for current information on the internet about the progress of Haiti since the earthquake of January 2010. I was fortunate to find some good info about how the billions of dollars of foreign aid were being spent for Haiti. The report said how much money had been used on new medical facilities, water, and food. And how much money was still waiting for the Haitian government to establish sound plans for allocating funds into viable ways to clean up and rebuild. I felt good about what I had read. I was glad to know that even though Haiti is yet in real trouble, some visible progress has been made. Feeling hopeful, I began to glean the comments that were made under a particular story on Haiti. I truly don’t believe that I over reacted but, one commenter sounded as if he was blaming the Haitians for some degree of their suffering. His comment was about their poverty and birth rate. He seemed to be saying that if they would stop having children they could pull themselves up out of poverty. I was moved to the degree that I decided to blog about it, because I thought that the statement made, was unaware and unfortunate. The comment did however make me think about Haiti’s history. I started with Haiti, but I found that there are many Haitis, racism is global. That doesn’t surprise me, I just never thought of it outside of America’s borders.
“Racism is the belief that characteristics and abilities can be attributed to people simply on the basis of their race and that some racial groups are superior to others. Racism and discrimination have been used as powerful weapons encouraging fear or hatred of others in times of conflict and war, even during economic downturns.” http://www.globalissues.org/article/165/racism
The socioeconomic sufferings of our world don’t just happen because a group of people fails to pull their own weight. As I read accounts of history, racism became a means to an end; the end ultimately being genocide and capital gain, then containment and separation. Racism has a pattern, I only read a few examples, but it appears that inferiority is consistently associated with darker skin. The objects of disdain are the darker indigenous people, who are vilified, to justify their genocide. Religious and political differences can also make one worthy of separation, disdain, and death. I thought the information I found was interesting enough to share. (Peace was hard to find).
How did the Haitians become so impoverished? (Read the excerpt).
Racism in Haiti
“The underdevelopment and backwardness of the (Haitian) society has nothing to do with voodoo and a perceived inherent inferiority of the Haitian mind and body, but rather to do with exploitation and racism of the last 200 years. During its heyday as a sugar producer, Haiti was the most prosperous slave colony, exporting to France over 218 million tons of sugar, cocoa, coffee and indigo. The majority of these products were re-exported from France in its trade with the rest of the world. Haitiwas the envy of the British, who attempted to capture it (1796), even while Lord Pitt and company were seeking to end the slave trade on humanitarian grounds. Coming at the end of the unconscionable economic exploitation by France, the American military occupation established and carried out the Munroe Doctrine and the Roosevelt Corollary to secure the American backyard and to make it known to the foreign powers they were not welcomed.” http://guardian.co.tt/commentary/columnist/2010/01/20/exploitation-racism-keep-haiti-despair
Racism in Australia
“‘The term “racial discrimination” shall mean any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, color, descent, or national or ethnic origin which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life.’
Myths and stereotypes are a key component of racism:
they reduce a range of differences in people to simplistic categorizations
transform assumptions about particular groups of people into ‘realities’
are used to justify status quo or persisting injustices
reinforce social prejudice and inequality
Three out of four Indigenous Australians experience racism in their everyday lives.
Labeling of Indigenous Australians including stereotypes such as dark skin, despair, levels of alcohol consumption, laziness, levels of intelligence, ability to work and care for children, and levels of criminality are all part of the myths and stereotypes that perpetuate racism in Australia.” This sounds like the U.S. http://www.antar.org.au/node/221
Racism in Columbia
Afro Colombians refers to Colombians of African ancestry, and the great impact they have had on Colombian culture. (Wikipedia).
The nearly 11 million Blacks Colombians have been forced to abandon traditional homelands along the country’s Pacific coast as encroaching paramilitary battles have threatened their lives. As a result of the continuing strife in the country, Colombia’s paramilitaries often work hand-in-hand with right-wing forces in the country, fighting battles in a war that began in the middle of the last century.
