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George Washington Williams's Open Letter to King Leopold on the Congo, 1890 [reprint]
George Washington Williams, "An Open Letter to His Serene Majesty Leopold II, King of the Belgians and Sovereign of the Independent State of Congo By Colonel, The Honorable Geo. W. Williams, of the United States of America," 1890
Good and Great Friend,
I have the honour to submit for your Majesty's consideration some reflections respecting the Independent State of Congo, based upon a careful study and inspection of the country and character of the personal Government you have established upon the African Continent.
It afforded me great pleasure to avail myself of the opportunity afforded me last year, of visiting your State in Africa; and how thoroughly I have been disenchanted, disappointed and disheartened, it is now my painful duty to make known to your Majesty in plain but respectful language. Every charge which I am about to bring against your Majesty's personal Government in the Congo has been carefully investigated; a list of competent and veracious witnesses, documents, letters, official records and data has been faithfully prepared, which will be deposited with Her Britannic Majesty's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, until such time as an International Commission can be created with power to send for persons and papers, to administer oaths, and attest the truth or falsity of these charges.
There were instances in which Mr. HENRY M. STANLEY sent one white man, with four or five Zanzibar soldiers, to make treaties with native chiefs. The staple argument was that the white man's heart had grown sick of the wars and rumours of war between one chief and another, between one village and another; that the white man was at peace with his black brother, and desired to "confederate all African tribes" for the general defense and public welfare. All the sleight-of- hand tricks had been carefully rehearsed, and he was now ready for his work. A number of electric batteries had been purchased in London, and when attached to the arm under the coat, communicated with a band of ribbon which passed over the palm of the white brother's hand, and when he gave the black brother a cordial grasp of the hand the black brother was greatly surprised to find his white brother so strong, that he nearly knocked him off his feet in giving him the hand of fellowship. When the native inquired about the disparity of strength between himself and his white brother, he was told that the white man could pull up trees and perform the most prodigious feats of strength. Next came the lens act. The white brother took from his pocket a cigar, carelessly bit off the end, held up his glass to the sun and complaisantly smoked his cigar to the great amazement and terror of his black brother. The white man explained his intimate relation to the sun, and declared that if he were to request him to burn up his black brother's village it would be done. The third act was the gun trick. The white man took a percussion cap gun, tore the end of the paper which held the powder to the bullet, and poured the powder and paper into the gun, at the same time slipping the bullet into the sleeve of the left arm. A cap was placed upon the nipple of the gun, and the black brother was implored to step off ten yards and shoot at his white brother to demonstrate his statement that he was a spirit, and, therefore, could not be killed. After much begging the black brother aims the gun at his white brother, pulls the trigger, the gun is discharged, the white man stoops . . . and takes the bullet from his shoe!
By such means as these, too silly and disgusting to mention, and a few boxes of gin, whole villages have been signed away to your Majesty.
When I arrived in the Congo, I naturally sought for the results of the brilliant programme: "fostering care", "benevolent enterprise", an "honest and practical effort" to increase the knowledge of the natives "and secure their welfare". 1 had never been able to conceive of Europeans, establishing a government in a tropical country, without building a hospital; and yet from the mouth of the Congo River to its head-waters, here at the seventh cataract, a distance of 1,448 miles, there is not a solitary hospital for Europeans, and only three sheds for sick Africans in the service of the State, not fit to be occupied by a horse. Sick sailors frequently die on board their vessels at Banana Point; and if it were not for the humanity of the Dutch Trading Company at that place—who have often opened their private hospital to the sick of other countries—many more might die. There is not a single chaplain in the employ of your Majesty's Government to console the sick or bury the dead. Your white men sicken and die in their quarters or on the caravan road, and seldom have Christian burial. With few exceptions, the surgeons of your Majesty's Government have been gentlemen of professional ability, devoted to duty, but usually left with few medical stores and no quarters in which to treat their patients. The African soldiers and labourers of your Majesty's Government fare worse than the whites, because they have poorer quarters, quite as bad as those of the natives; and in the sheds, called hospitals, they languish upon a bed of bamboo poles without blankets, pillows or any food different from that served to them when well, rice and fish.
I was anxious to see to what extent the natives had "adopted the fostering care" of your Majesty's "benevolent enterprise" (?), and I was doomed to bitter disappointment. Instead of the natives of the Congo "adopting the fostering care" of your Majesty's Government, they everywhere complain that their land has been taken from them by force; that the Government is cruel and arbitrary, and declare that they neither love nor respect the Government and its flag. Your Majesty's Government has sequestered their land, burned their towns, stolen their property, enslaved their women and children, and committed other crimes too numerous to mention in detail. It is natural that they everywhere shrink from "the fostering care" your Majesty's Government so eagerly proffers them.
There has been, to my absolute knowledge, no "honest and practical effort made to increase their knowledge and secure their welfare." Your Majesty's Government has never spent one franc for educational purposes, nor instituted any practical system of industrialism. Indeed the most unpractical measures have been adopted against the natives in nearly every respect; and in the capital of your Majesty's Government at Boma there is not a native employed. The labour system is radically unpractical; the soldiers and labourers of your Majesty's Government are very largely imported from Zanzibar at a cost of £10 per capita, and from Sierra Leone, Liberia, Accra and Lagos at from £1 to £1/10 per capita. These recruits are transported under circumstances more cruel than cattle in European countries. They eat their rice twice a day by the use of their fingers; they often thirst for water when the season is dry; they are exposed to the heat and rain, and sleep upon the damp and filthy decks of the vessels often so closely crowded as to lie in human ordure. And, of course, many die.
Upon the arrival of the survivors in the Congo they are set to work as labourers at one shilling a day; as soldiers they are promised sixteen shillings per month, in English money, but are usually paid off in cheap handkerchiefs and poisonous gin. The cruel and unjust treatment to which these people are subjected breaks the spirits of many of them, makes them distrust and despise your Majesty's Government. They are enemies, not patriots.
There are from sixty to seventy officers of the Belgian army in the service of your Majesty's Government in the Congo of whom only about thirty are at their post; the other half are in Belgium on furlough. These officers draw double pay—as soldiers and as civilians. It is not my duty to criticise the unlawful and unconstitutional use of these officers coming into the service of this African State. Such criticism will come with more grace from some Belgian statesman, who may remember that there is no constitutional or organic relation subsisting between his Government and the purely personal and absolute monarchy your Majesty has established in Africa. But I take the liberty to say that many of these officers are too young and inexperienced to be entrusted with the difficult work of dealing with native races. They are ignorant of native character, lack wisdom, justice, fortitude and patience. They have estranged the natives from your Majesty's Government, have sown the seed of discord between tribes and villages, and some of them have stained the uniform of the Belgian officer with murder, arson and robbery. Other officers have served the State faithfully, and deserve well of their Royal Master.
From these general observations I wish now to pass to specific charges against your Majesty's Government.
FIRST —Your Majesty's Government is deficient in the moral military and financial strength, necessary to govern a territory o 1,508,000 square miles, 7,251 miles of navigation, and 31,694 square miles of lake surface. In the Lower Congo River there is but One post, in the cataract region one. From Leopoldville to N'Gombe, a distance of more than 300 miles, there is not a single soldier or civilian. Not one out of every twenty State-officials know the language of the natives, although they are constantly issuing laws, difficult even for Europeans, and expect the natives to comprehend and obey them. Cruelties of the most astounding character are practised by the natives, such as burying slaves alive in the grave of a dead chief, cutting off the heads of captured warriors in native combats, and no effort is put forth by your Majesty's Government to prevent them. Between 800 and 1,000 slaves are sold to be eaten by the natives of the Congo State annually; and slave raids, accomplished by the most cruel and murderous agencies, are carried on within the territorial limits of your Majesty's Government which is impotent. There are only 2,300 soldiers in the Congo.
SECOND —Your Majesty's Government has established nearly fifty posts, consisting of from two to eight mercenary slave-soldiers from the East Coast. There is no white commissioned officer at these posts; they are in charge of the black Zanzibar soldiers, and the State expects them not only to sustain themselves, but to raid enough to feed the garrisons where the white men are stationed. These piratical, buccaneering posts compel the natives to furnish them with fish, goats, fowls, and vegetables at the mouths of their muskets; and whenever the natives refuse to feed these vampires, they report to the main station and white officers come with an expeditionary force and burn away the homes of the natives. These black soldiers, many of whom are slaves, exercise the power of life and death. They are ignorant and cruel, because they do not comprehend the natives; they are imposed upon them by the State. They make no report as to the number of robberies they commit, or the number of lives they take; they are only required to subsist upon the natives and thus relieve your Majesty's Government of the cost of feeding them. They are the greatest curse the country suffers now.
THIRD —Your Majesty's Government is guilty of violating its contracts made with its soldiers, mechanics and workmen, many of whom are subjects of other Governments. Their letters never reach home.
