Slavery @ MindSay 
I remember dealing with this stunning news mere months ago:
More than one in 100 adults in the United States is in jail or prison, an all-time high that is costing state governments nearly $50 billion a year and the federal government $5 billion more, according to a report released yesterday.It dawned on me today that I'd seen that 2.3 million number somewhere else, but I couldn't place it. Sadly, I remembered today:
With more than 2.3 million people behind bars, the United States leads the world in both the number and percentage of residents it incarcerates, leaving far-more-populous China a distant second, according to a study by the nonpartisan Pew Center on the States.
Total number of slaves in the Lower South : 2,312,352 (47% of total population).But, wait, it gets better...
Total number of slaves in the Upper South: 1,208758 (29% of total population).
Total number of slaves in the Border States: 432,586 (13% of total population).
(Source)
Despite this, our democracy still falls far short of its promise to be a government that truly represents the will of its citizens. Across the country there are 5.3 million Americans who are denied the right to vote because of a felony conviction in their past. Nearly 4 million of these people are not in prison; they live, work, pay taxes, and raise families in our communities, but remain disenfranchised for years, often for decades, and sometimes for life.The time has come to ask ourselves if our nation is really as free as it likes to think it is. My libertarianism is coming through, to be sure. All the same, I would love to know how many of these folks were non-violent offenses and deserved to become unpersons.
Writing for the Claremont Institute, Harry V. Jaffa rebuts the anti-American, anti-white, generally racist and Black victimization sermon excerpts you probably have heard or read of Reverend Jeremiah Wright.
In case one has been ignoring the American Race for President of the United States, Wright was the former Senior Pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ and the acknowledged spiritual mentor of Barack Hussein Obama.
The one angle I am not sure I agree with Jaffa is his unique theme of justifying White enslavement of Black Africans that eventually have become African-Americans. I don’t disagree with his reasoning; however his case just comes across as the very attitude that has made Black Americans agree with Wright’s vision of Black victimization by the “White Man.”
In my way of thinking racism is racism. It is irrelevant if the racists are White or Black. If a Black person hates a person because he is White it is wrong. If a White person hates a Black person because he is Black it is wrong.
I am certain a Black American that reads Jaffa’s essay and has any knowledge of history will point out that many of the Founding Fathers that are claimed to decry the institution of slavery were slave owners until the day they died. This includes icons like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.
With that bit of criticism on my part I have to say Jaffa’s essay is a good read that examines the reality of times of the existence of slave institution in America. An America in which a Black man still faces some hurdles yet with some good old fashioned American work ethic can and have become successful citizens of the United States of America. So I say get over your past and contribute to building a future in which racism becomes merely a practice of the fringe few or with God’s help eliminated (the last thought of elimination may be a bit utopian but I had to add it).
JRH
Chad may face genocide, UN warns
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/6367545.stm
Killing tactics used in Darfur are being used in Chad The violence in Chad could turn into a genocide similar to that in Rwanda in 1994, the UN refugee agency has warned.
The UNHCR says the killing tactics from neighbouring Darfur in Sudan have been transported to eastern Chad in full.
The warning comes as Chad, Sudan and the Central African Republic signed a deal not to support rebels attacking each other's neighbouring territory.
African Union head, Ghana's President John Kufuor, said they seemed ready to agree to an AU/UN border peace force.
"They seem to be ready to accept a beefed-up force from the African Union and the United Nations to take control of the borders among them," Mr Kufuor told reporters at the French-African summit in Cannes where the declaration was signed.
More than 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5m displaced since war broke out in Darfur four years ago.
Concern is now growing for the 200,000 refugees who sought shelter in eastern Chad.
The conflict in Darfur has followed them across the border with attacks by Janjaweed Arab militia on camels and horseback leaving hundreds dead and 110,000 people homeless.
The BBC's Orla Guerin in eastern Chad says at first, the Janjaweed came from Sudan; later, locals joined in - neighbour killing neighbour.
"We are seeing elements that closely resemble what we saw in Rwanda in the genocide in 1994 and I think we have an opportunity here to avoid such a tragedy from occurring again," UNHCR's Matthew Conway said.
Meanwhile, in Sudan, UN special envoy to Darfur Jan Eliasson is trying to arrange face-to-face talks between the Sudanese government and the rebels in Darfur.
He said the main concerns of the rebel groups that had not signed last May's peace deal were compensation power-sharing and security.
"With readiness on the government side to open up for amendments and improvement then I think there is room for negotiation," he told the BBC's Network Africa programme.
"We'll try to bring the horses to the water hole and then it's up to the horses to drink."
In other developments:
Ghost villages
Eastern Chad and Darfur have a similar ethnic make-up, with nomadic Arab groups and black African farmers both seeking access to land and scarce water points.
Our reporter says the violence in Chad follows the same pattern as in Darfur - mostly Arabs on camels and horseback attacking non-Arab villages.
Without an international protection force, there is no-one to stop the Janjaweed, she says.
In recent days, our reporter followed the trail of the Janjaweed through the ghost villages of eastern Chad, finding torched huts and smashed pots.
She met some of their victims, including a young man stabbed in both eyes and a frail old woman, badly beaten when she dared to look for food.
The UN Security Council is preparing to discuss proposals to send a peacekeeping force to Chad but a decision is not expected immediately.
1. Chad says Sudan government-backed militias are attacking villagers in Chad. Some 200,000 Darfur refugees are also in Chad 2. Sudan accuses Chad of backing the Darfur rebels 3. Chad says it will send troops to help CAR fight the rebels 4. CAR says Sudan backs rebels who have seized towns in CAR
