Ahjamu Umi's: "The Truth Challenge"
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Kaepernick; This NFL Workout & The Usual Hypocrites and Liars

11/17/2019

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 In 2016, while he was the starting quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers professional (U.S.) football team, Colin Kaepernick decided to use his platform as a pro athlete to bring attention to police terrorism against the African masses.  His way of using this platform was to start sitting (which he and the others should have never stopped doing), and then eventually kneeling whenever the so-called U.S. "national anthem" was played at the start of games.  

The fallout from his actions are widely known.  Many other players, including his teammate at the time - Eric Reid - joined him and then the U.S. empire president used his racist platform to inflame his followers by dehumanizing and attacking Kaepernick and the other players.  Much worthless noise around this issue has taken place since that time.  After San Francisco informed Kaepernick that they were going to release him, he decided to try and take some control over his career by opting out of his contract.  That was March of 2017 and Kaepernick hasn't had a job playing in the National Football League (NFL) since.  He and Reid filed a lawsuit against the NFL claiming the NFL owners colluded against hiring them because the owners were afraid of angering the masses of their white racist fan bases.  The collusion suit ended with a settlement between the NFL and Kaepernick with a gag order being placed over the results so that none of us know any details beyond Kaepernick and Reid receiving several million dollars each in the settlement.  Most recently, the NFL announced earlier this week that the league was organizing a workout for Kaepernick.  The stated purpose of the workout was to provide Kaepernick an opportunity to demonstrate that despite three years not playing professional football, he still possesses the skills to be on an NFL roster.  The league announced that they were inviting all 32 NFL franchises to this workout which took place yesterday.

Like everything surrounding Kaepernick's relationship to the NFL since 2016, the workout was filled with controversy.  Kaepernick's group apparently changed the time and location.  The NFL attempted to accuse him of some misdeeds around the workout.  The workout took place and teams did show up.  So, the question is where does all of this sit today and why should we pay any attention to any of it?

First, we should acknowledge the racist curtain that surrounds everything involving Kaepernick today.  The first sham is this narrative that the workout is a waste because Kaepernick doesn't have the talent to be on an NFL roster.  Before the protests against police terrorism started in the NFL, Kaepernick was a starting quarterback in San Francisco in 2016.  Just four years before that, he had taken San Francisco within a few yards of winning the Superbowl against Baltimore.  Than, the very next year, he took that team to within a few yards of returning to the Superbowl.  There are many quarterbacks who played concurrent to the time Kaepernick was in the league who were considered better than he, like Tony Romo, etc, who cannot make that claim about the team success Kaepernick experienced.  To that, some haters have claimed that Kaepernick's skills in 2016 were not the same as they were in 2013, but the actual data doesn't back up those ridiculous assertions.  No one is claiming that Kaepernick was ever Joe Montana or Steve Young in a San Fran uniform, but the facts are he completed 60% of his passes and had a very solid 71/31 touchdown to interception ratio.  In 2016 he threw 16 touchdowns to only four interceptions.  What this means is the arguments that he was "figured out" by teams in the league and that he couldn't play don't hold water.  There are 32 teams in the league and each team keeps at least two quarterbacks on its roster.  That means there are at least 64 quarterbacks in the NFL.  Among these quarterbacks are Brian Hoyer, Mason Rudolph, Jamis Winston, Marcus Mariotta, Joe Flacco, Baker Mayfield, and many others who not even a complete idiot can logically claim are better than Kaepernick.  And when I say not better, I mean their statistics don't compare and they certainly don't match Kaepernick's proven ability to make plays with his ability to run with the ball (for example, compare Kaep's running stats with those of Winston's or Mariottas).  Is this saying Kaepernicks an elite quarterback?  Of course not, but without question, he's qualified to be playing in the NFL today.  

With a pardon to the non-sports fans who were forced to wade through the last few paragraphs here, the football background is important because the Kaepernick haters are using those arguments to justify why he isn't playing in the NFL when the real reason these people are against him has nothing to do with his playing ability because if that was true they would be lobbying equally as hard to get all of the sub-par quarterbacks I named and others out of the league.  In truth, no one cares how bad a quarterback is unless that quarterback is performing poorly for the team they follow.  So, why the universal hatred and justification for Kaepernick being without an NFL job?  Plain and simple, the answer is white supremacy.  Misinformation about white supremacy is the dominant element today.  Everyone has  a lot to say about it, but virtually no one has bothered to do any comprehensive study and organizing against it.  Of course, like anything, those of us who have done this work have developed some pretty astute skill sets at being able to breakdown and analyze events around the implementation of white supremacist activities.  For instance, we know that the bulk of the opposition against Kaepernick is based in the fact that this African slave had the audacity to call out the master (the police) for its mistreatment of the slave population.  This sick and dysfunctional perspective explains the "just play sports and shut up" refrain because the same people saying that to Kaepernick are not saying the same thing to Europeans and/or Africans who represent the interests of European capitalism who articulate talking points that advance white supremacy e.g. Ted Nugent, Curt Shilling (former Major League Baseball pitcher), Clint Eastwood, and a series of other European entertainers, athletes, etc., who speak in support of the capitalist/imperialist white supremacist patriarchy.  None of these people have ever told Curt Shilling to shut up.  Now, their response to that last statement will be to say none of those white celebrities were articulating their views while working, but that's another sham white supremacist argument.  Those people are supporting the system in power so they obviously have no need or requirement to protest against that system.  As a result, after the games and/or concert interview provides for their propaganda needs (despite the fact people like Nugent have a long history of using their concerts to announce their backward political views, yet these Kaepernick critics are crickets on criticizing this when it happens).  On the other hand, Kaepernick is protesting the very institution he works for.  I realize that even he may attempt to say that's not the case, but he didn't choose the national anthem randomly.  The reason he chose it to display his protest is because the anthem is a part of the contradiction.  The entire lie that the U.S. is a free and democratic country, like the song promotes, is clearly a lie if the state sanctioned employees for the country can kill Africans and others with impunity.  So, Kaepernick, whether he meant it or not, cannot just be protesting specific police killings when he doesn't acknowledge the U.S. flag and anthem.  He and others are saying this country is based on injustice and that means the police, social services, the flag, the military, the anthem, everything.  So, he is protesting his job and he and the others should be protesting the NFL.  This is a league that has encouraged an environment where Kaepernick is hated for making a principled stand.  He didn't violate any of their laws.  He didn't harm and threaten to harm a single soul.  In fact, he quietly protested.  He even modified his protest (which, as I said, he shouldn't have done).  Meanwhile, the NFL harbors players who brutally physically abuse women and all of these losers combined don't receive a fraction of the hatred directed at Kaepernick.  What else is any critically thinking person going to conclude from this insanity except that the problem isn't Kaepernick's quarterback skillset.  It isn't that he protested "wrongly."  The problem is that he dared protest at all.  That any African would dare speak out against this great plantation.  The slave master (and all those who aspire to be slave masters e.g. capitalist shot callers), is angry with these rebellious slaves.  In 1819 this anger translated into beatings, burnings, lynchings, etc.  Today, it still could mean those things, but most often for someone with visibility like Kaepernick it means alienation and castigation.  Same old thing and those of us who understand this history have no trouble spotting it when it happens.

What all of this means is we don't know whether a team will offer Kaepernick a contract after his workout.  Really, that's not really a priority to anyone besides him.  What's important is that we recognize that the NFL doesn't care about Kaepernick or anyone like him getting the opportunity they deserve.  Their dominant perspective is that we are owned property and we should just entertain them, especially those of us they pay well for that entertainment.  The contradictions like the domestic abusers, they couldn't care less about.  These players like everything in capitalism are commodities.  To the NFL elite its like your pedigree dog tearing your expensive shoes up.  If a team thinks Kaepernick can help them win and they are comfortable in believing their racist public has forgotten their anger against Kaepernick, they will sign him.  The point is its the racist narrative that will drive whatever happens to him.  Its that narrative that drives what happens to all of us.  And, after all the noise, that's really what all of this amounts to. 
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Bolivia;  For Those Tired of the Same Old Lies and Propaganda

11/12/2019

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The fatigue is universal.  Whether its the false equivalencies between police terror and the people fighting fascism, homophobia, or in this case of Bolivia, the mechanisms of international imperialism, the ruling capitalist classes and the minions who mindlessly parrot their talking points, all use the same old tired lines to deceive us.  And, who can blame them?  Those tired lines continue to work very effectively so why change?

