Archive for the ‘Politics’ Category
Cherokee Nation Reject The Memberships Of Black Slave Descendants
(Racism And Money Among Native Indian Tribes)
By Chance Kelsey, Chancellorfiles.com
Chance: In OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA on Saturday March 3, 2007, the Cherokee nation voted to pull the memberships of freed slaves. The Cherokee and many other Native American Indian tribes had slaves during the time period when blacks were slaves in America. The majority of black slaves in America were owned by white slave holders. The term freedmen are used by Native American tribes to describe black slaves who belonged to Native Indian tribes but were later freed from slavery by their Native American Indian slave owners. These freedmen were then given full membership into the tribe. The descendants of freedmen were allowed to continue being members of the tribes there forefather were members of. Today the term freedmen and freed slaves are used interchangeable. Many Cherokee Indians showed up and voted whether to take away the memberships of the freedmen. It was a democratic election that allowed the members to choose the fate of who would remain apart of the Cherokee nation.
In March 2006 a ruling by the Cherokee Nation Supreme Court that said an 1866 treaty assured freedmen descendants of tribal citizenship. And, now one year (March 4, 2007) later the Cherokee nation voted to no longer include freedmen as tribal members.
‘Right to vote’
The list of descendants stems from the Dawes Commission, established by Congress more than 100 years ago.
It created what are known as the final rolls, establishing different categories including: "blood" Cherokee, Cherokee freedman (of African descent), Cherokee by intermarriage and Delaware Cherokee.
Principal Chief Chad Smith said about 8,700 people had voted—more than the turnout for the Cherokee constitution vote of four years ago.
He said: "The Cherokee people exercised the most basic democratic right, the right to vote.
The Election Results Will Be Finalized On March 12, 2007
Cherokee Nation spokesman Mike Miller said Sunday that election results will not be finalized until after a protest period that extends through March 12. Services currently being received by freedmen descendants will not immediately be suspended, he said.
“There isn’t going to be some sort of sudden stop of a service that’s ongoing,” Miller said. “There will be some sort of transition period so that people understand what’s going on.”
In a statement late Saturday (March 4, 2007), Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chad Smith said he was pleased with the turnout and election result.
Chad Smith: "Their voice is clear as to who should be citizens of the Cherokee Nation," Smith said. "No one else has the right to make that determination. It was a right of self-government, affirmed in 23 treaties with Great Britain and the United States and paid dearly with 4,000 lives on the Trail of Tears."
Chance: I say that, the black slaves that the cherokee owned paid their way to gain membership into the cherokee nation because they were held as slaves by the cherokee.
A similar situation occurred in 2000 when the Seminole Nation voted to cast freedmen descendants out of its tribe, the freedmen protested the election vote. The United States government would not recognize the election and the government ultimately cut off most federal programs to the Seminoles. Also the government no longer allowed (authorized) the Seminoles to conduct gaming (casinos and gambling etc). Ultimately, the Seminole freedmen were allowed back into the tribe, and the government re-established the Seminoles benefits and programs.
These problems with Indian tribes and black tribal members didn’t start until the United states government started offering money, programs, medical help, gaming (casinos etc), and housing. So anyone can clearly see that it’s all about money the fewer members the more money to spread around. I have seen many people who are clearly White men and White women but they claim they are Native American. When you look at them they look nothing like a Native American Indians, but yet these whites are given full membership into the various Indian tribes. Many Native Americans are mixed with white, black, Hispanic, or some other racial group. It is rare to find a full blooded Native American who is not mixed with another racial group. Many tribal leaders of the Native American tribes are mixed with another ethnicity — and don’t look like full blooded Native Americans. Money and racism are two of the major reason why blacks lost their membership in the Cherokee nation. I feel that some Native American are little ashamed that their ancestors possessed black slaves. Because it allows whites too say to the Native Americans we both were guilty of possessing black slaves. Whites then can look at Native Americans and say you claim we whites oppressed you but yet, you also possessed black slaves and slavery is a form of oppression.
These freedmen should remain apart of the Cherokee and their memberships reinstated.
By Chance (Chancellor)
Written during the 21st century by Chance
To be feared or loved
By Chance Kelsey, chancellorfiles.com
Chance writes: Bayard Rustin was a Black civil rights leader and he was also gay — Rustin taught Martin Luther king jr. Gandhi’s technique of non-violence. The doctrine of non-violence was used by King to win the civil rights movement. Rustin is often not given credit for the help that he gave to Blacks and non-whites by teaching King the doctrine of non-violence, which helped King win the civil rights movement.
Bayard Rustin And Civil rights (Brother Outsider)
By Chance Kelsey, chancellorfiles.com
CHANCE: Bayard Rustin was a Black American civil rights leader and he was also gay, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. knew Rustin was gay. Martin Luther King Jr. was criticized by other civil rights leaders, for allowing Bayard 
Rustin to be apart of his inner circle of advisors. Many Black civil rights leaders felt that how could King being a pastor of a church allow this gay (homosexual) man to give advise on how to fight against white racism in America. Now it was Bayard Rustin who introduced Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to Gandhi’s philosophy of non violence.
Bayard Rustin had visited India and this was before he ever met Martin Luther King Jr. while visiting India Rustin studied Gandhi’s Philosophy of non violence. Years later Rustin joined King and the civil rights movement during this time period he taught King the doctrine of non-violence. King and Black-Americans could not have won the civil rights movement with-out Bayard Rustin’s help. Also, it was Bayard Rustin who organized the march on Washington D.C. for Martin Luther King Jr. and, it was during the march on Washington where King stood before the crowd and gave his famous I have a dream 
speech. So certain Black Americans who criticize gays need to study history before they resort to criticism. I’m not trying to favor gays or Black Americans; I’m just saying that help sometimes come in all skin colors and life styles. Bayard Rustin is called brother outsider because he was not given the credit he deserved because other civil rights leaders knew he was gay. So he was some what forgotten when it came to admiration. Thus the label brother outsider.
By Chance (chancellor)
WRITTEN DURING THE 21ST CENTURY BY CHANCE
Chance writes: Affirmative action should be removed, it also has out lived its usefulness.
Affirmative Action Must Go
Chance Kelsey, Chancellorfiles.com
Chance: Affirmative action has helped many non-whites (people of color) gain federal, state, and city jobs for the past 30 years now. But now I feel that affirmative action has run its course and it is time for it to be eliminated. One of the major reasons it should be eliminated is because of the lower moral behavior of non-whites, out of all of the these non-white racial groups the black Americans have the lowest moral standards as a collective employee affirmative action group.
So blacks in particular are one of the major reasons why affirmative action should be eliminated — because too many blacks engage in giving bad service to customers and people they are suppose to help. Blacks bring too many negative attitudes, poor work ethnics, more negative personal problems, un-cooperative, sexual misconduct, violence, un-controllable anger, hatred of other blacks, black inferiority complex feelings of not been able to compete with whites and other non-white racial groups, etc to what ever affirmative action job they are working at. Now not all blacks who work at jobs that they got through affirmative action are this way, but too many black affirmative action employees are. These black employees mistreat fellow blacks whom they service as customers worse than they treat members of other ethnic groups. Many of these black employees have lower IQs, and if they were not given affirmative action points based upon race they would not score high enough on entry level tests to get hired.
