Ahjamu Umi's: "The Truth Challenge"
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The Black Panther Movie versus the Black Panther Party

1/27/2018

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If you are already assuming that the point of this piece is going to be to shoot down Marvel's highly anticipated Black Panther movie, you are mistaken.  I grew up as an inner city kid without much to be inspired by.  One thing that did consistently hold my attention was my Marvel comic books.  During those years, off the top of my head, I could tell you the release date for the next Spiderman, Avengers, X-Men, and without question - T'Challa - the Black Panther - comic's arrival.  Just as I often and usually buy books the day they are released today, in the 70s, I would anticipate the arrival of the next "Black Panther" comic at Fred's Liquors in San Francisco.  The owners of the corner store would permit me to pull the comic book out of the wrapped stack before they could inventory it.  They knew I would be there anxious to get it.  In those days we had virtually no one on television that I was inspired by.  I watched "Good Times, Sanford and Son", and all the rest of the popular sitcoms during those years, but those were clown shows and even as a young boy, I knew it.  I laughed at them like everyone else, but I wasn't inspired by them.  Lacking many real life heroes and sheroes, T'Challa, the African prince who became the Black Panther, along with Luke Cage, the Falcon, and Storm from the X-Men, they were primary inspirations in my life.  

So, I understand better than many people talking about it the excitement about the upcoming movie.  Plus, at this point, Marvel has perfected the art of making these superhero movies and from all appearances from the trailer, the movie is going to be cool as heck.  It seems to contain all the cool elements that are going to appeal directly to African cultural senses.  The movie is primed to be a huge hit with everyone, especially African people.  On a surface level, there seems to be absolutely nothing wrong with this.  On a deeper level, there is much about this that requires more thought, analysis, and discussion. 

There is much that has changed over the last few years as it relates to communications, the impact of  social media on human relations, etc.  What hasn't changed much is that Hollywood, California, U.S., through its massive movie and television industry, is still the unquestioned leader of shaping images on a worldwide level.  Hollywood has spawned Bollywood, Nollywood, Tollywood, and other miniature Hollywoods that represent image making in South Asia, throughout Africa, etc., through cinema. In this sense, we would be naive if we did not see the connection between T'Challa, the Black Panther character, and our real life African liberation movement for freedom, justice, and forward progress for Africans and all of humanity.  Stan Lee, the founder and visionary for Marvel comics has admitted as such through his statements that he modeled the relationship of Professor X and Magneto from the X-Men based on comparisons he made with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X's philosophical differences on how to achieve freedom and justice.  And, I completely understand today that when I was reading Black Panther comics as a child, somewhere in my subconsciousness, I understood that I was reading much more than a story about one man.  I was reading about the pride and dignity of a people.  Now, to Stan Lee's credit, he unlike most people producing culture within the capitalist empire at that time, saw the cry for that dignity coming from our people through our international liberation struggles.  The Black Panther comic fed directly into that cry and desire and T'Challa, or the Black Panther, was a living embodiment of that desire.

Still, its critically important that we make the clear distinction.  T'Challa, the Black Panther, and any form of entertainment, is not our struggle for national liberation, Pan-Africanism, and socialism.  And, part of capitalism's intentional use for movies like this one is to convince our people, and everyone else, that movies like Black Panther are examples of our forward progress as a people.  The sleek, cool, and independent attitude displayed by Chadwick Bozeman in his role as T'Challa/Black Panther is a subtle suggestion to all of us that we have the opportunity under capitalism to become rich as he is.  Cool as he is.  Good looking like he is.  And, that the pathway to our dignity is pursuing this individualistic approach of finding our niche within capitalism. I would even argue that much of this is exactly what is fueling the overwhelming excitement of our people about this movie.  The mere fact that a movie like this can be produced is evidence to many of us that we are finally being acknowledged by the capitalist system which means that we may at last have our chance to move forward within it.  This theme is evident and played out in the concept of a superhero that will solve the problems of the people.  Those of us who are revolutionaries know that only the people can save the people.  If a superhero was going to do it, they have had 500+ years to win our freedom and the fact they haven't surfaced to fight this fight for us tells me that if we want to win, we are going to have to fight this fight ourselves.

The process of us fighting for ourselves is displayed not through a fantasy superhero, but through the struggle to organize and unite our people through the understanding that only the masses of people make history, not individuals.  That means having an understanding that the Black Panther character is a product of the Black Panther Party and all of our organizations for liberation.  If anything, the character is an effort to move us away from recognizing the need for hard work and dedication to win our freedom because we can do it individually while avoiding the messy struggle of having to work with other people.  And, this influence undoubtedly plays a role in the attraction of the character with our people, but when it comes to our concrete struggle for national liberation, there is clearly no relation between a comic book movie character and our people's genuine struggle for forward progress.  