This last weekend, Bolivia's democratically elected president - Evo Morales - resigned from his position, effectively removing his governing Movimiento Al Socialismo (Movement for Socialism) from occupying political power in Bolivia.  Make no mistake about it.  This was an illegal coup against a democratically elected government.  In 2018, Morales won reelection by 600,000 votes, crushing the so-called opposition.  International election observers from all over the world oversaw that election and reported fairness and no issues with everyone who desired being able to vote.  And, its obvious why Morales was so widely loved by the Bolivian people.  Since the rise of his party to power, education, healthcare, and other essential services necessary to facilitate opportunities for people to reach their full potential had reached unprecedented levels.  The increased attention on the Indigenous people of Bolivia, of which Morales is a apparently a member, has elevated that maligned population in every measurable way since Morales was elected.  Of course, none of these things are impressive to the bourgeoisie elite that the opposition against Morales represents.  And, these scum have a long history in Bolivia.  Like all of South America, and pretty much the entire planet, the division between the haves and have nots has been an ongoing class struggle in Bolivia for decades.  It was 52 years ago when Ernesto "Che" Guevara died in rural Bolivia helping lead a guerrilla fighting regiment against the corrupt Barrientos regime.  That regime was a bed partner to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Bolivia has remained bedfellows with U.S. imperialism to this very day.  Despite the tearful announcement of the transfer of power to the opposition presented by Bolivian Senate Vice President Jeannie Anez, that opposition in Bolivia has been opposed to Morales since day one because of the priority on social policies Morale's regime prioritized.  The denial of the lithium trade deal with the U.S. and other multi-national corporation led countries probably helped spell the death note for Morales government.  Lithium is the rare earth mineral utilized to make car batteries.  Auto manufacturers like Tesla, Toyota, etc., were depending upon that Lithium deal with Bolivia to supply their lithium needs for decades to come.  Bolivia is also a very oil rich country which is very attractive to these roaches as well.  In denying the lithium deal, Morales spoke to the need for the Bolivian people, and all oppressed humanity, to exercise self determination in managing their natural resources, meaning don't sell them out the the multi-national corporations that care only about exploiting them for profit purposes.  The Uyuni region of Bolivia is said by lithium industry analysts to hold up to 70% of the world's lithium reserves, so for those corporate thugs, there was no other alternative to their interests other than regime change.

We previously mentioned the CIA's connection to Bolivia because the events of the last several days suggest a heavy U.S. hand in applying the necessary pressure on Bolivia's institutions to squeeze out the Morales government.  This would certainly explain the strange call from the Organization of American States (OAS) to revisit the results of the 2018 election, despite a clean bill of health given to those results, as previously stated.  We all know the Organization of American States is often a mouthpiece for U.S. imperialism so this request from the OAS shouldn't surprise anyone.  Also, many of the military officials in South America were trained at the CIA's "School of the Americas" a U.S. military propaganda institution designed to ensure loyalty to U.S. imperialist interests in the Americas.  With the CIA's history in Bolivia its highly conceivable that the CIA and other high level U.S. power sources were instrumental in pressuring the Bolivian military to call for Morale's resignation.  Since those same military forces were engaged in systemic terror against supporters of the Morales government, his decision to step down, as he stated, was an effort at curbing the violence and protecting the Bolivian people.

So, on the surface, it appears that imperialism has won again.  And, to the supporters and apologists for imperialism, these events are justified, but a closer look clearly demonstrates a different narrative is required.  The difference today as opposed to 50+ years ago is most people, even so-called social justice activists, were inclined to accept imperialism's version of history once the guerrilla uprising led by Che was crushed in Bolivia in 1967.  Today, you would have to be hiding under a rock for your entire life to be fooled by the amateurish effort to paint the Morales government as a brutal dictatorship.  Imperialism told us the same thing about Muammar Qaddafi and the Libyan Jamihiriya in 2011, but information today is widespread about the great work Libya had done to bring stability and progress to all of Africa and that it was those efforts that led imperialism to murder Qaddafi and destabilize Libya.  Imperialism has been telling us the same lies about dictatorships about Cuba and Venezuela for decades, but many activists and even just curious onlookers have been able to travel to Cuba and Venezuela and even with many of these people, who are not necessarily engaged or aware of the political histories, the narrative that these are oppressive regimes dictated by vicious individuals is impossible to believe based on the empirical evidence these visitors have experienced in those countries.  The failed effort by elites in Venezuela to illegally overthrow that government is an example of that.  The populations are clearly vibrant, informed, and dedicated to the socialist direction of their countries.  And, the same is true about Bolivia.  The only exceptions to this are the aristocratic elites who have money and only want more of it, regardless of the toll it takes on the masses of people.  Many of these shoe scum are in the U.S. today, ready to tell you at the drop of a hat that they are "Bolivian Americans" and that Morales is bad.  Pay notice to the fact these liars can give you no analytical truths about unjust life in Bolivia for the masses of people.  All they can rely on is the fact that they walked the pavement in Bolivia as their credentials of legitimacy.  Of course, if you countered by telling them about white supremacy and how the U.S. is nothing except a cesspool of racism, those same people would instinctively disagree with you, despite the fact you have lived here all of your life.  So, excuse us if we dismiss their geographical origin as evidence that they have the slightest clue what they are talking about as it relates to Bolivia.  We need more critical information and many of us are dedicated enough to study to understand that information.  Plus, our connections to international struggles for justice and peace bring us in regular contact with multitudes of people and sources who have valuable information about what's really going on.  That should serve to discredit those opportunists as well as the usual and tired voices from those on the white left in the U.S. and Europe who continue to be silent partners with imperialism whenever something like this happens.  These people are so quick to point to any errors governments like Morales have made, and there are many.  We are active organizers so we understand errors because we make them everyday. In fact, as Sekou Ture told us, "the only people who don't make errors are people who do nothing!" Our on the ground experience also helps us understand that the errors are unavoidable since imperialism, colonialism, and neo-colonialism give 0 space for us to build without sabotage and urgency of results.  All of this is a formula for errors, but instead of recognizing this universal principle, the white left does what it does best, pass judgment with nothing to offer the colonized struggling masses besides white skin expertise and a big useless mouth (that most of us stopped paying any attention to besides pointing it out to those like us long ago).  

Lastly, from a revolutionary Pan-Africanist perspective, we support Bolivia and the Movement for Socialism, but we suggest that the reasons why these immoral coups are as successful in Bolivia and almost in Venezuela, but not nearly as effective in Cuba is because of the lack of a revolutionary process e.g. a national liberation struggle as that which took place in Cuba.  The concept that socialism can grow and develop from the structures of capitalism is not possible since capitalism is based on exploiting the exploited.  We don't believe socialism can effectively happen in negotiation with capitalism.  Socialism has to mean capitalism being defeated; politically, socially, educationally, morally, and yes - militarily.  As we are witnessing in Bolivia, imperialism won't relinquish power just because they should.  It has to be taken from them in a way where they cannot get it back.  That means a national liberation effort where people develop a clearly defined and politically educated understanding of the enemy so that they see their very survival as linked to eradicating the exploiting classes.  This is what the bourgeoisie are most afraid of and its that fear that makes them recognize that this growth would have happened in Bolivia, and still will, but they are of course going to do everything in their power to keep this from happening.  In our view, recent developments are just the latest in a battle that brings us closer to the revolutionary process we speak of.  A process that millions of people on Earth will ready and willing to bring about.




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Key Tips on Raising Revolutionary Children in Reactionary Societies

11/9/2019

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Whenever anyone seriously discusses revolutionary versus reactionary on any level, what you are really talking about is intense class struggle.  I say this because I would argue that the primary contradiction in the world today is the battle of the haves and have nots.  And, that battle is over who will own and guide the resources of the planet Earth.  By haves, we mean the very small, yet highly organized, international bourgeoisie e.g. the capitalist classes.  Those immoral entities who stole everything from everyone while maintaining what they stole by convincing us all through their propaganda mechanisms that they come to save the world.  Whenever their propaganda tactics are ineffective, they rely on their military strength to crush uprisings.  By have nots we mean the masses of people on Earth.  The people who do all of the work to maintain the planet while receiving few of the fruits of that labor.  Unlike the bourgeoisie, the masses of people are disorganized and kept confused by being forced by the bourgeoisie to focus exclusively on seeing each other as their primary competition for a better existence.

All of the capitalist countries, with the U.S. in the lead today, are the centers of bourgeoisie thought and action in the world today.  So, if you are raising a child anywhere on Earth, particularly in any of these bourgeoisie centers, and you wish to ensure your children have values that contradict the values of the bourgeoisie, there are things you can do to help create those conditions.

Of course, since we are talking about class struggle, there are many people who are perfectly fine with their children being raised to think and act in concert with the bourgeoisie.  These are people who support capitalism - either consciously or unconsciously.  These folks could have a clear vision that supports the international bourgeoisie vision of controlling the entire planet for the purpose of private profit.  We are at war so it would be completely naive to believe there are not people who are totally ok with that vision of domination.  We are not talking to those people here because we believe in the concept of cadre development.  What that means is unlike the Christian model, in order to be committed to particular class interests, a person doesn't just repent and belong to that class.  In order to be a member of the bourgeoisie class a person must have certain positioning within society that comes from generations of service to dominating the planet.  In other words, its not a club you can just apply and join.  On the other hand, being a revolutionary is much more than a verbal declaration that you are one.  It requires a commitment to fighting against the bourgeoisie on a protracted and consistent basis and this is never an easy task.  Since the bourgeoisie control all narratives; political, social, cultural, etc., anyone who actively and consciously opposes that vision runs the risk of alienation in these capitalist societies.  For examples, throughout my life, every action I've taken to express connection to the African masses, the working masses, the masses of people for peace and justice, has been met with clear signals of risk.  My changing my name to an African name (I mean actually changing it, not just using an African name).  Joining and organizing for a revolutionary Pan-African political party.  Working to organize and carry out my life in a way that is consistent with the revolutionary Pan-African values I believe in, has brought unbelievable strain from family, so-called friends, jobs, state institutions, etc.  From being denied jobs to being prohibited from receiving financial aid (because of my refusal to sign up for selective service to be eligible for imperialist military drafts), to being regularly shunned by people I grew up with, including family.  And by being shunned I mean being treated like you murdered a family member all because you don't celebrate imperialist holidays, changed your name, have these "strange" beliefs, etc.  Standing alone often when you take principled stands at work, etc.  All of these things and much, much more have been and continues to be definition of my life.  

