Previous to posting the article I recently wrote entitled "White militias:  As Usual, the White Left Misses the Point", this blog was registering around 9000 viewers per month.  This week alone, traffic has increased to over 16,000 people and many of them are responding to that article with a great deal of passion.  Several of the responses have been well thought out and reasoned in their assessment of the material I presented, but probably about 70% of the dozens of responses serve as further evidence of how insidious capitalism and white supremacy are at influencing, and in some cases dominating, the thinking of the White left. In other words, despite concerted efforts of some of the respondents to suggest that their points defeated the logic I presented with my material, I am further convinced that the style and content of many of the responses further confirms the core point my article; the masses of European/White activists seem much more consumed with themselves (i.e. their egos) than building legitimate movements for justice.  I say that because many of those responses dismissed and simplified the entire article in such a childish way, suggesting that my thesis attempted to lamely argue that "if you are European, and you are not directly organizing the right White militia movement, than you are not doing anything."  If you read the article in a comprehensive and critical way, then you should know the thesis of the article was not that the 12 or so gun toting militia people should be the primary focus of millions of radical white activists.  The actual thesis is that many of the core ideological components that drive these militia folks e.g. capitalist ideology, white supremacy, and a distorted justification of white settler invader colonialism, is the same ideology that drives your family, friends, co-workers, and the masses of European people on the planet Earth.  Consequently, my point was that if you are serious about seeking fundamental social change, your task is to figure out a way to reach the multitudes of misinformed European masses and to organize them.  Revolutions and even successful reform movements, are always rooted in mass participation, not a handful of people.  So, history is pretty clear that we can not expect any type of collective mass movement forward with so many European brothers and sisters being so backward in their fundamental analysis of the world.  Clearly, work must be done with the masses of white people and the only people who would disagree with that are either the capitalists or people who have no experience or intention of engaging in actual organizing work.

Second issue.  Many responses argued that the militia/White right movement is made up of millionaires.  Some of you even pointed to the fact the KKK has/had had senators and congress people to illustrate your argument.  Sorry, but that's such a non-critical analysis that it's laughable.  Clearly, the base of the white supremacist movement is made up of working class Europeans and anyone who doubts that only needs to study the ideological foundation of these movements which is clearly rooted in an analysis of the diminishing conditions of White working class people.  Plus, if you know anything about history, you know this analysis about the conditions of White people has always formed the basis of the fear driven white supremacy that capitalism depends upon to keep White working class people distrustful of African, Asian, and Indigenous workers.  For example, the argument that freed enslaved Africans would threaten white wages was a primary factor behind the development of the early white supremacist movements, including the KKK, just like the same old argument about Indigenous/immigrant labor is helping drive the far right white movements today.  

Finally, some people responded that they have tried to argue, debate, convince, their family members to no avail.  Some of you even told me directly that I didn't understand how difficult it is to organize European people.  All that did is establish how pitiful you are as an organizer.  Look, the first rule of engagement is you have to know who you are dealing with.  I'm not just some academic pundit expressing an intellectual opinion.  I'm a revolutionary Pan-Africanist organizer who has spent decades putting my body on the line for African liberation and justice.  As a result, I've organized every segment of African society from church folk to gang members, on three different continents.  I've organized consistently within political environments with people who have experienced more misinformation and trauma than your family will see in the next five hundred years.  So don't even try to fix your mouth to tell me anything about the difficulties of organizing people.  We are serious revolutionaries here!  An African proverb tells us that "if you see me fighting a bear, help the bear, pour honey on me!"  We know organizing the people is a difficult task more than anybody.  We write the handbooks on how to do this work and those white activists who are humble enough to listen and learn are developing into strong organizers, something many of you could do to if you could just learn to drop your default white is right approach to anything you don't understand.