None of this is to suggest that we shouldn't enjoy this movie.  African people suffer indignities on a daily basis so whatever resources we can use to salvage our fragile sense of self, I'm all for us benefiting from.  Due to my history with the character through the comic book in my youth, I have no doubt that I will see the movie.  Probably, as is my custom, on the night it premieres.  But, I encourage all of us to recognize it as strictly entertainment and for us to be overly conscious of the propaganda intent of this movie and all other forms of entertainment produced by the capitalist system.  Our freedom, independence, and dignity will only be achieved through the mass empowerment of our people and that will only happen through the mass organization of our people.  Anyone who wants to express an opinion about our people should be required to be active in an organization working for our people.  We should create a climate where it becomes uncomfortable for any of us to feel confident expressing what our people need to do when we are not even committed and faithful enough in our people to work with us on a consistent basis to move us forward.  Or, maybe some of us have trouble differentiating fantasy from reality.  Maybe some of us are actually waiting for T'Challa to come and free us from imperialism.  If so, I highly recommend you don't hold your breath waiting.


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The Huge Difference Between the NFL and Netflix Boycotts

1/22/2018

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Recently, stand up comedienne/actress Mo'Nique called for a boycott against Netflix. Her call is based on a charge of inequiy in pay in what she was offered to do a special compared to what Dave Chapelle, Amy Shumer, and others were offered for their specials.  Mo'Nique is couching her call under the platform of gender and racial equity pay.

Now, from my perspective the National Football League (NFL), Netflix, and every other major corporation operating through the capitalist system are not my friends.  While we organize against this system, we do our best to navigate the thin balance between our principles and the oppressive methodology from which these corporations operate.  Our point of view on this question is based on the calls in each case for the African masses and all peace and justice loving people to boycott these industries based on injustices these industries are perpetuating against our people.  Its in this spirit that we evaluate these calls.  The NFL boycott call emerged as a result of the racist manner in which the NFL, other corporations, and the political leaders of the capitalist U.S. empire, responded to the legitimate protests by NFL players (started by Colin Kaepernick) against police terrorism.  Many people, including myself, refused to watch a single NFL game this season to demonstrate our support for the NFL players like Kaepernick who bravely protested against state sanctioned police terror against our people.  

The significant difference between the NFL and Netflix calls is Kaepernick, Eric Reid, Michael Bennett, and the other NFL player/protesters, took initiative to use their visibility as professional athletes to bring awareness to the problem of police terrorism.  These athletes understood, as Colin Kaepernick's absurd unemployment has confirmed, that they would pay a personal price for taking the stand they took.  And, not only has Kaepernick been extorted out of the NFL, but he has responded to that by supporting genuine social justice issues, financially, from all spheres from the Black Lives Matter movement to Somali refugees to the American Indian struggle.  As a result, the people who chose to boycott NFL games are doing so for a very good reason.  We should continue talking about why we permit a scumbag like Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones to denigrate Kaepernick and others in public while intimidating his players from joining the protests, while he raises up his players like Greg Ward and Ezekiel Elliot who are alleged sexual predators.  We should do whatever we can to hurt that scumbag, and all the other's like him, in the only way they understand.  In their pocketbook.

For productive reasons, I'm all for a boycott against any capitalist corporation, but by comparison, the Netflix boycott called for by Mo'Nique has none of the principled characteristics that define the NFL boycott.  Someone would need to point out to me what actions Mo'Nique has engaged in to support our people's glorious struggle for liberation?  What sacrifices has she made in this regard?  From all appearances, she has been silent on all of our issues of oppression.  And, now she wants to couch this issue as one of discrimination?  The reality is gender/racial inequality in pay, and everywhere else, has been the norm in this country since it was stolen from the Indigenous people 500+ years ago.  Mo'Nique has had plenty of time to speak out against this injustice, but we only hear from her now when she's shortchanged?  In other words, had she been offered a better contract from Netflix, she would not be making this call.  She would not be representing this issue of pay inequity.  Based on her history, no one can deny that.  This reality undermines her call and limits the probability of this boycott gaining traction.  What I'm saying is when we decide to get together and confront racist actions by Netflix and anyone else, and our efforts are based in the legitimate cry for justice from the masses of our people, I'll be on board.

The most disgraceful element of Mo'Nique's self serving pimping of our suffering isn't even her lack of morality around the issue.  I've stated numerous times that culture is the method in which a people create their legacy.  As Sekou Ture states "culture is the sum total of all the people's experiences."  And, it is that experience that creates that legacy.  That defines a people for future generations.  It is this process that creates and maintains a people's identity and dignity.  Nothing about Mo'Nique's work is really doing anything like that and she cannot carry that blame alone.  Most of our entertainers are only concerned about personal financial gain.  They use our culture, even including poking fun at our suffering, to make money.  They joke about sexual assault, slavery, and police terrorism, but truthfully, what else can be expected of them?  Our people are dis-organized so we have absolutely no mechanism to hold these entertainers accountable to upholding our dignity.  So, most of them, including Mo'Nique, mostly spew out garbage.  Still, the bigger problem is really us.  Partly, because of our unwillingness to get better organized and for our lack of integrity in how we function as a people.  

To be clear, I think Mo'Nique, Dave Chappelle, Kevin Hart, and all of them are outstandingly talented entertainers, but I wouldn't pay five cents to see any of them.  The n word every five seconds and jokes about our suffering just aren't funny to me - sorry.  I require a bit more creativity that I know each of them have, but why should they work harder when we the people don't demand more?  I'll support any boycott and any direct action that's designed to bring awareness to the suffering from the masses of our people, but sorry Mo'Nique, supporting your call just so you can get paid when there's absolutely no reason to believe you are going to support our movements for justice just doesn't do it for me.  Its this type selfishness that has chipped away at the integrity of our struggle.  Its time to uphold our standard.