FOURTH —The Courts of your Majesty's Government are abortive, unjust, partial and delinquent. I have personally witnessed and examined their clumsy operations. The laws printed and circulated in Europe "for the Protection of the blacks" in the Congo, are a dead letter and a fraud. I have heard an officer of the Belgian Army pleading the cause of a white man of low degree who had been guilty of beating and stabbing a black man, and urging race distinctions and prejudices as good and sufficient reasons why his client should be adjudged innocent. I know of prisoners remaining in custody for six and ten months because they were not judged. I saw the white servant of the Governor-General, CAMILLE JANSSEN, detected in stealing a bottle of wine from a hotel table. A few hours later the Procurer-General searched his room and found many more stolen bottles of wine and other things, not the property of servants. No one can be prosecuted in the State of Congo without an order of the Governor-General, and as he refused to allow his servant to be arrested, nothing could be done. The black servants in the hotel, where the wine had been stolen, had been often accused and beaten for these thefts, and now they were glad to be vindicated. But to the surprise of every honest man, the thief was sheltered by the Governor General of your Majesty's Government.
FIFTH —Your Majesty's Government is excessively cruel to its prisoners, condemning them, for the slightest offences, to the chain gang, the like of which can not be seen in any other Government in the civilized or uncivilized world. Often these ox-chains eat into the necks of the prisoners and produce sores about which the flies circle, aggravating the running wound; so the prisoner is constantly worried. These poor creatures are frequently beaten with a dried piece of hippopotamus skin, called a "chicote", and usually the blood flows at every stroke when well laid on. But the cruelties visited upon soldiers and workmen are not to be compared with the sufferings of the poor natives who, upon the slightest pretext, are thrust into the wretched prisons here in the Upper River. I cannot deal with the dimensions of these prisons in this letter, but will do so in my report to my Government.
SIXTH —Women are imported into your Majesty's Government for immoral purposes. They are introduced by two methods, viz., black men are dispatched to the Portuguese coast where they engage these women as mistresses of white men, who pay to the procurer a monthly sum. The other method is by capturing native women and condemning them to seven years' servitude for some imaginary crime against the State with which the villages of these women are charged. The State then hires these woman out to the highest bidder, the officers having the first choice and then the men. Whenever children are born of such relations, the State maintains that the women being its property the child belongs to it also. Not long ago a Belgian trader had a child by a slave-woman of the State, and he tried to secure possession of it that he might educate it, but the Chief of the Station where he resided, refused to be moved by his entreaties. At length he appealed to the Governor-General, and he gave him the woman and thus the trader obtained the child also. This was, however, an unusual case of generosity and clemency; and there is only one post that I know of where there is not to be found children of the civil and military officers of your Majesty's Government abandoned to degradation; white men bringing their own flesh and blood under the lash of a most cruel master, the State of Congo.
SEVENTH —Your Majesty's Government is engaged in trade and commerce, competing with the organised trade companies of Belgium, England, France, Portugal and Holland. It taxes all trading companies and exempts its own goods from export-duty, and makes many of its officers ivory-traders, with the promise of a liberal commission upon all they can buy or get for the State. State soldiers patrol many villages forbidding the natives to trade with any person but a State official, and when the natives refuse to accept the price of the State, their goods are seized by the Government that promised them "protection". When natives have persisted in trading with the trade-companies the State has punished their independence by burning the villages in the vicinity of the trading houses and driving the natives away.
EIGHTH —Your Majesty's Government has violated the General Act of the Conference of Berlin by firing upon native canoes; by confiscating the property of natives; by intimidating native traders, and preventing them from trading with white trading companies; by quartering troops in native villages when there is no war; by causing vessels bound from "Stanley-Pool" to "Stanley-Falls", to break their journey and leave the Congo, ascend the Aruhwimi river to Basoko, to be visited and show their papers; by forbidding a mission steamer to fly its national flag without permission from a local Government; by permitting the natives to carry on the slave- trade, and by engaging in the wholesale and retail slave-trade itself.
NINTH —-Your Majesty's Government has been, and is now, guilty of waging unjust and cruel wars against natives, with the hope of securing slaves and women, to minister to the behests of the officers of your Government. In such slave-hunting raids one village is armed by the State against the other, and the force thus secured is incorporated with the regular troops. I have no adequate terms with which to depict to your Majesty the brutal acts of your soldiers upon such raids as these. The soldiers who open the combat are usually the bloodthirsty cannibalistic Bangalas, who give no quarter to the aged grandmother or nursing child at the breast of its mother. There are instances in which they have brought the heads of their victims to their white officers on the expeditionary steamers, and afterwards eaten the bodies of slain children. In one war two Belgian Army officers saw, from the deck of their steamer, a native in a canoe some distance away. He was not a combatant and was ignorant of the conflict in progress upon the shore, some distance away. The officers made a wager of £5 that they could hit the native with their rifles. Three shots were fired and the native fell dead, pierced through the head, and the trade canoe was transformed into a funeral barge and floated silently down the river.
TENTH —Your Majesty's Government is engaged in the slave-trade, wholesale and retail. It buys and sells and steals slaves. Your Majesty's Government gives £3 per head for able bodied slaves for military service. Officers at the chief stations get the men and receive the money when they are transferred to the State; but there are some middle-men who only get from twenty to twenty-five francs per head. Three hundred and sixteen slaves were sent down the river recently, and others are to follow. These poor natives are sent hundreds of miles away from their villages, to serve among other natives whose language they do not know. When these men run away a reward of 1,000 N'taka is offered. Not long ago such a recaptured slave was given one hundred "chikote" each day until he died. Three hundred N'taka—brassrod-—is the price the State pays for a slave, when bought from a native. The labour force at the stations of your Majesty's Government in the Upper River is composed of slaves of all ages and both sexes.
ELEVENTH —Your Majesty's Government has concluded a contract with the Arab Governor at this place for the establishment of a line of military posts from the Seventh Cataract to Lake Tanganyika territory to which your Majesty has no more legal claim, than I have to be Commander-in-Chief of the Belgian army. For this work the Arab Governor is to receive five hundred stands of arms, five thousand kegs of powder, and £20,000 sterling, to he paid in several instalments. As I write, the news reaches me that these much- treasured and long-looked for materials of war are to be discharged at Basoko, and the Resident here is to be given the discretion as to the distribution of them. There is a feeling of deep discontent among the Arabs here, and they seem to feel that they are being trifled with. As to the significance of this move Europe and America can judge without any comment from me, especially England.
TWELFTH —The agents of your Majesty's Government have misrepresented the Congo country and the Congo railway. Mr. H. M. STANLEY, the man who was your chief agent in setting up your authority in this country, has grossly misrepresented the character of the country. Instead of it being fertile and productive it is sterile and unproductive. The natives can scarcely subsist upon the vegetable life produced in some parts of the country. Nor will this condition of affairs change until the native shall have been taught by the European the dignity, utility and blessing of labour. There is no improvement among the natives, because there is an impassable gulf between them and your Majesty's Government, a gulf which can never be bridged. HENRY M. STANLEY'S name produces a shudder among this simple folk when mentioned; they remember his broken promises, his copious profanity, his hot temper, his heavy blows, his severe and rigorous measures, by which they were mulcted of their lands. His last appearance in the Congo produced a profound sensation among them, when he led 500 Zanzibar soldiers with 300 camp followers on his way to relieve EMIN PASHA. They thought it meant complete subjugation, and they fled in confusion. But the only thing they found in the wake of his march was misery. No white man commanded his rear column, and his troops were allowed to straggle, sicken and die; and their bones were scattered over more than two hundred miles of territory.
Against the deceit, fraud, robberies, arson, murder, slave-raiding, and general policy of cruelty of your Majesty's Government to the natives, stands their record of unexampled patience, long-suffering and forgiving spirit, which put the boasted civilisation and professed religion of your Majesty's Government to the blush. During thirteen years only one white man has lost his life by the hands of the natives, and only two white men have been killed in the Congo. Major Barttelot was shot by a Zanzibar soldier, and the captain of a Belgian trading-boat was the victim of his own rash and unjust treatment of a native chief.
All the crimes perpetrated in the Congo have been done in your name, and you must answer at the bar of Public Sentiment for the misgovernment of a people, whose lives and fortunes were entrusted to you by the august Conference of Berlin, 1884—1885. I now appeal to the Powers which committed this infant State to your Majesty's charge, and to the great States which gave it international being; and whose majestic law you have scorned and trampled upon, to call and create an International Commission to investigate the charges herein preferred in the name of Humanity, Commerce, Constitutional Government and Christian Civilisation.
I base this appeal upon the terms of Article 36 of Chapter VII of the General Act of the Conference of Berlin, in which that August assembly of Sovereign States reserved to themselves the right "to introduce into it later and by common accord the modifications or ameliorations, the utility of which may be demonstrated experience".
I appeal to the Belgian people and to their Constitutional Government, so proud of its traditions, replete with the song and story of its champions of human liberty, and so jealous of its present position in the sisterhood of European States—to cleanse itself from the imputation of the crimes with which your Majesty's personal State of Congo is polluted.
I appeal to Anti-Slavery Societies in all parts of Christendom, to Philanthropists, Christians, Statesmen, and to the great mass of people everywhere, to call upon the Governments of Europe, to hasten the close of the tragedy your Majesty's unlimited Monarchy is enacting in the Congo.
I appeal to our Heavenly Father, whose service is perfect love, in witness of the purity of my motives and the integrity of my aims; and to history and mankind I appeal for the demonstration and vindication of the truthfulness of the charge I have herein briefly outlined.
And all this upon the word of honour of a gentleman, I subscribe myself your Majesty's humble and obedient servant,
Stanley Falls, Central Africa,
July 18th, 1890.
