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Time to Discuss how Casual Use of the N Word is Impacting Us

1/31/2019

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I'll be completely honest. From the time I could talk until I turned 18, I used the n word everyday all day. In fact, all my friends used it the same way. My mother used it. My father used it. Even my 70s something grandmother used it. It was so much the norm that as I've grown to apply analysis to everything that we do, I understand that the commonality of the word has made many African people believe its usage has no tangible impact on us as a people in 2019 and beyond. I know this because that was what I thought back in the 70s when I was using the word before many of the people using it today were even thought of.

The point of the above context is to clarify that African people using the word to describe each other is nothing new and its not something only the youth do. Its ingrained in us and this is an international phenomenon. What's missing is why and how this occurred?

Despite the beliefs of many of our youth these days (based on viewing conspiracy youtube videos and other questionable sources), the overwhelming majority of our people in the world - I'd say 99.9% - are products today of early forced migration thousands of years ago, the transatlantic slave trade, and colonialism in Africa. Today, those last two elements define African existence in the world everywhere from Australia to Africa, and everywhere in between. What I mean by define is our lack of power as a people and the subsequent disrespect we experience with everything we do, is a result of the fact Africa is weak and disorganized. Without a strong Africa, there is no way we can and will be strong anywhere on Earth. My point is the state of Africa is the reason we suffer, not because we have been in the Western Hemisphere for thousands of years as the conspiracy theorists claim. And, its also the state of Africa that defines why and how the n word became so common and casual.

White supremacy is a myth/concept created by the enslavers of humanity to justify their pillaging of Africa and the rest of brown humanity. They had to come and steal everything, including us, because we did not have the capacity to develop on our own. This thinking and philosophy is the basis of how the entire capitalist empire was constructed and its how its maintained today. Since, the basis of this white supremacist lie is that we didn't have the capacity to manage our own societies, it was important for these international thugs to engage in a system of dehumanization against us. Something that would ensure Europeans (white people) subconsciously see us as inferior while we see ourselves that way. Using the n word to replace our real identity as proud African people was a significant aspect of this international scheme. This is why African history was never taught in schools or anywhere, not even in Africa. Its also why the history of African people is taught as a subservient history where we are passive and never fought back. Even today, many people believe this thinking. For example, there's a popular meme going around that says something to the effect of "I'm not my ancestors" to attempt to make the point that people of today will fight back, as if our ancestors didn't fight back.

If you have the fighting spirit today, you better believe you got it from your ancestors who fought against our oppression from Africa to the middle passage to the Western Hemisphere. There is no period of history, no place on Earth, where we did not courageously fight back. There is so much history of the Maroon slave rebellions, the tribal resistance in Africa, burning of the slave plantations, the Mau Mau, etc., there is no excuse for people in 2019 to be talking about "I'm not my ancestors." Yet, we engage in self defeating and disrespectful messaging because most of us know absolutely nothing about our proud history. Therefore, we accept, either consciously or unconsciously, the narratives of our people provided to us by enemies. They tell us that Africa is a wasteland with no potential and no dignity and since we don't investigate these things ourselves, we believe them. As a result, we don't wish to identify with Africa so we make up things. Or, we just go with what the slave master provides us. The n word is what they provided us. And believing we are lessor than. Believing that there is something naturally wrong with us we permit our children to attend schools (even in Africa) that disparage us as a people. We support churches where pastors joke about "affirmative action in Heaven" and we continue to believe, whether we want to admit it or not, that we are less than the Europeans. That they created everything and we just sort of came along for the ride.

The elephant in the room is that a person robbed of their history is bound to accept the narrative about them provided by those who don't have their interests at heart. This is our story. And, instead of castigating our youth for using the n word, my perspective is that at least they have tried to find a way to use it fighting back. They try to use it as some sort of form of resistance. The youth are not without blame also though. They need to start engaging in serious study of our history and stop attempting to take the lazy way out of just cruising through picking up stupid things here and there and being unwilling to honestly admit you haven't put in the hard work. Still, the issue is clear. They are attempting to create an identity for us to battle against white supremacy, but there can never be a healthy way where the n word can be any part of that healthy identity.

And, there are signs that this casual usage of the word continues to have an adverse impact on us. Its even possible to argue that the growing pessimism among our people is based in a belief (or lack of understanding) that our people cannot change the course of these conditions. This is fatalistic thinking fueled by our lack of knowledge about the degree in which we have always fought back with nothing. With no hope. With no support, we have always fought back and we have won, everywhere.

Like anything in life, the only way you can reroute yourself into a positive direction is you have to surround yourself with positive influences. You have to remove the toxic people around you and replace them with positive people who lift you up and inspire you. The n word is that toxic person in your life. Its the person always attempting to bring you down. And, every time you use it you are both consciously and unconsciously reinforcing the beliefs that our abilities and capacity will be forever limited and/or nonexistent. If you don't believe that, just observe any of the unending clown videos being created by the hundreds on social media of us negatively engaging each other. The way the n word is consistently used between people can be described as anything except a term of endearment. The term is bandied about in these negative circumstances as the weapon it was intended; to push us down and keep us there. And, anyone reading this knows that because people you respect you don't refer to as the n word.