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Today's Women March:  As Usual, Most Radicals Will Miss the Point

1/20/2018

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I attended today's Women's March in Sacramento, California, U.S.  The turnout was overwhelming.  Southside Park where the march assembled can probably hold about 20,000 people and the park was pretty much to capacity with many, many, more people joining the march along the way.  For a revolutionary Pan-Africanist organizer like me, this was an extremely exciting and thought provoking sight.  And, after engaging in all the triumphs, disappointments, and everything else in between that makes up the body of this type of work, I'm experienced enough to be very well aware of the obvious contradictions.  In fact, I'm so aware of them that the last thing I need is any of you outside of organizational organizing to attempt to explain the problems to me.  I can detect movement contradictions to the lowest common denominator.  I saw all of the liberal and extremely problematic signs out there today.  There was an overwhelming focus on the president of the U.S. capitalist empire and those surrounding him.  And, many of the people not focused on him were offering alternative individuals to occupy his and other political seats as the solution to our problems.  Clearly, just replacing him cannot be the answer since capitalist oppression existed long before him and will exist after he's gone.  Yet, in this sound bite, social media, two second consciousness society that exists today, this is where most people live.  So, before you tell us, I saw the masses of European women, many who could be seen and heard openly thanking police for being there today.  They were doing this while these same women shifted away from me as if I was there to rob them.  One of these women even turned around as I walked behind her and asked me if I needed to get by as if I couldn't possibly be there to march for women's rights just as she was.  I know most of these women are as racist as it gets.  I get the absurdity of those contradictions much better than most of you who are going to spend all your time criticizing them.  These women would thank police, who are just there because they are getting paid overtime to do so.  I get it.  I know what upsets you about these events.  There was a point when I had a conversation about this with a young Palestinian woman who was marching with a sign that called out European woman feminism.  No one understands these problems better than brown activists who spend our entire lives, whether organizing or not, having to maneuver through these issues in our daily lives.  So, although I also understand why so many of you so-called radicals are going to spend the entire weekend criticizing these marches on social media, I really don't need to hear that from you because as usual, you are demonstrating that you are again missing the point as well as what this golden opportunity represents.

As has been stated many times before, much of the problem in the so-called radical communities today is many of these folks are very new to movement work e.g. if you have been doing this on a consistent level (not haphazardly) for less than five years - you're new).  And, many folks who are not new are just stuck and unable or willing to grow intellectually.  Either way, its not a criticism of new people.  Everyone deserves your time to develop in this work.  I certainly had mine, but because I had that time, I know it takes time.  You see, I recall when I was fueled by anger and frustration in this work.  I remember when my personal trauma was the vision from which I approached this work.  I can admit to a time when my involvement was overwhelmingly based on negative factors, even when I was doing good work.  And, I now know that this early period in my work caused me to miss some very important lessons that I'm starting to understand now.  One thing that has never been an issue for me is humbling myself to recognize those who had more experience in this work than I did.  This is definitely an issue today.  I'm sick of hearing people say "listen to POC" because all that means is pretend you are hearing us until we say anything you don't understand or agree with, then its the same old problem.  And that applies to everyone, including Africans, because white supremacy is universal.

The first thing, and please repeat after me, is that any event of any kind that brings together large numbers of people for a cause of justice is a good thing.  For the revolutionary organizer, we know that the masses of people in the capitalist U.S. empire are not going to assemble today and call for the overthrow of capitalism.  If they were at that point, our work would be much easier than it is.  So, we know that, but we also know that thirty years ago, in the aftermath of the counter intelligence era after the militancy of the 60s/70s, there were no marches of thousands of people coming out for anything.  Like a vine that grows from a seed after the destruction of an entire crop, the fact that thousands, possibly millions of people are out today to demand justice for all genders and non-genders is a positive thing.  We can work with all the negative messaging.  If you are serious about revolutionary organizing, doing that is your job.  You know that advancing consciousness is going to be your primary responsibility, but the first step is always getting people to recognize that there are problems.  And, despite the varying levels of consciousness.  Despite the contradictory support for bourgeois rights for women while supporting the capitalist system that is behind women's oppression.  Despite many of these women crying out against the injustices against women while they ignore African, Indigenous, and Asian women and white supremacy as a whole.  If you understand absolutely anything about movement building than you know once people are out there, whatever their consciousness, they are giving you license to engage them.  To work with them to raise that consciousness.  Because folks, that's the absolute only way that process takes place.  But, despite our egos and our unwillingness to admit our personal shortcomings, we already know that because you started in this work by attending an event that was very similar to what happened today.  Your first event wasn't a revolutionary organizing event and even if it was, you didn't sign up at that first meeting and instantly start organizing for revolution.  And, even if you did, you are without question the lone exception to the rule.  Most people need a process to grow in their consciousness and events like today are our invitations to do that work.