Adelaide Cromwell Hill & Martin Kilson, eds., Apropos of Africa: Sentiments of American Negro Leaders on Africa From the 1800s to the 1950s (London: Frank Cass and Company Limited, 1969)
The Bitter Medicine Book Club starts on June 1st. We will be reading "King Leopold's Ghost" by Adam Hochschild. We look forward to everyone's thoughts on the book, positive or negative. You may purchase the book using the affiliate link below:
Yurugu: An Afrikan-Centered Critique of European Cultural Thought and Behavior by Dr. Marimba Ani. A Karl Hezekiah Review
Karl Hezekiah
Favorite quote: "Whenever an oppressed black man shouts for equality he is called a racist. This was said of Marcus Garvey in his day. Imagine that! We are so inferior that if we demand equality of opportunity and power that is outrageously racist. Black people who speak up for their rights must beware of this devise of false accusations. It is intended to place you on the defensive and if possible embarrass you into silence. How can we be both oppressed and embarrassed? Is it that our major concern is not to hurt the feelings of the oppressor?" -- Walter Rodney.
In Dr. Marimba Ani's seminal work Yurugu, she gives a thorough and thought-provoking examination of European culture and thought. Dr. Ani is an anthropologist and African studies scholar. She has taught as a Professor of African Studies in the Department of Black and Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College in New York City. Dr. Ani is also credited with the usage of the Swahili word Maafa (Great Disaster) in terms of history and ongoing effects of atrocities inflicted upon people of African descent, including both the Arab and Trans-Atlantic slave trade. In writing Yurugu, Dr. Ani pulls back the veil on European culture. Dr. Ani poses the question. "What is the relationship between the way in which Europeans conceive the world and the way in which they relate to majority peoples?" This is a difficult question, and this is the type of book that must be given time and study. The effort is well worth it, and Yurugu is a textbook in helping people of African descent see the inner workings of white supremacy.
What is yurugu? Dr. Ani writes that yurugu is "a being in Dogon mythology, which is responsible for disorder in the universe. This is a being conceived in denial of the natural order, which then acts to initiate and promote disharmony. In African Cosmology, such a being is deficient in spiritual sensibility, in perpetually in conflict, is limited cognitively and is threatening to the well-being of humanity" (Ani xxviii) In exposing the European façade, Dr. Ani creates her own terminology derived from African languages. Before going further into the review, a quick overview of some of the terms will be necessary.
Dr. Ani writes "This study was not approached objectively. It is not possible to be objective towards Europe: certainly the victims of its cultural, political and economic imperialism are not objective, if they are sane." (Ani 23) The first section of Yurugu deals with Thought and Iconography. European thought separates the person into conflicting entities. Reason/emotion, mind/body. Dr. Ani takes the reader back to ancient Greece and the teachings of Plato. "What Plato seems to have done is laid a rigorously constructed foundation for the repudiation of the symbolic sense – the denial of cosmic, intuitive knowledge." (Ani 30) According to Platonic thought, the thinker must be independent from the subject. This allows for control. "Plato distinguishes the compartments of "reason" and "appetite" or "emotion" They are in opposition to one another and help to constitute, what has become one of the most problematical dichotomies in European thought and behavior. This opposition results in the splitting of the human being. The superiority of the intellect over the emotional self is established as spirit separated from matter" (Ani 32) Once artificially split, the splits become "irreconcilable, antagonistic differences" (Ani 33) Unlike the Zen conception of Yin and Yang, these contrast are not conceived as parts of a whole, but rather opponents and threatening to one another. These splits limit people's ability to experience the universe as an integrated whole. In contrast, the African world view and mode of thought rest on the assumption of the interrelatedness of the cosmos. The separation of the self and the objectification of matter leads to what Dr. Ani refers to as 'despiritualization', "the denial of spiritual reality and the inability to experience spirit." (Ani xxvii).
The use of religion and ideology in the European culture is used to fulfil the needs of the asili. "No other civilization has been as successfully imperialistic. No other has used institutionalized religion as pragmatically in the support of its imperialistic objectives. The spiritual deficit does not appear to count for much, if one is impressed by world dominance. The asili demands power and itself powerful" (Ani 195) Religion has often been used by to further the imperialistic aims of European culture. Christianity is complicit in this. "From its inception, Christian ideology has traditionally condoned and often mandated violent aggression and brutality on the part of the European." (Ani 159) This can be seen in the Crusades, the genocide against indigenous inhabitants of the Americas and Australia, as well the brutalities of the slave trade and the colonization of the African continent. In effect, of Christian brotherhood is nothing but the brotherhood of a gang. Within the gang rules are enforced, but outside the gang, anything goes.
The next section of the book deals with Image and National Consciousness. "The Europeans view of himself reveals the nature of the European utamaroho (culturally structured thought) and is dialectically related to his view of others." (Ani 237) Europeans like to see themselves as rational and scientific. At the same time, the European also embraces the image of the conqueror. "The exercise of this power, which Europeans attribute to themselves, and which they continuously seek, is manifested in the ability – no, the mandate – to conquer everything that they find. A leading member of the Alt-Right movement, Richard Spencer, has said that "to white is to be a striver, a crusader, an explorer and conqueror" This need to dominate is "sanctioned by the European utamaroho that provides a moral justification for it." (Ani 249) Part of the image of conqueror is also the image of world savior. Rudyard Kipling's poem The White Man's Burden is the expression of that ideal in European culture. "This aspect of the European utamaroho implies the idea of European superiority; it does not mean altruism, as it has been misunderstood to do. Europeans are themselves the 'Christ', who would save the world and whose qualities are superior enough to enable them to stand as model for all of us to emulate. The arrogance and presumption in the European self-image in relation to the rest of the world are evidenced in the expansionist expeditions they have undertaken, whether in the early or contemporary stages of their developing empire, Europeans, at best, have related with paternalism to the rest of the world." (Ani 252) In taking an African centered approach to European culture, the asili concept shows how the myth of racial superiority is deeply interwoven in the ideology. The image of others is the complement of self-image. Dr. Ani states that "The utamaroho is such that they could not survive (as European) without this image of an opposite upon which they can act out all of those things that help maintain their positive self-image (Ani 280) If the European (and European American's) image of themselves is the crusader, the striver, etc. then the non-European is the savage, the untamed. In contrast, non-Europeans "all too often make the mistake of attempting to treat this European, who comes to take the land and who looks so different from us as a brother or a sister! In other words, the purely rhetorical precepts of behavior propagandized as the "Christian virtues" are actually the models of behavior natural to other cultures and older traditions than that of the European" (Ani 304) For example, when Christopher Columbus first met the Taino, the indigenous peoples of the Bahamas, he remarked "They traded with us and gave us everything they had, with good will ... they took great delight in pleasing us ... They are very gentle and without knowledge of what is evil; nor do they murder or steal...Your highness may believe that in all the world there can be no better people ... They love their neighbors as themselves, and they have the sweetest talk in the world, and are gentle and always laughing." Yet Columbus made plans to enslave these kind people. ""I could conquer the whole of them with 50 men, and govern them as I pleased." The abuse and extermination of the Taino, was repeated throughout the world and upon various non-European peoples from the Artic to Australia.
Dr. Ani also writes that in European/Euro-American culture, hypocrisy and deception are a way of life. This is known as the rhetorical ethic. "Within the nature of European culture there exists a statement of value that has no meaning for the members of that culture." (Ani 312) The rhetorical ethics is not meant to for the members of the culture that produced it, but in fact serves to disarm the victims of the Europeans. Some examples of the rhetorical ethic are action is the Declaration of Independence of the United States declaring that all men created equal, yet keeping millions of African people in chattel slavery. The writer of the document, Thomas Jefferson, was in fact a slaveholder, and had several children with his slave mistress. Dr. Ani explains the characteristics of the rhetorical ethic:
Dr. Ani write that "Those few who have come to understand the principles of the European's attitudes and behavior towards the cultural other (everyone who is not European) are considered to be paranoid, hateful, extreme, and violent by the rest who still relate to the European façade. (rhetorical ethic)" (Ani 415) This ethic is seen in the behavior that Europeans exhibit toward those that are considered to be the cultural other. The culture "requires an 'other' to absorb aggression and to allow a bond of identification to form between members of the culture" (Ani 482) Without the cultural other to direct the aggression endemic in European culture, they would in fact destroy themselves. The cultural other acts as a sort of safety valve, so that more violent tendencies of the culture can be directed outwardly.
The idea of progress is touched upon in the final section. "It is progress that explains to Europeans it is their duty to exploit, conquer and control Africans and others who are different than them. The point is the rationale for an oppressive technical order, the rational ordering of the universe and the endeavor to dominate, oppress and destroy majority peoples, unite in a single ideological concept, the European ideology of progress" (Ani 507) Since the cultural other is not as "advanced", the European feels justified in depriving them, with the intention on elevating them to a more "civilized" state. "While Europeans civilize us, they also bring 'god' to us. For us to want to be 'civilized', to want to find 'god' is to want to 'progress' toward being white. We accept the ideology that supports our exploitation. We participate in our own oppression." (Ani 508) Since European 'progress' brings profit and political/cultural power, Dr. Ani questions why should Africans and other non-European peoples embrace it? This ties also to the theme of universalism. "As Europeans present their culture to the world, they do so consistently in universalistic terms." (Ani 511) By disguising European interests as universal goal shared by all of humanity, Europeans pacify the victims of their aggression. It is of utmost importance to question all universalistic concepts and reject them when they are found to represent European values only.