Finally, this issue of non-Africans using the n word is ill relevant. This capitalist society is as anti-human as you can imagine so of course people are going to take on inhuman characteristics. African people are less than people in this society so of course these people, understanding that part of being successful in this cesspool society is doing what the people in charge do - disrespecting the people on the social bottom of the society - us - by using the n word. And, of course they are going to blame social media and hip/hop music for their usage, but they were using the n word long before those channels became available. Still, that doesn't excuse us from accountability. Its extremely lame to keep hearing Africans telling us that they can use the n word, but no one else can. For those of us who have faced down death from white supremacists (and I've had to do that multiple times) when the n word was rained down on us like rain in the Pacific Northwest, you sound like the fool arguing that "its just a word." I know if you had faced the word in the circumstances where I've faced the word, you couldn't even be able to fix your mouth to say that nonsense. I'm especially encouaged to slap people who take this position, then have an experience where they are faced with the n word as I've described it from white supremacists. Then, these people have the nerve to be shocked. Sit down and shut up.

For you its just a word because like everything else in your life, you are an expert with no actual experience with anything. For the masses of our people, we have been using the word for decades on a common level and during that time we have faced some of the worse treatment in human history. There is a common denominator there that cannot be ignored. To key to our salvation is us discovering who we are. If being African is not important. If building an independent Africa for us is so ill relevant, why are our enemies working so hard to keep us from accomplishing it?

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Venezuela; Understanding Socialism and Self-Determination

1/25/2019

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This week imperialism did what it does best in Venezuela. It completely disrespected the will of the Venezuelan people and the international community. By imperialism we mean the rich industrialized countries who have wealth because of their system of exploiting the resources of the rest of the planet. This network of thieves is of course led by the U.S. As it relates to the situation with Venezuela, imperialism is represented by the U.S. and the so-called "Lima Group." A collection of gangsters who used a meeting in August of 2017 in Lima, Peru, to agree to place the interests of international imperialism ahead of justice, integrity, and respect for humanity.

By disrespect, we mean the methodology in which imperialism carried out its nefarious activities this week. For those who recognize that truth matters in life, let's repeat that in Venezuela's 2018 national election, Nicolas Maduras, the current president, received 67% of the vote. His best challenger received only 20% of the vote and the other person running got 10%. The only registered complaints against the election process by those so-called international observers were statements that the representatives from Venezuela's community councils which carried out the election process were "concerning." No specific accusations of voter suppression. No evidence of violence by the government against opposition leaders. Nothing. In other words, compared to the 2016 and 2000 U.S. presidential elections, the Venezuelan election came off without the slightest hitch. Still, none of this stopped U.S. imperialism from contributing to conditions to commit an illegal coup against the democratically elected Venezuelan government. They did this by "recognizing" the so-called opposition leader as the president of Venezuela, completing disregarding the Venezuelan people's clear mandate of support for Maduras and his socialist party.

As par the course, imperialism is using the same tired rhetoric to justify their actions. We've all heard this story many times before. Its been used for decades against Cuba and other socialist countries. Same old lies. There's no freedom in Venezuela. People are fighting for food to eat. The policies of the Venezuelan government have failed because of their commitment to socialist development. Since most people in the world know absolutely nothing about socialism, its not difficult for these lies to continue to stick. And, to add to the confusion, as they have historically done using the scum posing as exiled Cubans in Miami, Florida, U.S., to denounce the Cuban revolution, we have any number of bourgeoisie Venezuelans who want you to know they are the experts on what is happening in that country. And their message is what is happening isn't good.

Regarding the last point, we have stated in this space countless times that this logic borders on absurdity. Revolutions are fought to address inequities in society. By definition, this means they are fought for the working class and peasants. In other words, not the people who will be sought after to be interviewed on capitalist news channels or stories. On the flip side, bourgeoisie inhabitants, or the people who possess class privilege, are never on the side of revolutionary change unless they have made the conscious decision to commit class suicide (denouncing the bourgeoisie classes and siding with the masses of people against the power structure). So, unless you understand the class contradictions of a society, just saying "someone from Venezuela told me people are eating out of garbage cans" is a completely asinine process of studying what's happening in a country. Its as mindless as the bourgeoisie in the U.S. telling federal workers, unpaid due to the stupid government shutdown over the last few weeks. that their banks "know them" and would give them loans until they get paid. To the bourgeoisie, who never even interact with supermarkets and banks like we do, its a completely unknown reality that most federal workers in 2019 probably rarely even enter bank branches as banking is done largely through electronic means e.g. direct deposit, mobile banking, etc. So, your bank doesn't know you. My credit union is located in different state than the one I live in so I haven't gone into a branch in years. Someone who works at my credit union could walk up to me and slap me and I wouldn't know them so the idea that they "know me" is completely insane. The same is true for Venezuela's bourgeoisie. These people are completely out of touch with the masses in Venezuela. They therefore have no understanding of the progress the Bolivarian revolution there has achieved. Illiteracy has been practically eliminated in Venezuela since Hugo Chavez took office in 1999. Health care and other clear signs of human progress have improved dramatically since then. These gains explain why Maduas, who won narrowly in 2013 when he succeeded Chavez after his death, won convincingly in 2018.

