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May Day; Worker Solidarity & Revolutionary Pan-Africanism

4/30/2019

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The people of Venezuela should be center to everyone this May Day.
Tomorrow is May 1st which is May Day, the international day of the worker.  By worker we mean anyone who provides labor to achieve a specific objective.  Whether its working a job where you receive a paycheck or being a parent who raises a child, all of that and everything in between is work.  May Day is the recognition of the work everyday people do everyday to push the world forward.  African and other colonized people should honor May Day.  We should because we are the most exploited workers on Earth and May Day, in its essence, is the commemoration of worker's fighting to free themselves from capitalist exploitation.

Us colonized people should definitely honor May Day, but we approach May Day completely different from the organized white left.  And, by white left we mean Marxist/Leninist, Trots, Maoists, anarchists, etc.  As was previously alluded to, African people are without question a part of the international working class, but because of international white supremacy, colonialism, and neo-colonialism, we will not heed the tired old refrain of the white left that we forget about those elements, push aside racist subjugation - including that within the white left - and pretend on days like May Day that we are all one unified working class movement.

The primary struggle for African and other colonized people today has to be our organization against our colonized state in the world.  That means movements like revolutionary Pan-Africanism, Filipino national liberation, Palestinian national liberation, Indigenous National Liberation in the Americas, etc., has to be our primary focus.  Clearly, the white left can be continuously counted on to ignore the realities of our suffering e.g. their May Day talking points never address the components of white supremacy that dominate our lives.  A defeat of capitalism with no anti-colonial recognition where colonized people have the right to fight for our national liberation will bring no salvation for colonized communities.  Even V.I. Lenin, in his classic work "Imperialism" acknowledges this despite his and Marx's limited analysis of colonized struggles.  As Lenin indicates, national liberation is the "pre-requisite" to socialist revolution.  

Due to the systemic disrespect and outright racism directed at colonized people by the white left, trying to talk most African activists/organizers into commemorating May Day is like trying to get an atheist to go to church.  The suggestion here is that we approach May Day with the same approach we should use for all of our work.  Our participation is defined by our culture, meaning we come with our own revolutionary Pan-Africanist analysis.  So, we help organize May Day events and we ensure our reality as colonized African masses is central to any May Day themes (along with other colonized people).  We ensure we invite our follow up people we are working with to May Day.  We inoculate our follow up to the contradictions of white supremacy that will be present while at the same time helping our follow up people understand that our struggle is part and parcel of all worldwide struggles.  That last part is critical for us because we must continue to promote the balanced perspective that only we can save ourselves e.g. Pan-Africanism, but our struggle must be class based, meaning our connection to other liberation struggles is essential.  We cannot demote into this endless and unproductive and xenophobic black nationalist conspiracy theory based negative analysis of our place in the world.  Or, as we call it in our Nkrumahist/Tureist ideological analysis; we hold a nation (race), class, and gender analysis of our struggle.

Finally, May Day for us must talk about eradicating capitalism.  It must have a strong anti-capitalist message with a clear understanding that the alternative to capitalism is socialism.  We must talk about how socialism will only come about through organized revolution, including the component of revolutionary violence as a part of our struggle to dismantle capitalism.  These talking points must be used to confront the bourgeoisie dominance of most May Day commemorations, particularly in the capitalist epicenters, where the entire focus is on workers joining the bourgeoisie class.  And, that break through is not going to happen from the white left.  Its only the colonized masses, particularly the African masses, who can develop this level of consciousness among our people and societies as a whole.

So, keep organizing and happy May Day because for me, May Day and African Liberation Day are the only holidays I commemorate.  African liberation tied into worldwide worker solidarity.  We maintain our dignity and independence while contributing to the worldwide struggle.  
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Antonio Moore; Yvette Carnell; ADOs v.s. The Logic of Sekou Ture

4/29/2019

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What has Pan-Africanism done for us? 90% of what makes Malcolm X iconic is what he learned once he connected the African struggle in the U.S. to Africa. Shirley Graham DuBois was a central figure in Pan-African work in the 1960s. Living in Ghana and Egypt she was a major connector for work taking place at that time. DuBois and Malcolm's work, unquestionably connected to mother Africa, provides much of the framework that defines our path today.

If you haven't come across them yet, ADOS is short for the so-called American Descendants of Slaves movement.  Taking a dishonest page from the playbook of capitalists Charles and David Koch (the Koch Brothers), Antonio Moore, Yvette Carnell, and other assorted opportunists like Tariq Nasheed and Cornel West, have taken a discredited political position and given it a name that is bound to resonate with Africans here in the U.S. who continue to suffer as a daily ritual.  