In conclusion, Yurugu is a book with a deep and extensive subject matter. However, the information within serves as a way to break away from European ideology, and return to a state focused on our Africanity. "Now that we have broken the power of their ideology, we must leave them and direct our energies toward the recreation of cultural alternatives informed by the ancestral visions of a future that celebrates our Africanness and encourages the best of the human spirit" (Ani 570) This book serves as a guide in which the threats to the psyche of majority peoples can be recognized and counteracted. Yurugu is highly recommended. Thank you for reading, and the next book will be Cultural Genocide in the Black and African Studies Curriculum by Dr. Yosef ben-Jochannan.
Karl Hezekiah
Favorite quote: "Whenever an oppressed black man shouts for equality he is called a racist. This was said of Marcus Garvey in his day. Imagine that! We are so inferior that if we demand equality of opportunity and power that is outrageously racist. Black people who speak up for their rights must beware of this devise of false accusations. It is intended to place you on the defensive and if possible embarrass you into silence. How can we be both oppressed and embarrassed? Is it that our major concern is not to hurt the feelings of the oppressor?" -- Walter Rodney.
Woodson says that "When you control a man's thinking you do not have to control his actions. You do not have to tell him to stand here or go yonder. He will find his "proper place and stay in it. You do not need to send him to the back door. He will go without being told. In fact, if there is no back door, he will cut one for his special benefit. His education makes it necessary" (Woodson 5.) In saying this, Woodson shows that once a person has been mis-educated by his oppressors, he will then live out this "education" to his detriment and the detriment of the entire race. Once a person has been educated thus, they are "compelled to move among his own people whom he has been taught to despise." (Woodson 5). The reason that educated black people have this attitude towards other blacks is that in school they are "taught to admire the Hebrew, the Greek, the Latin and the Teuton and to despise the African" (Woodson 7). When it comes to the study of language, blacks are taught English, Spanish, French, and other European languages, but "To the African languages as such no attention was given except in the case of the preparation of traders, missionaries, and public functionaries to exploit the natives." (Woodson 18). In the teaching of science, literature, fine arts, medicine, and history, the black race is excluded. What this creates is, according to Woodson, the idea that black people have done little to contribute to society. Once miseducated, that individual would begin to see little of value in his race.
What type of traits does an individual who is mis-educated have? For example, Woodson writes " Mis-educated by the oppressors of the race, such Negroes expect that Negro business will fail" (Woodson 31). Another example is the "evidences of the failure of higher education among Negroes is their estrangement from the masses, the very people upon whom they must eventually count for carrying out a program of progress" (Woodson 39). A mis-educated individual also neglects their political education as well. Woodson writes "Any people who will vote the same way for three generations without thereby obtaining results ought to be ignored and disenfranchised." (Woodson 124) A person who is mis-educated has allowed his oppressor to interpret his religion. "By following the religion of his traducers, the Negroes do not show any more common sense than a people would in permitting criminals to enact the laws and establish the procedure of the courts by which they are to be tried." (Woodson 101) Finally, a mis-educated person is unable to earn a living, and is instead dependent upon whites for employment. "The Negroes of today are unable to employ one another, and the Whites are inclined to call on Negroes only when workers of their own race have been taken care of. For the solution to this problem the mis-educated Negro has no remedy whatsoever." (Woodson 31)
This is an intolerable situation, but Woodson offers a solution to the problem: An African based learning curriculum. Woodson writes, "The program for the uplift of the Negro in this country must be based upon a scientific study of the Negro from within to develop in him the power to do for himself what his oppressors will never do for him." (Woodson 99) While the contributions of other races have made to society should not be ignored, special attention should be given to those groups who have been ignored. "We should not underrate the contributions on Mesopotamia, Greece and Rome; but we should give equally as much attention to the internal African kingdoms, the Songhay empire, and Ethiopia, which through Egypt decidedly influenced the civilization of the Mediterranean world." (Woodson 104) We cannot ignore the contributions made by people of African descent to the progress of the world. As parents, we must take it upon ourselves to educate our children, to be proud of their heritage and build knowledge of self. To quote the honorable Marcus Garvey, "If Negroes knew more of their glorious history, they would be more inclined to respect themselves".
In summary, The Miseducation of the Negro is truly a must read book for any person of African descent who considers themselves to be "conscious". Even though it was written over 80 years ago, the book is a timeless classic with an abundance of relevant information for the 21st Century. Next month, I'll be reviewing The Elite Way by Tariq Nasheed
Bitter Medicine Blogs is a companion site to the Bitter Medicine podcast where we keep it real about matters that affect Africans in the Diaspora.
November 2018


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Article Finder
Browse our vast collection of articles. Simply select a category on the left and find a list of related articles on the right.
Article Category
Article Title
- High or Low Blood Pressure May Raise the Risk of Dementia
- How Alcohol Might Affect Your Dementia Risk
- The Hidden Costs of Alzheimer's Disease
- Susceptible to Scams? It May Be an Early Sign of Alzheimer's Disease
- Alzheimer's Caregivers May Benefit from Happiness Training
- Giving Up the Guns When a Family Member Has Alzheimer's
- Care Management Program Is Reducing Need for Anti-anxiety Medication and Visits to the Hospital/Emergency Room
- Talking to a Loved One With Alzheimer's
- 10 Powerful Ways to Commemorate Alzheimer's Awareness Month
- Making the Most of Mealtimes for People With Alzheimer's
- Depression Increases the Risk of Alzheimer's Disease
- Poor Sleep Tied to Rise in Alzheimer's Protein in Blood
- Air Pollution Tied to Alzheimer's Brain Changes
- The Tau of Alzheimer's
- Anemia Tied to Alzheimer's Risk
- 'Squeezed' Blood Vessels in the Brain May Contribute to Alzheimer's Onset
- Hormone Therapy for Prostate Cancer Tied to Alzheimer's Disease Risk
- Lack of Deep Sleep Tied to Alzheimer's Brain Changes
- Inflammation in Middle Age Tied to Thinking and Memory Problems Later
- Frailty May Increase Susceptibility to Alzheimer's Disease
- Take Your Blood Pressure Meds. It May Reduce Your Alzheimer's Risk.
- Drug Company to Pursue Approval of Aducanumab, New Drug for Alzheimer's
- Drugs May Not Be the Best Choice for Easing the Agitation of Alzheimer's
- Alzheimer's Drug May Lead to Life-Threatening Muscle Disease
- Opioid Painkillers Increase Pneumonia Risk in People With Alzheimer's Disease
- Drug Companies Halt Trials of Aducanumab for Alzheimer's Disease
- Diabetes Treatments May Help Ward Off Alzheimer's Disease
- Can Mushrooms Help Your Memory?
- Buyer Beware: Dietary Supplement's Won't Cure Alzheimer's Disease
- Experimental Drug, Fails to Benefit Alzheimer's Patients
- A Daily Aspirin May Have Limited Brain Benefits
- For a Younger Brain, Try Walking, Gardening, Swimming or Dancing
- Moderate Drinking May Be Good for Your Brain
- Aerobic Exercise Shows Brain Benefits for Those at Risk of Alzheimer's Disease
- Eating Flavonols, Found in Fruits, Vegetables and Tea, May Lower Alzheimer's Risk
- Obesity at Midlife Tied to Increased Dementia Risk
- Reading and Writing May Be Good for the Brain
- Ski Study Shows How Exercise May Aid the Brain
- How Light May Help People with Alzheimer's Disease
- Trans Fats Tied to Increased Alzheimer's Risk
- A Rare Genetic Mutation May Protect Against Alzheimer's
- Income Drops in Young Adulthood May Impair Brain Health
- Blood Test for Alzheimer's Grows Closer
- Are We Getting Closer to an Alzheimer's Vaccine?
- Why More Women Than Men Have Alzheimer's Disease
- Scientists get a 'total surprise' and a promising new clue for how to cure Alzheimer's
- Some 44 Million People Have Alzheimer's Worldwide
- Nearly 14 Million Americans Will Have Alzheimer's Disease by 2060
- Alzheimer's Rates Could Double in Coming Decades
- Combining Care Program With Medication Reduces Alzheimer's Symptoms By 750%
- Important Message from Us to You during COVID-19
- Lucretia V. Holden promoted to Executive Director at the Fisher Center
- The Fisher Center for Alzheimer's Research Foundation Earns Coveted 4-Star Rating from Charity Navigator for the 8th Consecutive Year
- Fisher Center For Alzheimer's Research Foundation Wins Fall 2018 Digital Health Awards®
- Fisher Center for Alzheimer's Research Foundation Earns Gold Seal of Transparency from GuideStar
- The Fisher Center for Alzheimer's Research Foundation Earns Coveted 4-Star Rating from Charity Navigator for the 7th Consecutive Year
- Hear Kent Karosen, President and CEO of the Fisher Center for Alzheimer's Research Foundation, describe his new book and the power of art therapy
- Fisher Center Scientists link a Mutation That Protects Against the Development of Alzheimer's Disease
- Newly Inducted Into the Basketball Hall of Fame, Shaquille O'Neal, Joins the Fisher Center for Alzheimer's Research Foundation to Raise Funds for Groundbreaking Research in the Quest for a Cure
- Pat Summitt, legendary women's basketball coach, dies at 64
Some Ethnic Groups at Increased Dementia Risk
June 26, 2014
One in five older Americans has type 2 diabetes, putting them at increased risk of developing Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia. Now a new study finds that dementia risk is particularly high in African-Americans and Native Americans with diabetes, and lowest among Asian-Americans with the disease.