Afro-Columbian communities are among the poorest of the 44 million inhabitants of Columbia. Their chronic levels of poverty speak of their invisibility and discrimination in a nation recognized by its Constitution as multiethnic and culturally plural. Despite the legal recognition of territorial and cultural rights trough the Law 70 of 1993, the lack of political will and state governance have made this and other legal resources powerless to resolve the historical injustice committed against the Columbian Afro-descendants. http://www.seeingblack.com/2003/x032803/colombians.shtml
Class in India
The Untouchables
The caste system in India is a most shameless practice in this world, worse than racism. It was started as a classification on the basis of one’s occupation. In that system, there could be more than one caste in a family on the basis of one’s occupation. One can change his/her caste once he/she changes his/her occupation. Gradually, those who are in the higher castes wanted to protect their family members from slipping in to lower castes. They, with the help of then rulers built ‘iron curtains’ between the castes. The higher caste people cornered all the wealth, education, and power in their baskets.
The worst fact was these privileged classes denied these privileges to the so called shudras and dalit castes. They were treated worse than animals. It is these atrocities which are perpetuated on these low caste people which constitutes the vast majority of the population, resulting in utter poverty, illiteracy and backwardness among the majority of the population in this nation. Had everybody been treated equally, India would have been the number one nation in the world by now. http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-caste-system.htm
Racism in Africa
South Africa is a country blessed with an abundance of natural resources including fertile farmlands and unique mineral resources. South African mines are world leaders in the production of diamonds and gold as well as strategic metals such as platinum. The climate is mild, reportedly resembling the San Francisco bay area weather more than anywhere in the world.
South Africa was colonized by the English and Dutch in the seventeenth century. English domination of the Dutch descendents (known as Boers or Afrikaners) resulted in the Dutch establishing the new colonies of Orange Free State and Transvaal. The discovery of diamonds in these lands around 1900 resulted in an English invasion which sparked the Boer War. Following independence from England, an uneasy power-sharing between the two groups held sway until the 1940′s, when the Afrikaner National Party was able to gain a strong majority. Strategists in the National Party invented apartheid as a means to cement their control over the economic and social system. Initially, aim of the apartheid was to maintain white domination while extending racial separation. Starting in the 60′s, a plan of “Grand Apartheid” was executed, emphasizing territorial separation and police repression.
With the enactment of apartheid laws in 1948, racial discrimination was institutionalized. Race laws touched every aspect of social life, including a prohibition of marriage between non-whites and whites, and the sanctioning of “white-only” jobs. In 1950, the Population Registration Act required that all South Africans be racially classified into one of three categories: white, black (African), or colored (of mixed decent). http://www-cs-students.stanford.edu/~cale/cs201/apartheid.hist.html
Racism in Germany
The Holocaust was the systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of approximately six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators. “Holocaust” is a word of Greek origin meaning “sacrifice by fire.” The Nazis, who came to power in Germany in January 1933, believed that Germans were “racially superior” and that the Jews, deemed “inferior,” were an ALIEN threat to the so-called German racial community. http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005143
Racism in Canada
Unfortunately, life in government-built villages turned out to be a major trauma for the Innu. Treated like children by missionaries and government bureaucrats, subject to humiliating racism by their non-Aboriginal neighbors, punished by Newfoundland hunting regulations, the Innu fell into a quagmire of rock-bottom self-esteem, alcohol abuse, family violence, and other forms of cultural collapse. http://www.cqsb.qc.ca/svs/434/fninnu.htm This sounds just like America.
“What Survival reveals…has shocked and appalled me. It is clear that behind Canada’s liberal reputation lies a scandal the government is desperate to hide. IfCanadians knew what their government is doing to the Innu, they would be astonished and ashamed.” Julie Christie, actress. http://www.religioustolerance.org/sui_innu.htm
Racism in the U.K.
And, following the end of slavery, the Irish and African Americans were forced to compete for the same low-wage, low-status jobs. So, the “white negroes” of the U.K. came to the United States and, though not enslaved, faced a status almost as low as that of recently freed blacks. While there were moments of solidarity between Irish and African Americans, this was short lived.