At the tender age of 25, after having experienced enough of this alienation, and more importantly, enough revolutionary political education (after spending three years in constant ideological training within the work study process of the All African People's Revolutionary Party - A-APRP - at the time), the discussions with my partner at that time centered around the decision that we did want to have one child.  We decided on one because we discussed how much we wanted to travel, especially home to Africa and we felt that with one child, we could position ourselves to ensure financially that our child could see the world and grow from that broader perspective.  We were also discussing how we could raise our child to have the values that were and are important to us.  By values I mean believing in the primacy of Africa e.g. the future of Africa is of the upmost importance regardless of whether we physically live there or not.  By values I mean believing that we are not African-Americans.  Not Black People.  We are Africans and a part of the worldwide African nation which as stated, has Africa at its center.  By values we mean believing in principles of socialism - meaning people over profit, and being 100% opposed to capitalism, imperialism, and bourgeoisie values.  These are the values we wanted our child to be raised with.  One of the most important things we did during these discussions is agree that regardless of what happened, no matter if the two of us split up.  No matter if no one supported us in how we raised our child.  No matter what, we would never compromise on our commitment to center our child in revolutionary consciousness.  Remember that we are talking about the mid 1980s.  So, I recall that something that was critically important to me at that time (and still) was that we figure out ways to arm our child with the ammunition they would need to combat the constant efforts to derail them that we had already faced.

The point of all of the above is that despite the fact we were so far from perfect.  And, we - I - made an overwhelming number of errors and mistakes in raising our child, we did have a plan that we worked earnestly to carry out.  That plan started with choosing two names.  Either Shukura or Adisa.  Obviously, Shukura won out (and Adisa became a character in my novel series).  We planned on natural birth, which unfortunately didn't work out, but we also did something else that turned out to be quite clever.  We discussed how if we were going to be successful with our daughter we needed to try and politically educate those around us, meaning our family, to our revolutionary Pan-Africanist, socialist values.  So, 32 years ago, when such a thing was never heard of, I, along with my sister in law, organized the baby shower for my child's birth.  And, I mean I actually played a major role in organizing the event.  We didn't play the normal games you see at baby showers in this bourgeoisie society.  We played African history games.  It did take a lot to convince the family to go along and participate, but once they did, they enjoyed it and spoke to the value the experience brought them.  Plus, the African wedding we had in 1985 did a lot to help prepare people to the reality that we were going to be doing things differently.  Our way.  Our revolutionary African way.  Also, one year after my daughter came, we had to take in one of her (my) nieces for a few years.  This act served to illustrate how true we were to our socialist principles to my ex's family and everyone else.

We were "home" schooling before it was a thing.  By the time Shukura was three she could see a picture of Assata Shakur, Malcolm X, Kwame Nkrumah, etc., and tell you who they were and something about them.  She could tell you the names of several countries in Africa as well as other geography.  And, she without question would tell you with extreme confidence that she is an African.  Not an African-American.  Not Black, but an African who's national home is Africa.  At that age she would tell you that America is the home of the Indigenous people of the Western Hemisphere and revolution is the only solution to bring justice to Africa, African people, and the entire planet.  All of this was accomplished not just by the lessons everyday in front of the large map of the world on our kitchen wall, but I believe, based on the principled way we tried to carry out our life.  We talked constantly to our daughter about respecting the masses and we tried to demonstrate to her how that looks by respecting her, each other, and everyone around us.  The core comrades,cadres within the A-APRP played a critical role at this stage of our process.  Most of them were also raising children and we did our collective best to attempt to provide the best environments we could for our children.  Here in Sacramento at the time that meant watching each other's children and I can tell you I played a prominent role as an African man in spending large amounts of time throughout my twenties with A-APRP and other children.  We practiced love, patience, and caring with all of the children all of the time.  To me, this was the most effective method of instilling our socialist values.  Much better than just talking about it.  I believe all of the children felt valued and loved, and the fact I still to this day receive massive love from them when I see them is proof of that to me along with the fact I receive that same love from my ex-in laws, despite the fact my ex-wife and I have been divorced for 26 years.  I believe this happens because they saw our efforts to keep our separation as dignified as possible and that Shukura was always a priority during that difficult period.  

As Shukura began to grow the daily lessons continued, but shifted, but what was established, even after the divorce, was an atmosphere of openness and respect.  Despite being divorced, we still had regular check ins and we split time with Shukura right own the middle.  Two weeks/two weeks, for 13 years.  All the birthday parties and activities right down to the senior prom were carried collectively with all three of us participating together.  This is a point that cannot be overstated.  It isn't possible to preach revolutionary love for the people when you struggle to show respect for the person who you had children with.  Your children will see right through that and it will cause them to question not you, but the principles you say you believe in.  This is of course something that requires much work, but if you make every effort to be sincere to what you profess, that will also show through to your youth.  Think about it.  What better way to demonstrate love, collectivism, socialism, etc., than to not center yourself, but the collective in everything that you do.  If you are consistent with that, your child will learn how to do that also and that will give them a healthy respect for those values.

We continue to have that collective involvement in our child's life 32 years later.  All her graduations, move ins to dorms and apartments, have been fully participated in by both parents, collectively.  This is the stuff that causes her family and my family to continue to treat both of us as family to this day.

So, if you are raising children, the take away here is that the political education, facts, and ideological training is important, but you have to understand that this isn't just verbal information.  Its mostly how you act on what you profess you believe.  Its that piece your children will pick up on more than anything else.  Focus on creating a plan that permits you to flush out what your revolutionary values are and figure out how you can share those values with what you do with your child on a daily basis.  Keep love for humanity at the center of those values and be as open and honest as you can utilizing self criticism to admit errors and mistakes.  All of this will create an atmosphere of trust and respect.  Your child knows you are not perfect whether you realize it or not.  By attempting to hide your flaws, all you do is diminish your credibility.  If you build your relationship on honesty it will be very difficult.  For example, I made early mistakes with dating choices when my daughter was younger and I've been brutally honest with her about the struggles I had led to the decisions I've made.  My point is the honesty comes with a heavy price, but its a price you have to be willing to pay if you want to raise your child differently.  In capitalism, everything is form over essence.  If you subscribe to these same backward values, prioritizing how things look over what they represent, you will be making the same mistakes that were made with you.

Finally, be prepared to make mistakes and possibly, serious errors, but provided you try to stick to honestly, you will find that your children are very adaptable.  One other thing.  This focus on honesty between you and your children cannot be seen as something operating in isolation.  Its essential that you maintain that same principled stance on larger issues that confront your children's lives.  This is a serious error that so many so-called revolutionaries make in raising their children.  Your children, and you while you are raising them, will encounter many instances where decisions of principle must be made.  Where the criminality of the system, the need to call out that criminality and immorality, and issues of comfort and personal safety for you and/or your child, will be in direct conflict.  I'm not saying that anyone should ever snitch on your children or anyone to the terrorist police (there are much better and more effective ways to deal with those types of contradictions).  What I'm saying is you can't preach revolutionary values 24/7, but when it comes to your child accepting a military scholarship or speaking out about imperialist intervention in the world, you need to be very careful in how you navigate through a challenge like that.  If you are not careful and decide to choose personal advancement over collective truth, your credibility will be exposed to your children, and everyone else, forever.  

None of this is rocket science.  Like everyone always says, its really just about "keeping everything 100."  Be real with your children.  Make revolutionary values something living, breathing. Not just empty rhetoric.  If you do that, your children, like mine, will grow up to be principled human beings who you won't have to worry about selling out and being an embarrassment because when that happens, it reflects as much on your inconsistencies as much as it does your children.  
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Stop Supporting Obama & His Wicked Disrespect of Our Youth

11/3/2019

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He's disrespected African youth all the over the world repeatedly and consistently for the last decade.  Anyone who says he hasn't just isn't paying any attention to what's been going on.  For examples we can start by talking about his lame and manipulative national talk about racism in 2008, shortly after his election as president.  Incidents of white supremacy e.g. people acting out because they refused to accept his presidency, was the reason for his "state address" in the first place, but he used it, not to hold the overwhelming majority of European (white) people accountable for their racism.  In fact, he never said anything during that speech to hold even a single European accountable to anything.  Instead, he spent time talking about the necessity of young African men to be responsible parents.  Well, actually, he spoke about African men in general, but the way he addressed the topic clearly played to the stereotype of young African men, producing babies everywhere they go, while taking care of none of them.  Besides the fact that despite racist beliefs, non-African men abandon their children proportionately to African men, he felt the need to single out our men ,while saying nothing at all about the dominant, entitled, selfish, and criminal denial of white supremacy that the overwhelming majority of white people practice which was the real reason why his speech resulted in the first place.  And, you can miss us with rebuttals about how important that message is to our young men.  Calling us out on a national stage (something he claims to be against) isn't the way to deliver that message.  A much more effective approach is that employed by those of us who are African fathers who are genuinely concerned about our youth e.g. working with them in consistent (not manipulative sound bite) ways.