The other confusion is related to Venezuelan policies and its actions against opposition. Again, these are common attacks against revolutionary governments. The liberal elites in countries like the U.S., who's primary objective is to reform capitalism, are always quick to adopt this line of logic. The cold hard truth is revolutionary governments, particularly those like Venezuela, Nicaragua, and of course Cuba, who function within the sphere of the strongest imperialist country in human history, have every right to act quickly and decisively against efforts to illegally sabotage their societies. Often, errors are made in this process. This is certainly unfortunate, but these are always going to be the realities for young societies who deserve the right to figure out how to govern in a world hostile to their approach. And, to those who say I can say this because I don't live in those countries, understand that when I take this position, I use the example of Cuba, which following the Soviet models in the first 30 years of its revolution (before the fall of the USSR), was very much indifferent at best, and outright racist at worst, in acknowledging the history of its largely African population. There was a time during the Cuban revolution when African culture was frowned upon because of the early narrow Marxist-Leninist interpretation that any identification based on culture and nationality was reactionary e.g. only the class struggle was accepted as the proper method of human identification.


Venezuela and her people have the right to craft out their socialist society and they will make errors in doing so. Anyone who criticizes that doesn't understand human development. Now, the Venezuelan people have the right to expect that corruption, a major problem in Venezuela, must be eliminated, but even doing this is a process. There is no country on earth where corruption doesn't exist. And, certainly, the U.S. is in absolutely no moral position - as corrupt as government is in this country - to point the finger at anyone. Corruption exists everywhere and Venezuela has the right to learn how to eliminate it. The fact they haven't completed this process after only 20 years of existence under antagonistic conditions, isn't an indication of anything derogatory about their integrity as a revolutionary society. The same bourgeoisie in Venezuela who are charging the Bolivarians with corruption had no problem with its existence in all the previous years before 1999 when it existed at a much higher level than it does today in that country. The fact no one, not even their harshest critics, can claim that Hugo Chavez, or Maduras, have stolen even one Bolivarian piece of currency should be all the evidence you need about the integrity of their commitment to their work. The same can be said about Fidel Castro, Muammar Qaddafi, and Robert Mugabe. By comparison, U.S. puppet leaders like Marcos in the Philippines, Pinochet in Chile, Mobutu in the Congo, Duvalier I and II in Haiti, etc., have a trail of stealing their country's wealth that can be easily traced by any novice researcher for the next 200 years.

Finally, the charge of mismanagement is completely dishonest. The corruption is a problem of political education. Its an issue of building consciousness in the country beyond the primitive level of individual gain to that of selfless collective gain. Socialist gain. Socialism is a transition system. It should take time because growing consciousness takes time. Until Venezuela is able to get much farther along in that process than 20 years while fighting sabotage, we are not even close to closing the book on the quality of their progress. This is such confusion for most people in the U.S. because their understanding of socialism is being colored by bourgeoisie politicians within the U.S. like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who wants to make to clear to you that she's not pursuing the socialism that exists in Cuba or Venezuela. She wants something that is supposed to emerge by hijacking the bourgeoisie U.S. electoral process. The same bourgeoisie process that has conspired to push Saudi Arabia to continue to produce mass amounts of cheap oil in an effort to saturate the oil market in a way that has adversely impacted Venezuela's economy since oil is Venezuela's major export and revenue producing industry. In the 2000s, Venezuela enjoyed such lucrative oil wealth that poverty was massively reduced and they were able to even supply heating oil to poor communities around the world, including the Bronx, New York, U.S., where Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez comes from, despite her complete dismissal of Venezuela's progress. Meanwhile, no one is asking the question of why Saudi Arabia continues to flood the market with cheap, low priced oil at the time when the Saudi economy is in deep trouble. In other words, doing so does nothing to benefit Saudi Arabia, but much to benefit imperialism's desire to destabilize Venezuela's socialist advancement. This tactic has been used many times before by imperialism to sabotage socialist development with sugar, rubber, and other commodities.