The national black IQ of America is 85, and 85 is low. When blacks have some high school education up to the level of the 10th or 12th grade their general IQ is 85. It is a fact, that not all blacks have IQs of 85 some have lower IQs from 84 on down to the 70s. Blacks who go to the universities (college) and graduate their IQs go up to 100. Now not all black college graduates have IQs of 100 some have IQs in the 90s, and IQs in the 90s are mediocre. Some black high school students have IQs past 100 and some black college graduates have IQs past 100 after they graduate. These IQs could be 103, 107, 111, 115, 121, 130, 135, and above. But when you hire blacks and give them affirmative action and their IQs are not a minimum of 100 this often leads to trouble and incompetence.
Chance: The major problem with blacks is really not their low or high IQs it is the lower moral standards that they live by. They bring their lower moral standards to the work place – and this creates most of the problems that plague Black America in the work place. Whether it be government federal, State, or city jobs blacks bring too much suffering to these jobs, and the people who suffer the most at the hands of these affirmative action black employees are blacks themselves. Blacks are often treated better by employees from other racial groups. Blacks seem to have some kind of characteristic in them that they inherited from their African forefathers — that makes them mistreat fellow blacks.
It was this same characteristic that helped put blacks in slavery — during the times of the slave trade black African Kings would sell blacks from conquered tribes to white Europeans. The reality is that affirmative action has out lived it usefulness, it did a great job at trying to remedy some of the past racial injustices in America. Black pathologies and the Lack of a moral sense that too many blacks show at affirmative action jobs has created a lot of suffering in black America.
If it was not for affirmative action many employers, government, federal, and city jobs would not hire a lot of blacks. So the unemployment rate for blacks would be higher. Other non-white employees from other non-white racial groups have negative trouble makers in their racial groups who create problems at work also, but blacks by far have the most. Affirmative action has gone bad because it has been around too long.
By Chance Kelsey (Chancellor)
Written during the 21st century by Chance
Trent Lott, Thurman, And Hypocrisy
By Chance, Chancellorfiles
Chance: Senator Trent Lott has been elected the new house minority whip for the Republican party. Senator Lott was the house leader for the Republican party four years ago but was removed because of comments made during Senator Strom Thurman’s 100th birthday party. The minority whip position is the second highest ranking position in the minority party. The minority leader is the highest position and with Tren Lott being the minority whip in the senate for the Republicans he is the second highest leader in the republican party. Trent Lott is a Senator from Mississippi.
In politics, a whip is a member of a political party in a legislature whose task is to ensure that members of the political party attend and vote as the party leadership desires.
Lott defeated Senator Lamar Alexander (R-tennessee), who began openly campaigning more than a year ago for the position of minority whip, by 25 votes to 24. Senators said Lott’s proven negotiating ability and his institutional knowledge made the difference as Republicans prepare to move into a full cycle of minority status for the first time since 1995.
In 1948 Strom Thurman ran for president of the United States O f America. Tent Lott noted that in Strom Thurmond’s 1948 presidential campaign, whose centerpiece was opposition to racial integration, Mississippi was one of four states Strom Thurmond carried. Strom Thurman was strongly against racial integration for blacks and whites. Thurman preferred and wanted America to remain racially segregated.
James Strom Thurmond (December 5, 1902–June 26, 2003)
Strom Thurman said: "What I want to tell you…Ladies and Gentlemen…That there’s not enough troops in the Army…to force the southern people to break down segregation and admit the nigger race into our theatres, into our swimming pools, into our homes and into our churches."
— Strom Thurman, 1948.
Trent Lott said: "When Strom Thurman ran for president, we voted for him! We’re proud of it! And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn’t have had all of these problems over all of these years either."
— Trent Lott, December, 2002.
When Trent Lott said we voted for him, we means the state of Mississippi. Also, in 1980 Trent Lott said the same thing regarding Strom Thurman presidential run of 1948.
Trent Lott said: "If we had elected this man 30 years ago, we wouldn’t be in the mess we are today."
— Trent Lott, 1980. (Trent Lott spoke these words in 1980, after Senator Strom Thurmond spoke at a rally for Ronald Reagan in Jackson, Mississippi).
The question now is why would the Republicans choose Trent Lott to become their house minority whip after he made these racist comments in the past, and was removed from being the Republican house speaker and leader four years ago by fellow republicans? Trent Lott’s negotiating ability and his institutional knowledge these two things can not explain by themselves why Trent Lott was elected as the minority whip. Other Republican Senators were just as qualified as Lott.
Chance: In my opinion the answer is very simple, Trent Lott has a history of making racist comments against blacks. And certain white Republican conservative politicians want to use Trent Lott’s presence to appeal to the undercover bigotry and racism of certain white conservative voters, especially white male conservative voters.
So when it is time for the presidential election in 2008, Republicans are hoping for a big turn out of white voters especially white male conservative voters. The subconscious message is that by electing a racist Senator Trent Lott as the Republican house minority whip, white conservative voters will understand that the Republican party is still filed with white racist and bigoted politicians that are pro white and anti-nonwhite. Now many white conservatives are not bigots or racists only certain ones are.
But this is the undercover strategy by electing Trent Lott. Yes Trent Lott is an experienced politician, but that is not why he was elected to his current position. The Republicans could have elected some other Republican Senator to the position. When all else fails revert to racism because often it is one of the psychological methods that has been proven to work again and again in politics.
Bi Racial Daughter
Shortly after Thurmond’s death on June 26, 2003, Essie Mae Washington-Williams publicly revealed that she was Strom Thurmond’s illegitimate daughter. She was born to an black American maid, named Carrie "Tunch" Butler (born in 1909– died in 1947), on October 12, 1925, when Carrie Butler was 16 and Thurmond was 22. Butler had been a servant in the Thurmond household. To this day, the specific relationship between Thurmond and Butler has never been made totally clear. What we do know is that there was a sexual relationship and Strom Thurman got Carrie Butler pregnant.
Thurmond met Essie Mae Washington-Williams when she was 16. Her mother Carrie introduced them to each other. He helped pay her way through college and later paid her sums of money in cash or, through a nephew, checks. These financial payments extended well into her adult life and he even sent her birthday cards and other gifts for her birthday. Essie Mae Washington-Williams has stated that she did not reveal she was Thurmond’s daughter during his lifetime because it "wasn’t to either advantage of either one of us” and that she kept silent out of love and respect for her father. She denies that there was an agreement between the two to keep her connection to Thurmond silent.
Senator James Strom Thurman seems to have been a victim of the racist time period he was born in. But at least he took care of his bi-racial daughter until the day of his death.