Then, we should talk about the speech he gave after Colin Kaepernick, Eric Reid, and other National Football League (NFL) players began protesting the so-called national anthem to bring attention to police terrorists who murder us down in the streets with impunity.  In that pathetic speech, instead of speaking to the millions of white people who are upset that their stupid sports games are forced to acknowledge this legitimate political protest instead of being upset that we are being gunned down like roaches, he chose instead to single out Colin Kaepernick, asking him to consider the feelings of military families.  Not the feelings of African parents, African mothers, Indigenous mothers, who are losing their children just because our children exist, but feelings for military families who's relatives go overseas and fight wars that devastate innocent people specifically to fatten the pockets of corporations who are striving to steal all of those people's resources.  Then, to add insult to injury, after the current U.S. empire chief came out with racist and unprincipled attacks against these NFL players designed to appeal to his sick base of supporters, nary a peep was heard about that from Obama.  At least nothing as pointed and direct as his criticisms of us.

Most recently, Obama decided to attempt a very half-assed and uninformed attack against the movement cultures of our young people by accusing them of focusing more on attacking people than building productive work.  Of course, attacking any level of movement building is easy target work, but as Huey P. Newton correctly said "no participation, no right to observation."  Since Obama is not affiliated and working in any African or otherwise grassroots activist organization, and despite the propaganda of his initial campaign messaging, he never has, his thoughts and opinions on how our youth organize our work is worthless.  Especially since his critique represented the same tired passive aggressive blame the victims approach that defines every conversation on the topic facilitated within bourgeoisie circles in this country.  His biggest crime in this speech was his violation of Kwame Ture's clear edit that no analysis of our conditions is complete unless the enemy is included in that analysis.  You cannot speak to the culture of us attacking each other, call outs, etc., without also discussing this government's historic practice of undermining our people and our movements, the intensity of class struggle, and this society's alienation of activists for justice.  All of those things are major contributors to the contradictions existing within our movements and they always have been.

And those examples are just a few from the U.S.  We will expand internationally and talk now about how Obama's work within his administration to bolster the African Command military program in Africa has developed up to 100 U.S. military installations throughout the African continent during the time of his presidency.  Despite the propaganda that these installations exist to bring "democracy" to Africa, anyone plugging into that weak and tired line can offer absolutely no evidence to demonstrate how these installations have done a single thing to secure the life of a single African child.  What this military presence has done is serve to effectively eradicate the efforts by the former Libyan Arab Jamihiriya to provide potable drinking water to the millions of people living in countries bordering and inhabiting the Sahara desert regions.  This presence has created dangerous attack drone facilities in Niger with potential to build other worthless (to the people of Africa) sites throughout the continent.  What this presence has also done is provide regimes from the Congo to Rwanda to Nigeria and Ghana the training and capacity, in conjunction with the criminal and violent Israeli zionist regime, with resources to facilitate counter insurgency methods and tactics against the people.  This training is taking place because although most people in the U.S. don't have a clue, Africa is on fire.  From the Sudan to Azania (South Africa) to Ethiopia, to Zimbabwe, our people are rising up in righteous indignation against the oppressive practices of capitalist companies who control African governments (through neo-colonialist tractics) which are overwhelmingly oppressive to the people while stealing African resources in the process.  These uprisings are being facilitated by youth and women so by developing the apparatus that is working to silence our people at home in Africa, Obama is thumbing his nose at the masses of African youth who strive to bring dignity to our people.  The same can be said for his administration's support for oppressive policies against the Haitian people that have created the conditions for mass uprisings taking place there currently.  And, as usual, in Haiti, like everywhere else in the world, youth, African youth, are at the forefront of the fight for African self-determination.

There is no confusion here about why Obama does what he does.  Despite his physical appearance and the emotionally charged way so many of our people within the U.S. wish to see him, he is an international representative of the worldwide bourgeoisie.  He and Michelle speak, act, and respond in accordance to those interests with everything they do.  Attacking the wicked and contradictory racism of the masses of European people in the U.S. doesn't serve the interests of imperialism and that's why he never does that.  Repressing and keeping the masses of African people at bay is a priority requirement for imperialism's safety and that's why he consistently plays his role in performing that function.  He may be much more personable and polite than Trump in doing it, but like Malcolm said, that's only the difference between the approach of the fox or the wolf.  Both are going to eat you up at the end of the day.  

So, obviously, this piece isn't going to be directed at him or anyone, African or otherwise, who happen to occupy his oppressive class.  Instead, this piece is directed at the masses of Africans, particularly those within the U.S., who continue to buy into his act.  They do so because we are so oppressed by capitalism that even the slightest recognition from the system that oppresses us causes some of us to respond as if progress is being made.  Its a sick and dysfunctional relationship similar to that of an abused party and how they relate to their abuser.  Constantly seeking approval from the person (or system) that abuses you while ignoring the sound advice and support of those who genuinely have your interests at heart.  This is us.  Most of us are perfectly willing to ignore and/or justify all of the glaring contradictions I've identified here simply because we wish to continue the fantasy symbol of people who look like us being in power in this country.  Despite the fact their existence brings absolutely no power to the masses of African people, some of us still have such a strong desire to have that image in existence, despite the consequences it causes for humanity.  What we have to examine is why we respond this way.  Part of it is class struggle.  Some of us desire to be where the Obamas are so that is the appeal.  Those people we consider cheerleaders for the bourgeoisie class so we aren't speaking to them.  Others of us are sincerely confused and support bourgeoisie black nationalist beliefs that we can strive to integrate into worldwide capitalism and carve out a niche for us to co-exist with the people oppressing us.  We can coexist with the system built and maintained on our oppression.  Those are the people where massive political education work is needed.

For the record, I have more in common with a European man sleeping in a dumpster than I ever will have with the Obamas, on any level.  And most of you reading this, your families, your friends, co-workers, and everyone you know.  This is also true whether you recognize it or not.  This system though.  It relies on your refusal to accept that reality to keep itself firmly with its foot on our collective necks.  Until we are prepared as a people to let go of this sick and dysfunctional infatuation we have with the bourgeoisie who look like us, we will continue to unwittingly contribute to our further demise.
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Key Reasons to Celebrate 40 Years Since Assata Shakur's Escape

11/1/2019

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On November 2, 1979, an extremely well trained collection of courageous and fully trained people carried out a well executed plan to actually break into a maximum security prison and break Assata Shakur out.  Wrongly imprisoned by this state apparatus who's primary problem with her was her principled and unshakable leadership of forces dedicated to fighting this empire to its knees, Sister Assata, 40 years later, is still free from the clutches of U.S. imperialism.

Its that last element that makes it so important for us to acknowledge, celebrate, and educate around these historic events.  So much of imperialism's success in controlling the masses of people, particularly those masses living within the U.S., is in convincing you that any thought, effort, idea, or dream you have about challenging the capitalist system is ill-fated before your concept can even evolve into reality.  In other words, they wish to convince all of us that they are invincible.  This is the reason they went to such effort to not only murder Black Panthers, American Indian Movement members, Crazy Horse and Ogala warriors, Africans rebelling against slavery, etc., They always made a point of always displaying their "victories" against us.  Showcasing the bodies of our fallen warriors in a sick and perverted effort to invoke fear among us.  Those of us who were raised in the 60s, 70s, etc., know the results of this.  Once we initially entered into African nationalist and revolutionary politics and action, even student organizations of this type, our parents reacted with intense fear and concern.  Their concerns stemmed from seeing Fred Hampton paraded out after being brutally murdered by this criminal state and our parents didn't want that to happen to us.  No where in these discussions with my parents did they ever consider that we can win and not always be the bodies on the street.  No where did it occur them that we can organize effectively enough so that our bodies aren't the only ones dropping.

That's why Assata is so important because her story is one where we clearly win.  She's a clear role model for our youth, especially non-men.  She was certainly the role model we held up for our daughter growing up and at 32 today, she still uses her inspiration from Assata Shakur in all the activist work she does.  This cannot be overstated in an era where soldiers who do nothing except carry out the immoral whims of imperialism are praised consistently on such sham "holidays" like Veterans Day.  In the case of Assata Shakur we have someone who stood up for poor people.  Working people.  African people.  Women, the oppressed.  A true heroine.  And, the fact she is still living, and living not just anywhere, but socialist Cuba, another thorn in the side of imperialism, makes our enemies that much more desperate to try and diminish her legacy.  That's why they still to this day have her on their 10 most wanted list with a $2 million bounty on her head.  Today, in 2019, this is true.