Over the course of the 19th and early 20th century, Irish Americans managed to a great extent to enter and become part of the dominant white culture. In an attempt to secure the prosperity and social position that their white skin had not guaranteed them in Europe, Irish immigrants lobbied for white racial status in America. Although Irish people’s pale skin color and European roots suggested evidence of their white racial pedigree, the discrimination that immigrants experienced on the job (although the extent of the “No Irish Need Apply” discrimination is disputed), the simian caricatures they saw of themselves in the newspapers, meant that “whiteness” was a status that would be achieved, not ascribed. http://www.racismreview.com/blog/2009/03/17/irish-americans-racism-whiteness/
Class in Asia
But in Asia, it is different. Dark skin is poor, white skin is rich. They promote whiteness because no one wants to be perceived as poor. In Thailand, I saw plenty of dark-skinned people in high-ranking jobs, and their current prime minister is dark-skinned. While they prefer white skinned, they don’t look at a dark-skinned person and think “they are less of a person.” The same is true all over Southeast Asia. Driving a BMW in the West says you’re rich and classy; in Asia, the color of your skin says it. (dark skin = poor and that is not esteemed) http://www.bravenewtraveler.com/2008/08/19/white-skin-why-racism-in-asia-isnt-quite-what-you-think/
Why not leave skin color out of it. If it’s just about class, let wealth = high class, period. Instead this system says if your dark skinnned you’re poor, and in Asia, according to the article, there are dark-skinned wealthy people. Also with this point of view, an Asian could be as white as a sheet, which signals wealth, and yet be poor. This really sounds like a mental health issue. The info. following is something I read, but not sure how accurate it is. Light skin = Chinese, Japanese, Korean, etc. Dark skin = Filipinos, Malay, Indonesian, etc.
The original pledge of allegiance penned in 1892 read, “I pledge allegiance to my flag and the republic for which it stands: one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all.” From 1892 to 1923 a single word was added to the pledge: “I pledge allegiance to my flag and to the republic for which it stands: one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all.” From 1923 to 1924 five more words were added: “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States and to the republic for which it stands: one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all.” From 1924 to 1954 two more words were added “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands; one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all.” In 1954 the final product read: “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness…
The First Amendment, of the Bill of Rights reads:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
It appears to me, from the small sampling of these documents and the pledge of allegiance, that the founding fathers of the United States were interested in having a nation founded upon freedoms and rights that were indelibly linked to a Creator God; this is America’s National Heritage, to be One Nation under God, indivisible… America became a great nation because of the way in which the founding fathers honored God. America has never been a perfect nation, but because God was honored from the very beginning by the Puritans and other Christian believers, it became a blessed nation.
Any potential student, who wanted to enter any of the Ivy League Universities, had to name the name of Christ to enter in. In fact, the entire education system was founded upon the wisdom and righteousness of the Word of God. Well, look at our schools now…explicit sex education is taught. Condoms are being handed out, in a certain school system, to First Graders. Students are having sex in school with other students. Teachers are having sex with students and selling drugs to students. Murder. We spend hundreds of thousand of dollars to teach Johnny, and he still can’t read. Our educational system at best is inferior to other countries. Why? Because our educational system no longer has a foundation built upon the wisdom and righteousness of God’s Word. Morality, prayer and Christ were put out of the school and now you see what has taken root in its place, immorality.
Our nation is divided, and Racism has become much more OVERT. Congressman Joe Wilson publicly called Obama a “liar.” Our president has been referred to as “an alien in the White House;” an African Witch Doctor, a socialist; the Obama’s have been referred to as “monkeys in the White House.” and the president’s every move is being criticized. Are these not tactics to stir up fear and further polarize the people of our nation? We have a black man in the highest office in the land, racism is offended. Because racism says blacks are genetically inferior, racism says blacks need to stay in the place that white society has relegated them to, racism says blacks are not qualified to lead white people, and certainly not the “old white boy network.” When the fore-fathers penned…We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; they didn’t mean the captured Africans that they enslaved, because the slaves were considered less than fully human. But the fathers declared that all men are created equal, God agreed, and the North won the Civil War. Even Thomas Jefferson, who was a slave owner, knew that a price would be paid for enslaving human beings that God alone created to be free.