The study, the first to look at racial and ethnic differences in dementia risk among people with diabetes, looked at more than 22,000 men and women living in northern California. All had diabetes, but none had dementia, at the start of the study. Over the next 10 years, about one in six overall — or one in five Native Americans or African-Americans — developed Alzheimer's or other forms of dementia.
"There were marked differences in rates of dementia over a 10-year period by racial and ethnic groups" said senior author Rachel Whitmer, a research scientist at the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research. "Moreover, the differences were not explained by diabetes-related complications, glycemic control or duration of diabetes. Nor were they altered by factors of age, gender, neighborhood deprivation index, body mass index or hypertension."
African-Americans and Native Americans have high rates of diabetes, and the findings add to growing concerns about the burden of dementia in these groups as well. Latinos, too, are disproportionately affected by diabetes, though the disease affects people of all races and ethnicities, and is becoming alarmingly common even among young people as well.
A number of studies have tied obesity, and in particular having lots of belly fat, with an increased risk of Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia. Obesity is similarly linked to an increased risk of diabetes. Diabetes and poor blood sugar control is also linked to an increased risk for mild cognitive impairment, a condition marked by difficulties in thinking and learning that may progress to Alzheimer's disease.
Diabetes may contribute to poor memory in various ways. The disease damages tiny blood vessels throughout the body, including the brain, which may be one reason why people with diabetes are, as a group, at higher risk of memory and thinking problems as they grow older. Diabetes also causes swings in blood sugar, or glucose, which may also damage brain cells.
It is important to note, though, that having diabetes does not mean that you will inevitably develop Alzheimer's. Rather, diabetes may put you at increased risk for developing these conditions. Similarly, many people who develop Alzheimer's do not have diabetes.
But the findings of this and other studies underscore the importance of prevention in helping to reduce Alzheimer's risk, regardless or your age, race or ethnicity. Maintaining lifestyle measures, like keeping weight down and following a regular exercise regimen, can be important in avoiding diabetes — and may help in maintaining brain health.
By ALZinfo.org. Reviewed by William J. Netzer, Ph.D., Fisher Center for Alzheimer's Research Foundation at The Rockefeller University.
Source: E. R. Mayeda, A. J. Karter, E. S. Huang, H. H. Moffet, M. N. Haan, R. A. Whitmer. "Racial/ethnic differences in dementia risk among older type 2 diabetes patients: The Diabetes and Aging Study." Diabetes Care, 2013.


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Heroin is the strongest drug belonging to the opiate family (amongst opium, codeine and morphine) and is known to be the most rapidly acting drug on the market with the highest percentage of users being addicted to it. Heroin is a semi-synthetic occurring drug being derived from opium which is extracted from the seed pod of poppy species. Heroine was firstly produced in Middle- and Southeast Asia, but can also be found in South American countries. After the juice is extracted from the poppy plant and turned into opium, it is used further on to create morphine, the legal painkiller. However, morphine is also often used to create cocaine.
Opiates affect the brain's receptors directly, having an impact on the parts of the brain that are related to pain and emotions. Opiates create endorphins, relieving the organism from pain by acting as short-term pain killers. Naturally, endorphin is relieved during activities such as running, spending time outdoors, and experiencing orgasm, fear or stress.
Recently, heroin has become a drug of choice in dance clubs and in the gay circles, being used to reduce the withdrawal effects of other drugs, such as ecstasy or cocaine. There is an untrue perception of heroin addiction amongst users: they believe that unless injected, the drug does not cause addiction. This is the reason why many heroin users prefer to smoke or snort the substance. However, heroin is highly addictive regardless the way it is ingested. Unlike other drugs, heroine has no medical use and if caught under possession or supplying, one can face most severe legal consequences.
Due to the fact that the price of heroin has decreased during the past few years, the drug is now accessible to a wider age category, even to young children. Adults and elderly people are frequent substance users as well.
Based on its purity, heroin comes in different colours: its purest form is as white powder with a rather bitter taste, the lowest quality having a dark brown colour (due to the manufacturing process). The brown heroin is most of the times insoluble in water and needs to be dissolved in acid substances, such as lemon juice. Another type of heroin is black tar and looks quite similar to hashish. Like the name suggest, the substance's colour is dark brown-black, also due to the way it was processed. Being of stronger nature, black tar is often diluted and dissolved before being used (mostly injected). There are two ways to inject heroin: intravenously or intramuscularly. After the heroin is heated in a little water, the user that injected it will feel within 10 minutes or less a deep sense of relaxation and euphoria. When heroin is shot directly into the vein, the drug becomes effective immediately (in 8-9 seconds). Heroin addicts need to inject the substance few times per day in order to avoid the symptoms of withdrawal.
Nowadays, a larger number of people prefer smoking and snorting heroin rather than injecting it (mainly due to the infectious diseases associated with drug infusion). This habit is known as 'chasing the dragon' and it can be highly dangerous because heroin overdose poses a significant threat. Even in the media, heroin abuse has been presented as a highly risking habit and understanding what consequences it can have, (both legally and personally) matters.


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SALT LAKE CITY — Chante Wouden was nearly given a death sentence with the diagnosis of Ewing's sarcoma at age 3.
A treatment cocktail of various chemotherapy drugs didn't completely kill the cancer in her hip the first time around, and at age 5, she found herself again living at Primary Children's Medical Center — this time with cancer in her head and back.
"The world outside of that hospital ceases to exist because you are so focused on battling for your life," the now-31-year-old survivor said Tuesday. "Your family becomes other patients who are also fighting for their lives and the doctors and nurses who are fighting with you."
A new discovery by researchers at the Huntsman Cancer Institute and the University of Utah may someday spare many more lives of Ewing's sarcoma patients. The findings and details of a possible new treatment for the often deadly childhood cancer, appears in Tuesday's online issue of the journal Oncogene.
Wouden had few options, but an experimental treatment was available. With a mother who strongly believed in the power of positive thinking, "we focused on life and living," she said.
"Looking back, I know the treatments I received kept me alive long enough to receive new treatments," Wouden said. "The treatment I received at age 5 wasn't available when I was 3. It's like jumping from one stepping stone in a river to another."
The ongoing research, she said, always gave and continues to give her hope. She still deals with the latent effects of the cancer and the cancer treatment she received as a child, but she remains optimistic that medical research will continue to keep her alive.
Ewing's sarcoma, which is diagnosed in an average of 225 young men and young women each year in the United States, is a cancer that occurs primarily in the bone or soft tissue. It is often evidenced by localized pain or swelling in long bones, such as the femur (thigh), tibia (shin) or humerus (upper arm), and is believed to be caused by the actions of a cancer-causing protein (EWS/FLI) existing within the human genetic code.
However, the cause is not fully understood and risk factors or prevention measures are not known.
Discovery of a new drug and the previously unknown mechanism behind it has led researchers at the Huntsman Cancer Institute to believe turning off specific genes could combat the pediatric cancer, which is the second-most common malignant bone tumor in children and adolescents, with diagnosis between the ages of 10 and 20.
"The beauty, if there's anything beautiful about a nasty disease like this, is that if we can inhibit EWS/FlI, we can inhibit this cancer, because EWS/FLI is the master regulator of Ewing sarcoma," said Dr. Stephen Lessnick, director of the institute's Center for Children's Cancer Research and a professor in the University of Utah School of Medicine's department of pediatrics.
Lessnick and his colleagues found that an enzyme, called lysine specific demethylase (LSD-1), interacts with EWS/FLI to turn off gene expression in Ewing's sarcoma. By turning off specific genes, the complex causes Ewing's sarcoma development.
"This makes LSD-1 an important target for the development of new drugs to treat Ewing sarcoma," he said. "For a long time, we've know that EWS/FLI works by binding to DNA and turning on genes that activate cancer formation, it was a surprise to find out that it turns genes off as well."
Dr. Sunil Sharma, director of Huntsman's Center for Investigational Therapeutics, had already focused on LSD-1 as a possible target for new cancer treatments and had been working for several years to design drugs that would inhibit its actions.
He said the enzyme was important "for regulation of a variety of properties in several different cancers, including acute leukemias, breast and prostate cancers."
The two researchers teamed up to test Ewing's sarcoma tissue cultures, which proved beneficial. They are now working together in animal testing, aiming at future human trials.
Wouden said she cheers for any advancement in cancer research, however seldom they may come along.
"When you see how fragile and temporary life is, you also see more clearly how you want to cherish it and how you want to spend it," she said.
Wouden lives in Bountiful and works at her "dream job," producing various media products for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and is planning to marry her fiance in February.
"There are so many forms of cancer, it could be so overwhelming that we all just give up," she said. "I am a firm believer in the role that medicine plays in healing and that it played in healing me. It was integral to my survival. I owe my life to it."
The Ewing's sarcoma-related research is funded by a variety of sources, including grants from the National Institutes of Health and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
"This is a great example of how collaboration between the therapeutics and basic science programs can lead to new treatments for patients — one of Huntsman Cancer Institute's highest goals," Sharma said.
Existing treatment options for Ewing's sarcoma include surgery to remove the tumor, chemotherapy, radiation and ultimate amputation of the affected arm or leg, among others. Prognosis greatly depends on the extent of the disease, size and location of the tumor, response to therapy, age and overall health, tolerance of medications and procedures, but it also relies heavily on new developments in treatment.