What does this work I'm talking about look like?  I know that most of you don't know because if you did you would be doing it.  Here's an example, go to the people participating today and ask them what they think about the event.  From there, a conversation is started.  Get their contact information.  Follow up with them and invite them to coffee to talk about what your organization is doing.  Better yet, go to their organization meeting and volunteer to help them do what they are doing.  I've often joked that being a revolutionary Pan-Africanist means I'm in environments I don't agree with 95% of the time.  I'm there because I know my work.  I volunteer to help them do what they're doing, even if its not what I want to do because doing so is how you build relationships.  And, its relationships that break down the barriers that words like revolution, socialism, militancy, and radical generate in this sound bite society.  This was clear when we started feeding children in Portland, Oregon, in 2015.  When you are feeding people's children on a physical and intellectual level.  When you are nurturing them, parents will let you teach their children whatever your message is and the parents will listen to.  This is organizing 101.  You should try this approach some time.  It works.

My point is I see events like today as opportunities and if you engaged in organizing work on a consistent basis, you would too.  I don't mean getting together with people who already agree with you.  I'm talking about doing recruitment work to create more radicals.  More revolutionaries.  We can't have revolution without revolutionaries.  So, we have to go where the people are.  People make that statement all the time, but most folks making it really have no idea what it actually means.  It means go to events like today.  Go where so many of the people participating are seeing the event as a photo op.  Don't get irritated with them for seeing it that way.  How else are they with their CNN level of consciousness going to see it?  You have to understand that.  So, don't view them with disgust and then get on your computer/social media and spend 48 hours talking about how stupid and disgraceful they are.  Find out what organizations they are in and attend. Radicalize their groups.  Reach out to them and invite them to your meetings.  Mentor them.  There are so few people doing this work on a serious level that doing so requires very little effort.  That's why All African People's Revolutionary Party cadre can dominant any room we enter.  Because we know how to organize.  That's how we have active chapters all over the globe without the benefit of the capitalist media propagating our work.  That's why I, as a proud African man, can attend a funeral of a co-worker who was a biker and sit shoulder to shoulder with his biker club people, many who were open white supremacists displaying swastikas and confederate flags on their biker jackets and that wasn't even what I was thinking of.  I was excited about the fact they were passing around jugs of liquor in a church.  The general level of rebelliousness made me contemplate where the radicals were who could radicalize these folks on a political level.  That's why when you look at today all you see are  bourgeois women who are stupid and its why when I walk around I see many potential soldiers for our fight for justice.  And, until you can begin to get over your ego and see that also, we will continue to have just us handful of radicals and no ability to actually move an agenda for radical change.  Or, maybe some of you really aren't interested in that.  You just want everyone to know how unhappy with them you are.  If that's you, this article isn't aimed at you. Its aimed at those who genuinely want to organize for change.  The opportunities for us to do this have never been better than they are right now.  Today is just another clear example of that.




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Despite A History tied to Africa, Ignorance about Her Thrives in U.S.

1/16/2018

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A ton of people are upset about trump's stupid comments about Haiti and Africa.  I haven't listened to anything any president of the U.S. capitalist empire has said in decades and I certainly have no interest in engaging comments coming from that orange idiot. I will say that his existence has in many ways let the majority of Europeans in this country somewhat off the hook because now, you can just repudiate him and that is supposed to automatically clear you from the racist reality you also occupy.

The real question isn't what that fool has to say.  The real question is why it was so easy for someone like him to become leader of this country in the first place because that answer will explain a lot.  It will clarify how this stupid president could ever come to be in the first place and how so many people are not even qualified to reject his idiotic comments beyond emotionalism.

As I've stated numerous times previously, the entire economy of the U.S., and the entire capitalist world, is based and maintained on exploiting Africa.  Capitalism itself was fueled by the transatlantic slave trade.  The seed money from slavery funded industrialization which built the capitalist system and the infrastructure from hundreds of years of colonialism, neo-colonialism, and structural racism has maintained the capitalist system.  Everything from the gasoline your car uses to the construction of the car itself to the sugar and chocolate you eat to the mineral ore that powers your cell phone and lap top are products of exploiting African natural resources.  The entire myth of white supremacy (because Europeans know you have accomplished absolutely no more than anyone else on Earth) was created and is carried forward as a methodology to justify that exploitation.  If people believe Africans are lazy and ill responsible it becomes much easier to feel nothing for our suffering, especially since the system you pledge loyalty to is the cause of that suffering.  On the flip side of that, Africans everywhere must stay repressed to insure the capitalist system continues on.  So, your president's ignorant comments about Africa cannot be seen as just a manifestation of his personal ignorance.  They must be seen for what they are, a reflection of the core values and history of the capitalist world.  If that wasn't true, someone like him could make an ignorant statement and you would be able to intellectually explain to your family, children, friends, co-workers, the correct interpretation of history.  Yet, all that has happened in the last several days are empty moral denouncements by people who most likely don't know anymore about Africa than the fool who made the statements.

A year ago, I was in Africa.  When my comrades and I took a 12 hour bus ride from Dar es Salaam to Arusha, Tanzania, it was necessary for us to catch the bus at 6am one morning.  That meant being on the bus in my seat at 6am.  While sitting in that seat, I observed literally thousands of people hustling to catch various buses.  These were people who sold oranges for a living.  Made shoes from scratch.  Students. Domestic workers.  The bus station was a virtual jam packed city all at 6am.  A time when most people in the U.S. are snoring and having absolutely no intention of doing anything, ever.  While I watched that scene, the thought that came to my mind was just how ironic it was that these disciplined and hard working people are the ones that are stigmatized as being lazy and lacking in initiative.  These people have more initiative and discipline in their pinky nail than most people in the U.S. will ever have any potential of ever witnessing in their entire lives.