The Republicans and Democrats are divided, and don’t seem to be collectively invested in pulling this nation out of its crisis. The election of 2012 seems more important, because the spirit of racism says we’ve got to get that Negro out of Office. The Left is against the Right and Conservatives against Liberals, the immigration problem, the BP oil spill, gay rights, Arabs and Israelites. In the midst of this, a Russian spy ring has been discovered; since the recent Times Square terrorist bomb that failed to blow-up, and there has been an additional threat conspiring to detonate explosives in the New Yorksubway system. Muslims are donating great sums of money to American Universities so that they (Muslims) can establish Islamic departments and teach their propaganda to angry, disgruntled, disillusioned impressionable, students, and produce more home grown Islamic terrorists, and Muslim followers. But WE proclaimed/pledged that America is ONE NATION UNDER GOD, INDIVISIBLE WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL. Even our $ proclaims in God We Trust. And so the pledge and declarations are pulling us forward to our National Heritage that is ONLY found in our Creator God. There is only ONE MAN that can bring RIGHTEOUSNESS to our Nation and World, The Lord Jesus Christ. So while the nation is high on drugs, blacked out on booze, drunk on high fat foods; and our leaders, who should be defending and protecting our nation and its people, are jockeying for government thrones by making promises they don’t keep; while we continue to practice covert and overt racism, frightening our country along racial lines; and while we continue to kill one another; and while we become consumed by our lust for sex, lies, and video tapes, wealth and greed; our enemies are infiltrating our communities to further the destruction of our Country that we Americans began. We cannot commit the atrocities that America has committed throughout history including the on-going abortion rate of 3,700 abortions a day and 1.37 million babies aborted yearly, (http://www.abortionno.org/Resources/fastfacts.html) and not expect to reap a harvest of destruction within our own borders. A house divided will come stumbling down.
Some Facts about Our Beloved America:
The US has the highest homicide rate per capita. 11,877,218
The US has the highest divorce rate. 0.495 per 1000 people
The US is in the top 3 of countries with lone parent families. 9%
Money may not be the most important value, but it is a useful measure to help grasp the size of alcohol problems (see Berry and Boland, 1977; Cook, 1984; Fein, 1984; Grant and Ritson, 1983). We complain about the high cost of life’s necessities, yet we Americans spend $71.9 billion (more than $197 million a day, $8.2 million an hour) on taxable alcoholic beverages, plus an untold amount on bootleg liquor (about 24 million gallons) and home brew. And $60 billion more goes to pick up the pieces: health care, motor vehicle accident losses, fire losses, losses caused by violent crime, social programs responding to the problems created by alcoholism, and loss to business and industry. Total losses to the nation from alcohol problems and alcoholism were estimated at $116.7 billion in 1982 by Research Triangle Institute, $120 billion in 1983 by the U.S. General Accounting Office, $142 billion in 1986 by the University of California at Berkeley School of Health, 136 billion in 1990 by NIAAA, and $148 billion in 1993 by MADD.
This Video is Very Graphic. This is another story about a life, death, and Taser Guns. The name this time is Steven Hill, aka Steve Driver, porn star. Steven is accused of fatally “hacking” Herbert Wong to death. I understand all the extenuating circumstances of the scene in this video. However, there are two things that have me shaking my head. (1) Why point a gun at someone on a cliff, and shoot, especially since you think he is about to jump? (2) My second concern is the comments that people made under this video on YouTube. Lawlessness is scary. And so my prayers go out to the family of Herbert Wong, a life cut short, and the family of Steve Hill.