Its up to us to make sure we use this 40th commemoration to declare that imperialism is not invincible.  We can use the effective organizing model carried out by our comrades to build upon it to challenge this entire state.  Sister Assata should be our living symbol that this can and should happen.  And, Cuba should be our living example of how we can begin to build the type of society that is much better than this rathole imperialist reality we find ourselves in today.  Celebrate.  Encourage people to realize that we don't have to just accept imperialism and we certainly don't have to adhere to their rules in fighting against them.  Our comrades and Assata didn't and she is there as living proof of that.  So, let as many people know about that as you possibly can.  Tell them that if they wish to work in the capitalist electoral arena, than do it with principled integrity.  Build movements that can hold this vicious system accountable to our interests, but for those of us who wish not to reform the empire, but destroy it, there are other options.  Revolutionary options.  This is the example Assata gives us a peek into and regardless of what imperialism says or convinces you or everyone else, her existence proves there's no denying that.
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They Keep Asking Me About These MAGA Hat Wearing Woman

10/26/2019

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I'm organizing an event on November 14th, 2019, here in Sacramento.  The objective of this event is multi-fold.  Its a book event to inform the public about my recently released 740 page novel "The Paradox Principles."  The event is also (hopefully) my big reintroduction to Sacramento.  Its been 2 1/2 years since I moved back here to Sac, but readjustment takes time on many levels.  For a variety of reasons, I haven't reintegrated myself into the activist work here anywhere near the level of work I was involved in Sacramento for over two decades when I lived and organized here between 1981 and 2006.  Since my book deals exclusively with a fictional group of Pan-Africanists who battle against government repression and white supremacy/supremacists, my hope for the November 14th event is it will serve to jump start me in getting going with engaging the Pan-Africanist organizing work, including community defense construction work, that I believe is my reason for breathing.

Energy around the event feels and seems good.  I'm hoping for a great turnout, not for personal ego purposes, but to provide the greatest opportunity for connecting with people who potentially wish to engage the type of work that needs to be done here.  We are revolutionaries which mean we recognize revolutions cannot happen without revolutionaries so I need to connect with people here if the work is going to happen.

The interesting thing about organizing this event is I chose to use the picture above to promote the event.  Its a picture of three European (white) young women that is floating around on the internet.  In this Trump era we are in where so many people have found it acceptable to reveal to the entire world how completely excited they are to be as ignorant as human capacity permits, pictures of these idiots wearing these "make america great again" or some variation thereof, hats, shirts, whatever, have become commonplace.  

What's interesting is how many people, upon seeing the picture in relationship to the event, have asked me about the women in the picture.  The people asking me this have nothing, I believe, except the best of intentions.  I'm convinced they are asking because of the sorry state of truth and justice in this society today.  As I've said often, truth and justice should always, 100% of the time, go hand in hand with the material reality we live in.  In other words, one plus one equals two.  That's objectively true and there is absolutely no way to discuss that question and conclude with a different result.  This is true because material reality demands that we recognize the truth that there is only one answer when you take one and add it to one and that universal answer is two, period.  The problem we have today is the enemies of humanity understand clearly that the dominance over the world that they wholeheartedly support is rooted in injustice, lies, murder, sabotage, terrorism, and immorality.  Therefore, in order to continue to perpetuate this fraud against humanity, these people have had to develop a propaganda mechanism that promotes bourgeoisie idealism as the dominant methodology in which to evaluate everything that happens on earth.  By bourgeoisie idealism we mean normalizing the absurd belief that whatever subjective concepts we have floating around in our heads supersedes the material truths that exist in front of us provided those subjective concepts fit the narrative we wish to promote.  That's the idealistic part.  The bourgeoisie part is those subjective ideas have been supplied to our brains courtesy of the capitalist system.  So, in this environment, European men who have been only ever so slightly pushed to make room for the rest of us, a just consequence of a system built on subjugating the rest of us to the benefit of the majority of European men, can claim confidently that they are being discriminated against.  White people as a whole can claim the same in this alternate universe.  Systemic oppression that is documented by unquestionable data can be summarily dismissed in favor of subjective and unsubstantiated individual interpretations of reality.  Material reality in today's realm means whatever confusion floating around in my head that I can convince you is real.  For most Europeans, this means they have every right to make us feel guilty for calling them out for supporting our oppression.  For us, this means us feeling guilty for calling them out for supporting our oppression.

In this dysfunctional experience, people can look at these women in the picture above and actually see them as potential victims.  Some people say they appear to be possibly intoxicated in the picture with their "keep america great" and pray to our savior white God messages.  Some people have suggested to me that possibly, these women didn't know what they were doing.  Some even consider the fact that I am harming these women by presenting them as the face of white supremacy.  And, everyone making these suggestions isn't European.  The discussions have resulted from all types of people because everyone under this capitalist empire is trained by the same so-called schools, churches, work places, and social environments that are all dominated by curriculum supplied by white supremacist indoctrination.  An indoctrination that trains us to elevate the conditions of Europeans above everyone on earth as policy, even if their interests collide with our own just interests.  

Honestly, I haven't spent two seconds wondering anything about these young women and I will never spend any time thinking about that.  To me, people like these young women and everything they represent, everyone they know, are walking breathing contradictions.  They preach individual choices e.g. people who are oppressed, incarcerated, poor, houseless, etc., are that way because they didn't make the right choices.  Well, these idiots chose to display themselves with racist messages.  Even a grade school child can understand that a country built on injustice and oppression has absolutely no potential to have ever been "great" so if you are wearing that stupidity you don't get to claim historical ignorance.  The information confirming your greatness is built on our shoulders is all around us.  If you don't see it, its at least partially because you don't wish to see it since it conflicts with the world you wish to see.  These people need to take responsibility for being this weak and sorry.  You have made a decision to side with the oppressors of the masses of humanity because this belief that "america is great, was great, and will be great" is nothing except the wicked and corrupt ideology of the ruling capitalist classes who wish to wipe away forever the true history of this backward country.  No one can convince me that these people have no clue about what I'm talking about.  They have made their decision and clearly, they don't care what trauma it metes out for the rest of us.

So, understand if I don't care how they are portrayed in the process.  I intentionally didn't want to use a picture of neo-nazis, etc., because that's a major part of the problem today.  Too many people mistakenly view systemic white supremacy as an action someone overtly takes against colonized people.  In other words, if a person isn't physically attacking a colonized person for being dark, or calling them names, etc., to far too many confused souls, there's no white supremacy taking place.  I chose this picture because the face of white supremacy should be all of those people who uphold Western capitalism because that system is inherently racist.  The neo nazis, klan, etc., are simply products of capitalism, but they are just different components of the system from the bankers, politicians, and bureaucrats who actually do more harm to us than the violent groups do.  

These women in this picture are white supremacy, no less than a robed klan member.  Plus, I think its important to challenge the myth that European women are any more an accomplice to us against white supremacy than their men.  Without question, the overwhelming majority of European women have consistently chosen over history to side with their men against us at every turn.  And, along with that, for those who argue for multi-racial class organizing, its equally true that the majority of working class Europeans have chosen consistently to side with capitalism against us.  The fact so many working class white people voted for Trump, including an overwhelming number of white women, says all that needs to be said to confirm this.  And, yes, the majority of men also choose patriarchy over solidarity and justice for non-men.  The difference with me is I will always fully acknowledge and will continue to fight against this contradiction.  You will never see me defending patriarchy the way most white people defend white supremacy.  White supremacy and patriarchy (and homophobia, ableism, ageism, are byproducts of capitalism and imperialism).

On November 14th, we will be discussing white supremacy, its historical origins, and the systemic way in which its upheld and carried out.  We'll also be discussing the ways we organize against this system.  A component of this will be what serious and honest Europeans need to do in order to side with the masses of peace and justice loving people in the world.  This is clearly the foundation of all of the work that we do.  No one can say otherwise and suggest we are in any way attacking white people.  We attack those who side with our enemies against justice. If you are white, and many of these people are, then yes, we attack you and anyone else who makes this historical error. 

'm trying to do my absolute best to make these young women in this picture famous.  Like all of the villains who define this decadent society, they deserve no less.
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Two of the People I Respect Most are European & I'm Proud of It

10/22/2019

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Che and Fidel in the early days of the Cuban revolution. Two imperfect, but honest and dedicated revolutionaries who deserve respect that they will always receive here
No one with any degree of sanity can realistically question that I'm a proud African.  All one has to do is look at my life and body of work to determine that I have spent most of my time breathing working to uphold African (Black) dignity so my pride at being African cannot genuinely be questioned.  As a result of that, I uphold those who have given me inspiration my entire life.  From El Hajj Malik El Shabazz (Malcolm X), to Kwame Nkrumah, Sekou Ture, Assata Shakur, Kwame Ture, Amilcar Cabral, Franz Fanon, Carmen Peirera, Mbalia Camara, and many, many, others, this is true.  Still, I express with great pride that two of people I respect as much as anyone are people who identified themselves as European - white - men.  Those two white men are Fidel Castro and Ernesto Che Guevara.  There are other Europeans I have great regard for.  James Connelly, the Irish Marxist revolutionary.  Of course, Karl Marx, Frederick Engels, Vladimar Lenin, Leon Trosky, Rose Lumumburg, and others, but I have a special place for Fidel and Che.  

I've had that special place for each of them for decades.  Yes, I'm no Johnny come lately when it comes to those revolutionaries and their contributions.  In fact, I can state confidently and without false modesty that I've made a significant contribution in helping so many people become aware of those two and everyone who contributes to the Cuban revolution and worldwide anti-imperialist efforts.  

