"In America, the majority raises formidable barriers around the liberty of
opinion: within these barriers, an author may write what he pleases; but woe
to him if he goes beyond them. Not that he is in danger of an auto-da-fe',
but he is exposed to continued obloquy and persecution. His political career
is closed forever, since he has offended the only authority which is able to
open it. Every sort of compensation, even that of celebrity, is refused to
him. Before publishing his opinions, he imagined that he held them in common
with others; but no sooner has he declared them, than he is loudly censured
by his opponents, whilst those who think like him, without having the courage
to speak out, abandon him in silence. He yields at length, overcome by the
daily effort which he has to make, and subsides into silence, as if he felt
remorse for having spoken the truth."---Alexis De Tocqueville
Democracy in America, 1835 This Sunday's Outlook section of The Washington Post exercised impeccable
timing in its choice of feature opinion for the week: "This Is No Way to
Fight AIDS in Africa" the paper snorted in condemning apprehension. Enjoying
two warm cups of java, mother and son immediately turned from quick,
anguishing irascibility to thoughtful reflection on the World Conference on
Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance taking
place in Durban, South Africa. Noting the Outlook authors' - Daniel Halperin
and Brian Williams - defiant distaste for "misguided" AIDS prevention
programs in the Horn of Africa, Moms threw words already languishing at the
tip of my coffee-singed tongue.
"When is that race conference in South Africa?"
"It's already happening," I swallowed another swig of caffeine salivation.
"Oh ... - whole lot of talk about reparations, right? That's why Bush wasn't
all that hot about it, huh?"
"Yeah - whole lot of talk," as we speed read the tale of post-apartheid South
Africa's Northwest Province where 23 percent of adults are HIV-infected.
"Damn - yo Moms, check this out. You know about a fifth of South Africa's
population carries the AIDS virus?"
"Mmm hmm. I know all about it. With all that talk about reparations, will
there be enough of us around to even get any?"
As their populations dramatically dip into stagnation, a staggering 25
million Africans are infected with HIV, a slow, grueling, tormenting death
expecting to reach its end in eight years for most who carry it. Despite the
fact African Americans represent only 16 percent of the U.S. population, they
disproportionately claim 45 percent of the nearly 650,000 American AIDS cases
reported to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
That's an awful lot of brothers and sisters falling victim to a disease with
origins disputed to this day. I became lost on what lost reparations
arguments would do for an entire people losing their war with a
blitzkrieg-fashioned immune system killer compared to the ravaging Black
Plague of the 14th Century. At that point, I couldn't hold out any longer.
A conference on World Racism would only serve full purpose if it discussed
the survival of an entire people hanging in the most delicate, unimaginable
balance. And I wondered why Boyd Graves wasn't there, even though his
presence would seem like the perfect intervention to overhaul another hot-air
balloon blasted talk on race in dire need of it.
Unbeknownst to her, Moms' one-liner rang many bells of wisdom in it. What's
more important: hustling a global shakedown from Western governments who have
no intention to bite? Or: actively addressing how best to combat a medical
crisis of species extinction potential? Enter Dr. Graves ... Though unseen, one can even smell the incurable rancor lynching the vocal
chords of Boyd Graves. His bitterness permeates the digital, pin-drop air of
long distance between he and his listener - as thick as his anger is an
unfortunate stench of sadness imposed by hard times and hard faith. It is
the voice of a man chiseled by struggle and the fate-driven jackhammers of
inevitability.
Boyd Graves has AIDS.
"I feel like an American Mandela, waiting for the cavalry," bemoans Graves.
If his last name is any indication of his condition, then Dr. Boyd Graves -
as he is known in many circles - is no stranger to the soul's joust with
pain. Pain for Graves is a braving of merciless, gritty elements striking
every muscle, vein and cerebral reflex absent even slight impunity.
"The economic prison," speaks Graves as he pointedly admits scrounging for a
mere, but beloved one dollar and fifty cents, "many times equates the phy
sical prison."
Home is described as extremely modest ... in fact, one might visualize scenes
of wall-to-wall destitution upon leaving Grave's depiction: "Yes. This is
solitary confinement - it is a sealed door. Yes: psychosomatically, it's
very difficult to live with."
"The other side works very hard to disenfranchise or dishearten you."
Curiosity peaks while the initial wave of cautiousness and fear tumbles into
temporary oblivion. Who or what - where - is this "other side?" And this is
where both reality and imagination intersect repeatedly, in rapid motion. It
is a zone of suspicions, allegation, uncovered lies and the longstanding
search for indisputable truths. This is where reality is submerged by
deliberate acts of doubt; imagination pulled and bent beyond its unthinkable
limitations, the scope of which is immeasurable by standards of conventional
thought.