I'll close with this.  I'm a labor organizer by trade which means I spend much time organizing rural, White, working class people here in Oregon.  Many of the same people who share a lot with the folks in Eastern Oregon.  Some who actually are the folks in Eastern Oregon.  I work with these people on a daily basis.  I've written two novels that tell stories about how its possible for White people to change the ideological backwardness of their communities ("Find the Flower that Blossoms" and "The Courage Equation").  I've helped form and support White revolutionary activist organizations like the Marilyn Buck Abolitionist Collective here in Portland that is dedicated to doing work to create revolutionary consciousness among White people.  So, for you armchair revolutionaries, I know how to organize the White people you say cannot be organized.  I could come into your family dinner and dominate your household, but it's not my responsibility to do the work you should be doing.  Plus, I have enough work with my African folks.  The problem isn't that White people cannot be organized.  The problem is that you haven't decided to take responsibility to make that organization happen. You don't know how to actually carry out that organizational work and many of you don't even know the difference between being a revolutionary organizer and being someone who just goes from events to events.  You aren't humble enough to listen to those who have practical experience successfully organizing people.  People like us who are building institutions for change in African communities and helping more committed White activists than many of you to do the same in European communities.  So for those of you who sent in reasoned responses, we again extend our pleasure to meet you, and we look forward to working with you in whatever capacity we can effectively build for a positive future.  For those who chose to act out, keep the ignorant responses coming if that's what you choose to do.  All you are doing is providing us more humor from which to break up our days because while you are being keyboard warriors, we're continuing to work for the benefit of those who are serious about making change.

The article I wrote on white militias in Eastern Oregon has ignited a firestorm among European activists, wanna be activists, and armchair experts.  Many of these people wasted no time in proving my statements about the arrogance of the white left in their weak kneed arguments discounting the points I raised.  I should note though, that quite a few white activists have been very gracious and reflective about the points I raised.  That's all great, including the negativity, because I am a committed Nkrumahist/Tureist which means I value the immortal words of Sekou Ture who told us correctly that "if the enemy isn't doing anything against you, than you aren't doing anything!"  

So, since I've lighted such a flame, I figure I'll continue to pour oil on it by stating in clear language why I have absolutely no respect for Bill Cosby.  I know the entire issue with him is a distraction, but I also struggle with that because I'm also aware that many Africans in particular feel that anytime an African appears to be under attack, that its a part of the conspiracy to beat us down as a people.  More important than that, I'm sensitive to the suffering of women who are abused.  So, for those reasons, I am putting my analysis about Cosby out there.

With all our people have endured for hundreds of years, I'm not surprised or confused about how we feel subjugated.  Anyone in our shoes would feel the same.  We are persecuted as a people and there is ample evidence to support that claim.  The problem I have is we are not very sophisticated in how we choose to pick our martyrs.  Our tendency is to focus on those who are front and center in the capitalist world i.e. people like Bill Cosby, Kobe Bryant, O.J. Simpson, Ray Rice, R. Kelly, etc.  Our reasons for choosing to support these people is rooted in the fact those entertainers and athletes are constantly projected to us as leaders of our community.  The foundation for that is laid out by the fact these people make us laugh, cry, and get through the day with their comedy, athletic skills, and singing/performing which speaks directly to our own specific needs.  For an oppressed people, the value of this cannot be overstated.  Plus, the capitalist media provides us with every aspect of their lives.  How and where they live. What they eat.  How they party.  Then, on top of that, the same capitalist media consistently seeks them out to comment on everything from white supremacy to global warming.  So, it's not surprising that we hold strong emotional ties to these people, but the fact is we don't know them and we don't know what they do when no one is looking.  All we have is our emotionally created perception of them which is often so strong that it substitutes for concrete information about these people in our minds.

On that note, we look at sexual assault.  As I mentioned, many people in our community believe Cosby is being "set up" for the sexual assault allegations being levied against him.  In fact, I just listened to a legal commentary about Cosby on the Al Sharpton show from a criminal defense attorney who talked about the allegations against Cosby as if it was a foregone conclusion that they were false.  The most shameful aspect of this is people who apparently know very little about sexual assault are talking about it in ways that are very harmful to past, current, and future survivors.  I'm talking about the constant reference to the amount of time it has taken women accusing Cosby to make their allegations against him.  People are suggesting that there is no good reason that women would wait that long unless the allegations were false (meaning their intention is to use the occasion to make money off of Cosby).  Anyone who has experienced any type of trauma knows that it often takes a long time for the survivor to come to terms with the attack.  Being the victim of several physical assaults, I can attest to this.  Also, the notion that a woman who spends any volunteer time with a man at late hours is not capable of being raped is absolute ignorance.  As a proud father of a daughter I'll say to any man  that even if a woman comes to your place naked at 4am hollering about her desire to have sex with you, at anytime that she decides she isn't down for it, and she lets you know that, either verbally, or any other way, and you don't stop, that then becomes rape at that point.  Period.  Regardless of what happened up to that point or what you think happened.  Period.  These types of pronouncements about sexual assault expose more about the persistent anti-women sentiment in this society than anything else.