Its been 25 years since I physically visited Cuba, but I've studied the revolution very closely.  Much closer than so many of today's 20 minute analysis experts who read one shoddy internet article and are suddenly subject matter experts on the subject.  I've read dozens of volume books on Cuba, Fidel, and Che and organized countless events exploring their work.  I've spent much time understanding their successes and failures.  So much so that you cannot come to me with these recent rightwing attacks against both men, that so many on the so-called white left accept with little critical analysis.  We have written much to debunk the foolishness of these baseless allegations against the integrity of Fidel and Che.  Worthless charges that both men were racist when the people leveling the accusations are about as racist as racist gets.  This is true because the people making these groundless accusations can point to absolutely nothing they have ever done to support the struggles of colonized people to achieve self determination.  Meanwhile, Fidel and Che have a lifetime of work putting each of their lives and the resources they had available to them at risk to better the lives of African and other colonized peoples.  This is ill refutable.  So, please miss us with foolish accusations against these men.  The only credibility your silly accusations carry is that we have to spend time helping honest people understand your lies.

Most recently, we came across a newer and even more crude attempt to attack the legacies of both of these giants.  Now, they are claiming that Fidel was working behind the scenes to sabotage the efforts of Che to aide guerrilla fighting efforts in the Congo, Southern Africa, and Bolivia.  Anyone who signs on to this absurd proposition demonstrates how little they have studied this history.  There are volumes of research here.  Che wrote extensive diaries on all of his military expeditions and there are plenty of books/notes from Fidel and independent sources on these issues as well.  There is overwhelming evidence that Fidel not only did absolutely everything to support Che in the Congo and especially in Bolivia.  There is also an equally impressive amount of evidence to prove that there certainly were extensive disagreements between the two men e.g. Fidel strongly and consistently urging Che not to pursue his efforts in Bolivia, but there is absolutely no evidence that Fidel didn't provide all resources available to support Che's efforts.

The promoters of this nonsense point to the changing political landscape in the mid 1960s related to the struggle between the Soviet Union and China as each country jockeyed to become the leader of the socialist world.  Cuba, receiving support from both countries certainly embarked upon a more militant effort, aligned more so with China, in the early 60s.  This is illustrated by Che's famous (or infamous if you are beholden to imperialist propaganda) United Nations speech in 1964 as well as China's open support for revolutionary insurrections in the Congo, the Caribbean, and Central and South America.  Finally, Cuba's open invitation to U.S. opponents to come to Cuba, like Robert Williams, Eldridge Cleaver, etc.  

It definitely appears that at some point, Cuba decided to chill somewhat on relations with China and Mao Tse Tung for a more favorable relationship with the Soviet Union and since Che was viewed as China's man in Cuba by the Soviets, it makes sense that the Russians would desire to see Che's role in Cuba diminished.  This doesn't mean that Fidel pursued sabotage efforts against Che as these reactionaries claim.  Instead, the actual evidence indicates that Che recognized the contradiction and being the principled revolutionary that he was, he intentionally sought to distance himself from Cuban affairs in an effort to protect the Cuban revolution.  His resignation from all his posts in Cuba and his letter to the Cuban people do nothing except confirm this.  And Fidel's principled efforts to convince Che to avoid pursuing guerrilla action in Bolivia, particularly after efforts to convince Bolivian Communist Party Secretary General Mario Monje to support Che's "foco" guerrilla effort in Bolivia, fell through.  Despite the tepid decision by Che to continue on in Bolivia, without the support of most Bolivian revolutionaries, Fidel still clearly did everything possible to support the Bolivian effort.  This is proven by the fact even the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), clearly one of the major sources attempting to damage the legacies of Fidel and Che, has documents confirming Cuba's role, at Fidel's behest, in serving as the initial base for Bolivian operations and continuing to support those efforts up to Che's assassination and the extracting of the three surviving guerrillas safely out of Bolivia.  Salvador Allende, the socialist political leader from Chile, escorted those three remaining guerrillas out of Bolivia and Allende was clear that he was acting at the request of Castro and the Cuban revolution.  Also, the Bolivian revolutionaries with a great deal of respect in Bolivia, the Peredo brothers - Inti and Chico - wrote about the level of support Fidel provided to them and this continued as Chico was killed in battle in Bolivia, but Inti was one of the three who escaped Bolivia.  He was determined to continue the fight from Bolivia so he re-entered his home country and hid in La Paz, Bolivia, for two years, with strong support from Cuba and Fidel, until Bolivian military forces, with support from the U.S. CIA, located Inti Peredo and assassinated him in broad daylight in 1969.

Without the slightest hint of bragging, I note that I know all of this history because I have spent my entire adult life belonging to an organization that encourages study.  Active, intense, and consistent study.  And, I received and have acted on that requirement with rigid discipline for decades.  That's why your one or two weakly written internet articles won't work here. 

The level of principled behavior and commitment to justice that just what is written here displays by both men is the reason why I hold them in such high regard.  The fact neither of them was perfect means about as much as the fact you aren't perfect.  Tell us something we don't know.  We take what they gave us and we build on what they didn't do right.  That's how progress is made.  There is no perfect revolutionary process and anyone suggesting there is clearly has no on the ground work doing anything.  We love Fidel Castro and Ernesto Che Guevara and if that bothers you we hope your irritation blossoms into uncontrollable discomfort until you do as Kwame Ture suggested; "when you are sick, you take an aspirin.  Why when you are ignorant do you not read a book?"



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The Lie that the U.S. Civil Rights Movement was Strictly Non-Violent

10/21/2019

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Right to left, Floyd McKissick, chair of the Congress of Racial Equality; Dr. Martin Luther King, President Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Kwame Ture (Stokely Carmichael), Chair Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, and others, including SNCC leader Cleve Sellers (behind Dr. King), debate having the armed Deacons for Defense at the March against Fear in Mississippi in 1966
The struggle to combat U.S. racism was waged by a mass movement of people who permitted themselves to be brutalized without ever breaking non-violent discipline e.g. they got the you know what beat out of them, but they never fought back, right?  Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the undisputed face of the U.S. civil rights movement of the 1950s and 60s, was basically a pacifist who would prefer you savagely kill him rather than he fight you back for his right to live, right?  These are the lies...errr, stories I was taught in school about our civil rights movement and I know that's what you learned also.  Today, I know this was nothing except a complete pack of lies.  The narrative that we never fought back did nothing to serve our interests, but it certainly fed into the interests of our enemies.  

Our enemies are the U.S. government and the multi-national corporations that dominate the world economy today.  The one thing those entities fear more than anything else is mass, organized revolutionary struggle directed against their hegemony over the planet.  If you understand that, then it shouldn't be difficult for anyone to recognize why those interests would want to advance the notion that no one has ever felt the need to fight uncompromisingly against them.  No one has ever dared think they could defeat them.  No one has ever really been oppressed enough to justify going beyond conventional wisdom in how they fight back.  In fact, these people desire you to believe until your death that fighting back can only ever be defined as mounting nonthreatening protests against them that do absolutely nothing to challenge or even inconvenience normal business practices.  This is how they wish you to view the U.S. civil rights movement which is the greatest example of justified internal dissent in this country's history.

No one can deny that the civil rights movement certainly had a commitment to non-violent direct action.  The debate is over whether this commitment was one of principle or tactics.  For the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), the organization of Dr. King, the commitment to non-violence was more so one of principle meaning to work on SCLC campaigns, you were expected to commit to non-violence 100%, despite what happened to you.  This was not the case for the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), despite their name.  Or, even other organizations such as the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), or even the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).  The NAACP was certainly devoted to the principle of non-violence on a national level.  The constant non-confrontational and even right wing pronouncements and actions of NAACP President Roy Wilkins during the 60s confirms this.  The actions of local NAACP offices tell a different story.  The Monroe, North Carolina, U.S. chapter of the NAACP practiced armed self defense among its members and their willingness to defend themselves led to local president Robert Williams having to flee the U.S. IN 1957 after his efforts to protect a lost European couple who were aimlessly driving through the African community during an uprising were used to target Williams with criminal charges of kidnapping white folks.  Despite efforts by Wilkins and the national NAACP to disparage and even support efforts to locate and arrest Williams, the defiant Williams and his wife traveled first to Cuba, and then to China, using the media platforms provided to them by those governments to denounce racial oppression in the U.S. and to call for armed resistance against our suffering.  

SNCC organizers like Kwame Ture (Stokely Carmichael), Ruby Doris Robinson, Cleve Sellers, Mukassa Dada (Willie Ricks), Jamil Abdullah al-Amin (H. Rap Brown), etc., clearly articulated that for SNCC, non-violence was a tactic, not a principle.  That they would commit to non-violence as long as it was an effective and logical tool to suit their organizational objectives, but that once that was not the case, they would instinctively fight back using any means necessary to do so.  This position was certainly made clear by SNCC's work in Loundes County Alabama in 1965 where they helped lead local residents to launch the independent Loundes County Freedom Organization which due to the fact 80% of the local Africans couldn't read or write, was more popularly known by its symbol - the Black Panther.  The new Loundes County Black Panther Party openly armed its members in the face of brutal violence against their efforts by racist groups like the Ku Klux Klan.  Klan violence against Africans was so regular that the county was known as "bloody Loundes."  

According to Ture and others, SNCC organizers in Loundes County always had guns on them and they were trained and prepared to use them.  Their example was so inspiring that many of the youth who traveled to Loundes County to help with the effort returned to their local areas with stories about the armed Africans in Alabama.  One of those youth was Mark Comfort, an organizer from Oakland, California, U.S., who knew Huey P. Newton.  Comfort went back to Oakland from Loundes County telling Newton about "Black folks in Alabama who formed a Black Panther Party with guns!"  The idea resonated with Newton and he wrote in his autobiography - "Revolutionary Suicide" that he wrote Ture to ask for permission to use the Black Panther name for his new party which started in Oakland in October of 1966.  