Venezuela had no national liberation war fought to achieve power. Instead, they are attempting to transform their people into a revolution through policy while working through all the contradictions touched upon in this piece and much, much more. Anyone who supports imperialism's quest to destroy Venezuela is not a friend to colonized and oppressed people on the planet. And even those who are attempting to act like they are objective observers when they point out the shortcomings in Venezuela are no better than the out and out racists and right wing anti-communists. The road to hell is paved with great intentions. Imperialism is obviously relentless in its intentions to destroy any movement working to advance people against profit. If Maduras and Venezuela's socialist work was so off point, why is imperialism working so hard to sabotage them? People who are genuinely concerned about justice have the responsibility to make honest assessments. If you know you haven't studied any socialist materials stop trying to pretend that you are objective. You have however many years you have been alive of anti-communist propaganda that has formed your perspectives whether you want to admit it or not. The people of Venezuela need people committed to justice now.

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Women's Marches, MLK, & Tearing the Bandage off the Wound

1/19/2019

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Commemorations of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Women's Marches should focus in reclaiming the radical and uncompromising visions of Dr. King and women like Ms. Ella Baker

This weekend in the town I live in, and in other cities around the globe, thousands of people will be marching to commemorate the birthday holiday for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and for justice against patriarchy for women and all non-men. Its not an exaggeration to say that hundreds of thousands, possibly millions, will be marching for these worthy commemorations. This is a signal that people are waking up. They are being inspired to step out and contribute towards the type of world that they want and deserve.

The capitalist system, a system where profit is always the priority over people, knows what these marches represent. That's why the capitalist system doesn't rest from attempting to derail and disconnect the people from using these occasions to build real capacity to change this backward system. This is the reason capitalist corporations have worked for years to slow down the radical elements of Dr. King's work. Before the national holiday in 1986, marches demanding the holiday were militant and uncompromising. I know because I participated in many of them. People who were scheduled to work (their capitalist jobs) on MLK's birthday, refused to go in that day. The U.S. Department of Labor was reporting that call outs on that day were up around 30% by the time the holiday became official. Since the institution of the national holiday, capitalism has worked to ensure the militancy was tamed. Corporations stepped in to sponsor MLK commemorations. The very same corporations - General Electric, Chevron, etc., who's business policies and practices were in direct conflict with the ideas of Dr. King. The very corporations who collaborated and celebrated when Dr. King was murdered. Now that he was gone, and the people have adopted him as a symbol of their resistance, these corporations cleverly step in to shape his image for you. Their work is to ensure that you don't view Dr. King as the militant and uncompromising moral leader for justice that defined him for everyone who worked with him. This generic capitalist media version of Dr. King is one of a pacifist who just pleads for acceptance from a racist society. This is a great narrative for the capitalist to position Dr. King because it perpetuates the myth that our struggle is really one of seeking acceptance from the very societies that enslaved and oppress us. Clearly, there is no victory when operating within that dysfunctional vision.

The Dr. King who will not be present at most of the events this weekend is a King who grew to oppose the profit over people principle of the capitalist system. Absent is the King who had much more than a "dream." The absent King understood clearly that the U.S. is the "number one purveyor of violence on the planet Earth" so how the hell did we come from the man who uttered those words to the pasty image they portray today who they would have you believe supported the capitalist war machine's imperialist assault on the world's populations? Absent is the King who stated clearly in 1961 that efforts to rob workers of their rights is immoral. Gone this weekend is the King who spoke against the very so-called "right to work" destruction of labor unions that the so-called U.S. Supreme Court has made national law in 2018. In fact, those very same so-called "justices" will be out this weekend caricaturing themselves as supporters of Dr. King when even the lightest surface study of his work illustrates he opposed everything these people represent.

The militancy in the King marches this weekend will be gone. Instead, what we will get is the same superficial focus on people "getting along." The issue has never been getting along. It has always been building a system that provides for people's needs. When we create that, getting along becomes organic, but creating a new system will not be on the agenda at King events this weekend. The very thing this moralistic man gave his life for will be replaced with a focus on how to go along to get along, the very opposite of everything Dr. King stood for.

As for the women's march, the capitalist system will invoke the same shaping of the narrative on this event as they do on the King commemorations. Instead of these marches focusing on the capitalist system's reliance on patriarchy to enforce the oppression of women and non-men, the message of the marches will be convoluted with the capitalist vision of the struggle really being about positioning enough women on the same plane as men in upholding the capitalist system. The same status quo analysis will be promoted in order to do this. The so-called controversy about some of the national leaders supporting Minister Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam is a clear example of this. Regardless of what you think you know or believe about Farrakhan, the reality is that he has been fighting within his organization for 60 years within African communities. Communities many of these current so-called activists and many of you wouldn't even have the courage to step into. Anyone who makes even a casual study of the history of the zionist movement to rob the Palestinian people of their national homeland knows that the efforts to label Farrakhan, and any anti-zionist activists, as anti-semitic is old, tired, and full of holes and contradictions. Yet, in 2019, it still works because the dominant narrative of everything, even mainstream social justice movement, is controlled by the capitalist system. That's why this issue of Farrakhan has garnered more attention for the women's marches this year than the critical issues facing women and non-men such as disparities in health care, increasing incarceration of women, particularly for crimes related to their connections and/or interactions with men, violence and abuse against women and non-men, increasing poverty among women, and the capitalist system's inability and incapacity to respond to all of that, etc.