By Chance Kelsey( Chancellor)
Written during the 21st century by Chance
Political Correctness
CHANCE: Political Correctness is nothing new it has been around since the beginning of humanity. All societies practice political correctness in some kind of way. What is political correctness? Political correctness is a term used to describe behavior, language, opinions, and body language that will provide minimum (less) offense to other people’s feelings and sensitivities. Political correctness sets a standard of moral ethics that are to be followed. Political correctness is not bad it is good. It’s a code of moral conduct that humans living in society must follow to some degree in order to avoid needless conflicts with other people. Political correctness is practiced when it comes to avoiding rudeness towards racial groups, children, females, males, employees, relationships, family, and other areas of life that involve human to human association.
If there were no political correctness then people would just say anything they felt like regardless of the negative impact. Men and women would insult each other in the work place without consequence, children would insult their parents and not obey them, friends would violate the code of loyalty and honor — and would not trust each other but still call each other friends, politics would become more worthless because politicians would not even try to keep half of their promises to the voters, racial groups would insult each other with racial epithets more publicly, various religious groups would insult each other and create religious intolerance, etc society would be all messed up and civil war would erupt.
CHANCE: Political correctness sets a standard of moral ethics that are to be followed. Every society has political correctness but not every member of society obey and follow political correctness, but every society has it.
Political correctness can create a problem also, if certain people start abusing it. Some people abuse political correctness so they can gain advantages over other people. When they really have not been offended and don’t deserve to have that particular gain in that particular situation. This creates resentment among those who feel that the other person or group have used political correctness to gain something unjustly or used political correctness to punish someone or a group unjustly. But even though some people abuse political correctness it still does not mean that political correctness is unjustified for humanity.
Political correctness is just a fancy compound word for moral ethnics (codes of conduct), and there is nothing wrong with moral ethics. The higher the collective morality level of the citizens of a country the more civilized that society will be. The term political correctness is the politicians’ term for moral ethics (codes of conduct) among humans in a society. Political correctness is not bad within itself
Itself it’s only when it’s being abused that’s when it becomes a problem.
By Chance Kelsey (Chancellor)
Written during the 21st century by Chance
Chance writes: New research by a group university professors revealed that blacks who have predominantly black features example dark skin, full lips, larger nose, etc are more likely to receive the death penalty than blacks with less predominantly black features. The professors did good detailed research before they came to their conclusion.
Blacks, Skin tone, And The Death Penalty
By Chance, Chancellorfiles
Chance: Among blacks does skin tone sometimes play a role in which blacks will get the death penalty? published in the May 2006 edition of Psychological Science Professors from Stanford, UCLA, Yale, and Cornell, led by Prof. Jennifer Eberhardt, examines whether a black defendant on trial for murder is likely to be sentenced to death if he has stereotypical black features. These stereotypical black features are darker skin, larger nose, and fuller lips.
The researchers from the various universities came to the conclusion based upon their research that a black defendant with stereotypical black appearance (darker skin, fuller lips, and large nose) is more likely to get the death penalty for killing a white person. Wherefore, black people with less stereotypical black features get the death penalty less when accused of killing a white person. The researchers used more than 600 death eligible cases from Philadelphia in which the defendant was black, and charged with killing a white person. The researchers found that black defendants who looked stereotypically black received the death penalty 57.5% (out of 100% they received the death penalty 57.5%) for killing a white person, and black defendants who looked less stereotypically black received the death penalty only 24.4% (out of 100% they received the death penalty 24.4%) for killing a white person.
Students from Stanford University noticed and rated the degree of stereotypical features in photos of black male defendants from Philadelphia who received the death penalty — that most were blacks with darker skin, larger noses, and fuller lips. Researchers also found that black defendants accused of killing black victims, the death penalty sentencing rates for those who were perceived as looking stereotypically black, and those who appeared less stereotypically black were nearly identical with stereotypical looking black having 46.6% and less stereotypical looking blacks having 45%. The study was conducted by professors Jennifer L. Eberhardt (Stanford) , Paul G. Davies (UCLA), Valerie J. Purdie-Vaughns (Yale University), and Sheri Lynn Johnson (Cornell Law School). (Psychological Science, Volume 17, Number 5 (2006)).
Conclusion
This means that blacks who have a lot of mixed blood are perceived as less threatening by whites and other non-white racial groups. So basically, the research shows that the lighter the skin tone among black defendants in death penalty cases the better chance the defendant has of not receiving the death penalty. There are degrees of Lighter skin tones among blacks in America. But the lighter skin tone that are referred to in these death penalty cases for blacks is, any skin tone that is not dark. There are blacks who have caramel brown skin and blacks who are light skinned. In death penalty cases caramel brown skin blacks and light skin blacks often have a greater chance of not receiving the death penalty when compared to dark skin blacks.
By Chance Kelsey (Chancellor)
Written during the 21st century by Chance
MEXICO AND JAPAN
(Japan has no natural resources Mexico has many natural resources then why is Japan a wealthier country?)
Chance: When I see many Japanese and Mexican immigrants coming to America one can’t help but to observe the difference in their accomplishments of education, economics, and the types of jobs they apply for. The thoughtful ones often ask themselves why is there a difference in one group of people and another when it comes to achievements in certain areas?
Example when you look at Japanese people living in America you will notice, that they often pursue jobs that pay a lot more and these jobs are technical jobs. You don’t see many Japanese working in large numbers minimum wage jobs, some do but not many. Go and observe little Tokyo in Los Angeles, California and go to other American cities in the United states of America that have Japanese communities — and you will see that the people are very educated not all but the majority. And they work in very high skilled jobs that require technical and computer knowledge, engineering, science and math in order to do the job.
I’m talking about Japanese born in the United States of America, those Japanese who come from Japan to live in America, and Japanese who live in Japan. Some people just say that Mexican immigrants and Mexican Americans who are born in the United States are inferior to Japanese immigrants and Japanese Americans who are born in the United States.
This is not true because there is no race or ethnic group that is superior because of their ethnicity. It is all about how each racial and ethnic group takes advantage of their genetic make up, natural talents, education, moral development, cultural development, etc these things can make a particular racial or ethnic more evolved and developed than another. Because if one ethnic group continue to develop themselves and another group lags and is culturally stagnant. Then the natural result will be that the ethnic group that continued to develop its culture will be more successful than the ethnic group that did not continue to develop its culture.
Now let’s take a look at the Mexican immigrants the majority of Mexican immigrants currently work low paying jobs — some move up to the economic ladder and get higher blue collar jobs that pay a lot more. And a smaller percentage of Mexican immigrants go to the university and receive a college degree and use that degree to get a high paying white collar job. When you look at Japanese Americans and Mexican Americans you see that the Japanese Americans work higher paying jobs that require math, science, engineering and sophisticated computer skills.
NATURAL RESOURCES
If we look at Mexico we will see that Mexico has all kinds of natural resources like oil, silver, gold, lead, zinc, copper, and timber. And now, let’s look at Japan’s natural resources fish yes; this is true Japan’s major natural resource is fish notice the Japanese are famous for their fish cuisines like sushi. Everybody knows that sushi is a Japanese fish cuisine. Now Mexico having all these natural resources especially oil should be a very wealthy country, and Japan having no natural resources should be a very poor country but this is not the case.