By discredited position, we mean ADOSs attempts to claim that Africans born in the U.S. are being exploited by Africans born in other parts of the world.  Therefore, according to their "logic" it is in the interests of Africans born in the U.S. to adopt a xenophobic view of other Africans in order to oppose their presence here in the U.S. because those other Africans are taking economic opportunities away from Africans here in the U.S.  Its discredited because these people, and anyone else, cannot demonstrate any data that confirms their claim about opportunities for Africans in the U.S. being taken away from us by our other African family members, or any other immigrant communities for that matter.  I mentioned the Koch Brothers because they have been instrumental in creating effective political lobbying mechanisms like the so-called "American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).  ALEC is the lobbying body in the U.S. that has brought you racist "Stand your Ground" laws along with so-called "Right to Work" laws that have stripped workers in the U.S. of their rights to collectively bargain contracts for greater worker stability.  Slogans like "Right to Work" sound good enough so that the very people who are targeted by Koch Brother policies - the working poor - are very much likely to be people who voted in favor of some form of "Right to Work" legislation.  The same tactical approach is utilized by these ADOS people.  Like the Koch Brothers, ADOS uses the scarcity theory that capitalism doesn't have enough to go around.  Therefore, they argue we must turn towards pointing fingers at immigrants, even those who look like us and are us, instead of growing the courage to challenge the real culprits for our suffering; the capitalist/imperialist classes of elite multi-national corporations who control governments and exploit and oppress the masses of people on earth. 

Scarcity theory, of course, operates based on fear.  There is no intellectual foundation promoted in scarcity theory politics.  For ADOS this looks like telling our people here in the U.S. that we need to take up a position against our other family members.  And, we are supposed to tell our people here this without any evidence of anything beyond some individual subjective examples like "I didn't get hired at this company, but this dude from Nigeria did!"  We are in no way ever limited to subjective individualism.  There is much data we can look to in order to illustrate that our poor economic standing is specifically linked to capitalist exploitation of African human and material resources.  The disparity of opportunities for African people in areas of education and employment that have existed long before African immigration was even a thing (only over the last couple of decades).  We have white supremacist violence directed against us by state institutions and everyday people without impunity.  And, the only people provided a voice to speak to our issues are those who are unquestionably committed to the values and interests of the capitalist system. 

These are just some of the reasons for the conditions we face, not Africans born outside of the U.S., but ADOS, like their political mentors the Koch Brothers and other capitalists, continue to stick to this tactical approach because unfortunately, it continues to work so well with so many of us.  The capitalist system has a vested interests in keeping Africans within the U.S. as ignorant as is humanly possible about the plight of Africans everywhere and only a very small percentage of us do anything to combat this.  The rest of us are happy to be ignorant provided the Warriors games remain televised, we can continue to live vicariously through the lives of Beyonce and Jay Z, and we have social activities available to us to absorb the pain from the suffering we don't know what to do with.  This ignorance fuels the ability for sham analysis coming from people like ADOS to flourish, and we'll give a clear example.

Lately, this Antonio Moore ADOS person allegedly called for Africans born within the U.S. to be classified as "biracial" if they were born with an African parent born outside of the U.S.  This is a typical xenophobic tactic coming straight out of the pages of Nazi Germany after 1933 when the Third Reich came to power.  Using this example, we can easily demonstrate how the foolishness and anti-intellectualism of this ADOS scam flies directly into the face of the materialist based scientific theories articulated by revolutionary Pan-African Giants like Sekou Ture - the former president of Guinea, West Africa, and co-founder of the Democratic Party of Guinea - still one of the many Pan-African political parties struggling to advance Pan-Africanism - the only real solution to our suffering around the world.

In his landmark pieces on "Negritude" and "The History of Class Struggle" Ture clearly lays out how African identity, because of the ravages of colonialism and neo-colonialism, can never again be defined based simply on biologically or where one was born.  Being African has to have a primarily political definition that is driven by one's commitment to unity of African people based strictly on our understanding that until Africa is free, no African anywhere can be free.  Ture also pointed out that imperialism will always seek to divide African people because its interests demand that our focus be anywhere except on Africa.  Its like the old babysitting tactic of hiding the treats from the child while playing a game with them designed to get them to focus on something else, anything else, besides the treats you don't want them to know you have.  ADOS is gladly taking on a leadership role in playing this game with the African masses within the U.S.

​We encourage our people to use our own culture and common sense to dispense of the foolishness these people are promoting.  No one can dispute that the European countries committed thousands of slave raids throughout all parts of Africa for hundreds of years.  This meant they rounded up millions of our people.  Only a complete idiot would suggest that during this terrifying process, the enslavers took time to provide lap tops for each captured African with a survey monkey for what ethnic group and/or family that African was stolen from so the colonizers could ensure you were never separated from your family.  You were separated from your family as policy so that means any African from any other part of the world could be your biological relative.  Just from that simple perspective, any talk of classifying us as different people can only be a ploy designed to benefit the interests of those seeking to continue to oppress us because there is not one material benefit to Africans within the U.S. in accepting this absurd logic.  ADOS would tell you that reparations from slavery are most possible from us separating from the rest of the African world, but this is coming from people who have not played one active role in the reparations movement, ever.  Those who have courageously championed that movement have always done so from a clear Pan-African foundation for obvious reasons to anyone seriously studying the reparations question.  And, this goes beyond even discussing how crazy it is for these ADOS people to even suggest that even one dime is coming your way without some form of active and relentless struggle against the system causing our oppression.  In fact, you don't even challenge these people for a comprehensive plan for reparations.  The bar is so low that all they have to do, like every other hustler out here, is feed us a good sounding line, like their Koch Brothers masters, and many of us - without any study and/or investigation - will buy it hook, line, and sinker.  