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Twitter: wendyleonards


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Information on Video Marketing Tips
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YouTube can be a wild west for content. Independent creators put out videos as they see fit, and advertisers often don't know anything about the content that will appear with their ads.
This environment means YouTube ads make far less money than cable TV ads, which give advertisers more power over the content that appears with their ads.
For a YouTube network like Machinima, which already splits its ad revenue between YouTube and its partner YouTube creators, those slim margins can make for a difficult business model.
Over the last year and a half, three former television executives — CEO Chad Gutstein, CRO Jamie Weissenborn, and CCO Daniel Tibbets — have been brought into the company to change those margins. They're looking towards television's business model to do so.
"When you think about how traditional media is sold and why it has the value it has, it is because brands want to know what they are advertising around," Weissenborn told Business Insider.
Machinima serves a core audience of 20-something lovers of video games, comic books, and other aspects of "fandom" culture.
To corral some of YouTube's "wild west" quality, Weissenborn and Tibbets have been building out an editorial calendar that includes upcoming events important to the Machinima community like E3 and Pax Prime and new video game, movie, and television releases.
The team is then working with their in-house talent, as well as their 32,000 partnered YouTube creators, to develop content around those events and releases. Tibbets and Weissenborn hope that by doing so they can take some of the guesswork out of advertising campaigns on YouTube.
"When we work with talent to create a particular show or programming schedule, suddenly, you can pitch brands. We can say, 'This is what this YouTuber is doing over this period of time that we think will be really interesting to you as an advertiser,'" Tibbets explains. "Suddenly, what we do becomes more tangible to advertisers."
Additionally, Machinima is trying to take the guesswork out of YouTube advertising by building shows they can sell sponsorships on. A prime example is "Away From Keyboard," a reality show featuring Machinima-partnered YouTube stars that was originally sponsored by Geico, but has since been taken over by Acura.
"The value of ["Away From Keyboard"] is that advertisers know exactly the show that they are getting and the talent benefits by being in the show … Using that, we can tell brands that, like television, we'll be doing this show in October or this show in December," Weissenborn says.
According to Weissenborn, the strategy has been working. In recent months, the team has been able to sell campaigns topping $1 million-$1.5 million. A few years ago, that deal size would have been unthinkable for Machinima.
Adobe Audio White Papers for Marketing: "Digital Marketing Capabilities for Mobile"


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OXENDEN, Henry (1614-86), of Deane, Wingham, Kent.
Available from Boydell and Brewer
Family and Education
b. 28 Apr. 1614, 1st s. of Sir James Oxenden of Deane by Margaret, da. of Thomas Nevinson of Eastry. m. (1) Mary (bur. 5 Dec. 1638), da. of Robert Baker of Westminster, 1da.; (2) 14 Aug. 1640, Elizabeth (d. 19 Aug. 1659), da. of Sir William Meredith, 1st Bt., of Leeds Castle, 7s. (2 d.v.p.) 6da.; (3) 18 Feb. 1661, Elizabeth, da. and coh. of Mathew Reade of Folkestone, wid. of Mark Dixwell of Broomhouse, s.p. suc. fa. 1657; kntd. 9 June 1660; cr. Bt. 8 May 1678.
Offices Held
Capt. of militia, Kent by 1641, commr. for assessment 1643-8, 1657, Aug. 1660-1, 1664-80, j.p. 1644-?48, 1653-7, Mar.-July 1660, Sept. 1660-2, 1665-d., commr. for scandalous ministers 1654, sewers, E. Kent Sept. 1660, recusants, Kent 1675, dep. lt. by 1680-d.2
Lt.-col. (parliamentary) by 1643-4.
Oxenden was head of one of the two principal branches of a family that had held land in Kent since the reign of Edward III. William Oxenden sat for Hythe in 1553, but their parliamentary record was intermittent before the 17th century. Like his father and the rest of his family Oxenden espoused the cause of Parliament in the Civil War, though not without some agony of mind. Returned as a recruiter for Winchelsea, he was implicated in the Kentish rebellion of 1648 and did not sit after Pride's Purge. By 1651 he had compounded for the moderate fine of £20, and he represented the county in two Protectorate Parliaments. At the general election of 1660 he was returned for Sandwich, six miles from Deane, as the senior baron, the corporation rejecting the nominee of Edward Montagu I in his favour. He was not an active Member of the Convention; no speeches were recorded, and he was named to only seven committees. He was among those to whom the petition from the intruded dons at Oxford was referred, and he helped to consider the bills for settling ministers, improving the observance of the Sabbath, regulating fees, and fixing an establishment for Dunkirk. He was knighted during the session, but he received from Lord Wharton the case for modified episcopacy 'with some circumstances' and there is no evidence that he sought re-election in 1661. He was removed from the commission of the peace in 1662, but restored four years later, and created a baronet in 1678. At the county election of 1681 he campaigned vigorously for the exclusionist, Edward Dering. He died in August 1686, leaving bequests amounting to nearly £4,000. Besides the Kentish estate which he had inherited, he seems to have shared in the mercantile interests of his brother, who was governor of Bombay from 1661 to 1669.3
Ref Volumes: 1660-1690
Authors: M. W. Helms / Basil Duke Henning
- 1. Did not sit after Pride's Purge, 6 Dec. 1648, readmitted 21 Feb. 1600.
- 2. Oxenden Letters (1607-42) ed. Gardiner, 308-9; A. M. Everitt, County Committee of Kent in the Civil War, 29; C181/7/56.
- 3. Oxenden Letters (1607-42), pp. 90, 257-8, 308-9, 312; (1642-70), p. 39; Everitt, Community of Kent and the Gt. Rebellion, 313; Stowe 746, f. 48; PCC 123 Lloyd; Hasted, Kent, ix. 230, 239; HMC 9th Rep. pt. 2, p. 32.


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The last hunting season came, you ventured into the woods…and even with your high expectations, you didn't reach the number of whitetails you've planned to put in your freezer.
Truly sad.
As the next season approaches, I'm sure you've set a new goal- the number of whitetails you want to take home.
BUT…you might get disappointed again because you'll probably repeat the same tactics you used last time.
What if you put in new, proven tactics? Truly, this will raise your game (and flood your freezer with whitetails).
That being said, I'll share with you 4 Powerful tips below that will help you bag more deer in the next season.Continue reading
Whether you're a new bow hunter or you're already a pro, you need to prepare before you set out to the field come hunting season. One essential preparation you need to do is scout for deer and check out the woods you're planning to hunt in.
Do you know how to scout for deer? If you're looking for tried and tested tips for a successful deer scout, then read on.Continue reading
While many bow hunters prefer to hunt during the rut, starting to hunt early in the season has its advantages, too. Not only will you get the first pick of bucks, you're less likely to have competition as well.
If you wish to start early with your whitetail hunting, these seven early season deer hunting tips could help you make the most of your hunting trip.Continue reading
It's bow hunting season once again! Whether you're heading off to a hunting site to catch that perfect buck or you're just interested in the sport, now's the perfect time to read up on this exciting activity!
Even seasoned bow hunters need to review their knowledge of bow hunting every once in a while. What tools and equipment should you use? What is the best strategy to attract some bucks? How do you properly butcher a deer?
This handy guide gives you a comprehensive view of how to hunt deer with a bow. Read up, learn more, and immerse yourself in the fun and challenging world of bow hunting!Continue reading
Bow hunting could be an exciting and challenging hobby, but it also poses risks if you are not careful. Accidents could easily happen to a bow hunter who does not pay attention to his weapon and surroundings.
Over the years I've compiled a list of bow hunting safety tips that have helped me and other bow hunting colleagues stay safe during shooting practice and actual shooting in the field. I'm sharing them today with the hope that they might help you stay safe and make the most of your bow hunting experience.Continue reading
Having chased the deer for years now, I can comfortably attest to the fact that it's quite an elusive animal.
There are days I could sit on my stand the whole day without seeing a single whitetail, leave alone striking one down with my bow.
Truly, this was a frustrating experience until...
…until I discovered that I could easily attract the deer to my hunting spot and hold them "hostage" for easy shooting.
I know you might have found yourself in this scenario too. So, I've put up this post to share with you the best methods of attracting the deer to your hunting zone/property.
PS: There are many methods shared in other blogs but here, I'll ONLY share with you the FOUR methods I've personally used and brought in real results.
These 4 effective methods of attracting deer are:Continue reading
Hey Bowhunters,
Today, I want us to do things in a different way…
Let's take a quick look into your deer hunting gear. I can see quality bows, quality arrowheads, quality tree stand, quality rangefinder, nicely built quiver - quality everything!
BUT wait! Where are your deer calls?
If you've not been using these highly important pieces of equipment in your deer hunting life, you've been missing quite a lot.
Though there are numerous deer calls out there, today we'll focus one of the most important calls and how it can help you bag a deer easily and quickly - the deer grunt call…Continue reading
The deer tick, commonly referred to as black-legged tick- or scientifically as Ixodes scapularus (dammini) - is an arachnid that's well known for feeding on the white tail deer. Not only that, it tends to feed on other mammals, including human beings (where it might cause the Lyme disease).
That sounds scary, right?
Now, most hunters don't have an idea what this tick looks like. Some even confuse it with the brown dog tick. If you're one of these hunters, I'm going to enlighten you on everything you need to know about the bloodsucker in this post.