Best known as a solitary voice among few who endeavor to unravel the hidden
mysteries of the modern world's version of the Middle Age's plague, Dr. Boyd
Graves initiates his one-man assault against the United States government.
Alleging one of the greatest genocidal crimes ever committed, the U.S. Naval
Academy graduate and unlicensed lawyer claims the federal government is
responsible for the spread of the AIDS virus, promoting a theory shrouded in
controversy for nearly 20 years. The plot thickens when the Youngstown, Ohio
counselor viciously and unabashedly asserts that the elusive, devastating and
immune blasting virus is an all out attempt to eradicate people of color from
the face of the Earth. Fiercely determined, Graves must uncover what he sees
as "the very convoluted, evil, diabolical scheme to vanquish this planet of
its Black global population."
If this is the real world according to Graves, then we would experience a
worldwide population loss of over 85 percent. Recently recovering from the
terse dismissal of his U.S. Supreme Court petition against the current
Secretary of Defense (Boyd E. Graves v. Donald H. Rumsfeld, Secretary of
Defense, et al. #00-9587), the issue for Graves has reached an unfathomable
level of personal trial and tribulation because he too dies from the virus.
The days run very short.
"When did you begin your research into the origins of AIDS?"
"The moment I found out I had it. 1992. The last semester at that racist
law school I attended," speaking of Northern Ohio University College of Law
in Ada, Ohio where he obtained his Juris Doctorate. "That's when I was
diagnosed with HIV. If they didn't want me to find out about it, they should
have never given it to me."
Between 1962-1978, Graves explains, the United States conducted the "Special
Virus Cancer Program (SVCP)." Grounded in research during the notorious
human guinea-pig experiments performed by Third Reich scientists in the early
1930s, American officials and scientific experts collaborated to instigate
the creation of a deadly hybrid human retrovirus able to literally consume
the entire human immune system. Graves claims the evidence is there: it's
all in the flowchart.
Uncovered and dusted during his exhaustive search through once classified,
now heavily redacted government documents, the flowchart is a rectangular
page labyrinth etched across a white paper landscape. By its title alone,
the chart reads ominously, thickening the suspense: "Research Logic for the
Special Virus Cancer Program - Viral Oncology, Division of Cancer Cause and
Prevention, NCI (National Cancer Institute). It is here where one is slowly
led through a complex gridlock of boxes, arrows and highly specialized
medical terms. The "SCVP-Research Logic Flow" is split into eight distinct
phases, from "Phase I: Selection of Specimens and Detection of Virus or Virus
Expression" to "Phase V: Plan and Executed Clinical Trials to Evaluate
Control Measures."
All of this and more is extensively outlined and detailed in Graves' 260-page
volume (including 36 inch flowchart fold out) titled State Origin: The
Evidence of The Laboratory Birth of AIDS. This is where we find, Graves
alleges, a key to U.S. Government development of the AIDS virus. "According
to [this] 1971 U.S. blueprint, the AIDS virus is a 'designer' virus created
for population stabilization purposes in accordance with the strategies and
policies of the national security of the United States," writes Graves in an
underground, conspiracy theory news monthly and government watchdog
publication known as "The Oil Patch."
Determined to prove the making of a genocidal plot, Graves presents National
Security Council Memorandum #46, dated March 17, 1978. National Security
Council Advisor Zbigniew Brezinski indicates then President Jimmy Carter's
desire for "a comprehensive review of current developments in Black Africa
from the point of view of their possible impact on the black movement in the
United States." Brezinski recommends "appropriate steps" to "inhibit any
pressure by radical African leaders and organizations on the U.S." However,
littered with textual deletions and numerous omissions, NSCM #46 mentions
nothing directly about SVCP or the tactical use of biological agents.
Instead, it outlines clandestine policy initiatives aimed at destabilizing
Black Nationalist movements, eliminating African American resentment against
the U.S. and even noting innovative methods to improve Black social
conditions through programs and minority business incentives.
These suggestions seem far removed from any hint of a racial extermination
plan ("[R]ead ... in between the lines," urges a July 19, 2001 email from
Graves' spokesperson, Joel Bales. "Read this document very slowly and digest
all of it.") Would it make sense for the most powerful government on the
globe to eliminate the strongest segment of its consumer populace? Even
after African Americans are estimated to pump nearly $400 billion annually
into the national economy (comparably ranking 12th in world Gross Domestic
Product), is it reasonable to presume the United States wants to rid itself
of ALL Black people?
"Yes," states Graves. There are no pauses. "They have perpetrated mental and
social rape upon us for over 400 years. Now, yes: they want us eliminated."
C.D. Ellison is a contributing writer to Metro Connection. He can be reached
at againstthegrain@metroconnection.info. |