| Lester Allyson Knibbs, Ph.D. Music, Mobilization & Strategy The Power of Intelligent Listening |
| With the Name of the Gracious and Compassionate Creator of the Heavens and the Earth |
| Straight Up |
| We, the African American people, are dealing with a fortress - a World Order - in which everybody comes to America and moves ahead of us. My suggestion for taking on this fortress seems as foolish as ascending the sheer cliff must have seemed to General Dumas' troops. African American men listening to symphonic music? They'll never do it! Which is why, when we do do it, we will take this fortress, this World Order, by surprise. |
| To be continued |
| General Dumas took his men straight up. |
| Alexander Dumas was a general in the French revolutionary army. He was born in Guadelupe, French West Indies, of African ancestry. His son, also named Alexander Dumas, was the famous author of The Three Musketeers, Man in the Iron Mask, and The Count from Monte Cristo. His grandson, also named Alexander Dumas, and also a novelist, wrote Camille, which he adapted into a play, and which was subsequently adapted for Verdi's opera, La Traviata, Puccini's opera, La Boheme, several Hollywood movies, and the hit play, Rent. |
| General Dumas was assigned the task of capturing an Austrian fortress. It was impregnable on three sides. The fourth side was protected by a sheer cliff, hundreds of feet high. General Dumas took his men up the cliff. |
| A frontal assault would have been futile, and would have cost lives in the attempt. Going up the cliff seemed impossible to the defenders inside the fortress, so they were unprepared for it. General Dumas told his men that if they fall they should not scream; no would could help them, and it would only give their position away. As they ascended the cliff, several men lost their grip and fell, but none cried out. The French troops, under General Dumas' leadership, took the fortress by surprise. |
| (A work-in-progress.) (Last update: December 9, 2003) |