I want to make everything easy for you to understand, so I'll divide the post along the following subheadings:Continue reading
So you've caught your first buck. Congratulations! Now you may be thinking of keeping its head as a trophy, but you don't want to spend a lot of money on a shoulder mount. Instead, you want to make a European style mount that you can hang proudly anywhere you like.
In order to make a beautiful European mount, you need to learn how to clean a deer skull properly. To do that, you can choose from these two options. I've also included the pros and cons of using both options to help you decide.
Have you ever tried to make rattle calls but still fail to attract any bucks your way? If yes, then you may have been rattling your antlers at the wrong time, in the wrong place, and using the wrong way.
Don't just rattle randomly and hope for the best! You need to have a strategy and good technique to attract bucks with your rattle calls. Today, not only will I discuss when to rattle for deer, but I will also give helpful tips on how to make the most of your rattling efforts.Continue reading


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Financial Institution Advisory Services
CVA offers a variety of credit risk management services to its financial service clients including commercial banks ranging from community banks to large money center institutions and Systemically Important Financial Institutions; insurance companies; financial asset managers including those structured as Collateralized Loan Obligation owners; and, other credit providers. Provided services include valuations of loans, especially impaired loans according to US regulatory pronouncements, if applicable, and US Financial Accounting Standard guidelines (including FAS 114 and ASC 310), analysis of client's internal risk rating process and procedures and monitoring of adherence to both the US Federal Reserve Bank and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency loan valuations, and development and validation of Allowance for Loan and Lease Loss ("ALLL") reserves.
CVA's focused asset class is US domestic loans, both syndicated and bi-lateral, including retail / consumer, commercial and service obligors. Our primary asset valuation target is enterprise value-based loans, most-likely unsecured, for all types of obligors. The secondary type is Commercial and Industrial borrowers with collateral including operating plant and machinery, natural resources and intangible assets. The tertiary valuation type is Commercial Real Estate ("CRE"), including both owner occupied and non-owner occupied properties, and with a focus on industrial plant and equipment assets. Our final focus is general CRE on a selected basis. CVA's targeted ideal loan size range is $5 – 500MM; however, CVA is flexible in addressing our clients' specific needs and will consider smaller loans. CVA enjoys one of the valuation industry's strongest track records in preparing valuations of intangible assets, including trademarks, patents, and other intangible rights, in order to develop and support loan valuation, possibly overlooked by the client.
We provide two of the approved loan valuation methods, i.e., Fair Market Value ("FMV") of Collateral, the most widely used valuation method, and, Present Value ("PV") of Future Obligor Cash Flows. Regarding the first method, the client's realized value is represented by FMV that is reduced by any recognized asset liquidation costs such as broker fees, transfer taxes, legal fees, etc. The client's assumptions under PV method are analyzed and benchmarked to our appropriate historical client base. CVA's 25-year track record of business enterprise valuations, and machinery and equipment appraisals provide the base competency for FMV valuation. In addition, our financial modeling capabilities provides base competency for PV discounted cash flow analysis.


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Through a series of circumstances (some accidental and others purposeful), we lost our wi-fi service for a couple days. No internet, no e-mail, no printer (at least the way it's currently set up). I have to say, it was a horrific experience.
It wasn't long ago that I had no wi-fi at all. Now, I can't stand being without it. I didn't know what to do, nor did I know how to act. As it turns out, almost everything I do these days is connected by wi-fi. I have to tell you, I got downright cranky.
The Pot Was Idle
The only thing I could do was cook. I even had a hard time doing that, however. We landed one of those new Instant Pot pressure cookers recently, and I've been on the Internet checking out recipes and techniques to use it well, properly, and safely. The pot was idle these past few days.
I couldn't mow the lawn—it was raining. I couldn't do the carpentry project I've been working on—no Pinterest (see Pinterest: Man's Best Enemy). I did go for a ride on the Harley, but eventually, I had to return to an empty home robbed of all its high-tech features (Alexa was on the blink as well). It's almost impossible to live when something you so widely depend upon is ripped from your very midst.
It all reminded me of the passage from the first chapter of Colossians which informs us that not only was everything created through Jesus, he continues to hold all things together. I've thought about that a good bit over the years. The logical conclusion from that passage is extraordinary. If Jesus decides to let go, everything will come apart. It will all explode.
How to Destroy the World
We know that a tiny atom is filled with energy. Those protons, neutrons, and electrons form little powerhouses. You've heard what happens when scientists split atoms—atomic bombs. It's always occurred to me that, if Jesus wanted to destroy the world, all he'd have to do is let go. Let's hope he keeps holding on.
The tie-in to my wi-fi woes is this. I depend upon my wi-fi day in and day out. I don't ever think about it, though. I just jump on my computer and expect to be able to pull up YouTube, Facebook, and all those other great websites (like davezuchelli.com). I don't even consider its existence until it's not there. I expect Alexa to turn on my living room lamp at night and turn off my bedroom light when I go to bed—until she doesn't.
According to Scripture, Jesus holds the universe together. We don't think about it, we just live here. We go through all our machinations and probably never pray and ask him to please hang onto everything. We just expect him to do so. As far as we can tell, it's always been that way and it always will be.
By the way, my wi-fi has been restored—and Jesus is still hanging on.
[Dave Zuchelli is a graduate of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and currently resides in Aldie, VA.]


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NYSTED, DENMARK - From six miles away, the whirring blades of the turbines appear like an apparition through the morning mist and haze.
At first they are not visible at all, although the skies are mostly clear.
But through a pair of stationary binoculars in a wind power visitors' center at Nysted Harbor on the southern coast of Denmark, their sudden appearance is startling.
How about that - there they are. And just what do they look like?
Like the arms of synchonized swimmers
At first glance, to me, like the arms of synchonized swimmers, especially when the blades are slightly out of synch.
But we won't have to peer from shore much longer to get a good look at Nysted's offshore wind farm, which generates more electricity than any such project in the world.
A sports fishing boat has been chartered to ferry two groups of visitors from the US to the wind farm, and a sloop will carry a third load of passengers.
The visitors are on a trip sponsored by Clean Power Now, a non-profit group based on Cape Cod that supports the proposed offshore wind farm proposed for Nantucket Sound.
The captain of the 20-ton, oak-hulled charter boat "Amigo" knows these waters well, having worked them for 10 years.
Gregers Glensdorf also works at a nearby rescue station, one of 11 people who do. At least two people are always on duty at the station, which responds to about 70 to 90 accidents and rescue calls a year. Glensdorf works for 14 days at the station, then has 14 off.
Glensdorf said there have been no collisions between boats and wind turbines in the two years since they were built off Nysted, or rescue calls from within the nine-square-mile array of the wind farm.
En route to the wind farm on the Amigo, it is not only straight ahead that we can see wind turbines. Nine land-based turbines are spinning away behind us, beyond fields of bright yellow that are filled with, depending on whom you ask, mustard plants or raps, from which canola oil is made. Maybe it's both.
Measuring the visual impact
About halfway through our hour-long trip to the turbines, I try an experiment to measure their visual impact. The president of the company that wants to build a wind farm in Nantucket Sound, Cape Wind Associates' Jim Gordon, has often said that his windmills would look about a half-inch in height from Cape Cod if a person held his or her arm out at full length and measured the turbines between thumb and forefinger.
Trying that here, the turbines appear smaller than a half-inch in this rudimentary measurement.
But these turbines are smaller than the one Gordon wants to build, 360 feet from sea level to the highest blade tip, compared to 417 feet for the Cape Wind turbines. Then again, we are about three miles away when I do this. The Cape Wind turbines would be situated just less than five miles from Point Gammon in Yarmouth at their closest point to land, six miles from Craigville Beach.
All attempts to convey the true size of offshore wind farms in photos or simulations appear futile when you see offshore wind turbines first-hand, for the same reason that a comet is invariably smaller than what we expect once we actually see it. The comet looks much larger within the context of the photo than it will within the immensity of the sky.
Every photo is, in effect, a window on the world. The rest of the world remains unseen outside the photo, but not with the naked eye from the shore and especially not on the ocean. Photos and simulations exclude the broad expanse of sky and the periphery on each end of the horizon, which makes whatever you are looking at smaller by comparison.
"I have never seen a dead bird in the water in this area. I don't think it is happening. Some people believe the park has become a navigational beacon to migratory birds", Gregers Glensdorf
"Photographs don't do this justice, so we have to find other ways to tell the story," said Matthew Palmer of West Barnstable, Clean Power Now's executive director.
Fears for birds, seal and sealife unfounded
Before we reach the turbines, Glensdorf slows the Amigo and stops a few hundred yards from an exposed sand bar dotted with seals. Situated about a half-mile from the nearest turbine, the area is clearly marked on maps - "forbudt omrade," or entry prohibited.
Local residents worried about potential harm to seals, birds, fish and other wildlife before the wind farm was built, but these fears appear unfounded, Glensdorf said.
"We have never seen it," he said. "I have never seen a dead bird in the water in this area. I don't think it is happening. Some people believe the park has become a navigational beacon to migratory birds."
Gulls and eiders frequently fly past on our way out, but few birds are seen as we get closer to the turbines. Are they deliberately steering clear of the area? It is impossible to answer on a first visit from the deck of a boat, but birds appear fewer in number within the wind farm itself.
