I guess, it would be up to the individual reader, researcher, to make up his, or her on mind in regards to what is, or what is not, true in this matter.  I certainly make no claims either way; just simply posted what had been discussed between a few colleagues at work…

First Article is below….

“The Willie Lynch Letter… Origin of the ‘N’ Word & ‘lynching’ …”

The United States Army is an organization, like many others, that tries it’s best to implement an equal opportunity program in-order-to make for a less hostile work environment for it’s troops. Of course, it does not solve each and every problem, but at least, there’s an attempt…

Each unit in the Army is required to have what is called an “Equal Opportunity Representative.” This Soldier is sent to a two week course where he/she learns the basic ins and outs of the concept of equal opportunity as it applies to Soldiers in the Army. At higher levels within the Army there is what’s called an Equal Opportunity Advisor. This Soldier is sent to a 4-month long course in-order-to handle full blown equal opportunity complaints upon graduation. This becomes their full-time job once they graduate.

The equal opportunity ‘representative’ is required to train it’s unit on matters of equal opportunity throughout the year. There are quarterly requirements and anual requirements. There are lecture formats and /or discussion settings as well.

This past week, our unit had a discussion about “disparaging terms.” One of the most well known derogatory, or degrading, terms that comes to mind is the “N” word (I’m not even going to spell it.) When it came to this particular word during the discussion, one of the African American Soldiers gave us a brief history lesson about the origin of that word, and the origin of “lynching” used for hanging someone. He talked about the ‘Willie Lynch Letter’ and shared some of it’s contents with us. This discussion suddenly got very interesting to say the least… I had either forgotten, or never knew, about this man and his infamous (terrible) letter. …

Willie Lynch had called himself the master of a ‘modest plantation.’ He was summoned from the British West Indies to speak to the local slave owners on the James River in Virginia in 1712about the problems they were having managing their slaves. The methods he discribed/advised were some of the most brutal physical, and psychological, methods imaginable. Basically, he advised the slave owners to stop hanging, or ‘lynching’ their troublesome slaves, and instead, start the process of breaking them down. Break them down to the point where all they know to do anymore is work themselves to death for you…

Part of the psychological degredation process was using the “N” word. A word coined by Willie Lynch. A word that, to this day, is still one of the most terrible words ever uttered…

The bottom-line of our discussion about disparaging terms was to be much more aware of what you are saying to others, because your words could have a larger impact than you realize…

More Reading:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Lynch_speech
• http://www.africanamericanimages.com/aai/willie%20lynch.htm
• http://www.openeyesprod.com/calendar_of_events

Image Usage: (about page) – from: dreamstime.com

a random shot of some old books that I have… Making this picture, I didn’t realize that there was a Sherlock Holmes Movie coming out on Christmas Day….

I only have a handful of these old books, most of which came from my grandparents… I think the only one in this stack that I’ve actually read is “The Tales of Sherlock Holmes”… I’m not an avid a reader as I’d like to be…

Full Sail University has DEGREE programs in Music, Film, Gaming, Computer Animation, …you name it, or just go check them out yourself: FullSail.com >>>

The list of credits to this institution in phenomenal! … One of my favorites, ‘Flood,’ The Rock Band: U2’s main mixer on a few albums, graduated from Full Sail.  Also, there were several graduates that worked the movie: ‘TiTanic” with Lianardo DiCaprio… But the list goes on and on…

 It’s a rather expensive school, but it seems to probably offer the best overall education in the field of multimedia.  Years ago I had looked into going to this institution, but never did.  The loans I would have needed to take out would have been a considerable amount.  Also, it depends upon your skills and experience, but most intro audio productionists/engineers (that’s what I was interested in) do not start out making that much money.  So, like many others, I let the ‘money thing’ put a damper on ‘my dreams’… 

Today, there are many other options to help pay for school and the school itself has grown to offer several other degree programs.  When I was looking to go (back in the early 90’s) there were no degree plans, just certifications.  So the School has definately grown into a multimedia artist producing monster! …

If you are even slightly interested in a multimedia career, you should take a look > fullsail.com

Image: (one of my amps (line 6) controls)