This Video is Very Graphic. This is another story about a life, death, and Taser Guns. It appears to me that when this young man got the cops off of him, and sat up, he was already in choke mode, so why taser him? There were three cops and the young man was unarmed. If the taser gun was taken out of both of these scenerios, would it have made a difference. It also looks like the police officer is not doing the Heimlich Maneuver correctly. Three lives lost…
Michael Jacobs (24) was a human being with mental health issues, schizophrenia, and on April 19, 2009, he had not taken his medication. Michael’s family called the police to HELP THEM get Michael under control. Instead, these parents witnessed the death of their son on their front lawn. Here is what happened…the family called for help, a FIRE crew, EMS unit, and POLICE showed up on the premises, the cops sent the FIRE and EMS unit away. It was at that point that officer Stephanie A. Phillips felt that Michael was threatening to run away. That is when she tasered Michael with 50,000 volts of electricity; the first time was for 49 seconds and the second time for 5 seconds, with a 1-second interval between the shocks.
The officer reported that when Jacobs “continued to struggle,” Phillips warned him again that if he did not “cease fighting and comply with officers’ requests, she would shock him again. When [Jacobs] failed to cooperate, Phillips shocked him a second time,” according to the report. That stun gun’s electric shock ran through Michael Jacobs’ body for 54 seconds. After he fell to the ground, and had stopped breathing, the cops handcuffed him and called the ambulance to return. The three cops did nothing except call the ambulance to return. They did not even try to resuscitate this young black man, they only chose to handcuff a dead man.
Fifteen minutes later, the EMS techs arrived to find the young man dead. Handcuffed, lifeless, laying on the ground. Two investigations were begun, but with no results…four months passed and nothing.
This victim had no weapon and the only threat was that he might run. Charlotte Jacobs, Michael’s mother, told relatives that her son was writhing on the ground and foaming at the mouth while he was being stunned, and she begged for the officers to stop. Michael Patrick Jacobs died on this day, and the Tarrant County medical examiner’s office ruled the death a homicide and Jacob’s family sued, alleging his civil rights had been violated.
A little over a year later, May 18, 2009, the Forth Worth City Council has unanimously approved a settlement, the biggest settlement ever from the City of Fort Worth, 2 Mil. This settlement was the result of a civil rights/wrongful death lawsuit filed by Michael’s parents. The Fort Worth Police Dept. cleared the police officers after their internal investigation, and the Tarrant County Grand Jury did not issue an indictment against the officers. THIS IS PRESENT-DAY LYNCHING.
The photo to the (left) is the First Edition Barbie, begun in 1959. Her base outfit is pretty much in keeping with swimsuit fashions for that time. Barbie number 10 (right) is the new BIG BREASTED BARBIE. She is wearing a low-cut, “Giorgio Armani type” business suit, with what looks like breast implants, here in lies the controversy. Barbie has had her share of controversy, including her physical, not-so-outrageous for the times, proportions…36-18-33. Her 18 inch waist has gotten bigger, but for the most part Barbie has made some righteous inroads. She has had over 80 careers. The first was as a teenage fashion model. She has had military careers in the Marine Corps, Air Force and Navy. She was an astronaut, lawyer, doctor and rock star. She was a candidate for the presidency of the United States in 1992 and again in 2000. Barbie is a global phenomenon and sells in over 100 different nations. Total sales are about $1.5 billion dollars per year. Mattel estimates two Barbie dolls are sold somewhere every second of every day. I believe that the makers of “Barbie” set out to tastefully reflect white women in American Culture during the 1950′s and beyond. I believe that Barbie is endeavoring to do the same with this New Boob Job Barbie. In 2006, breast augmentation was the number one procedure performed by plastic surgeons. The ASPS reported that 329,000 breast augmentations were performed that year. Barbie has not single-handedly destroyed the self-esteem of certain young women, feedback from the larger society is at fault for that one. It is well-known that in all societies women are always held to a higher standard of “timeless beauty,” even if the idea of “beauty” differs from culture to culture, and are easily disposed of in America at least, if they fall below men’s standards.
(Wikipedia) The Gullah are African-Americans who live in the Lowcountry region of South Carolina and Georgia, which includes both the coastal plain and the Sea Islands. Historically, the Gullah region once extended north to the Cape Fear area on the coast of North Carolina and south to the vicinity of Jacksonville on the coast of Florida; but today the Gullah area is confined to the South Carolina and Georgia Lowcountry. The Gullah people and their language are also called Geechee, which some scholars speculate to be related to the Ogeechee River near Savannah, Georgia. The term Geechee is an emic term used by speakers and “Gullah” is a term that was generally used by outsiders but that has become a way for speakers to formally identify themselves and their language.