Mexico is a poor second world country and Japan is a wealthy first world country why is this? The reason is very simple Japan is rich in human resource (human capitol)– and what is human resource (human capital)? It is educated people Japan has millions of educated people who graduated from high school and universities. Now in world war II one of the major reasons that Japan got involved with the war was because Japan needed natural resources like oil, gold, silver, zinc, lead, timber, etc but out of all the natural resources Japan needed oil the most.
Adolf Hitler the leader of Germany knew that Japan needed oil and that Japan had also planned to conqueror other Asian
Countries and by conquering other Asian countries then Japan could take their natural resources especially the oil. But look at Japan today they buy all of their natural resources from other countries without invading them and taking their resources why?
Because the Japanese are using their education and intelligence to buy the natural resources they need. Now if we look at Mexico we will notice that Mexico has a lot of natural resources like oil but Mexico is a poor second world country. If it was not for Mexico being so close to America and allowing the America government and businesses to take advantage of its oil and other natural resources Mexico would be a third world country like it use to be.
But even with America giving Mexico financial loans and sending certain jobs to Mexico-Mexico is still a very poor country why? Because Mexico has fewer educated people and in the Mexican school system the children are given free education up to the sixth grade and after the sixth grade; the parents have to pay for their children’s education from 7th grade to 12th grade.
So many parents can’t afford to pay the Mexican school system that is run by the Mexican government. So this is why most Mexicans only have a sixth grade education and when they come to the United States they are not skilled technologically, scientifically, and not skilled computer wise.
Most Mexican are skilled agriculturally, manually ( factory and warehouse skills) and work other minimum wage type jobs now Japan’s public school system educate their children all the way to the 12th grade for free without charging the parents.
When many Mexicans come to the united states their children are born here and some of the influences that the Mexican parents had in Mexico about types of jobs to work unintentionally ( not on purpose ) rubs off on their united states born children and you see many Mexican American adults born in the united states working lower minimum wage jobs for many years.
Also, some move up to blue collar jobs and others go and get higher education from a university and then get a white collar job. But often many Mexican Americans semi follow in the tracks of their Mexican parents and only work lower paying jobs not all but many.
Japanese Americans follow in their parents shoes and apply for higher paying jobs not all but many. So Mexico is rich in natural resources and Japan is rich in human recourses.
EDUCATION VS. NATURAL RESOURCES
Chance: So what it finally comes down to is Education vs. Natural resources and the winner is education a perfect example is the United States of America-the United States has educated people and natural resources and look how wealthy America is. Look at the Middle East those Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia, Iran,
Iraq, Kuwait and other Middle Eastern Muslim countries they all have oil but they are poorer than Mexico.
Also the Middle East has more oil than Mexico but compared to the Middle East Mexico has more educated people than many Middle East Muslim countries. So therefore, Mexico is rich in human resources when compared to the Muslim Countries of the Middle East — and this is why Mexico currently has a higher standard of living than Middle Eastern Muslim countries.
So no ethnic group or racial group is inferior because of their race or ethnicity the wealth of a country depends on the education and civil rights of its people.
By Chance Kelsey (Chancellor)
Written during the 21st century by Chance
CZAR NICHOLAS II AND THE POLITICAL RIGHT AND LEFT (The conservative government caused Russia to self-destruct thus giving power to the Bolshevik left)
BY Chance, Chancellorfiles
Chance: The corrupt conservative government of Czar Nicholas II caused Russia to self destruct and this gave power to the Bolshevik left. The political left and the political right are the two major sides that every political party in every country falls under. If one observes every political party in any country one will notice that it is either a right wing or a left wing political party or a combination of both. Also in these political parties you have some members who are moderates, these moderates are a combination (practice) of right and left. Example a moderate will be liberal (left) to some degree on social issues and conservative (right) to some degree on business issues.
A moderate is a person who is in the center and the center is the best. Now every country always starts out on the political right (conservative), and the political left (liberal) is always weaker in the beginning. The question is how does the political left become stronger and come to power in any country? Example how did the left come to power in Russia? Russia and the Political struggle between the right wing conservative government of Czar Nicholas II and The left wing Bolshevik communist political party.
The communist doctrine is a leftist doctrine, yes communism comes from the left; the reason communism gained power in Russia is because the political right became very corrupt, the political right of Russia was conservative. Czar Nicholas II was a conservative; he was a conservative Christian who attended the Greek Orthodox Church. Czar Nicholas II believed in following the traditions of Russian society, and any society that is conservative does not allow a lot of change for the better or the worst. It's like being locked in time and not being able to move forward. Czar Nicholas II failed to realize that being too conservative and not changing his social views are what gave the communist left the millions of followers they needed to overthrow his corrupt conservative Russia government.
Yes, it was all Czar Nicholas fault. How was it all Czar Nicholas fault? He saw all of the poverty, starvation and people dying because of lack of food, unemployment, lack of educational opportunities, rioting in the streets, political corruption, and police and military brutality that the police and military committed to crush the riots.
THE BOLSHEVIK LEFT AND THE FRUSTRATED INDIVIDUAL (HOW DID THE BOLSHEVIK LEFT BECOME SO POWERFUL?)
Chance: The corrupted conservative right blames the communist left for urging and agitating the Russian people to overthrow Czar Nicholas II and his Romonov monarchy. But then the question is how did the left wing Bolshevik communist become so powerful? The major reason the left became stronger and more powerful in Russia is because the conservative right had become very corrupt and unjust towards the Russian people. The Russian people felt unjustifiably oppressed, they felt neglected, powerless, and hopeless. All of this caused the Russian people to hate intensely Czar Nicholas II and his government.
The neglect that Nicholas II showed towards the Russian people gave the Bolshevik communist left the one ingredient — which they needed to get millions of Russian people on their side. And, that ingredient was the frustrated individual, many Russian people were angry and frustrated at the Russian government of Nicholas II. So the Russian government caused its own self destruction, the one major thing that any government should try to avoid is being hated by many of its people. And Czar Nicholas Romano II became very hated by millions of Russian people. Czar Nicholas II was not a very strong leader, he lacked confidence in himself and many people in Russia felt that he really did not want to rule Russia. He was tired of all the social problems like poverty, unemployment, starvation and lack of food, the riots in the streets, the criticism, and the war with Germany (World War I).
THE WAR WITH GERMANY AND THE CZAR’S DOOM
World War I was what finally sealed Czar Nicholas II doom. This war gave the political left complete influence over the Russian people; the Bolshevik left informed the Russian people. That it was Czar Nicholas II and his governments fault that many young Russian men were dying in this war with Germany.
The Bolsheviks said, to the Russian people many of you people are unemployed, starvation and lack of food, suffering, and brutality at the hands of the government. But yet, the Czar wants your sons to go die in the war for his government. But he can't help feed the families, sons, daughters, relatives, mothers and fathers of his soldiers. This war angered the Russian people even more because many young Russian men were killed.
Many were maimed losing fingers, hands, feet, eyes, and some were paralyzed from the waste down. All because of this war, if the Americans had not entered the war Russia and Europe would have lost to Germany. The final result was – that the Czar and his government was overthrown by the Bolshevik left. And Czar Nicholas and his family were executed by the political leaders of the Bolshevik communist political party.