The problem here, as Ture points out in this class struggle piece, is we must grow in our understanding to a place where we recognize that Ture was correct when he said class struggle is the driving force in human relations.  Class being the interests that represent what's best in your life and how you are willing to fight for those interests.  It is the driving force. Not race, and certainly not where we are born.  Our collective class interests as African people everywhere exploited ruthlessly by capitalism in its quest to develop, consolidate, and control the planet, is the key to finding our salvation.  And, just the fact that these opportunists are maybe better at using social media to the extent that they are even able to claim being any type of "movement" doesn't change anything.  It actually confirms Ture's class analysis.  The masses of African people struggled for more educational opportunities for African people during all of the great social movements we have initiated and sustained in this country's history.  Africans were in the streets fighting for justice.  Most of those who paid that price never reaped any benefits they sacrificed for.  Many of them in this country, from Marcus Garvey, Amy Garvey, Louise Little (the mother of Malcolm X), Kwame Ture (Stokely Carmichael), Roberto Clemente, Miariam Makeba, and thousands upon thousands others, were not even born in the U.S., although they made unquestionable contributions to the African struggle within the U.S.  So, clearly, the issue isn't where you were born.  Its what your class interests are.  ADOS people, continuing the strategy of subjective individualism, are always quick to point out that one or two Africans born outside the U.S. who said or did something against the interests of Africans born within the U.S.  Of course they did because like ADOS, they are constantly jockeying for position within the exploitative capitalist system to carve our resources for themselves at the expense of the masses of our people.  So, in essence, these negative petti bourgeoisie Africans born outside the U.S. are competing with the petti bourgeoisie Africans born in the U.S. e.g. ADOS, to gain positioning in the master's courtyard while the masses of us are not even in the real equation for these people.  That my friends is what class struggle looks like.  As my mother used to always tell me; don't allow yourselves to be so easily confused!

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Jim Crow Louisiana; My Mother's Journey & Mother's Day

4/26/2019

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The only picture I possess of my mother - Clothilde Dewhart - taken in 1977 when she realized her dream of directing a group of us inner city children in a stage production at the San Francisco Opera House. I never realized at the time, how much she endured to give us that opportunity

In another week or two we will have Mother's Day upon us here in the U.S.  For several decades I've been pretty intentional about not celebrating any holiday sanctioned by this imperialist system.  I've taken this position militantly, up to and including deciding (along with her mother) not to raise our daughter within the context of any of these holidays.  My decision has caused a lot of difficulty over the years.  Family doesn't understand.  They used to think, I don't know if they still do because we don't discuss it any longer, that I was in some sort of cult by belonging to this Pan-Africanist political party.  They expressed, often, that they felt I was denying my daughter due to my beliefs.  The results of this contradiction are isolation and often being treated as if you have slain a family member because of fear and discomfort about my beliefs and way of life.  

For most of these holidays I've always been comforted through the difficulty by a strong sense of justice from the positions I've taken and carried out.  So-called holidays like the 4th of the lie, thankstaking, "Veterans" Day, and even Miss-Christ (with all its consumer hypocrisy and its diminishing of the principled life Jesus attempted to live) all represent such obvious contradictions for anyone with at least one eye open that its been simple on those days to relish having time off from capitalist work.  And, due to my political work, most of those types of "holidays" I'm usually engaged in political organizing work e.g. 4th of the lie commemorations (of which I was a very humble and proud innovator of in 2002 when we had the first such known commemoration here in Sacramento, California, U.S.).  As a result, those days come and go without a second thought for me, but Mother's Day has always posed some challenging moments.  I know this is true for multitudes of people who I've discussed this with over the years.  For some, the challenge is their less than ideal relationship with their mothers.  For others its the dilemma of wanting to honor the mothers in our lives, but not wanting to buy into the capitalist hype in doing so.  We are certainly clear as sunny weather that this capitalist system has absolutely no concern for any of the people impacted by any of these so-called holidays when its hyping all of us to spend money on them.  This system's interest in Miss Christ, 4th of the lie, Mother's Day, etc., is strictly for us to go out and spend money.  Even if you and your mother absolutely hate each other, capitalism would encourage you to take mom out to brunch.  Just don't discuss the difficulty.  Or, if you do, wait until after paying the bill.  For me, its always been a little bit of both.  Contradictions with the relationship and not wanting to play sheep with capitalism.

Regarding relationship, my issues in my mother/son relationship are much different than many.  She and I had a good relationship.  In my view, she did absolutely everything she could ever do to protect me.  And, there was much that I needed protection from.  I know she did her best.  And, she talked to me about everything that I ever got talked to about.  Much of her information was lacking.  Sometimes it was 100% incorrect, but she tried.  And, for that, I loved her and I've missed her everyday since she died in 2009.  The core issue with us was my father.  Much like my mother, my father tried his best to protect and take care of me.  I know he did.  Unlike my mother, he pretty much never talked to me about anything outside of sports or disciplinary issues, but I still always knew he loved and valued me.  As a result, I've missed him equally, everyday since he died in 1999.  

The primary issue with my parents was a systemic one.  And unlike so many people today, I've learned (thanks to the All African People's Revolutionary Party) to evaluate life from a collective perspective.  A collective African perspective.  I know how to decipher the demarcation line between systemic issues and individual effort.  That's why I know that the current capitalist value induced nonsense about your life being all about your personal choices is absolute garbage and I can easily use my mother's life to illustrate that.