SNCC, was having discussions in the early 60s about the question of non-violence as a tactic.  SNCC staffers were determined to find a way to maintain their dignity in the face of undeterred violence against them by racists.  These discussions led many of the staffers to turn towards the message of Malcolm X who was one of the most vocal voices at the time calling for African people in the South to fight back against "two legged dogs that sic four legged dogs on women and children!"  As Malcolm's contradictions with the Nation of Islam proliferated in 1964, he began to advance many of the political ideas he had harbored and alluded to for years.  One of those political ideas was Africans organizing around self defense e.g. "if the government cannot or refuses to protect us then we have the God given right to organize and protect ourselves!"  These ideas resonated strongly with SNCC staff members and they wanted to bring these concepts more squarely within the vision of SNCC's organizational vision and direction.  When Dr. King was jailed in early February 1965, SNCC invited Malcolm to speak at Tuskegee University in Alabama.  Their relationship with Malcolm had already been nurtured from previous efforts like Malcolm hosting SNCC member Ms. Fannie Lou Hamer in a rally in Harlem, New York, in 1964 where Ms. Hamer talked about "praying to God for straight aim when those crackers come through my door!"  In that Tuskegee speech, Malcolm unleashed his now famous "house slave/field slave" narrative which further contributed mightily to the desire among the SNCC youth to fight back for our dignity.  

SNCC's movement to the left and towards more militancy changed its character from that of being dominated by Southern Gospel themes of turn the other cheek to that of militant resistance to oppression.  Their developing consciousness led to Kwame Ture defeating John Lewis (now a Congressperson) as SNCC Chair in a contentious election in 1966.  Ture's election signaled the focus for SNCC.  One of the clear indicators of this direction was SNCC's welcoming of the newly formed Deacons for Defense to work to protect SNCC and other civil rights workers.  The Deacons were a group of African, primarily war veterans, who formed an organization in Louisiana in 1964 with the motto that "you shoot at us, we shoot back!"  The Deacons were trained and armed.  Dedicated to meeting Klan violence with intense armed resistance.  Deacons were local Southern Africans.  Many of them were ex-convicts who didn't adhere to King's non-violence principles at any levels of their lives.  Deacons had a number of armed standoffs with the Klan and other racist whites in which shots were fired.  In one instance in Alabama in 1965, a Deacon shot a klansmen point blank in the face.  Other national civil rights leaders like Wilkins from the NAACP and Whitney Young from the National Urban League, were aghast against the presence of a group like the Deacons at civil rights actions, but SNCC was adamant that the Deacons would be present.  There were many hotly contentious debates about the presence of the Deacons during this period, but its important to note that these discussions were about much more than the Deacons being present.  The discussion was about our right to stand up to violence by meting out our own violence in return.  Clearly, the majority of people thought we did indeed have that right and among them was certainly Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  Despite very public and aggressive tactics by Wilkins and Young to influence Dr. King to turn against SNCC and the presence of the Deacons, Dr. King may have bent, but he never broke.  He never came out and said he didn't want the Deacons around.  In fact, SNCC organizers loved to joke with King about how when he had to move through the South, he first wanted to know if Charles Sims, his personal guard from the Deacons, would be coming with him with the 45 semi automatic pistol that it was well known Sims carried with him wherever he went.  

SNCC won out against the established civil rights leaders, bolstered by Dr. King's support, in having the Deacons present during the June 1966 March against fear through rural Mississippi.  And the Deacons served in engaging in multiple tense standoffs against racist whites along the way.  

People don't speak of it this way today, but there's no question that those activists were anti-fascist fighters long before the term developed the popularity it currently enjoys.  There's also no question that their emphasis on self determination and armed resistance wasn't new.  The Land and Freedom Movement, or what's more popularly known as the Mau Mau in Kenya in the 50s and early 60s.  The "Spear of the Nation" and the Pan-Africanist Congress of Azania, waging armed resistance against the apartheid regime in Azania (South Africa) starting in the late 50s.  The African Blood Brotherhood in the 1920s, the Maroon Slave uprisings such those led by Sister Carlota in Cuba in the 1700s.  The thousands of slave revolts we carried out from Central Africa to the Caribbean and throughout the Western Hemisphere.  The statement people make today about "We are not our ancestors" is an extremely ignorant statement if the inference is that our ancestors never fought back.  We have always fought back.  The Maroon uprisings influenced the Mau Mau which influenced the Deacons which influenced the Black Panther Party which influences our movements, consciousness, and struggles of today.  This is a continuum because people will always struggle for their dignity and when we fight back, as Franz Fanon taught us, that's exactly what we are doing.   The challenge we have is to develop and organize those efforts.  We also need to recognize that we cannot ever permit our enemies to articulate our history.  Its in their interest, not ours, to display our movement as a pacifist movement were we were willingly brutalized.  That's not serious and its not true.  Never has been and never will be.
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Real African Men/People Oppose Our Trans Women Being Targeted

10/13/2019

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Bee Love Slater's body was found on September 4, 2019, in a South Florida, US., community in a burned out car. She is one of dozens of transgender African women who are being systemically targeted and murdered. She was only 24 years old.
There is clear evidence that there is a concerted effort to target, pursue, and viciously murder African (Black) transgender women taking place.  Dozens of African trans women are being murdered and hundreds more are missing.  Not surprisingly, no one is being held accountable for these heinous crimes against our people.  

I watched with a mixture of anger and severe sadness as our trans sister grabbed the microphone at a recent bourgeoisie Democratic Party presidential event.  This sister gave a moving appeal to this Beto O'Rourke, Kamala Harris, and others there to do something about this assault against African trans women.  These politicians, as can be expected, gave pat political answers about beefing up police and other already proven nonsense to address this issue.  It was that part that turned my stomach.  Suggesting that police or any other capitalist institution is in any way a solution to any problem African and other colonized people face is like responding to the pleas from besieged chickens that you will beef up the fox patrol to ensure their safety.

The part that bothered me the most about that Democratic Party event was that we as African men and African people are largely to blame for the reality that our trans sisters are desperate enough for their very survival that they are forced to resort to appealing to these uncaring people for protection.  A protection that if it was going to come from those entities would have come a long time ago.

We are largely responsible because not only have we viewed this problem as we should - as an assault against African people, but we have reacted with indifference and even hostility which has opened the door wider for these attacks to take place.  Some of the more sick among us have even celebrated this tragedy.

Let me be perfectly clear that I consider trans African women, and all African people as a very important part of the worldwide African nation.  We exist today in over 120 countries in plentiful numbers.  We speak countless languages and practice numerous customs, and ways of life.  Yet, we are all still African people first and until Africa is free, untied, and socialist, we will continue to be isolated.  We will continue to suffer and be powerless.  Let us remind the weak minded among us that in every instance, we suffer where we exist because Africa was and is assaulted.  Let us also remind these shallow people that we have plenty of evidence to verify that our people existed in many different ways of life before the Europeans came to colonize us.  So, these trans African women are my sisters. My family.  And my position is in no way based on my individual existence.  I'm about as cis or heterosexual if you will, of a man - an African man - as you can be.  I just have a strong sense of self.  A vibrant self esteem, so that I'm not insecure and egotistical to the point where I see Africans and other people different from me as a threat to me.  I recognize that the only true threat to me is the capitalist, imperialist empire that subjugates my people and all of humanity.  No segment of the African nation is hampering me in any way.  I value, respect, and admire the beauty and diversity of all of our people.  I'm also sensible enough to understand that the best strategic way to attack our people is to attack us at the point where we are most vulnerable.  This is clearly our trans community of African women.  Attack us there and then dig the trench deeper to divide us farther.  A great strategy to weaken us and so many of you so-called Black nationalist superficial never really read a book or engaged in any real work for our people idiots are making it so easy for our enemies to use this strategy to come at us.  

Our strongest approach to liberation would be to agree that we are one African people, period.  No matter where we are born.  How we live our lives.  What our religion is or isn't, etc.  That's our strongest play.  Umoja.  Unity.  So many of us use those words, but have absolutely no understanding of what they actually mean.  Unity isn't just fake pretending to be down with African people up to the point where your personal values are pushed.  Real unity means we stand together in uncompromising fashion.  That means no force is strong enough to divide us on African unity, especially since the reasons they are attempting to divide us do absolutely nothing to make us stronger.  Real unity is being strong enough to stand with your disagreement to understand and recognize that our unity is more important than your personal values and ego. Its being able to be uncomfortable if that serves our people's interests. The reason why these instances represent stronger examples of unity is because up to this point you homophobes have nothing to show for how you are bringing us together.  Your isolation theories for how to approach elements of our people are worthless and have done nothing to advance us an inch.  As a fighter who has risked more life and limb for our people in one arm then 10 of you have ever done in all your lives, you aren't fooling me.  You have nothing outside of a toilet running mouth to provide our people.  You confuse your personal trauma and insecurities with what's best for the collective will of our people.  You only know how to view our existence as a collective people through your personal traumas.  Traumas that most of you have absolutely no idea how to process in healthy ways so they consume you and convince you that you are working towards something productive.  Your not.  You are sitting in scum and inviting the rest of us to join you.