As we have stated many times in this platform, any activism is good because as Sekou Ture taught us; "bad organization is better than no organization." In other words, if someone is attempting to engage in a journey, but has no vehicle, you don't critique the vehicle they choose. Instead, whatever vehicle they use to initiate their journey will make them stronger in defining their journey as they go. Along the way, they will figure out the journey that will serve them the best. So, since we understand this principle, we don't waste time criticizing marches and actions as to reformist, etc. We encourage people to participate in these events this weekend because those who aren't participating in anything must start somewhere in order for them to understand what's good and what's not so good. If we have faith in people, which anyone who is truly revolutionary must have, then we must believe that by participating, people will figure out what is correct for themselves. So, go to these events, but struggle over these concepts expressed here. Let's think in terms of how we can restore the King and women's events to a place where the ideals and principles that molded those events is prominent and the illusions and disinformation that is dominant today is challenged at every point.

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Stop Giving Racist White People Exactly What They Want From Us

1/13/2019

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Although its incredible to comprehend in 2019, even with over 500 years of practical experience telling us otherwise, many African people living in settler colonies like the U.S., Canada, Azania (South Africa), etc., still have faith that we can fit a square peg in a round hole. That we can find some way to function within these capitalist societies free from white supremacy and oppression.

The primary way in which we demonstrate this continued belief is in our unwillingness to face reality head on. Examples? In 2019, we still act shocked, surprised, upset, whatever, when overt racist incidents happen. We are so unprepared to deal with a reality that has been dominate for centuries that all we can do when confronted with overt racism is to record it while expressing our dismay that such a thing is happening.

If there is anything that has been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt in this world, its that the majority of Europeans (white people) within these settler colony borders are 100% committed to upholding white supremacy. History is so full of examples of that from hundreds of years ago leading up to present day that those of us who know this beyond any question are not going to disrespect ourselves by trying to convince anyone on our position.

Instead, here is a plea for us to stop catering to these sick and disgusting people once and for all. There are plenty of them everywhere. And, they all consider themselves the subject matter experts on dismissing our claims of discrimination in these societies. This all by itself is absurd, yet we continue to provide them space to dominate, not just participate, but dominate in this discussion.

When Europeans approach me on questions of race, white supremacy, whatever, unless they demonstrate a clear and scientific understanding of the issues (and so far, they are batting about 0 for 10,000 in this area), I don't even let them engage. For example, if I'm having a discussion about these topics with other Africans, and they insert their opinions, which happens all the time, I'll be honest, I'm quick to shut them down.

Them: "I don't think race is the issue."
Me: "And what books on racism, police terrorism, institutional discrimination, etc., have you read? Cuz if you can't name anything we can discuss intelligently, I couldn't care less what you think about anything. It would be like me commenting on giving birth. Worthless!"

That's my approach and some of you may think its rude, but what's actually rude is Europeans being arrogant enough to dismiss our humanity by even suggesting they know more about white supremacy then those of us who experience it and organize against it daily. I can assure you that my approach certainly makes me feel solid and it prevents lots of stress from entering my life. In other words, I don't give them what they want. The vast majority of them, at least 98%, are completely unqualified to give a worthy opinion on white supremacy so by us going along with this society's lie (that everyone's voice matters on everything), we encourage this level of ignorance that disrespects us in the process.

Bourgeoisie society is all about giving the illusion of democracy at all times. So in these societies bourgeois concepts like "your truth is your truth" and "no one's voice is more important than anyone else's" are always promoted to the point where if you challenge this bourgeois philosophy, you are accused of being elitist.

The truth is everyone's truth isn't the truth. If I say 1 + 1 equals 25 you would have to be an absolute fool to tell me "my truth is my truth." No. I'm wrong. I need to study harder. And, I need to figure out what the correct answer is. Period. That's how we need to start dealing with this racist scum, but in order for us to do that, we have to have done our work. And, many of us haven't done any work e.g. analysis about white supremacy, capitalism, patriarchy, nothing. We are as ignorant as the racist Europeans coming at us. We don't know anymore about the truth than they do and many of us do much more to perpetuate our own oppression than we do to alleviate it. So yes, its our responsibility to not rely on identity politics e.g. because we are biologically African, we are experts on the African experience. Stop that nonsense. This is the dysfunctional reason so many of you actually look to ignoramuses like Kanye West or Bill Cosby for opinions on these important issues. If its not hip/hop lyrical styles or joke delivery, there's nothing those fools can tell me about our people's struggles for justice and I don't think its humanly possible for me to care less what they think about it. And, again, I can feel firmly that way because of the confidence I have on these issues.