My parents didn't talk much to me about their lives.  I know now that the reason for this was they were nowhere near healthy enough on an emotional level to do so.  My parents did spend a lot of time talking to each other.  I used to look forward to early on Saturday mornings when my father returned from working graveyard shifts at the Post Office.  My mother would be up along with my maternal grandmother who lived with us until her death in 1980.  The three of them would sit in the kitchen, drink coffee, and talk about Louisiana.  Once my grandmother made her physical transition, my parents would continue this tradition from their bedroom.  And, I would soak in every word because most of what I knew about Louisiana, before traveling there multiple times on my own without my parents as an adult, was learned from listening into these conversations.  

From listening in I learned that my mother escaped from Monroe, Louisiana, U.S. as a 16 year old abused girl.  She lived on a farm and she bitterly complained about having to pick cotton for Europeans.  She bragged about purposely picking cotton stems with thorns attached so that she would be deemed unfit the continue to pick it.  This was one of my first lessons about resistance that our people waged everyday.  Jim Crow as a system completely obliterated my family.  Most of the men, as was policy for Jim Crow segregation, were incarcerated for long periods of time for the slightest and/or nonexistent infractions.  The women, as was the case with my mother, were forced to find creative ways to take care of their families.  With my grandfather, a man named Archie Black who I only ever knew from an old black and white photograph, locked up and unable to interact with his family, my grandmother was forced to venture out to California where she spent 45 years cleaning white people's laundry while living with us.  I remember when she died.  She had worked with some white people's laundry to the point where she had a stroke.  Ignoring the obvious issues taking place with her health, those rich San Francisco white folks in North Beach sent her home to us on public transportation that day.  To this day I have never wanted to go to North Beach as a result.  I was always afraid I may want to extract revenge.  

My grandmother would send money back to Louisiana each month to her sister, my great aunt, who raised my mother.  That experience was so traumatic to my mother that it was only in very recent years since my mother's death that I finally learned the name of my great aunt who raised my mother.  To this day, I still don't know the name of my great aunt's husband who was there with her.  My mother simply called him "uncle."  And, she spoke with such contempt for him that I never dared ask her, or anyone else about him.  All I know is that he was some sort of moonshine drinking preacher of some measure.  Abuse of a physical and sexual nature happened to my mother.  I know this just from piecing together what I learned from listening to those conversations.  I also know that on more than one occasion, white racist night riders rode up to my mother's aunt and uncle's farm to attempt to intimidate and harass them.  She and my father actually exchanged stories of this happening to them in Monroe, where my mother was, and in Streveport, where my father was raised.  In fact, all of the relatives used to recount racist night rider stories.  The stories absolutely terrified me as a child, but for them, it was equally as terrifying, but also just a typical daily occurrence.  This is an essential point because today people try to act like Emmet Till was a single spectacular event when I know this type of terrorism was daily life for my people in this country.  This is why even the most limited thinker should be able to determine that when white people, many of whom aren't even from the Southern U.S. claim that they desire to protect "their heritage" of confederacy, you never see many Africans who are from the South doing the same.  I'm not talking about the one off idiot.  I'm talking about no mass of African people from the Southern U.S. hanging confederate flags and claiming "Sweet Home Alabama."  With the overwhelming majority of Africans in the U.S. having Southern U.S. roots, it would seem like it would be interesting to even the biggest white fool why so many of these people aren't feeling this jubilation of Southern pride.  

These are the terrifying conditions my mother grew up with.  So, I understand clearly why her meeting my father was a turning point in her life.  He was the first, and only person, in her view, that accepted her completely and had her back.  He had his own demons to grapple with from his racist Jim Crow upbringing though.  In fact, I would characterize my parents life as one of him working overtime to deal with the trauma of his life while she spent so much of that time working to support him.  Alcohol for him was so much of an issue that it ended up being his demise.  To the very end, she was there doing her best to have his back.  When he died 20 years ago they had been married (ironically on the 4th of the lie) for 39 1/2 years.  Had they lived, they would be celebrating their 60th year married this year.  And, I can even reason that this backward racist system is the core reason why neither them or my grandmother lived into their 70s.

With my mother having to spend so much time following behind my father with his challenges, there was never much time left over for her to pay much attention to me.  She tried.  I know she did, but there just wasn't enough capacity.  And, early on, I had every issue imaginable, but the support wasn't there.  This is what is meant by saying our oppression as African people creates generational trauma.  This systemic problem was passed on to me and I've suffered quite a bit my entire life as a result of basically having to raise myself in an environment that was not a friendly one.  For the first part of my life, I failed miserably.  I remember a time when I was so insecure I would not even walk across a room or place full of people.  I just wouldn't do it.  Ever.  This fear of being has caused so much trauma for me its still to this day very difficult for me to even think about it.  I have made overwhelming progress which I try to think of my parent's challenges as a method of celebrating this, along with the great social skills my daughter possesses that already far exceed anything I'll ever accomplish.