As for Cosby, some of us point to his efforts to raise money and bring awareness to the historically African Universities and colleges as proof of his commitment to African people.  As someone who shelled out thousands for my daughter to graduate from Tuskegee University in Alabama, I can say that at best, Cosby's work in this area is the minimum someone in his position of influence should provide to our community, and at worst, it doesn't do anything to advance the collective condition of our people.  We have hundreds of thousands of degreed African women and men, but without a collective consciousness to use their education to advance our people, what do we have to show for their degrees?  So, Cosby gets no points from me for that work besides the point that even if he had paid for thousands to finish college out of his pocket, that still wouldn't mean that he isn't a rapist.

Without knowing any further facts than I do right now, I'm clear on my position on Cosby just based on what we already know.  Here is a man who I saw as a hero in my youth.  His participation in movies like "Uptown Saturday Night" were highly influential to me growing up in the 70s at a time when those movies were our only opportunities to see people who looked like us on the screen.  I loved Bill Cosby at that time.  I wasn't a fan of the 80s "Cosby Show" because I saw it as an effort to tame the African spirit away from the resistance that we need to survive and move forward in this society.  The resistance that has sustained us for 500 years.  Still, I watched it out of respect for him, until he came to Sacramento to speak to the African community in 1984, shortly after the show started airing.  I'll never forget how he corrected an elderly African woman by admonishing her repeatedly that his show was an "American show, not an African or Black show." He then went on a tirade about how we need to stop complaining about racism and just embrace America.  I left there finished with Bill Cosby on all levels and I didn't agree with anything he had to say after that.  Still, I could stomach his backward views expressed about working class African people as ignorance (a lot of people share his backward views), but the fact he could claim in such a public way that we lack character as a people while he was drugging women against their knowledge (documented in his own deposition words), is the primary reason why my disrespect for him is confirmed.  How dare he condemn and judge our people while he is engaging in the most unprincipled and criminal behavior against women!

Finally, I understand the role of the state and how it goes about persecuting the forces who rise up against it.  People who have no knowledge or concern about what's happening to Mumia Abu Jamal or Jamil Abdullah al Amin, or Sundiata Acoli, or Assata Shakur are skipping over their persecution to trumpet the case of Bill Cosby?  Those Africans are definitely being persecuted on every level by the capitalist forces that be because of their righteous resistance to capitalist oppression against our people.  They join the ranks of many others from Garvey to Malcolm to Kwame Ture and Angela Davis who endured the same persecution.  These are our legitimate soldiers and I refuse to let their legacies be soiled by trash like Bill Cosby who the capitalist system would never persecute.  They don't persecute those who play by all their rules.  And if you claim this is happening because of Cosby's business dealings and aspirations, you need a basic lesson in capitalism 101.  Capitalism will open its doors to anyone who will play by it's tune e.g. Barack Obama, and the 54 presidents in Africa along with the countless African multi national businesses in Africa and throughout the African world.  So, the claim that the capitalist system is framing Bill Cosby because he wants a small piece of the business pie is baseless.  If you studied the Ford Foundation efforts to expand capitalism to include Africans as a way of creating an "African middle class" in the 1960s, you would know how silly those allegations are.

No, Cosby doesn't need anyone to persecute him.  He proved a long time ago that he isn't interested in advancing African people and now that his character is being questioned, I've had several decades to decide that he isn't worth my time of day.