If you can't respond to ignorant comments about the African world by educating your children, friends, family, etc., about the history and day to day accomplishments of people in Ghana, Tanzania, Guinea-Bissau, Chad, Somalia, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, even Africans in the U.S., etc., than the person making ignorant statements isn't the entire problem.  You are just as ignorant about Africa, Haiti, and the rest of the African world and therefore just as much a part of the blame as the person making ignorant comments.  There is so much literature about Africa and Haiti available today there is absolutely no reason for anyone to be as woefully ignorant about these places as people are, including Africans - even many born in the Caribbean or Africa.  And, for most Africans born in the U.S., knowledge about the international African world is an oblivion.  Those of us in this country have been repeatedly told by our enemies that Africa serves no practical purpose in our lives.  We sit around and foolishly (and ignorantly) talk about other nationalities and how they are advancing past us.  Despite the fact this is not factually true on any level (debate me on this, I dare you), even if we granted you your point on this argument we would respond by saying those people are connected to their motherland in some concrete way while you honestly believe you can achieve forward progress by being completely divorced from your mother.

The best way to defend Africa, Haiti, and all of the African world isn't to react like wounded children when our enemies attack us.  Instead, we should be so focused on educating ourselves about who we are that systemic education for our children and communities is automatic.  If we had that commitment, what our enemies say about us wouldn't matter in the least.  In fact, if we were organized on that type of level, they wouldn't be saying those things in the first place because they would have respect for us.  Not respect out of moral maturity, but respect out of necessity.  

The assault against Haiti only happens because Haiti is seen as a Western Hemisphere outpost of Africa.  The disrespect against Africa happens because the capitalist system needs African people disconnected from our mother.  What better way to do that than to continue to demean our homeland in a way that will make us work harder than our enemies to separate ourselves from our mother.  Our enemies are supposed to attack us.  That's how war and oppression work.  What's unusual is how easy and willing we are to support their efforts to undermine us.


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Stop Being Short Sighted about the Golden Globe Awards

1/9/2018

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Last Sunday a bunch of Hollywood celebrities converted an annual awards show into a direct action event against sexual assault.  The concept of Hollywood embracing a human rights struggle is not unprecedented.  In 1964, multi-skilled entertainer Harry Belafonte helped facilitate a delegation of Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) members into taking an official trip to the Revolutionary Republic of Guinea, West Africa.  The SNCC group, which included current Congressperson John Lewis, and the legendary Ms. Fannie Lou Hamer, were received as diplomatic guests by President Sekou Ture and the Democratic Party of Guinea, one of Africa's most impressive representatives of dignity and self-determination.  Hollywood personalities like Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland raised money for the Black Panther Party in the late 60s and early 70s.  Actress Jean Seberg even became a target of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's counter intelligence program because of her close ties to the Black Panther Party.  In 1972, Marlon Brando permitted an Indigenous Activist to accept his Academy Award.  She used the time to denounce settler colonialism against the Native people's of the Western Hemisphere.  And, in 2016, Colin Kaepernick, a professional football player, helped bring additional international attention to state sanctioned police terror against African people.

So, what happened last Sunday in Los Angeles is not a new thing and contrary to what many so-called revolutionaries and progressive activists are saying about it, its not a completely bad thing either.  And, please, I don't need people who just woke up three hours ago lecturing me about the contradictions of Oprah Winfrey having previous relationships with Harvey Weinstein and Donald Trump.  I'll get to Oprah in a minute, but what I want you to focus on is hundreds of people wore black as a strong symbol against oppression against women.  Actresses like Kerry Washington and Reese Witherspoon lent their names to this movement while actress Laura Dern, as well as Oprah, and others, gave speeches that said in clear voices that stopping assault against women must be our first priority.  

Since most of you watch the movies these people play in (I very rarely do if at all) and participate regularly in the capitalist electoral scam that poses as a democratic process, please don't irritate me by lecturing about the contradictions of rich people talking about oppression.  I understand that contradiction better than you do.  What I also understand better than you is any movement is a broad movement.  Its a movement that includes people from all walks of life and all class statuses.  If you know anything about mass movements, this isn't a bad thing.  Its a great thing because the process of mass movement provides space for everyone, including revolutionary organizers who typically don't have the opportunity to spread our messages.  Plus, I realize that its not the Hollywood people who are moving this movement.  Its the masses of nameless, faceless, women who stand up against oppression who initiate and are the foundation of this movement.  Its those women who pushed these Hollywood women to stand up around this issue.  I know this because I know that it is the masses of people who make history.  Many of you believe the capitalist model that individuals make history.  Since the masses make history, despite the fact the working class women who define this movement were not the faces of it on Sunday, they are the ones who moved this struggle into the forefront so that it caught the attention of celebrities.  

If you are seeing this phenomenon as a problem, you don't understand movement building.  The problem isn't the Hollywood types and what they are doing.  The problem is that our grassroots organizations are so weak, so unsupported, that we do not maintain the ability to continue to define the message of the movement.  You see, we should be engaging in strategic work to continue to push the celebrities.  Since their voices can reach a whole lot more people than we have capacity to reach, we should be positioning our organizations and movements to benefit from the exposure these celebrities are providing to us.  Instead of doing that, some of us are throwing darts.