Even now, the whirring of the blades as they throw shadows across the boat is not loud, but is conveys extraordinary power at work - like immense scythes cutting through the air.
The wind is moving at a good clip across the water, between 10 and 15 knots, but the turbines cannot be heard until Glensdorf pulls within 100 feet of a tower. He pulls closer still, until we are just several feet from the base of the turbine, and cuts the engine.
Even now, the whirring of the blades as they throw shadows across the boat is not loud, but is conveys extraordinary power at work - like immense scythes cutting through the air.
But they are not loud, and I am amazed it took us so long to hear them.
"When you are under it, with the engine (of the boat) shut off, you can hear them," said Laura Wasserman, a grant writer from Nantucket and member of the island's Clean Power Now chapter.
To Katharine Beckman, a social worker from Dennis, it is "a gentle whoosh-whoosh, not unlike waves lapping on a sailboat's hull as it moves through the ocean. Calm and soothing."
To Solon Economu, Beckman's companion and a columnist with the Cape Cod Times, "they were lower than my normal conversational voice. I didn't hear them."
Behind us is the Trulle, a sloop carrying several of our colleagues. The skipper of the Trulle relies on his motor for the trip out, rather than sailing, much to the chagrin of Tom Wineman. An energy consultant who builds wind turbines on Cape Cod, Wineman has sailed on Nantucket Sound for many years.
On the return trip, the skipper agrees to let out the jib, but not the main sail. The sailboat plows head, pushed by the same wind that turns the turbine blades around us.
"I love the feeling of wind power and I love to sail," Wineman said later. With both, "you feel there is a bunch of wind power being converted."
Last report:: "Dylan Does Denmark" - The CPN travelers take a fishing boat out to their first visit to the wind park six miles south of Nysted, Denmark, click here.
First report: "The Wind Blows Free in Denmark" - Thirty-four Cape and Island adventurers arrive to see what Nantucket Sound may look like in a few years, click here.
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Herman Cain Sheds Dark-Horse Status in Crucial Florida
The first time I heard Herman Cain refer to himself as "the dark-horse candidate," I knew that man had the kind of character and wisdom which smart people look for when picking a leader. Cain has risen so far above the superficiality of racialist, skin-color thinking that he makes those who pander to it or run from it look like a bunch of kindergarteners hurling spitballs.
Yes, until this weekend, Herman Cain was a dark-horse candidate, given very little chance of winning the nomination by everyone who is anyone.
Well, that was then and this is now. Not even Herman Cain can call himself a dark-horse candidate after Florida's Presidency 5 vote, where Herman pulled in the winning 37% of Republican Party activists to Perry's dismal 15% and Romney's even worse 14%.
Oh sure, many prognosticators and pundits will be quick on the draw to downplay the significance of another "straw poll," like the one Michele Bachmann won in Iowa only to see her popularity melt faster than a popsicle in a Texas desert on an August afternoon. But Florida's Presidency 5 contest is a very different animal than Iowa's straw poll and has far, far more significance.
For one thing, the Presidency 5 isn't run like Iowa's straw poll. In Florida, the state party leaders take their swing-state significance and their 29 large-share electoral votes very seriously. Not just anyone who shows up at Presidency 5 gets to vote in the election (and they call it an "election," not a "straw poll").
In Ames, Iowa, candidates buy lots of tickets, hand them out to their supporters, many who were bused in just for the event, and everyone there gets to vote. In Iowa, there is much giving of free food and music, a lot of wining and dining with beer and corndogs, and in this regard it's much more like a caucus than an actual election. But in the Presidency 5 election, only GOP delegates to the Florida convention get to vote. Every person casting a vote in Florida's poll has been active in party politics and earned their spot, which makes Florida's pre-election poll much more significant than Iowa's -- not to mention Florida's crucial 29 electoral votes to Iowa's meager 6.
Can anyone win the presidency now without Florida? It's pretty darned hard, especially since Republicans have to give up California from the get-go in the post-Reagan era. With the whole northeast still in the stranglehold of liberal delusions, the southern states -- especially Texas and Florida -- have become absolutely essential for any Republican candidate.
No matter how the pundits slice, dice, or try to puree Cain's phenomenal victory this weekend in Florida, this shakes up the presidential race in much the same way that the Tea Party has been doing since the spring of 2009. Cain's win might not signal an earthquake yet, but it helps him in some very significant ways.
For one thing, the Florida Republican Party delegates have sent a very loud message to the high-rolling insiders in D.C. The conservative party base has grown very weary of its step-child status among the GOP establishment and are signaling that they might not just go along to get along this time around.
Secondly, Cain's biggest problem to date in getting real electoral momentum has been his near-bottom-of-the-candidate-barrel backing by inside-the-beltway types. Nate Silver, the rising star among political prognosticators, wrote two columns in May on why more political insiders ought to be taking Herman Cain seriously. Silver, as he explains somewhat, tends to use a more bottom-up paradigm when perusing polling data. While Silver knows that party establishment people figure prominently in pushing certain candidates over others, he also takes into account the bottom line lever-pulling power, which is always in the actual hands of the actual voters. And in Silver's analysis, Herman Cain is proving to be an exceptional candidate with a lot more going for him in the minds of the voters than in the calculations of the party insiders and the MSM elites.


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On the other hand the mere fact that they are spreading the word in an attempt to forestall the release of the 28 pages (and S. 2040) raises questions about their reliability as an ally and whether the "special relationship" is founded on sand, so to speak. In this respect it is similar to the French warnings on the British referendum this June:
France would relocate its migrant camp from Calais to Britain and roll out "a red carpet" for bankers fleeing London if the UK leaves the EU, according to Emmanuel Macron, the French economy minister....
-Financial Times, 3March2016
Now that we've established what you are, let's talk price.
From Marc to Market:
Beware of Particularly Challenging Week Ahead
It is never easy, but the week ahead may be particularly difficult for market participants. It will first have to respond to weekend developments.
First, the front page of the NY Times on Saturday was a report that the Saudi Arabia warned the US if a bill making its way through Congress that would allow it (Saudi Arabia) to be held responsible in American court for the terrorist strike on 9/1, the sheikdom would forced to sell its Treasury holdings, and other US assets, which otherwise could be frozen. Apparently there have been talks along these lines for several weeks between top Obama Administration officials and Saudi officials. The issue re-emerged into the public space with the help of a television news show (60 Minutes) that discussed a classified report that is thought to contain some linkage between some parts of the Saudi government (even if not the highest levels) and the terrorists.
Earlier this year, press reports highlight that while the US Treasury's TIC data estimate holdings of US assets on a country basis, it groups together of OPEC. The implication is that the holdings of Saudi Arabia, with what appears to be the third most reserves in the world, remains unknown to the public. The NY Times story cited the Saudi foreign minister saying that $750 bln of US Treasuries and other assets" may be sold in the bill is approved.
Obama will be abroad in the week ahead. His trip to London, in which he is expected to press for the UK to remain in the EU was a talking point among investors last week. Obama has to be careful, even though US interests seem clear. Imagine another foreign leader, say Russian President Putin, going to the UK and support Brexit. No doubt many would cry "foul."
However, given the NY Times revelation, Obama's trip to Saudi Arabia may take on greater significance, even though the press report suggests some uncertainty whether this will be on the agenda. Still formal or otherwise, it is a subject that it is difficult to see how it can be avoided.
The market will also have to respond to the outcome of the Doha meeting between many OPEC and non-OPEC oil producers. Ideas that a freeze could materialize is one of the factors that have helped oil prices recover 20% off the low seen earlier this month. The tentative agreement struck in February, was conditional on wider participation, and in particular Iran. Moreover, any agreement should be held to the Reagan Criteria: Trust but verify. There is not much of the former and the latter proves difficult in the short-run.
We have argued from the get-go that Iranian participation could not and would not be secured. The Iranian had just agreed to surrender (or postpone) their nuclear development in exchange for the lifting of the embargo, which had crippled its energy sector. If it would now agree to a freeze in output, it would have made significant concessions for nothing.
We had surmised that the astute Saudi officials understood this and had used the prospects of an oil freeze to put a wedge between its rivals Russia and Iran, and deflected the blame for cheap oil among oil producers from itself to Iran. For the Saudis, we argued it was a political maneuver and not an attempt to relieve the economic pressure stemming from the drop in oil prices, which led to Fitch to cut Saudi Arabia's credit rating last week to AA- from AA. Fitch's rating is now the same as Moody's (Aa3) and above S&P, which is at A+. All have stable outlooks.
Nevertheless, Russian officials have been playing up the possibility of a freeze even without Iran. Here too we have cautioned clients against accepting this at face value. For Saudi Arabia to participate without the Iranians means to lose market share to their rival, who they are confronting in various fronts, directly and through proxies....MUCH MORE


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We're excited to share with you a brand new Spotify playlist that the whole team has come together to create that's filled with our favourite film songs/scores! Each member of the team was tasked to choose just five of their all-time favourite pieces of music/songs from films, and of course they haven't disappointed.
In our playlist you'll find music from a whole variety of different films, including Her, Man of Steel, Coco, Magnolia, Hook, Pirates of the Carribean, and lots more!
We'll be creating more playlists in the very near future, such filled with even more film goodness! Be sure to keep an eye out on our Twitter feed as we'll also be looking for contributions from our readers for some of the playlists too.
What five songs would you add to our playlist?