Where I've landed with my mother - Clothilde Dewhart (from research I've conducted, I've realized that my family's actual Louisiana slave name was spelled Duhart - pronounced Da-holt - a French name that reflected my family's slave legacy in Louisiana.  I will never know for sure why my father changed the spelling, but I have a pretty good idea) is honor my mother's efforts to do her best, with the deck of cards she was given, to be the best mother to me that she could be.  And because I know that, I miss her daily and wish she was still here.  I told her that often when she got sick and I know that she knows this is how I feel, despite my issues early on.  So, that is how I've resolved the issue of commemorating my mother.  I do every way that I can privately and publicly.  My daughter and I spend a lot of time with me telling her the limited amount that I know about my parents.  We enjoy working to figure out all of the missing pieces to the best that we can to such an extent that my daughter has taken it upon herself to explore much of the missing history for herself.  This is another adventure she and I are enjoying participating in.

As for the Mother's Day Holiday itself.  My mother isn't physically here so its much easier for me to not get caught up in that process.  I try to honor her on a regular basis anyway.  That way, I can avoid being directed by capitalism when to acknowledge people I should be acknowledging everyday.  

I'm working with my daughter to develop more formal ways to acknowledge my parents on a regular basis.  I encourage everyone to figure out ways to honor your people in ways that don't depend upon the capitalist system to guide you.  I also encourage everyone to recognize that people in 2019 are products of what has transpired leading up to this date.  I've never lived under "official" Jim Crow, but I certainly feel like it has had a major influence on my life. It has had a major influence on my daughter's life and it will have a major influence on her children's lives.  This is true for everyone.  Despite the efforts of this system to convince people this is something people "just need to learn how to move on from" instead, we want to encourage people to figure out healthy ways to honor our legacies in ways that inspire us to create something much better in a country that wouldn't know how to even spell "being great."  I believe my parent's greatest legacy, both of them, was the fierce determination they each possessed to hold onto their dignity.  I always saw that and I learned from it.  They never learned even a fraction of what I know about our African identify and history and they certainly never traveled anywhere like I have.  Yet, they maintained that strong dignity that I try my best to carry into the future by passing it on to not only my daughter, but all young people that I work with.  My parents, especially my mother taught me that it doesn't matter how much money you have or don't have. It doesn't matter whether you have a car or house.  The only thing that really matters is how you conduct yourself.  How you treat people and how you demand they treat you.  Superficiality was never a thing in my early life and its still a very difficult thing for me to navigate through since so many people are so shallow it seems.  Its that dignity that defines Jim Crow for me and its my mother that I have to thank for that.  So, Mother's Day (everyday) isn't about a brunch to me.  Its not about flowers.  Its about respecting my mother's legacy on dignity and taking that message forward to everyone one of our people who is willing and ready to adopt that very critical message.

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Its Past Time for Pan-African Militancy against Homophobia

4/22/2019

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I grew up heavily influenced by independent Black Nationalist politics.  In fact, when I was a teen, that's all I knew.  It wasn't the hustler scam youtube based politics so dominant today either.  It was sincere on the ground independent political organizing in African communities based on principles of self-determination for the masses of African people.  Not material comfort by pimping our suffering which seems to be the primary objective of most of these video Black Nationalists today.  

With that firm foundation, I've spent the last several decades doing my absolute best to continue those politics.  That approach has repeatedly placed me in the position of defending African people from racist police as well as everyday racist Europeans.  I've also done plenty to support organizing with our people in my communities.  That's plenty on a collective and individual level.  Plenty.  All of this doesn't come without a great cost either.  A great personal cost that most people, because they are not engaging the work with any real skin in the game, have absolutely no idea about.

So, taking the above into account, the last thing I need today in 2019 is a lecture about what independent Black Nationhood looks like.  I know enough about that concept already to know that the widespread homophobic logic posing as independent Black Nationalism is actually white supremacist values repackaged to enact control over and division among our people.  A cursory study of Africa reveals quickly that gender and LGTBQ issues in Africa where much, much different than what the Black Nationalist Black power pimps would have you believe.  Additional study also makes it plain that the talking points utilized by so-called Black Nationalists today are being provided courtesy of traditional white supremacists like Franklin Graham (Evangelist Billy Graham's son) and his extensive organizational capacity (through Samaritan Power) to influence African communities on the LGTBQ question from Uganda to Ghana to Georgia, U.S.  His work, and those like him, has been constant in our communities for 40 years.

For me, when you say unity among African people, that concept has to mean love and acceptance for all of our people.  Addicted to drugs?  We love and accept.  Alcoholics?  We love and accept.  Convicted felons?  We love and accept.  Christians?  Muslims?  Jews?  Atheists?  North, Central, South America?  Caribbean?  Europe?  Africa?  We love and accept.  Gay, lesbian, transgender, etc.?  Yes, we love and accept.  And, by love and accept we mean we approach them like we approach you with all of the things in your life that we don't understand.  Need an example?  For me, its difficult for me to ever accept it when people they need to smoke weed in order to calm down.  I feel this way because I have been in far too many situations where my ability to selectively calm myself wasn't an option.  As a result, I look suspiciously upon anyone who needs something outside of themselves to accomplish this necessary act.  Still, I recognize these are my personal feelings based upon my personal experiences.  Consequently, I'd never even talk about this besides just using it as I am now to make a political point.  I certainly don't use my personal views as a filter for deciding how I'll interact, work with, and/or view those on other sides of the weed issue.  It doesn't matter to me on that level.  In other words, I read the comments of a confused young African who stated he wasn't homophobic.  He didn't care what LGBTQ people did, but then he went on to question the validity of their being.  That's an attack against them.  If a European told you they didn't have anything against Africans, but that we were born as savages and unsophisticated people, but they don't have anything against us, you would never accept that (if you have any sense at all).  No attacks.  No justification.  No one in the African LGBTQ community cares about your perceptions of them because you know damn well you haven't read one single book on the history of this subject.  Not one, but even if you have read several, your views on it are still ill relevant.