Most everyone has heard by now that European (white) militia folks have descended upon Eastern Oregon to express their lack of recognition and respect for how the U.S. government enforces its land management policies.  These militia people appear to have occupied a federal bird watching sanctuary about 30 minutes from the town of Burns, Oregon, which is about five hours east of Portland.  This so-called protest is heaped in the false ideal of "true American patriotism" with the American flag and proclamations of the "will of God" being prominently featured by the militia and their supporters.  Of course, all of these folks are the typical characters e.g. European, mostly older, right wing in ideology, and vastly confused about the difference between fiction and reality.  Many of you know these people well because they are your father, brother, son, sister, mother, husband, wife, etc.  So, there's no purpose in spending time breaking down the motives of these people.  Its not difficult to figure that out.  They are entitled Europeans who are experiencing/ interpreting their very first taste of forced oppression, something we have experienced consistently from the federal government for centuries.  So, the reaction of these folks is no surprise or disappointment.  What is tiresome and irritating is how our so-called European partners/allies consistently respond to the actions of their right wing relatives, neighbors, and community members.  

Since this latest militia action in Eastern Oregon, social media is ablaze with responses from so-called conscious white people. The best this fine element of white society can produce in response to this scenario is to compare the white militias to anti-police terrorism protests within the African community.  I suppose these "allies" believe they are sincere when they consistently make the point that we would be killed by federal authorities if we took the same stance as the white militias, as if we would have absolutely nothing to say about that.  And, that's the strongest element of this white left analysis.  The other focus is on doing everything they can to marginalize the white militias in an effort to make it clear that they have no connection and nothing to do with their white brothers/sisters who are carrying out this militia action.

None of this is new nor is it rocket science.  The lands the militias are occupying are the ancient lands of the Paiute Indigenous people who were removed by force from those lands decades ago.  These Indigenous people are still alive and functioning on reservations in the Burns area today.  The white militias are nothing more than the latest version of invaders and settlers onto Native lands.  And, their agenda to challenge the U.S. government is nothing more than European class struggle to decide which white people will occupy the position of ruler over Indigenous lands and the masses of exploited labor under the capitalist system.  The fact one of the identified leaders of this militia group is a man named Ammon Bundy - the son of that cave man white supremacist Cliven Bundy who hosted a similar white militia action in Nevada - and another participant is white anti-Islam activist Jon Ritzheimer, confirms the foundation of ideological white supremacy within this militia movement.  So, white people, we don't need you to flood social media with statements about how we would be slaughtered were we to take up arms against the government.  We understand those contradictions better on our worse day than you ever could.  What we wish you would do is recognize that these are your people joining and participating in these militias.  Instead of posting "f - - k the militias" on Face Book, it would be great if you could finally sit down and develop a comprehensive strategy to try and organize your kinfolk.  Someone needs to educate them to the fact their fight is actually against the capitalist system, the same system that oppresses the masses of African and Indigenous people.  Someone needs to explain to them that their grievances are no different than the protests we have against the government for its agents shooting us down in the streets.  Someone needs to help them understand that the day they can stand in solid support with our struggle is the day we can end this oppression (because we have always stood in solidarity with the suffering of poor European folks).  At the very least, if your intention is to use the comparison to us to educate other white people, you need to do a much better job at utilizing that information.

Creating this critically important link is the responsibility of the white left.  You can make this happen.  We can't because these people have been programmed to distrust us, but these are your relatives. Your neighbors.  Your co-workers and friends.  You can talk to them in the language they understand.  You can influence them.  You can organize them.  So, why don't you do it?  We are organizing our people against the capitalist system, but we recognize that we cannot do our work in isolation because history is full of examples of how the capitalist system uses the European working poor as foot soldiers against the African masses and other just struggles.  This is why the membership of the kkk and neo-nazi groups has always been working class.  This is why the majority of this militia movement is working class white people.  The problem is there is no active and ongoing political education to raise the consciousness of these people.  In other words, you so-called progressive white people are not doing your work.  So, just so you know, when we see these occurrences happen, the first thing we think about is how you are failing.  For every right wing militia member, its confirmation of how much you are continuing to skirt your responsibility.  We can't blame a dog for chasing a cat, so we can't expect these militia folks to do anything besides what they are doing.  We can blame you because you claim to know better.  In fact, we can't get a word in edgewise with you present because you are so clear about the contradictions.  So, get to work with your family members before it becomes too difficult for us to tell the difference between you all.