What true warriors would be talking about is how we can bring our communities together.  How we can build Pan-African networks based on principles from our Revolutionary African Personality.  Where we organize and train our communities on community defense principles where we rely on each other to keep ourselves safe, especially the most vulnerable elements within our communities.  

Even the largest fool among us cannot argue that this level of organizing work will benefit every element of our communities.  Even the elements you don't agree with, but isn't that the entire point of liberation work?  Not to build some fake fantasy community where everyone thinks the same, but to build a community of mass participation, regardless of the superficial elements, that is united and determined to keep us all safe.  Anyone who doesn't understand this principle reveals to those of us who have actually done any real work how phony you are.  How ignorant you are.  How much of a tool for our enemies you are.  This argument doesn't deserve another second of our time.  There is no question about it.  Trans African women are our women.  They are a part of our community.  They are a beloved part of our community.  They need to be welcomed and respected as they are in our communities and we all need to come together to figure out how we can immediately stop this assault against this very valuable element of our community. And, anyone who doesn't see the importance of us doing that is an agent for the enemies of African people, no matter how much Black nationalist dogma you vomit out.


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The Democratic Party's Historic Manipulation of African People

10/10/2019

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The 2020 national presidential election is looming within the U.S. and with that comes the usual pandering by Democratic Party candidates for the African (Black) vote.  There hasn't been a Democratic Party president since Franklin Roosevelt in 1936 who has won without significant African votes.  Over the last 60 years this has evolved into the Democratic Party relying on upwards of 95% of a high turnout African vote to win.  In other words, no wholesale African vote, no victories for the Democratic Party.  Consequently, national election season in this country comes with a specific and transaction based focus on the African vote from each and every Democratic Party candidate.

Any analysis about Africans and the Democratic Party must go without saying that none of this is to suggest, overtly or covertly, that the Republican Party or any political party tied to the capitalist system will offer any true solutions to the problems African people face.  The capitalist system is the enemy of all African people everywhere so any political party beholden to that system cannot seriously be regarded as a viable tool for African liberation and justice.  With that being said, as mentioned, the Democratic Party today enjoys almost the complete support of the African masses.  The point of this piece is that the Democrats have never deserved, nor do they currently deserve, our support.  And, we would like to challenge why and how the bar is so low that the Democratic Party can do so little for us while receiving our complete loyalty in the process.  

The reactionary and racist white right in this country are fond of pointing out that it was the Democratic Party that led African people to the terrorism of the Ku Klux Klan.  Despite the fact the white right's motivation for making this argument has as much merit as an abuser arguing that the fact his abused takes self defense classes should cancel out the impact of his abuse, technically, those racists aren't entirely wrong.  

​In 1865, at the conclusion of the U.S. civil war, the Republican Party, infused by African activists who had fought their way into the so-called "emancipation party" of Abe Lincoln, rallied to create the Freedman's Bureau which sought to ensure the rights of newly freed Africans and poor Europeans (whites) would be protected.  Along with the bureau, the Republicans supported the 14th Amendment of the constitution which states that all U.S. "citizens" have rights that must be protected.  All of this was continually supported by the civil rights act of 1886 (the first of multiple civil rights acts including the one in 1964) which has similar citizens rights language.  This period was labeled reconstruction in the aftermath of the civil war and these paper gains came to a screeching halt in 1877 when Southern Democrats pushed to implement poll taxes, grandfather clauses, and other racists tactics designed to slow down the newly freed African ability to vote that was supported in the previously mentioned policy implementations.  This push by the Democrats led to the 1896 Plessy versus Ferguson U.S. Supreme Court decision which officially and unquestionably reversed any potential gains after slavery and plunged this nation into legal segregation.

The aforementioned activities from the Democrats and the post civil war history of the Republicans (at least on paper) caused Africans to stay on as committed Republicans.  This continued until the 1930s when Franklin Roosevelt, a Democratic candidate, received overwhelming African support in his presidential run in 1936 based almost exclusively on his support for the New Deal which was a series of policies that people in the U.S. take for granted today.  Social Security, medicare, aid to families with dependent children, worker's compensation, etc.  Safety net programs for the poor and disenfranchised. Programs that were originally developed and proposed by African activists organizations as well as the Communist Party USA.  Of course, the Democrats took credit for the programs and made them their own and for the African masses, Roosevelt represented the face of those policies.  This is an important point because since the ruling classes write history, this phenomenon has been documented as a victory for the Democratic Party when in fact it was nothing more than their ripping off of policies grassroots activists had developed.  Due to the reality of this nation in 1936, during the fallout of the great depression, the masses of people demanded support.  The Democrats had absolutely no choice except to adopt the New Deal programs.  In fact, doing so was essential to their very survival as a party.  So, them and Roosevelt doing so should not be seen as a sincere effort to improve the conditions of African and other poor people.  That was not then their motivation, nor is it their motivation today.

In the 1960s, the U.S. electoral process continued to be dominated by rich European men.  They were the only people to run for and hold offices and they were clearly the framers of policy.  This had been the case since settler colonialism seized this country hundreds of years before.  The courageous activists within the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, a project of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, challenged this racist premise with their push for their delegates to be justifiably seated at the 1964 Democratic Party Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey.  Hubert Humphrey, and other Democratic Party leaders at the time did everything in their power to sabotage the African delegates from being seated.  It wasn't until the entire world responded with support and outrage to the testimony of Ms. Fannie Lou Hamer who told the world how she was beaten savagely just for wanting to vote that Humphrey and the Democrats were forced to compromise.  Again, this cannot be seen as any benevolence from the Democratic Party, but the power of the masses of people who when organized, can push for whatever result they wish for and deserve, despite the efforts of the power structure to prevent them from having justice.

As we come to today, there is a national election planned for a year from now.  There are about a dozen Democratic Party candidates running to challenge the Republican incumbent.  What's changed on a surface level is many of those candidates are women and colonized people.  Credit for this, again, goes to the student activists from Mississippi in the 1960s, not the Democratic Party.  Still, these are superficial surface changes.  The focus of the Democratic Party as it relates to the African masses remains unchanged has it has been for the last 150 years.  It can in fact be argued that the open hostility and racism from the Democratic Party during the reconstruction period is much more desirable than the hypocrisy and disrespect that dominates the interaction between Democratic Party candidates today and our people.  Still, much of the blame today has to fall on us because we refuse to demand that we be respected and thus far, we have proven unwilling to engage in the level of organizing work required to build the type of movement that would hold these politicians accountable to us.

Our movement of the 1960s, contrary to popular opinion, was not organized, but it was strong enough to garner some concessions from the Democratic Party and the power structure.  Today, we don't even have the fractured movement of the 60s so we have nothing except our individual votes for candidates who ignore us, lie to us, and completely disrespect us until we can do something for them.  Many of these candidates voted for mass incarceration policies that devastated our communities and this is true even of the candidate representatives from colonized communities. None of them have proposed a comprehensive employment bill or any legislation that attempts to directly confront the challenges we face from a white supremacist system.  Even the calls for reparations from some of the candidates are simply rhetorical tactics designed to win our emotional support since none of these discussions are backed by any serious strategy to make reparations policy on any level.  And even on the most basic level some of these disgraceful people have even been proven to have racist backgrounds themselves to which they nonchalantly explain away today, knowing that most of us are so gullible we won't require any more from them beyond a simple lie to keep things going.

For those last 150 years, the Democratic Party has done practically nothing to stand by African people.  This is proven by the fact that party still holds the support of large numbers of white supremacists and anti-African politicians.  No serious attack against police terror, mass incarceration, joblessness, community resources, nothing.  In fact, many of them sound like the Republicans, blaming us for our predicaments.  This was true even for the beloved Barack Obama who so many of our people believe can do no wrong (he did so much wrong for anyone paying attention beyond the sound bites).  

Every election these people within the Democratic Party structures tell our people that this election is the big one.  There isn't a single election that isn't the big one.  Even the so-called leaders of our communities parrot this ridiculous narrative.  In reality, we are long overdue at figuring out its time for us to chart the agenda for our own communities.  That would have to include deciding to establish and build that movement that would be in alliance with other oppressed communities, but would hold the political establishment, regardless of which bourgeoisie party, responsible to our interests as oppressed African people.  This type of movement would have to evaluate reform policies based on how they improve the conditions for our people, not based on whether they are acceptable to white supremacy as is most often the case today.  

Some may ask why we, who are revolutionaries, would advocate the construction of a reform movement.  We do so because we recognize the power of positive action.  Meaning, we endorse all action that is designed to get more people involved in conscious raising and movement building.  We know that the more people that move in this direction, the more people who will come to the place of being able to properly understand the revolutionary Pan-Africanist message that we work on daily.  That's why our message today is for us to get involved in organizations and if you feel that the Democratic Party is the organization then we have an obligation to organize the African masses inside of the Democratic Party so that we have our own agenda and are not just cannon fodder and pawns for the Democratic Party bourgeoisie to manipulate to sign off on their capitalist agenda.  An agenda that has proven time and time again, to devastate our people all over the world.
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    I don't see disagreement as a negative because I understand that Frederick Douglass was correct when he said "there is no progress without struggle."  Our brains are muscles.  Just like any other muscle in our body if we don't stress it and push it, the brain will not improve.  Or, as a bumper sticker I saw once put it, "If you can't change your mind, how do you know it's there?"

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