The Gullah are known for preserving more of their African linguistic and cultural heritage than any other African-American community in the United States. They speak an English-based creole language containing many African loanwords and significant influences from African languages in grammar and sentence structure. The Gullah language is related to Jamaican Creole, Barbadian Dialect, and the Krio language of Sierra Leone in West Africa. Gullah storytelling, cuisine, music, folk beliefs, crafts, farming and fishing traditions, all exhibit strong influences from West and Central African cultures.
According to history, most of the Gullahs’ ancestors were brought to the South Carolina and Georgia Lowcountry through the ports of Charleston and Savannah as slaves, making their way from Sierra Leone by way of Brazil. Charleston was one of the most important ports in North America for the Transatlantic slave trade. Up to half of the enslaved Africans brought into what is now the United States came through that port. A great majority of the remaining flowed through Savannah, which was also active in the slave trade.
The largest group of enslaved Africans brought into Charleston and Savannah came from the West African rice-growing region, centered primarily in Sierra Leone through the most significant slave castle for the modern day United States called Bunce Island. The people had cultivated African rice in this section of West Africa for possibly up to 3,000 years. South Carolina and Georgia rice planters once called this region the “Rice Coast”, indicating its importance as a source of skilled African labor for the North American rice industry. Once it was discovered that rice would grow in the southern U.S. regions, it was assumed that enslaved Africans from rice-growing regions in Africa would be beneficial, due to their knowledge of rice-growing techniques.
In 1750, Henry Laurens and Richard Oswald opened the most significant slave castle in the now United States of America (then called Bance Island, now called Bunce Island) just up the Sierra Leone river. Here is where up to 80% of African Americans in the United States whose heritage comes from the slave trade is believed to have derived.
The Gullah people have been able to preserve so much of their African cultural heritage because of geography, climate, and patterns of importation of enslaved Africans. Taken from the Western region of Africa as slaves and transported to some areas of Brazil(Bahia) the Gullah-Gheechee slaves were then sold to slave owners in what was then Charlestowne, South Carolina. By the mid-1700s, the South Carolina and Georgia Lowcountry was covered by thousands of acres of rice fields. African farmers from the “Rice Coast” brought the skills for cultivation and tidal irrigation that made rice one of the most successful industries in early America.
The semi-tropical climate that made the Lowcountry such an excellent place for rice production also made it vulnerable to the spread of malaria and yellow fever. These tropical diseases, endemic in Africa, were carried by slaves transported to the colonies by slave ships. Mosquitoes in the swamps and inundated rice fields of the Lowcountry picked up and spread the diseases to English and European settlers, as well. Malaria and yellow fever soon became endemic in the region.
Because of having built some immunity in their homeland, Africans were more resistant to tropical fevers than the Europeans. In addition, because planters devoted large areas of land to plantations for rice and indigo, the white population of the Low-country and sea islands grew at a slower rate than the black population. More and more enslaved Africans were brought as laborers onto the sea islands and into the Low-country as the rice industry expanded. By about 1708, South Carolina had a black majority. Coastal Georgia later acquired its own black majority after rice cultivation expanded there in the mid-1700s, and malaria and yellow fever became endemic. Fearing disease, many white planters left the Lowcountry during the rainy spring and summer months when fever ran rampant. Others lived mostly in cities such as Charleston.
They left their African “rice drivers,” or overseers, in charge of the plantations. Working on large plantations with hundreds of laborers, and with African traditions reinforced by new imports from the same regions, the Gullahs developed a culture in which elements of African languages, cultures, and community life were preserved to a high degree. Their culture was quite different from that of slaves in states like Virginia and North Carolina, where slaves lived in smaller settlements and had more sustained and frequent interactions with whites. Because the slaves were left alone and in charge to work the lands, they later purchased those lands because whites were afraid to dwell there.