Some people say that the left is bad and is the cause of all evil, this is not true. The liberal left only becomes powerful when the conservative right is corrupt. So the corrupted conservative right is responsible for causing a lot evil that torments societies through out the world. Liberalism only causes a lot of evil when liberalism is abused or not applied properly by competent leaders.
When conservative right wing people won't change for the better this causes other people to become frustrated. Because these people want change and in order for a country to be stable it needs to be a moderate (centrist). And what is a moderate it is a person who is a combination of the right (conservative) and left (liberal). Observe all countries around the world and you will see that they fall under one of these three categories 1. Conservative right 2. Liberal left 3. Moderate (Center). Out of all these three the moderate is the best and most superior of them all.
AMERICA, GERMANY, RUSSIA, AND POLITICS (Left fe
minine And Right Masculine)
Chance: A perfect example of a moderate country is the United States of America. The United States of America is a combination of the right and the left – the left is feminine and the right is masculine. Example Germany and Adolph Hitler were right wing conservatives who wanted to preserve the German culture and heritage.
Also they believed they were superior to other ethnic groups, racism is a right wing conservative doctrine. Another example Russia use to be a communist country – communism is a left wing liberal doctrine that teaches we are all equal. We are all apart of the same country so no one is greater than the other. And the government will provide money, jobs, and education for you. So giving people things freely (liberally) is a female characteristic; just like your Mother usually gives you more freedom (liberty) and she gives you things for free more than your Father (conservative).
Most countries in the third world are on the side of the conservative right and look at all the violence, lack of education, high unemployment, intense hatred, lack of civil rights, starvation and lack of food, and political corruption. This proves that the conservative right is the cause of most of the evil on the planet. But we need the conservative doctrine so how does the conservative right spread evil on the planet? When it doesn't have enough liberal left mixed with it. When the left doesn't have enough of the conservative right mixed with it then the left starts giving privileges, benefits, money, social programs, and other things too freely and because of this excessive giving the left unintentionally spreads evil.
So the conservative right spreads evil because it is too rigid and inflexible and don't want to change for the better. Because the right wing conservatives in every country don't want to have to share power with other people in the country, who differ in opinions and ideas from them. Look at countries that are either right or left and you will see that they are in chaos and their people are very unhappy.
A country that is a moderate (combination of right and left) is a much happier country not perfect but happier. So it is when excessive and extreme conservative rightist or liberal leftist politics have been taken to their extreme, this is what causes evil. So we must never go to the extremes of the right or the left. We must become moderates as soon as possible or world war III will break out on our earth again.
Now we know that the corrupted conservative right is the cause that creates the excessive liberal left affect. So the conservatives in every country need to add more liberal left to their politics, and then they won't have to worry about the extreme liberal left overthrowing their government. So the conservative right is the negative cause and the extreme liberal left is the effect so for every action there is an equal reaction the law of cause and effect yes the law of karma.
BY CHANCE KELSEY (CHANCELLOR)
Written during the 21st centuty by Chance
THE GOOD DICTATOR
By Chance, Chancellorfiles
Chance: There are various political systems through out the world, and every country follows one of these systems. Now some countries combine more than one of these political systems and use it to govern their countries.
The political systems are democracy, communism (socialism), and dictatorships. The collective psychology and morality level of the people living in a country will determine the type of political leaders — and government that will control and rule them.
Some countries and racial groups living in those countries need good dictators to rule over them. Some countries and racial groups are morally developed enough to the point of where they can have a democracy. Some countries and racial groups are not developed enough morally and intellectually to become a democracy but are too developed to be ruled by a dictator.
So these types of countries are rule by a combination of dictatorship combined with democracy. Countries that are very poor are generally ruled by dictators who give the people little democracy. So there are some countries that have too many uneducated and morally corrupt people therefore, they need to be ruled by a dictator.
So countries that are modernized democracies have certain groups of people living in them who are morally corrupt as a collective group, but at the same-time there are racial groups or a particular racial group there that is more morally developed. And it is those who are more morally developed and educated that keep that particular country progressiing economically, politically, educationally, etc this is a known fact that is seen all around the word.
So moral standards play a major role in the development of a particular country. Even if the people are educated but have a high level of public moral decay among them — that country will not progress and become a first world country. The highest they can progress towards is the level of a semi dictatorship combined with a little democracy.
So the type of government that a country receives depends upon the level of moral development of the citizens who live in that country. Education alone will not create a democracy among the citizens, but moral development combined with education will.
And all of the other good benefits that makes a country desirable to live in will be added. Every country that is currently a modernized democracy went through the two levels. Those two levels are dictatorship and democracy. Some countries went through three levels they are dictatorship, communism, and democracy. Democracy is the goal of every country.
Also a dictator is a king or queen depending on whether a man or a woman is ruling. So kings are still around in these modern times they are currently called dictators. Democracy is for countries that have citizens who have reached a high level of moral development.
The citizens as a collective are mature enough to be trusted with individual freedom. The citizens are mature enough to decide (vote) who their leaders will be. The citizens of other countries — that have not reached this level are not mature enough as a collective to decide who their political leaders will be so they need some dictator to think for them.
A dictator does not have to always be a tyrant or evil person. Some dictators are good and do help their people progress economically, educationally, morally, politically, etc because the good dictator love his people.
Democracy is the ultimate goal of every country.
BY Chance Kelsey (Chancellor)
Written during the 21st century by Chance
Sudan And Civil War
(The Arab Government Of Sudan Envies The Blacks Of Darfur Because They Have Oil — Genocide, Rape, Racism, Hatred, Murder, Slavery All Because Of Oil)
By Chance, Chancellorfiles
Chance: The news media around the world has been reporting on the civil war in Sudan.
This civil war is between the Arabs and the blacks, the majority of the Arabs live in the northern part of Sudan and the majority of the blacks live in the southern and western part of Sudan.
This civil war has been going on for years, and there has been many Arabs and blacks killed in the civil war, but the majority of the people killed in this civil war are blacks.
Currently Arab slave masters have many blacks in slavery yes, slavery. Currently the Arabs have more military power and weapons than the blacks.
What is this civil war all about and what started it? The major reasons for this civil war are clearly racism, Greed, oil, and not wanting to share political power with blacks.
In the Darfur region of Sudan oil has been found and the overwhelming "majority" of the people living in Dafur are black-so the Arabs have formed a powerful militia called the janjaweed.
The janjaweed militia is made up of Arabs who are Muslims and speak Arabic they are supported by the Arab government of Sudan. Also some of the Janjaweed are black men too, so the Janjaweed has both Arabs and blacks as members. The Arab government say they don’t support the janjaweed.
But many of the black Sudanese people say that the Arab government of Sudan does support the janjaweed by giving them weapons.
Now let’s take a look at Darfur, Greater Darfur is a territory composed of three states North, South, and West Darfur are located in the northwestern region of Sudan, bordering Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, and Central African Republic to the southwest.