So, the first step is we have to study up because the only way you will ever be able to shut them down is if you know yourself. Knowledge of our history as African people and our relentless struggles for dignity and justice at every stage of oppression against us, provides me the confidence to stand up and represent us against anyone, anytime, anywhere. But, if you don't know our history, you can't do that. You can't have that confidence. In fact, all you are really able to do is repeat the talking points about these issues that are provided to us by this very system that is oppressing us. That's probably why so many of us feel some internal remote controlled responsibility to give these piles of horse manure so much space to insult us. Subconsciously, if that's our only process for addressing white supremacy, we leave ourselves absolutely no choice except to believe, deep down, that much if not all of what these idiots are telling us about us is true. Part of us believes them when they tell us "you should feel lucky that you are in <settler colony of your choice> instead of Africa!" If you don't know anything about Africa, part of you has to believe that because all the wealth is here in the empire, not Africa. From the uninformed outside perspective, it seems as if these settler colonies are more advanced. That they are the winners. And, it seems that Europeans are the reason for all that "success." You missed the part where the wealth was stolen from Africa like you were so you believe them when they lie and say they built up this wealth and since you want a piece of the wealth, you think the only way you can achieve it is to imitate and mimic their system.

Yeah, its sick, yet, that's where we find ourselves in 2019. For most of us, even when we experience these racist encounters with these people, the only response we have is to call the very same police who almost always amplify the oppression once they come and get involved.

I don't profess to have all the answers, but there are some things I've tested for years so there are some elements to this I can assure you do work. One is again, if you have that strong sense of our history, you can shut them down as I mentioned. And, if they get aggressive and belligerent with you, if you have taken time to prepare yourself mentally and physically, you can shut them down that way also. In fact, if you have this level of skill, most bullies (which is exactly what these people are) will detect it before they engage with you. I experience that all the time. I'll even go as far as to say these racist scum interact completely different with me, and people like me, than they do with most of you. And, my size, etc., has very little to do with that. Plenty of big muscular Africans get harassed and plenty of non-muscular men, non-men, etc., have learned how to protect themselves from being harassed.

As Kwame Ture taught us, organization decides everything. So, if you are concerned about racist encounters. If you desire to have our people defend themselves and maintain our dignity. I have a message for you. The skills and experience people like myself possess is not a capitalist commodity. We desperately wish to share it with our people. We desperately wish to see our people protected from racists as well as people within our communities who would prey upon us. We can train people on how to get prepared, but you have to want it. You have to be willing to work for it. And, you have to be willing to work with other Africans to build cohesion and strength. Most of us struggle with that last part. We have totally bought into capitalism's individualistic philosophy. We have absolutely no patience for our own people. We will go everyday to schools and jobs that disrespect us as policy, but we refuse to give each other any opportunity to fail. All of this has to change.

I look forward to the day when the police, gentrifiers, voluntary racist community police, racist organizational service employees, etc., find themselves consistently being faced with a new spirit among African people when they attempt to bully us. When they start to experience us giving them as much consideration as they give us, and us having the ability to back that up. And, when they start seeing this happen to them on a consistent basis everywhere, they will start to think twice before they mess with us. The best part is all of this community defense work is part and parcel of our quest to have one unified socialist Africa. All of this is required for us to have the respect and dignity that we deserve. That our future generations deserve. Who is ready to build solid work among our people? Who's tired like I am of seeing us forward videos of us being disrespected while we are defenseless to stand up for ourselves? Is anyone else sick of this nonsense and ready to do something about it? Does anyone care? Are there people who realize no individualistic solution is ever going to solve these problems?

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The Cruel Struggle of Producing Your Art in a Money First Society

1/10/2019

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When people talk about "art" most primarily think of music, dance, painting, drawing, sculpturing, etc. For some odd reason, writing fiction is often overlooked as art although it meets all the criteria of all the other art genres. Its creative and it reflects the vision, ideas, statements, hopes, and aspirations of the persons producing it. Or maybe, my impression of how people see written fiction is colored by the people I come in contact with who may just not reflect the literary fiction reading public. I don't know about that, but I do know that these days are extremely stressful ones.

The days are stressful because I'm preparing to offer up my third literary fiction piece to be published into another full length book. My first novel is 362 pages. The second one is 542 pages. This third one will end up somewhere in between.

The stress exists because my first two publishing experiences were very painful. The publishers didn't do what they committed by contract to do. The second publisher literally stole royalties from me and by that I mean he stole every penny of royalties I earned, which wasn't insignificant. And, he even shorted me out of books he owed me that I paid for. In fact, I have absolutely no way to order either of my first two novels unless I order them online and pay retail for them just like anyone else.

I'm stressed because I am determined to make sure this third time around goes differently. I want things to go better. I really want to realize the dreams I have for producing my work that were not only not realized through the first two experiences, but I was taken advantage of each time. If you know anything about me, than you know I fought back, but after the publishers filed bankruptcy, there wasn't much else I could do besides beating them up. To be honest, the thought crossed my mind several times, but I understand doing that would have only jeopardized my ability to make this third go around better.