My perspective comes not from being a member of the LGBTQ community.  I'm not.  My lovely partner expressed to me not long ago that I am very cis e.g. heterosexual.  She's right.  And, the fact I grew up in San Francisco during the time it was ground central for LGBTQ life is further evidence to me that the claims by the homophobes in our community that there's something that is contagious is absolutely bogus.  

There are some ill refutable facts about this situation.  Number one, there is absolutely no question that African people believed and practiced multiple gender (not just a man and woman) roles long before European colonialism.  This is true with all people, not just Europeans.  There is evidence of this everywhere.  I've written much about it in this blog so before you disagree, do your work.  I'm not going to do it for you.

Second, the question about African unity again.  How the hell are we ever going to have unity among our people when you keep placing conditions on who is a legitimate part of our community?  There are many segments of our community.  I can always tell when someone has limited to no experience actually organizing our people (and please recognize the vast difference between organizing and mobilizing our people).  I know this because those people always fail to understand the basic elements of unity, any unity.  It requires agreement on what we can agree upon to serve as the basis from which we can unite.  People do this strategically because they understand we are always stronger the more of us there are focused in the same direction.  At this stage in our struggle, its imperative that African people come together based on the fact we are all oppressed because Africa is exploited and has been exploited for 500+ years.  There are absolutely no Africans anywhere who exist outside of this reality.  There is no evidence that being LGBTQ lifts a certain level of this oppression from any of our people.  Actually, there is plenty of data to illustrate that our LGBTQ family members are even more at risk when pulled over by the police, public encounters, etc., even unfortunately with some of us this is true.  That's another reason why our unity is necessary.

Another point is the Africans taking so much time and energy to question our LGBTQ family members always lead with the same talking points; "the LGTBQ movement is not concerned with the interests of  African people."  Duh, tell us something we already didn't know would you?  Name one European dominant movement that is concerned about our people?  That doesn't exist anywhere, but I have a secret for you.  Our people are no more a part of that LGBTQ movement than you are.  And, if you paid any attention to the particulars you would know that.  Gay marriage?  Health benefits?  Common law rights?  Show me any Africans anywhere that have these things as their priorities?  And, I said Africans, not even just LGTBQ Africans.  None of our people anywhere are stable enough to be worried about bourgeoisie things like who they can marry and who the benefits cover.  Most of us have no benefits to cover anybody.  So, when you keep saying this, you are proving just how much your views are shaped by white supremacy because you are defining a segment of the African masses based on the bourgeoisie issues of the European LGBTQ movement.  There's nothing more white supremacist than that.

And trust me, I understand there are plenty of African LGTBQ who are confused and disconnected from our people, but can you truly blame them?  Our churches tell them they are going to hell and try to convert them.  They cannot mingle on a social level without being in physical danger in our communities.  They are othered in every sense of the word among us.  Certainly not to the degree they are in European communities, but the day what Europeans do on a human level is the gauge that values where we should end up is the day we are finished as a people.  We have our own culture and that culture (if we understand it) teaches us to love and accept all of humanity and to fight relentlessly against any elements to betray that principle in efforts to harm our people.  That's who we are.

Again, I'm this total cis African man talking.  I can't for the life of me understand why this question is even any level of threat to any African?  What do you actually lose by extending humanity to segments of our people?  Are you truly and honestly afraid that if we love and accept our own people that they will eliminate any discussion of revolutionary Pan-Africanism, or whatever vision you have for our people, and that you will be forced to somehow turn LGBTQ or whatever it is you are concerned about here?  No matter how that is spliced, it comes out sounding very insecure to me.  Very insecure.  Why is it so hard for so many of us to realize that in accepting our people on their terms we map out the framework that ensures all of us are accepted the same way.  On the other end, the minute we start imposing division among our people, we weaken our ability to fight off all levels of division among us.

Nobody is telling anyone they have to change who they are, especially our LGBTQ family members.  They can be who they are and you can be who you are.  What we are saying is stop expending so much energy attacking their ability to exist.  Doing so isn't strengthening our people and you have absolutely nothing to demonstrate that it does.  What does provide us strength is our maturing to the point where we respect all our people because doing so forces the condition where respect is demanded and required for all of our people.  Isn't that what we want and need?  Isn't it time for us to be honest and admit we really don't know much of anything about the African LGTBQ community beyond maybe some individual engagements based primarily on subjectivity?  

Its time for us to take this struggle to the next level.  Masculine Black Nationalist rhetoric steeped in patriarchy and capitalist values has done nothing to advance our people.  We have to start saying that over and over.  Manhood and patriarchy don't have to be the same thing.  If you don't believe that, step to me and question my humanity based on believing taking this position somehow makes me weak and see how that turns out for you. There are many of us who want us to win this struggle.  Its time for serious objective and scientific study of our history.  That means we have to be open and willing to question everything in order to get stronger.  We are not going to protect the same old tired and divisive politics among our people.  So, if you think you are uncomfortable now, if you continue to be unwilling to expand your thinking in the interests of our liberation, you have no idea what's in store for you.