Oil Discovered In Darfur
There is a lot of oil in Darfur, and yes, whether they admit it or not the Sudanese government wants that oil. The civil war between Arab and black Sudanese had decreased dramatically, the fighting started back up again when the Arab government found out that oil had been discoverd in Darfur. The Sudanese Arab government is secretively supporting the janjaweed, the Sudanese government has also in the past attacked the blacks in Darfur with bomber jets.
The “Sudanese government" is not about to let some militia like the janjaweed get all that oil for themselves, and with that oil money the janjaweed would have enough money To over–throw the Arab government.
And the Arab government is not going to let that happen, also the Arabs criticize the whites for slavery.
But the Arabs of Sudan make slaves out of blacks. The Arab government wants the blacks out of darfur, so they can-have all the oil and by having oil they will have a major influence in the world because oil brings power.
Chance: The city of "Khartoum" is the governmental headquarters and capital of Sudan, and the Arabs control the government. The Arab government also by letting the janjaweed militia attack the blacks, the government can say — it is the janjaweed militia doing all the attacking and not us the government of Sudan.
There are black women being raped, homes, and villages destroyed, children murdered, and genocide all of this violence over oil.
Also, the Sudanese government has sentenced some of the janjaweed militia men to death and some received sentences to have their hands and feet cut off.
Now this is interesting, secretively certain political leaders in the Sudanese government are supporting the janjaweed, and at the same time to get the international news off their back the Sudanese government sacrifices some of the members of janjaweed. And internationally publicize that some of the janjaweed militia men have been arrested and "convicted" and will face severe punishments.
Africa And The Middle East
Also the blacks were living in Sudan before the Arabs came there the Sudan use to be called Nubia. So if anyone is entitled to the oil based upon who was living there first it is the blacks.
You don’t see blacks from Africa invading Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Kuwait for their oil? And these are Arab countries – also, many people forget that the Middle East is a part of Africa.
How come when Arabs enslave many blacks’ the incident (slavery and genocide) don’t get that much attention from the news media?
The answer is simple as long as it is not white people doing the enslaving the majority of other non white ethnic and racial groups generally don’t care about what happens in other third world countries.
Why? Because the other ethnic groups on this earth don’t have as much wealth and success when compared to the white race.
The white race is currently the wealthiest of all ethnic groups and this wealth is what whites earned by hard work and intelligence.
The Arabs major source of income is oil and most Arab people live in poverty, because their governments don’t allow them to have a lot of democracy.
Also all of the non–white ethnic groups don’t expect a lot of kindness from the leaders of their own ethnic groups; they expect more kindness from the white race.
If it was the white race doing the enslaving then the world would be angry and criticizing the white race. Also non–white ethnic groups feel and know that the white race sometimes "compensate" for their past injustices.
And the non white ethnic groups know that non–white leaders seldom compensate for their injustices.
Arabs And Slavery (arabs enslaved blacks before whites came to Africa)
Also it was the Arab Muslims who were involved with slavery before the white Europeans.
Yes, before the white Europeans got involved with the "black slave trade” Arab Muslims were already involved with enslaving black Africans.
When we look into the past the Muslims in the Turkish Ottoman Empire enslaved white eastern Europeans; they took these white eastern Europeans to the country of turkey.
These white slaves mixed with the brown skinned Turkish people and this is why many Turkish people are so white skinned.
So Muslim countries cannot complain about the sinful history of white people enslaving black people in the past because Muslims practiced slavery also.
Arab Muslims enslaved blacks and Turkish Muslims enslaved white eastern Europeans. Arab Muslims enslaved black Africans long before "white Europeans" got involved with slavery.
Muslim countries accuse Americans of being money hungry look at the Arab countries that have oil-their leaders use that oil money to live a life of luxury just like Americans.
The Arab Muslim countries of North Africa and the "middle east" accuse the white Europeans and white American politicians
Of wanting to take all of the oil that Arab countries have. But look at the Arab government of Sudan they want to take the oil that the blacks in southern Sudan have.
They don’t want share the oil with the black Sudanese the Sudanese Arab government wants the oil for themselves.
Why? Because of greed, yes, the same greed that the Arab Muslim countries accuse America of having.
What hypocrisy on the part of the Arab Muslim countries like Sudan "Oh yes” I must not forget to mention that the Arab government of Sudan doesn’t intend to share the oil and money they will make with the Arab people of Sudan either.
The Arabs of Sudan will still continue living in poverty thanks to their dictator president and corrupt politicians of Sudan just like the blacks — many Arabs are poor when I say poor I’m talking about crushing poverty.
The most superior thing for the Arab government of Sudan to do is ask the black Sudanese to share the oil, and help them dig oil wells instead of trying to take it from them.
The Arab government should work hand and hand with the black Sudanese of the Darfur region, by doing this they both would benefit and make life a little easier financially for the Arab and black people of Sudan.
By Chance Kelsey (Chancellor)
Written during the 21st century by Chance
1960s Political Mentality(nineteen sixties political mentality some people still have it)
Chance: When we observe the political psychology of the previous generation of Americans, and the political psychology of the previous generation of people living in other countries around the world.
We can clearly see that many of them still have a 1960s mentality, in America you see many people who are politically active.They conduct their politics according to the political and social ideas of the 1960s, and some even back to the 1950s and beyond. Example you have certain whites who do not want to change for the better politically. Because they are still angry at martin Luther king Jr. for winning the civil rights movement of the 1960s.
They wish things were the way it use to be with people of color (non whites) not having civil rights or voting rights.This is why these particular whites are always trying their best to get white politicians, to limit and take away civil rights and the civil liberties of the people of color. Now not all white politicians are trying to limit the civil liberties of people of color I’m just talking about those who are.
Then you have some black American civil rights leaders and some black America politicians who conduct their politics according to how they conducted their politics in the 1960s. Example some of the Black American politicians, and civil rights leaders of today still believe that public marching – and public protest in front of a certain corporation or business is the best and only way to get your political foes attention. The marching and protest tactics were major tactics that black Americans utilized in the 1960s and even before nineteen sixties (1960s) blacks used these tactics back in the 1950s and 1940s.
The tactics of public boycott and protesting by way of marching is not necessary in every situation that black Americans disagree with.It can be effective only in selective situations. One of the best things black Americans can do is learn how to intelligently articulate, and negotiate with those they disagree with by sitting down at the round table and possibly coming up with a compromise.
Also blacks should not let themselves get too loyal to one political party but should learn how to have many blacks voting for another political party so they can then work together in favor of black and people of color interest. By doing this they can them help both non-white America and White America progress forward as one America. Blacks must learn how to bargain with both Democrats and Republicans.
Chance: A compromise is a half defeat you get 50% and the other side gets 50%; now there are situations where you should not compromise you should go all out to accomplish what you set out to do. Because it is the right thing to do, black Americans should let protesting and marching be one of the last measures-but that depends on the situation and what has happened.
Blacks need to make deep efforts to become more educated, politically active in more than one political party, and economically empowered. Also, certain black civil rights leaders who were back in the 1960s hold black Americans back not all of them hold blacks back just some do. And that’s because their political methods of operation are out dated, and many of them don’t have a vision; and were there is no vision the people perish.