So, I'm focused on using what I've learned the first two times to help me make this third experience a vast improvement. I don't have any illusions. The publishing industry, like every other industry in this capitalist society, is based 100% on profit. This reality is that is the driving force behind the struggles I've had with the other books I've written. In truth, this reality is the driving force behind pretty much every problem we experience in our lives, but that's another discussion.

For now, we are talking about me not having unrealistic expectations for publishing this third novel. For example, I know you are not supposed to say this, but I don't really care about royalties e.g. how much money I make from this next book. What excites me is having the opportunities to talk about the concepts taking place in the book. The focus on the characters fighting for African liberation. The fact that glorious struggle isn't about being anti-white, its about being pro-humanity. And, the experiences the characters have in finding that out. The method in which their ability to develop courage and commitment serves them as repression against them intensifies. Their ability to close ranks and struggle together. The ability of the masses of the people to use their experiences to motivate them to do the same. The emphasis on respecting women and all people. These are the things I dream about standing in front of large crowds to talk about.

Now, I'm a revolutionary organizer. A revolutionary Pan-Africanist organizer at that. That means we work with slim to none in resources. Everything we value and promote is messaged as insanity in this society, including all the concepts I've explained will be in this next book. Therefore, our ability to get people to listen to us and come into our environments requires sweat, blood, and tears for every person we attract. That was one of the most attractive features of turning to writing literary fiction for me. It provided an opportunity for me to address the issues I want to address in a way that maybe isn't as intimidating to people as a standard presentation about revolutionary change. We are working to change hearts and minds and whatever way that can happen, I'm willing to try it. From the feedback I've gotten from countless people after the first two books, the material very effectively achieves that objective. My challenge is getting the book(s) in front of people and that's why this publishing process is so extremely stressful. I understand that if I can do this properly, and get a few breaks, I can achieve my objective of having opportunities to get this book out there. To get people to discuss the concepts within it. That's my dream.

Anyone who produces art understands what I mean when I say you are constantly disrespected during your quest to get your art out here. Its a systemic disrespect meaning it happens consistently in every circumstance you face. I'm focused on doing my best to mitigate that negativity this time around.

The other major factor I'm thinking about is the publishing industry is just like the other entertainment industries. Its concerned about form, not essence. I have absolutely no doubt that this book has both, but the challenge is getting someone who has the capacity to pay attention long enough to your product to believe in it. This is the part I'm most unsure of. Obviously, based on my previous experiences, I've never seen what I just described. Consequently, I have no way of knowing what it looks like to have someone respect your work. A big part of me doesn't expect that. What I expect is I'm going to do whatever I need to in order to ensure my work is respected. In other words, if that means self-publishing, although I wasn't prepared to do it that way before, I am now because I definitely don't want to have a repeat performance of the last two published books.

Finally, I think its important to say that I maintain full faith in my capabilities and the product I'm producing. This book is somewhat different than the other two. The first one, I started in 2009 and finished the next year. The second one I started in 2010 and finished in 2014. This pending one I started with the second one. I would write in one on one day and the other on another day. So, it has taken me nine years to finish this one. The last four years and some I've been working exclusively on this one. If I assess the quality of my books, I feel strongly that the first one was decent, but it was my first one. I believe the second one ("The Courage Equation") was a quality book in all areas, but I think this one surpasses both of the previous ones by far. I've used what I've learned with the first two and I think that shows with this current work. What I'm saying is I've put even more into this this book and I want to see that bear fruit. As a result, I'm going to do much more due diligence than I did with the previous two. I was honestly so happy to get publishing contracts that I didn't do all of the background work on the publishers that I should have. That will not happen this time.

Whatever art you produce, if you don't firmly believe in it, no one else will. I think one way to meet the challenges of this money over people system when facilitating your art is to remember that if you are doing your art with your primary vision being making money, you will be consistently disappointed. You always have to view your art as your voice. And, it can't just be your personal voice. Your art is culture and you didn't invent and/or control the culture that produced you. That means you have the responsibility to always use your voice to challenge inequities in this world. If you lose sight of that, your art loses its soul.

These are my focuses as I embark on this third journey. I've promised myself I would do something else I didn't do before. I would have much more fun this time with the process. No one contributed nine years of work on this book except me. No one stayed up all those nights and spent all that time thinking it through except me. The number of shear hours I've spent on this project are uncountable. I have earned the right to celebrate this process and I'm going to do it. Not only am I convinced that if I follow all of these new principles in this publishing process, I not only will be able to enjoy this part of the process (like I've enjoyed writing the book), but I believe I will also position myself to meet the core goals I have with this process. So, pay attention because if everything goes the way I plan on ensuring it goes, you will be hearing about this book very soon.