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Why You Should Support Sending Our Children Home to Africa

4/18/2019

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Today, there are approximately 2 billion Africans - all persons of African descent are Africans - on the planet.  1.2 billion of us live on the African continent and the remaining 800 million of us live in Europe, North, Central, South America, and the Caribbean.  We are the most scattered persons on Earth.  We are the most disconnected people on Earth.  And, we are the most downtrodden people on Earth.  In other words, anywhere you find us, and you can do that in plentiful numbers in about 120 countries worldwide, we will be at the bottom of society. 

If you take all of that in for a moment, what you have to logically come away with is that either we are the most wretched and cursed people ever, or something sinister has been, and continues to happen to us every second of every waking day that we walk this world.   I can certainly assure you that despite the absurd logic generated from the capitalist system, that everyone who struggles within it does so because there is something wrong with you, there is absolutely nothing wrong with us that a new system wouldn't cure.  This capitalist concept that every problem you have is your own fault isn't particular to African people.  It applies universally to everyone, but like everything under this system, if Europeans (for example) are adversely impacted, you can just imagine the trauma the African masses deal with at being pressed with the same challenges.  

Again, there is nothing wrong with us that revolution isn't the healing potion for.  Africans speak more languages than any other people anywhere.  We live in more countries than anyone anywhere.  Consequently, we are the most confused about our connection to each other than any other people.  And, this alone is seriously backward because of all people, we are the only people who exist in the parts of the world we dwell in today due to historical circumstances against our will.  What I'm saying is Africans spread throughout Europe and the Western Hemisphere had absolutely no say in how we ended up in these places.  Even those who traveled to these places under their own power didn't choose this dynamic because the reasons we came to these places - so-called education and opportunity - only exist in the Western world, and not Africa, because of the systemic terror that has been directed at Africa and her children over the last 500+ years.  So, again, we are only in these places because of our oppression.  Still, capitalism has trained us to believe we are different from another.  This backward system would have us concentrate on the fact we were born in different countries.  They want us to always remember we don't speak the same languages.  We don't have the same day to day customs.  So, to capitalism, this all has to mean we are not only much different from each other, but we (according to our enemies) are diametrically opposed to each other and we definitely cannot trust one another.  Some opportunistic and dishonest Africans, as well as the usual sheep minded folks, have adopted some of this nonsense to suggest that Africans from specific colonialism and slavery created existences for us, are somehow so much different than Africans from different locations.  Its even safe to say that you are almost as likely to find an African who is confused about this question as you are to find one who understands why and how these contradictions exist.  For an example, I'm reminded of a time I was watching a Major League Baseball game with three other African men not that long ago.  When the subject came up about Vladimar Guerraro, then one of baseball's best players who was African, born in the Dominican Republic (the Caribbean), one of the brothers remarked "but he's not really a brother!"  If you look up Guerraro, you will see immediately that he is a very dark skinned brother with clear African features all the way down to his locked hair.  The assertion that he isn't African is nothing short of insane, yet in this present reality, I had to spend time that day explaining to this group why the fact he was born in a different country from those of us in that room doesn't preclude the very real possibility that one of us could even be related to him.  My method of explaining this was simply to state that the only difference between Guerraro and us in that room was a boat stop.  A slave ship boat stop.  The slave ship took his ancestors to the Caribbean and mine here to the U.S., but some of my ancestors went with his and some of his came with mine.  And, of course, most of our families didn't even make the trip at all.  All of this is ill refutable because the slavers had no incentive to keep families together.  The money was the money regardless.  

The way that all of this ties into our children in the U.S. going to Africa is that most people today have absolutely no idea of the history I've laid out to you here.  I had the woman who's lawn I used to mow when I was in high school in San Francisco tell me that the reason Africans were in different parts of the world was because Jesus intentionally placed us where we are.  Her claim was our separation had absolutely nothing to do with slavery and colonialism.  My point is in today's world, if you take the lies capitalism has told us then you would believe that Africa, and by extension African people, are poor simply because we are lazy and less valuable as human beings.  No major educational institution takes the time and effort to wonder out loud why it is that we are on the bottom of so many societies?  The fact that capitalism is fueled by its reliance on the cheap mineral resources that are stolen routinely from Africa everyday is never discussed outside of independent sources like this one.  And, along with that, the necessity to keep Africans confused results because the capitalists must ensure Africans are focused on anything, except Africa.  The reason for this is they know the moment we focus on Africa we are going to start wondering why she is the richest continent on Earth, yet her children are the poorest on Earth.  Once you study anything about Africa you realize that her children are among the hardest working people anywhere.  So, the sick narrative that we are lazy would come to a point where it stopped being effective with you once your eyes are opened.  