The civil rights leaders of the 1960s have done an excellent job by helping blacks, women, and people of color gain civil liberties in America. They deserve our highest complement; the old civil rights establishment needs to teach this younger generation of political candidates’ new methods and techniques that will help the younger political candidates of this generation accomplish the will of the people (voters).
America. They deserve our highest complement; the old civil rights establishment needs to teach this younger generation of political candidates’ new methods and techniques that will help the younger political candidates of this generation accomplish the will of the people (voters).
Blacks need to address many bad social ills in their own communities. They first need to create new political methods of operations that work in the 21st century.
Also, they must make efforts to bridge and unite all ethnic groups in America, because the other non-white ethnic groups utilize some of the political, social, and educational methods and tactics that blacks Americans used in the 1960s to win many political gains. Blacks were not the only racial group in America to use these tactics and methods of Marching, struggling against a powerful white establishment to gain civil rights.
But Blacks made these methods and tactics more effective and used them more effectively than any other non-white racial group in America. Other non-white ethnic groups need to change their old 1960s methods of political operations also. Because today we have computers, cell phones, email, the internet, and many other things that we all did not have in the 1960s. We all need to make bridges to reach each other, we all live in the same country.
Also, when you look at other countries they too have a 1960s mentality; this 1960s mentality is the reason why so many people in third world countries are so unhappy. Because they don’t have civil rights, if they do the rights they have are very few, and this makes their lives bitter, also psychologically and emotionally painful.
This is why many people in third world countries are violent towards each other, and this is part of the reason many third countries are filled with people who hate America.Why because when they see America on television they all see the wealth, and everything Americans own materially.Also, they hear stories about America’s wealth and riches so sometimes this causes many in the third world countries to envy Americans.
Because they want the same democracy, civil rights, and freedom to make their own choices and opportunities that Americans have.But their leaders having 1960s mentalities won’t let them progress to the level of democracy. Why? Because in all third world countries the current leaders who are old grew up in the 1960s, and conduct their politics according to the political ideas of the 1960s of their country. These third world leaders then condition the collective psychology of their people to be like them.
So when new younger leaders come to power they continue acting and behaving like the leaders of the previous generation and the misery continues. Most social and political problems that torment people living in all countries have there origins in the previous generation of the 1960s. And, they want to force some of their old ways of life on the new younger generation.
Often the ways of life they want to force on us doesn’t work in our time, because the younger generation has a totally different psychology, and have totally different social, economic, educational, and political challenges to deal with.And this also proves what has been observed by past generations and that is – people don’t change very much. The older you get the more you get set in your ways.
It is alright to barrow certain methods, techniques, and ideas from previous generations but only barrow what will help your generation progress. So we must keep our psychology flexible and open minded – and use political and social methods that work in today’s time.
So we must keep our psychology flexible and open minded – and use political and social methods that work in today’s time.
Chance Kelsey
(Chancellor)Written during the 21st century by Chance
A better Vision
By Chance, Chancellorfiles
The philosopher Eric Hoffer wrote, “It is not actual suffering but a taste of better things which excites people to revolt.”
Chance: Where there is no vision the people perish, if you are a leader and you have no future vision to give to your supporters and followers then you should no longer be their leader.
Humans need leaders no matter how advanced a civilization is it will always have leaders. Every job, family, civilization, every social sphere of society, etc all have leaders. But when a leader or leaders have no vision then they can not take the people they lead higher. Among racial groups, society, and countries where there is no vision there will be deterioration, and where there is deterioration you will find chaos, violence, hate, anger, unable to progress, excessive unhappiness, more poverty, bad economy, destruction, etc among the people.
Some visions that were once good for society in the past are no longer good for the society of today. In every generation there are visions — but sometimes visions from a past generation get pushed on to the next generation of young adults. And the ideas and opinions from the past generation are not compatible with the ideas and opinions of the current generation.
The current generation has certain challenges that the previous generation did not have — and the previous generation had certain challenges that the current generation doesn’t have to deal with.
The challenges that each generation faces must be met with ideas and concepts that can give potential solutions to these social challenges. Now there are some ideas from the past generation that will help and work with the current generation. But in general each generation has special social challenges that must be dealt with.
The same problem with politics among various countries, societies, racial groups and ethnic groups, etc is that the politicians who grew up in the previous generation still have the thinking and ideas of their generation. And, many of the ideas of their generation are outdated, and can not properly fit into the political necessities of the current generation.
Therefore, new visions (ideas, opinions, and concepts) are needed in order to move forward, and if you want to be a leader who is effective in today’s society. Then you need to find a vision that works in favor of the people you lead.
When old visions stay around too long they create a conflict of vision meaning the old visions (ideas, concepts, and opinions) clash with the ideas of the current generation, and therefore, the old ideas create problems and become a stumbling block.
In America for example certain whites, blacks and people of color (colored racial groups) criticize black and non-white (persons of color) politicians for being incompetent and not really caring about the people they represent.
Yes, certain black and non-white politicians are lousy and incompetent. But if they are so incompetent and lousy then why not just vote them out and vote in a rival who has a better vision.
But like the philosopher Eric Hoffer wrote, “It is not actual suffering but a taste of better things which excites people to revolt.”
That’s to say: Instead of beating up on others, or trying to convince blacks and other non-whites that their leaders are lousy, why not offer something better?
Basically offer them a better vision, and a vision that can be explained in words step by step and a vision that seems tangible.
The Liberators
Moses
You know just like Moses offered the Hebrews a better vision when he took them out of slavery. Moses informed the Hebrews that they would be free because their God wanted them to no longer remain slaves. The idea of freedom was a vision that the Hebrew slaves saw in their minds.
They imagined themselves being free to eat, sleep, come and go as they pleased, work when they chose to work, etc without having the Egyptian slave masters telling them when they could and could not do these things. They saw the vision in their minds before they were freed.
When they were freed Moses took them out of slavery and into the desert. The vision in their minds became a reality; they were now free and walking in the desert a free people.
Martin Luther K ing jr.
Martin Luther King jr. had vision that blacks would gain their civil rights and voting rights. King helped blacks and all people of color gain the same privileges and civil rights that once were only available to whites. Martin Luther King jr. had a vision and a dream that manifested into reality.
Simon Bolivar
Simon Bolivar had a vision in his mind that someday South America would be free from Spain and that idea became a reality. Simon Bolivar freed All of South America from Spain, he fought against the Spaniards and defeated them and pushed the Spaniard army out of South America. This is why Simon Bolivar is called The Liberator by South American Spanish speaking countries. El Libertador means the liberator in Spanish.
George Washington
George Washington led the minutemen army against the British and defeated the British army. When the British were defeated America became free from England. Washington had a vision and idea that America would be free of British colonial rule and would become an independent country. America currently is a free independent country because of the actions of men like George Washington.
Whether it be in family, job, politics, etc if you are a leader over people you must have a vision (ideas, concepts, and opinions).
People perish because of a lack of knowledge and no vision. In your daily life whether you be a leader or not a leader you must have a vision about where you want to be in life.