A true revolutionary propagandist understands that political education strengthens the movement like concrete fortifies the bricks.  Of course we know that Oprah Winfrey is a token member of the elite bourgeois in the U.S.  I've said it before and I'll say it again.  A purple, one eyed alien could one day be elected to become president of the capitalist U.S. empire if that being agreed to uphold the values and principles of capitalism and imperialism.  So, we understand clearly that Oprah Winfrey never was, and never will be, the answer for African people, women, or any oppressed people.  Still, if we can build strong enough movements that push people like her to educate millions about an African woman like the late Rece Taylor in two minutes, why wouldn't we use that as a part of our tactics to spread our messaging?  Oprah's been on television for decades and she's never mentioned Rece Taylor or anyone like her before so the fact she did it Sunday I credit to those women who are pushing, pushing, pushing.  There is nothing wrong with any of that.  The problem again is most of us don't know how to organize that pushing process so that its institutionalized.  I've been talking about women like Ms. Taylor and Rosa Parks for years, but I'm no fool.  I can't talk to as many people about them in the next 20 years that heard it from Winfrey Sunday night.

The more people hear the ideas, the more they begin to imbue them in their behavior.  The more that happens, the more it becomes institutionalized.  If our objective is to create a climate and culture where sexual assault is unacceptable, why wouldn't we be working to figure out ways to use any and every resource available to promote that message?  That wouldn't mean Hollywood would control the message.  Those people are entertainers.  That means they will do whatever we the people demand from them.  Today, that is speaking out against the movement.  Tomorrow that could be something completely reactionary.  This is the science of propaganda and movement building, but in order to understand this, you must understand that the masses make history, not individuals.  And, in order to understand that, you must be engaged in a regular political education process.  The fact most of you aren't is the reason you are missing the point on this.

In 1990, hip/hop artist KRS-1 was courted by some of our All African People's Revolutionary Party cadre in an effort to grow his consciousness.  The results of this work were KRS-1 placing snippets of Kwame Ture's speeches on his 1990 ablum "Edutainment."  This action on his part made our work, especially booking Kwame Ture to speak, which at that time was our strongest recruitment tool, so, so, much easier.  Just like the rappers promoting the African medallions that were popular during that time made my job easy.  How could you refute or refuse to talk about Africa when you were wearing Africa around your neck?  We knew KRS-1's commitment to our work was fleeting.  And the fact he today is doing Sprite commercials is proof of that.  But, for that period in the early 90s, we didn't criticize his interest in our politics.  We used it to advance our political work.  This is what serious activists need to be doing today, but this will take getting off social media and doing some actual on the ground organizing work.  Maybe once you do that, you will start to understand what I'm talking about here.




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The Consent Issue and the Fact So Many Men are Cowards

1/6/2018

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Its 2018 and there are some things we just shouldn't have to keep clarifying.  One of those things is if a woman, femme presenting person, doesn't give you consent to physically engage with them in any way, form, or fashion, than you cannot do it, period.  No ifs, ands, or buts, about it.  I don't care if she leaves her house everyday butt naked and stops in front of you and twerks with her rear-end facing you for two hours.  You still don't have any justification to touch her in any way, form, or fashion.  This is so despite however she's dressed or not dressed.  And, how she talks or doesn't talk to you has absolutely nothing to do with it.  If during your interaction with her you find out she's a transgender woman has nothing to do with anything.  Whatever she may have even talked about doing to and with you before has absolutely nothing to do with it.  If she is saying no in this moment and you do not honor that, you are a violent predator, plain and simple.

The reason this is is all true is because we know elderly and physically disabled women are regularly sexually assaulted.  Hell, when my daughter was 11, a boy grabbed her breasts in school and all the students at that school wore the same uniforms.  So, the fact these incidents happen to women regardless of the circumstances tells us that its not even just a sexual attraction issue.  Its an issue of men exercising physical and emotional power over women.  This is always an abusive and unacceptable practice under any and all scenarios.  

Where cowardice comes in is most men already know everything I'm saying here on some level.  You know it because the moment you even suspect that any man has crossed a boundary with any woman in your life, than you are ready to kill him, but the reasons for this are even dysfunctional.  If it was a situation of respecting women it wouldn't matter whether you knew them or not and you certainly couldn't argue that the man deserves death if you know the woman, but the woman has brought on the issue whenever you don't know her.  So, if you are a man and you subscribe to any of these weak ideas, you are a coward of a man.

