Now and Then (9 page)

Communication has always been an important part of our existence. In Africa we were dependent upon the drummer's rhythm to keep us informed and in touch with villages far up the Nile. As captives, in this country, our contact through the drums was destroyed, but not our need to communicate or our need for independent communications.

For the past couple of years, we have seen a totally new Ghetto Code begin to develop. The primary phrase that has caught on from the code has been ‘Dot-dot-dit-dit-dot-dot- dash.' It means ‘Damned if I know.' Daily there are more and more revelations that make us uncertain of things we thought we were positive about. So: ‘Dot-dot-dit-dit-dot-dot- dash.' Damned if I know.

A good example I might give would be Astrology. Lately, more and more people have been re-investigating Astrology – finding out what their signs and their placements are. That was all well and good until folks found out that somebody had been messing with the calendar. They found out that the month in our calendar called July was slipped in to honor Julius Caesar. They found the month called August had been slipped in to honor Augustus Caesar. They found there was a problem with September because it is the Latin word for
seventh
, but it is the
ninth
month in our calendar. And people familiar with the romance languages jumped all over it – octo means eight, but October is the
tenth
month; nove means nine, but November is
eleventh
; and dece means ten, but December is
twelfth
! ‘Dot-dot-dit-dit- dot-dot-dash.' Damned if I know.

The problem seems to originate in February. It takes at least thirty days to qualify as a month (the precedent having been
established by the other eleven). Yet, February has twenty- eight days three times in a row and if you make the leap year, you get a bonus. ‘Dot-dot-dit-dit-dot-dot-dash.' Damned if I know.

There was another problem with the alphabet. Tracing the origins of the symbols, I found that they were called ‘Alpha Beta' and contained
all
of these symbols from Alphato Omega – that is from beginning to end. From Alpha – the letter a – the beginning, to Omega – the letter q – the end; but they got nine more letters coming after ‘the end.' R-S-T-U-V-W-X-Y-Z. What do I think? ‘Dot dot-dit-dit-dot-dot-dash.' Damned if I know!

The letter that has become my favorite is the letter ‘c.' It is multipurpose, but it does not receive the proper amount of respect. Highly underrated.

The first letter in Cash.

The first letter in Constitution.

The last letter in musiC.

The first letter in C.I.A.

The C.I.A. and F.B.I., noses pressed against our window panes,

Ears glued to our telephones.

Why won't they leave us alone?

Trying to pick up on … the Ghetto Code.

But as to the letter ‘c.' If it reminds you of cash money, there is a definite connection. The C.I.A. was responsible for the transfer of $400,000,000 to one Howard Hughes. This $400,000,000 (give or take a million or two) was to be used for a covert salvaging mission at sea, to be undertaken by a Hughes seacraft, the Glo-Mar Challenger. This salvage craft would be used to recover a Russian submarine that sank in 1968. The reason the recovery of this submarine was so important to our government was because of the Russian codes on board.

The Russian sub had allegedly broken into three pieces somewhere in the Pacific (which is almost like saying somewhere on the planet Earth). The Glo-Mar located the sub and proceeded to salvage it with, we believe, a giant magnet.

The magnet went down and recovered the first third of the Russian sub, containing some seventy dead Russian sailors. (No advantage there. Considering the sizeable sum allocated and the zero rubles put forth by the Kremlin.) The second part of the sub to be brought to the surface had two Polaris-styled nuclear warheads on board. (No real advantage there. This country has already stockpiled sufficient nuclear weapons to have damn near one bomb for every individual. These recovered Russian weapons could not have made the $400 million difference.) Then comes the strange part of the operation. As preparations were being made to recover the third and final part, the part with the all-important code books on board, questions began to bubble to the surface.

‘The Russian sub went in 1968, right?'

‘We've been trying to find those code books for almost six years now, right?'

‘When you lose your code books, don't you change your codes?'

‘If they've changed their codes, why did we spend all that money?' ‘Dot-dot-dit-dit-dot-dot-dash.' (Damned if I know.)

But perhaps your personal problems do not revolve around cash. Perhaps the ‘c' will remind you of Cuba. There was a C.I.A. co-ordinated invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs. The invasion was a total failure, but it did reveal clues that had to do with an assassination attempt on a man whose name starts with ‘c' – Castro.

The ‘c' might remind you of Chile. Over eight million American dollars were spent there by the C.I.A. to help overthrow and destroy a man named Salvador Allende who just happened to be a ‘c' – communist.

The ‘c' might remind you of the Canal. The Panama Canal. The covert base established in Panama by the C.I.A. to institute plans for ‘c' – Columbia eventually led to the destruction of ‘c' – Che Guevara.

The ‘c' might remind you of the Congo. The Belgian Congo. Before Zaire was there, there were revolutionary factions brooding in Katanga province. In 1960, there was a statement from a Black leader indicating the possible requeste d'intervention from the Soviet Union shortly before a coup d'etat that left him dead of assassination. His name? Patrice Lumumba.

A string of questions with few answers. Problems with few solutions like: ‘Was that Lee Harvey Oswald over there? Or in that corner? Was he 5'8”, 165 pounds or 6'2”, 205? Was he
photographed for his passport in Dallas or was that Moscow?

Arthur Bremmer. Was he from Massachusetts, Michigan or Maryland? Was he captured in the midwest or the Middle East? And if they always have a photo of them before they commit these crimes, why can't they stop them?' ‘Dot-dot-dit-dit-dot- dot-dash.' (Damned if I know.)

There seems to have been a stream of too many unanswered questions that always had tracks leading back to the same doorway.