But now, the sea island culture known as Geechee in Florida and Georgia and Gullah in the Carolinas is threatened by rapid coastal development. Residents are being bought out, tricked out, harassed out, and killed out of their land. And those who remain are being priced out by high property taxes. Members of a four-state federal commission will meet in South Carolina to discuss preserving the sea island heritage of the Southeast coast. The Gullah-Geechee Heritage Corridor Commission holds its quarterly meeting on Thursday at the Avery Center at the College of Charleston. The group is developing a plan to preserve the sea island heritage of slave descendants in four states. SOURCE: The Post and Courier
When I think of little girls, I picture: toddling babies, ribbons and bows, grand tea parties with little people in over-sized clothes, double-dutch and laughter, secrets and school-girl crushes, awkward blushes, and unrequited love. But I never pictured little girls in pigtails wearing leather/feather jackets, make-up, thongs and halter tops. I have just described what are known as “Baby Bratz Dolls.” When did we transition from sweet innocence to seeing children in very adult roles. The picture to the upper left and the one to the upper right present two very different persona. And what healthy mind wants to think of children in provocative clothing (don’t answer that). Who is the mastermind behind this diabolical plan of evil and sinister destruction of unsophistication, PARENTS, that’s who. It is parents who have dropped the ball and failed to protect the innocence of their children.
This is What Parents See.
This is What Children See
The children replaced the F-bomb with the word “fudging,” I think. And instead of the word MF, they used “Mother-Fudder,” I believe. What is THE POINT other than a plan for self-promotion of the director, the play is not even fun to watch, it is painful actually, and what about the parents of the children in the play. Perhaps this downward spiral of sweet childhood started with putting make-up and tiaras on toddlers and parading them before judges. I read that the pageant industry for children is a $5 billion machine. The winnings can fund a college education for a child, but how many titles would the child have to win to make enough money to do so. What is the real motive behind belittling a child and causing competition between sisters? The mother in the following video is really scary…
Pimping ones children can have serious repercussions: Drug addiction, divorce, broken relationships, emotional problems, failure, and even death, and wealth. There are those parents that will indulge and exploit their own children to their hurt.
I wanted to add this article because I am not surprised about this attack on the 15 year-old girl. America is a breeding ground of this kind of sickness. We place our children in school systems that just don’t seem to care about the nations children. Where were the security guards, why is the school hosting homecoming games when the security cameras don’t work. And why are the cameras not working. If school systems don’t hold educating minority students in high esteem, why would we expect them to care about their lives.
I also agree that not only should the suspects receive life without parole, but those who stood around and watched as though they were watching television, should also be given life without parole. I wonder why we don’t treat our school systems like we do the military. Keep the middle to high school children as long as possible for the day and create an atmosphere of education and learning. Hold parents and children accountable for all things child and homework. If child protective services can come in and take children for whatever reason, why can’t CPS work with the education system to do a better job of education children? These children must have a tremendous sense of hopelessness to do something like this. My prayers go out to the young lady involved and to the families of all involvedl
In a study released by the International Journal of Biological Sciences, analyzing the effects of genetically modified foods on mammalian health, researchers found that agricultural giant Monsanto’s GM corn is linked to organ damage in rats.
![[MichaelJacobs.jpg]](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_DmtdGP6kzMQ/Serjgu2DihI/AAAAAAAAJ8Y/V9lGKtCaqKc/s1600/MichaelJacobs.jpg)
Michael Jacobs (24) was a human being with mental health issues, schizophrenia, and on April 19, 2009, he had not taken his medication. Michael’s family called the police to HELP THEM get Michael under control. Instead, these parents witnessed the death of their son on their front lawn. Here is what happened…the family called for help, a FIRE crew, EMS unit, and POLICE showed up on the premises, the cops sent the FIRE and EMS unit away. It was at that point that officer Stephanie A. Phillips felt that Michael was threatening to run away. That is when she tasered Michael with 50,000 volts of electricity; the first time was for 49 seconds and the second time for 5 seconds, with a 1-second interval between the shocks.
The photo to the (left) is the First Edition Barbie, begun in 1959. Her base outfit is pretty much in keeping with swimsuit