And for the men who continue to actually attempt to argue that women who wait five, 10, or 50 years to report sexual assault are discredited "because why did they wait that long?" you are nothing except a weak coward.  The Limbic portion of the brain is the portion that controls our emotional responses.  The Limbic is 100% emotional. It has no logic.  It has no sense of time.  It is that part of your brain that makes you feel as if you are back in 1999 when you hear TLC's "No Scrubs" because to the Limbic, when it receives the stimuli of that song, it is 1999 so it does its job in returning you to the senses, smells, and thoughts that are meticulously stored in your brain from that year.  Since the Limbic has no rationale, it protects you the best it can and often that means shutting down whenever you experience trauma.  That's partially why you often can't remember details of traumatic events or that you can't remember much of anything about those events.  Your brain simply will not go there.  This is true for everyone, not just women recovering from sexual assault.  That's why I still have a very difficult time recalling and placing details from that day in 1977 when three thirty something white terrorists physically attacked me and hospitalized me.  I didn't start talking about that incident until the 90s, but if anyone tells me that the fact I waited that long is an indication that the incident didn't happen, they better duck when they say that.  My trauma from that and many other incidents makes it easy for me to understand why a woman would wait for years and/or why she would never say anything.  I'm sure 98% of us can understand that so for all the men who keep making that piss poor argument to discredit these women, you are a gutless coward and all the women who argue this are right there with you.  Then, if you add the power component of the man being famous, the boss, etc., that's just more logic as to why a woman would not say anything.  Anyone who claims not to understand that is either stupid, lying, or both.  And, for you confused Africans, spare me with that tired refrain that these African men being accused are being attacked by the system.  I wasn't there when the accusations took place, but Bill Cosby, Tavis Smiley, etc., have never done a second's worth of work to attack the capitalist system so why the hell would the system attack them?  They are doing everything the system wants them to do.  Promoting our integration into a system that has been hellbent on destroying us for over 500 years.  There are plenty of men who engaged in full frontal attacks against the system on our behalf.  The system did everything it could to destroy these men and often the system succeeded, but they could never accuse King, Malcolm, Nkrumah, Cabral, Kwame Ture, etc., of sexual assault because they weren't doing that, case closed.

My political development and the benefit of having a very active All African Women's Revolutionary Union and the social revolution they facilitate through the All African People's Revolutionary Party has always made me try and combat this cowardice within myself and other men, but now, I'm on the warpath.  I don't want to occupy a world being a part of a species that is cowardly as too many men are displaying in this present time.  If we don't act out militantly against this cowardice, than that makes me just as responsible as the ones carrying out the assaults.  To me, this militant "doing something" isn't taking individual actions against cowardly men.  The real solution approach is we have to get all men in organizations and we have to get those organizations operational with women's wings and an anti-patriarchal component in their organization building.  In other words, we have to up the game on raising the consciousness of men.  We have to do this in an uncompromising fashion though in order to raise the bar and that will require individual commitments to the collective goals.  The reason why cowardice has become so normalized is because not enough people are confronting it. 

Another way this cowardice demonstrates itself is you just aren't seeing men attacking the systems of power that generate and perpetuate this oppression they way men attack women.  I shouldn't even have to explain why this is the epitome of cowardice.  This is true of all men, but especially European (White) men who are the poster children of cowardice in the world today.  The most whiny and self entitled element in the entire universe.  You should be ashamed to hold space in the world today.  The funny part is people have asked me my entire life if I would prefer to be White and despite the hardships being African has brought me, even as a child, I looked at how spineless so many White men are and I knew then that I'd rather be dead before I had the lack of backbone that so many of these White men walk around with today.  People can say whatever they want about me, but no one will ever be able to say I'm a coward.  I'll take my consistent swimming against the current existence any day over the privileged and entitlement of the majority of white men taking up space today.  They are primarily responsible for the growing sentiment of anti-man expression that is becoming louder and louder.  I'm not offended at all by this sentiment.  I went through my anti-white sentiment many years ago.  In some ways, if handled properly, that period can be an important phase in the consciousness development process so whomever feels that they don't want to interact with men, any men, that's their right.  My response to that isn't to get mad at them or challenge them.  My response is to challenge these cowardly men that generate this problem in the first place.

Its time to tell men that most of what you are saying are weak excuses.  And, certainly, much of what you are doing is unacceptable.  Shut up and start doing work to change our behavior.  Some of us men are really sick of hearing your cowardly voices.  We are going to do everything we can to make your sorry existence as uncomfortable as possible.



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"The Black Power Mixtape" Movie is a Disgrace to African People

1/1/2018

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The so-called documentary "The Black Power Mixtape" is often hailed by the white left as the defining educational statement on the U.S. Black Power movement of the 1960s and 70s.  White scholars have written volumes about the documentary and white left organizations often organize viewing of the film as if it is some sort of Bible on the movement.  Meanwhile, no one has paid much attention to the fact very few if any African organizations, meaning no Black Nationalist organizations, Pan-African organizations, or even former Black Power movement activists/organizers, are lifting up this movie in the same fashion as the white left.  Why?

Because the movie is terrible, that's why.  Organized by some racist idiots from Europe, the film is a series of errors, miss-information, and caricatures.  We won't even dwell on the obvious.  The scene where the Scandinavian tour bus drives through Harlem while the racist narrator talks about the neighborhood being unsafe and "the Black man's" ghetto."  Or, the ignorance of the man interviewing Angela Davis who herself becomes extremely annoyed at the man's complete lack of understanding of the African experience in the U.S. (we won't even get into the contradiction that Angela Davis herself was a member of the Communist Party USA at the time and besides being supportive of the Black Panther Party, wasn't even an active participant in the Black Power movement, but she was African, active, and famous, which appears to have been the only requirement for these filmmakers).

