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September 18, 2003

Prophesy of the New Savanna

It has been eight years since the ineffable Cuda Lee Brown brought forth a new cyberspace haunt dedicated to jiveometrics. I was once a participant in that amazing thing, and it has remained in its static format. As I review it lo these many years I am finding incredible treasure that is in a word, prophetic.

Meanderings gave way to Gravity which was a content management system written from scratch on a Mac. It only goes to show the genius of Cuda.

I'll only give you a taste, but I'll tell you a few things you can find. You can find quotes like this from Newt Gingrich:

"The greatest leaders in fighting for an integrated America in the 20th century were in the Democratic Party. The fact is it was the liberal wing of the Democratic Party that ended segregation. The fact is that it was Franklin Delano Roosevelt who gave hope to a nation that was in despair and could have slid into dictatorship. And the fact is every Republican has much to learn from studying what the Democrats did right."

"I have seldom been more shaken than I was shortly after the election when I had breakfast with two members of the Black Caucus, and one of them said to me, 'Can you imagine what it's like to visit a first grade class and realize that every fourth or fifth young boy in that class may be dead or in jail within 15 years, and they're your constituents, and you're helpless to change it?'"

OK Not enough for you? How about ten essays on OJ Simpson?

Or how about this from Female Identity, Male Domination, and Black Power Movements:


We need to realize that none of us are free until all of us are free. (That also goes for classism in the black community, but that's a whole different story.) Which brings me to the reactionary nature of misogyny in black radical/revolutionary politics. If we want to enact a revolution, then we should be thoroughly revolutionary about it. We can't call ourselves true radicals or revolutionaries if we're operating as a carbon copy of white gender relations. Black men, if you continue to oppress black women in the name of revolution, then you're no better than the first Europeans to settle in this country. Supposedly, they came here looking for freedom from religious persecution and the tyranny of the monarchy. The only freedom they wanted was the freedom to tyrannize Native-Americans and enslave Africans in the name of capitalism. Let's not follow this example in fighting for black power. How much integrity can black power politics have if it is used to make black men feel more "manly," and authoritative? As a black woman, I have to doubt the integrity of any movement that doesn't allow me the full range of my identity and my humanity (that also goes for white feminism).

Do read as much as you can over at the New Savanna.

Posted by mbowen at September 18, 2003 12:03 AM

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Cobb writes about the Prophesy of the New Savanna. I miss Gravity and wish it would come back. One of these days I may write about my experiences as a poster there. It gave me the courage to think about blogging.... [Read More]

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Comments

Holy... I didn't know that thing was still online.

Posted by: P6 at September 18, 2003 04:07 AM

I remember it well. I was a regular reader and irregular poster, I miss it - it was my first real online "home"..........but everything moves on.

Posted by: chash at October 6, 2003 05:15 PM