By Chance Kelsey [Chancellor]
Written during the 21st century by Chance
Chancellorfiles 
Detroit Closing Supermarkets
Friday, July 13, 2007 in Black Culture (black people), Politics, Social commentary
Detroit Closing Supermarkets
Black crime and violence once again play a role in major supermarkets closing down and leaving Detroit, Michigan. When black crime, shoplifting, violence gang activity, poverty, etc become epidemic, this causes the price of insurance to increase (the cost of insurance for businesses in the ghetto is higher). Then other smaller food and liquor stores open up in these black neighborhoods and raise the price of items they sell. Blacks have to blame themselves for this, because the major currently is black, so is the city council, and many other political and city job positions are controlled by blacks. Blacks have a lot of political power in Detroit so they can’t blame someone else.
READ STORY
Thursday July, 5 2007
Grocery closings hit Detroit hard
City shoppers’ choices dwindle as last big chain leaves
By Joel J. Smith and Nathan Hurst / The Detroit News
DETROIT — Colleen Rogers isn’t looking forward to crossing the street to shop for even a few groceries.
The store, a locally owned market, is convenient, just steps away from the beauty shop where she works on Livernois in Detroit. But what troubles her is its higher prices, lack of variety and the low quality of fruit, vegetables, meats and other food — staples Rogers could find every day in abundance at the Farmer Jack store near her home that is about to close.
"Sure, there’s other grocery stores, but try finding something to eat in there," said the 34-year-old skin care specialist. "You can’t buy quality food in the city anymore."
The lack of major grocery stores has long been a quality-of-life problem in Detroit and one reason some families don’t want to live in the city. Now, however, the situation is getting worse as the last two Farmer Jack stores in the city prepare to close by Saturday.
If no grocery stores buy the Farmer Jack locations from the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co., Detroit will be left without a single national chain supermarket, much less a Wal-Mart or Meijer superstore or a Costco-style warehouse store.
Analysts say no other major city in America is such a supermarket desert. And it’s not likely to change anytime soon.
Recent efforts by city officials, developers and community activists to woo a supermarket have been unsuccessful. Major grocery chains, which generally operate with thin profit margins, say doing business in Detroit is no-win situation. High employee turnover, cost of security and loss from theft are often cited. The city’s comparably low income rates preclude selling an abundance of high-profit, upscale items.
The situation has left regular shoppers at the Farmer Jack stores — one on East Jefferson and the other on Livernois at Seven Mile — with two choices: drive the suburbs to shop if they have transportation, or buy groceries at smaller stores near their homes.
"Why should we have to go elsewhere to find a trustworthy store?" asked Joe Lanier, a longtime shopper of the Livernois Farmer Jack who owns a nearby business. "It’s ridiculous you can’t buy all the groceries you need in Detroit."
High cost of doing business
Within its 139 square miles, Detroit has 155 grocery stores, defined as various-size food markets with meat and produce. The city also has 1,000 convenience stores — including gas stations and party stores — that sell some type of food.
A 2003 University of Michigan study of Detroit supermarkets showed there were only five grocery stores in Detroit with over 20,000 square feet. The report concluded that the city could support 41 supermarkets with at least 40,000 square feet of space based on its population and spending habits.
Over the years, national chains have located in Detroit, only to pull up stakes and flee. There are a multitude of reasons, according to retail analysts, with the major deterrent being the high cost of doing business in the city.
"Sometimes even the people that live in the neighborhood don’t feel safe shopping in the store," said David J. Livingston, a supermarket expert from Wisconsin. "They’ll drive right past that Detroit store to go to a suburban store where they feel more comfortable."
While crime is a concern, Matt Allen, press secretary for Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, said the issue should not be used as an excuse by the big chains to avoid Detroit.
"In certain areas where the socioeconomic is probably at the lowest end of our society, there are a lot of desperate people," Allen said. But, he added, businesses can take measures to prevent theft.
"(Businesses) have added lighting, changed the heights of the counters, put the registers in certain places — security by environmental design. It all helps," he said.
Detroit also suffers from a lack of strip malls with tenants to serve everyday needs. Large supermarket chains don’t like to open stand-alone stores, said Ken Dalto, a retail expert from Farmington Hills.
"Larger supermarkets have a better chance of surviving if they are located in strip malls where people can do one-stop shopping," Dalto said. "If you don’t have these anchor spots at strip malls, you aren’t going to get the large chain supermarkets."
A number of the city’s major developers and economic growth officials said efforts to draw a national grocer to the city have met tepid responses. Midtown Development President Robert Slattery said he showed a plan for a 12,000-square-foot store with 65 parking spaces to specialty grocer Trader Joe’s, but the company didn’t bite.
His company and Wayne State University are still working to lure a new market to Midtown.
Expired food is a problem
Most independent food stores in Detroit are owned and operated by Chaldeans, some of whom have been in business for 40 or more years. A few are owned by African-Americans.
Martin Manna, executive director of the Chaldean American Chamber of Commerce in Southfield, said Chaldeans have stepped in as A&P, Farmer Jack and Kroger have abandoned the city. "There usually is a market within walking distance of nearly every area of Detroit," Manna said. "It might not be a supermarket. That might be why there are so many people eating potato chips rather than wholesome foods in Detroit."
Although shoppers may complain prices are higher at independent stores, independent grocers said they strive to be competitive, even with the high costs of running a store in the city. While there are clean, well-run stores scattered throughout the city, many don’t offer the variety and selection of a Farmer Jack.
Many residents rely on convenience stores for bread, milk, eggs and snacks. Small stores that do offer meat and produce often sell food past its expiration date, shoppers said. The city has raided stores over the years to crack down on sales of expired food, but many say the problem still persists.
Pat Hollins, an activist with the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, told of stopping in a small neighborhood grocer several weeks ago and immediately finding two expired packages of breakfast sausage.
ACORN has been picketing stores it contends have been selling expired meats and unhealthy foods.
"We have problems with meat and produce being expired," Hollins said. "We have no security in the parking lots, no restrooms in the stores and a poor selection of food products. When you cross Eight Mile, these problems all disappear. The poor folks, who don’t have transportation to the suburbs to shop, are being taken advantage of."
‘Where’s the justice in that?’
Without chain grocers in her neighborhood, shoppers like Cheryl Coleman, who lives just blocks from the Farmer Jack on East Jefferson, will have to travel much farther for low-priced sundries.
"I’m sure going to miss this store," Coleman said. "I got everything I need here, just everything. We need a good grocery store in the city, right here on Jefferson."
She said she’ll probably end up shopping at a Kroger in Grosse Pointe. "It’s either Kroger or the little local store," Coleman said. "And they don’t always have everything I want." Gordon Alexander, 52, who lives on the city’s east side, said suburbanites have it good compared to Detroiters.
"There is only one store in the city I’ll pick up some stuff at, but my kids jokingly call it the ‘ghetto store’ because everything is subpar," he said. "Some of these stores make the argument that they are catering to black clientele, so they have to make room to carry stuff like ham hocks and chitterlings, but that’s just an excuse for bad quality.
"Here we are, trying to revitalize the waterfront and make this city whole again, but people who live here can’t even find something decent to eat. Where’s the justice in that?"