Instead we will challenge the ignorance of our own African celebrity narrators who took part in the movie.  I realize the presence of Talib Qweli and Ahmir Thompson (Questlove) gives the movie credibility to lots of Europeans, many who believe their assignment as accomplices to African liberation is to listen to any African who has an opinion about white supremacy.  And, from a musical standpoint, I'm a big fan of Qweli and Questlove's band "The Roots."  That doesn't mean I'm going to depend on or rely on them to give me a proper analysis of my history and movements.  That would be like them relying on me for lyrical and/or musical advice.  That's why they are artists and we are activist/organizers.  For example, Qweli kicks off this headache of a movie by narrating the first segment on 1967.  The focus is on Kwame Ture who was then known as Stokely Carmichael.  The movie doesn't provide viewers any history or context of what Ture actually did in the movement besides showing up for events, conferences, and speeches.  And then, to astonishingly and officially confirm it, Qweli even ignorantly states that he was at a loss as to why the U.S. power structure was so concerned about Ture since "all he did was give speeches."  This is why people need to read.  Kwame Ture, as Stokely Carmichael and as Kwame Ture, did so much more than give speeches.  Here was a man who engaged in  on the ground organizing in some of the most dangerous terrain in this entire country.  He organized for the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in Mississippi and Alabama during a time when doing so was tantamount to having a death wish.  The systemic white violence against activists is well documented.  Ture was arrested 26 times between 1961 and 1966 for this work and his participation and leadership in the historic 1966 "March against Fear" in Mississippi (the famous Black Power march where the slogan was launched and became a national movement) is historic.  The Black Power movement launched that June of 66 in Mississippi is the movement where African people decided that we were going to stand strong and proud as we are, regardless of whether white America liked it, was comfortable with it, or accepted it or not.  If you understand the importance of that movement, which Ture/Carmichael was a central leader, than you realize that without it, there would not have been a Brown pride movement, Women's Liberation Movement, an LGBTQI movement, an ableist movement.  American Indian Movement co-founders, the recently departed Dennis Banks, and Clyde Bellecourt, stated in 1968, that their movement was inspired by the Black Power movement.  Ture/Carmichael was a central leader of the Lowndes County Freedom Organization in Alabama in 1965 which became better known as the original Black Panther Party that influenced the Oakland, California launched version that started a year later.  Without all of this, there certainly would be no Black Lives Matter movement, no Afrocentric movement, none of it.  Yet, none of this was even broached in the movie.  Ture was just a guy who gave speeches.  And, then to add insult to injury, Qweli, someone who himself has a cultural name, calls Ture Stokely Carmichael all throughout the segment when he must know that Ture changed his name back in 1977.  If you don't know, for those of us who have seriously (not just here today gone tomorrow) taken on our African cultural names, its without question a sign of disrespect to continue to call us by our slave names that we have replaced.  Something we expect from the white power structure, but definitely not something that should exist in a movie that is supposed to represent our movement and history.  

Probably the biggest weakness of the film was its inability to tie the Black Power movement to our broader struggle for human rights and dignity as a people.  Instead, the movie delves into a racist depiction of the problems that continue to plague African people like drug abuse etc.  Its not to diminish these very real problems.  The point is the movie depicts these issues as if the movement came, went, and these problems remain when the truth is the problems are clearly a reflection of the system's efforts to sabotage and destroy the movement.  Heroin and cocaine are drugs that are systemically shipped into this country from other countries.  Even the criminal Federal Bureau of Investigation confirms today that 50% of the heroin sold on U.S. streets today comes from Afghanistan.  African people own no planes or boats.  Most of us don't even know how to kayak so even a third grader could figure out that the drug epidemic is something that has been imposed on us for a higher objective.  That objective is to crush the potential for an African led revolutionary movement in this country.  If people are high they aren't going to organize.  The Black Power movement represented the potential for that movement and the system moved, in many ways, to circumvent that.  The movie missed all of this.  Its as if the makers of the movie were only interested in viewing African people as a fetish.

Of course, the problem is any serious students of the Black Power movement must accept that you cannot gain an acceptable understanding of the movement by watching movies, even documentaries.  You have to make a commitment to engage in serious study.  And, there is so much out here that you can review.  Any of the books of speeches by Malcolm X (there are several).  There are a number of books about SNCC like "In Struggle" as well as books by and about Kwame Ture, Cleve Sellers, Huey P. Newton, Bobby Seale, Elaine Brown, Assata Shakur, Geronimo Ji Jaga, Jamil Abdullah al Amin (H. Rap Brown), Muhammad Ahmad (Maxwell Sanford), Elijah Muhammad, and all of the frontline participants in the African liberation movement of the 1960s.  If you are ignorant enough that you thought the Black Power Mixtape was an excellent display of the Black Power movement, you have no one to blame for your ignorance except your own political laziness.  Get to work.  When you start engaging in this serious study you will come to realize that the Black Power movement didn't exist in a vacuum.  It happened, just like the civil rights movement and the African independence movement that inspired all of it, for a reason.  The fact African people are the people who engage in spontaneous urban revolt, instead of other communities, happens for a reason.  Those reasons are that capitalism is built and maintained on our oppression meaning the wealth of this society is produced based on the blood of Africa.  No European produced documentary is going to provide you with that type of education and analysis.  It will only come from the source.  If you are serious about receiving that real education, you will start out 2018 with a different focus and seek it out.



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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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