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Remembering Steve Deslouches; A Fallen Young Comrade in Arms

1/7/2019

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Steevie - at far right - with others of us from different A-APRP chapters at the October 2015 Million Man March in Washington D.C.

This past weekend, we learned the sad news that our young brother comrade from our All African People's Revolutionary Party (A-APRP) New York, U.S., chapter, had suddenly made his physical transition. Steve Deslouches - who we called "Steevie" - a mere 26 years old, was gone.

I first met Steevie in May of 2015 at our annual African Liberation Day commemoration observed in Washington D.C., U.S. I was working to help build our Oregon A-APRP chapter at the time, but I was asked to go out to D.C., and Philadelphia, and serve as our keynote speaker for both African Liberation Day programs in each of those cities. Steevie came up to me after my presentation to express his excitement at the information contained in it and the passion in which he felt it was delivered. I was equally impressed by the fact he had caught a train from New York just to come down to the program by himself. I also joked with him that his physical appearance and demeanor reminded me of long time A-APRP Central Committee member Macheo Shabaka - who ironically, we also lost in July of 2018.

One of the principle rules I've learned about successful organizing over the years is the absolute importance of follow up. This is a minor, yet critically important element, that is missing from most work. I've always viewed revolutionary organizing within a hostile capitalist society as a struggle of gaining any and every advantage that you can. Consequently, I've always tried to pay special attention to follow up. What I've learned from this focus is most of time when you collect people's contact information, which I often do, and follow up with them, regardless of your efforts, you most often never connect with them again. My belief is the reason for this is most people are ready to complain and/or pontificate about our problems, but very few people are actually ready to consistently engage to do anything about our problems. That's why I was so impressed with Steevie after that African Liberation Day program when he beat me by reaching out to me first. We talked, mostly electronically, throughout that summer. He often had questions about my writings on this blog. He wanted me to refer books to him. He had questions about how to go about organizing the A-APRP in New York City.

In October of that same year, I saw Steevie again at the Million Man March event in Washington D.C. There were about 10 brothers there from the A-APRP from various chapters throughout the U.S. We met that morning and spent that entire day passing out or organizing materials and having conversations with thousands of our people. It was a great day and I recall spending hours on our feet working with Brother Steevie and the other young organizers.

After the Million Man March Steevie and I continued to stay in contact. We would talk every month or so. Eventually, he began to open up to me some, articulating some of the personal struggles he was battling with. He was very forthright and honest about his challenges which was refreshing in this day and time when truth and justice are so often completely divorced from day to day reality. I'm no expert on much of what he shared with me, but he expressed that he wanted to continue to hear from me the things that inspired me to do this work. How I continued to overcome the negativity. How I managed to stay positive about the work and my own personal walk through life in a backward society. I tried my best to give him what he wanted.

The last couple of times I talked to Steevie, a few months ago, we talked for quite some time. He was actively working on a plan for himself and I encouraged him to do whatever he needed to do to move forward. I was always impressed with his honesty and willingness to listen to those around him. To me, he represented the exact potential we have within our young people to rise up and overcome the oppression we experience. Here was a young person who was so committed to seeing things improve for us. A person who was willing to struggle to better themselves to be in the best position to make their best contribution. A person who wanted to take advantage of every resource around them to help them on their journey. I was honored that Steevie felt I could in some way enhance his efforts.

When a tragedy like this happens, without any details (because I don't have any), the normal response is to wonder if we have somehow failed this person who succumbed and thinking that makes us sad. It's making me sad, but as I've thought about Steevie all weekend, I've come to a different analysis of this unfortunate situation. The stark reality is that this system has always, and will always, come to destroy our people. Its working to destroy everyone, but the African masses will always represent the most serious threat to capitalism simply because that entire system is based on our oppression not just in one part of the world, but throughout the entire planet. There are no people more widespread on Earth then we Africans and our systemic oppression is the exact reason why this is so. The capitalist system attacks us physically by using state institutions to repress us e.g. police, social services, prisons, etc. It attacks us other ways physically by confining us to the slave diet that is causing our health epidemics worldwide. And, it attacks us psychologically by treating us as if we are less than human. For many people, this becomes more than they can handle. This is why its so very important that a central core of our work is always to reaffirm the humanity of our people and of all of the world's populations.

I'm heartbroken about losing Steevie. I'm heartbroken about all of the loss of life that could be avoided, but I'm going to use this to encourage myself to continue to remember my humanity and your humanity, because this humanity is our best weapon against the forces that are trying to destroy us. I didn't know Steevie very long, but I'm going to tell myself that this is how he would wish us to honor him going forward.

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Organization: How we Protect African Women, Children, People

1/3/2019

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This precious African child - seven year old Jazmine Barnes - was murdered Sunday by some deranged European. He pulled the trigger, but the problem, and the solution, is bigger than just reacting to this tragic individual act. Its time for us to get organized to stop this madness once and for all. And, if you don't think we can, then you are unwittingly a part of the problem.