These are the reasons why we want our children to go home.  Not to go on some bourgeoisie tour, but to be among our people on the ground who are doing work to bring out Pan-African unity and liberation.  We know that once we do that, we can change how our children see Africa.  They will no longer see their mother as poor, lazy, and unworthy of their respect and attention.  This is important because we know that if our children see their mother in such a poor light it will never be possible for them to see themselves as being any better.  The capitalists know this too and that is the core reason why no matter what country you were in, all approximately 200 of them on Earth, you never learned much of anything about Africa.  Its the reason why thousands of Africans in Mozambique can be wiped out in a flood last week and there isn't even a peep about while a simple structure in France can burn down and millions can be raised to resurrect it in days.  This is why we must send our children home so they can learn truly who the hell they actually are and more importantly, how who they are determines what their interests should be going forward in their young lives.  They will never be free until Africa is free.  Our enemies never want them to internalize this and therefore, its something we know they must understand.

Here in Sacramento, California, U.S., I'm fortunate enough to work with an organization named the West2West Movement that is an organization of young Africans.  They have established a Pan-African Freedom School in South Sacramento where I help out as a regular instructor for the youth.  In this school, we provide our youth with clarity on the subjects discussed here, but to further enhance and solidify their interest and further development, this organization plans multiple trips per year to Ghana, West Africa, to directly expose these youth to not only where they came from, but from a Pan-Africanist sense, where they are going.  In my humble effort, I'm committed to contributing 75% of all royalties from my book sales for my latest novel "The Paradox Principles" to help send these children home.  Now, like anything else African and independent, West2West, as well as the struggling African revolutionary organizer/author writing this, receive no help in developing and promoting our work.  We receive no grants.  No help selling books. No help marketing the revolutionary messages in our books.  Nothing.  That's why we ask you to help us by buying books so we can hopefully send at least one child home to Africa (hopefully more).  Plus, you will get a 740 story of people standing up to fight back against oppression that is entertaining and inspiring.  Go to amazon.com, type in my name - Ahjamu Umi - see "The Paradox Principles" and order it for only $19.99 U.S.D.  You get a worthwhile book and you contribute towards us ending the carnage of self-hatred against our youth and people.  And, if you aren't African, I'm still talking to you because if you truly support justice for humanity you know humanity cannot be saved, not even the planet, until humanity's elements that are forced to live at the bottom of the world are saved.  That would be us.  If you are truly our accomplice, spread the word and help us.  If I didn't have to figure out how to pay for my organizing work, I'd donate 100% of royalties, but any help you can provide helps us cut off the savage repression that attempts daily to wipe our people off the face of the Earth.  With or without help, we are never going to let them succeed against us, but your efforts certainly make our lift a little lighter.  And the lighter it is, the longer we can carry it.

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Celebrating Tiger Woods Represents Our Deep Oppression

4/15/2019

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Yesterday, Tiger Woods won a major golf tournament.  In response, Africans everywhere celebrated Tiger's victory as if it was a collective victory for the African masses.  In truth, it was a collective victory because the masses of our people understand, even if Tiger doesn't, that despite how good he is, he would've never been able to step foot on a golf course were it not for the collective struggle for justice against white supremacy that the masses of our people have waged against this backward capitalist system.  Our people realize this so its understandable that we would claim any victory African individuals achieve.  We saw Barack Obama's win as president in the same vain and if one understands the depths to which we are oppressed as a people, its not hard to understand why we would see these things as collective victories.

Tiger Woods historical rejection of anything African, including his heritage, is well documented.  He claims a heritage that seems to honor his connection of the dog species before he would open his mouth to acknowledge any connection to Africa, despite it being quite clear the moment you see him that Africa is clearly a major source of his DNA.  Then, to add insult to injury, he tells African people (during the time when that idiot president of the U.S. was calling out African athletes) that "you have to respect the office."  Clearly, we have no obligation to respect anyone, anywhere, who doesn't respect us.  That's just a healthy way of living life, but somehow, these clowns who perform for European capitalism feel so comfortable suggesting to us that we delegate our dignity to the sensitivities of those sick souls who are determined to defend daily oppression against our people.  That's who Tiger Woods, but this piece isn't really about him.  Its about us.  Why it is that relate to the triumphs of those among us who try so hard to disrespect us?

There are a few reasons for us.  Primacy among them is the collective nature of African culture.  That means African culture everywhere because we understand, as Sekou Ture so accurately pointed out, that there are many elements of African culture, pre-colonialism, that are universal among us no matter where we were born and/or live.  One of those things is that we know instinctively that we accomplish nothing alone.  That concept is entirely foreign to our culture and the last 500+ years of collective oppression against have solidified our understanding of this.  So, that portion where we recognize, unconsciously even, that Tiger's victory belongs to us, whether he sees it that way or not, is firmly entrenched in history.  Too many people died to gain us the rights most of us today did/do nothing to protect so it makes sense that so many of us understand this, despite Tiger's disgraceful disrespect against us.  Its there that the reasons are dialectical in their dominantly unhealthy practice.  For many of us, we feel so utterly disrespected on a daily basis, which is completely justified, that we expect to be disrespected.  This logic isn't hard to understand.  The so-called "founding fathers" of this country all savagely owned Africans as property.  The national anthem of this country sings glowingly about slavery.  The reality is so oppressive against Africans that even our outcry about being consistently gunned down through state sponsored terrorism is met by the majority of Europeans with disgust at the methods in which we express our anguish instead of acknowledging the legitimacy of our concerns.  So, no one can effectively argue that we have no reason to expect disrespect.  Its woven intricately into every piece of this backward society, but we still never bow down to it.  Instead, the way Africans deal with this is to find ways to mitigate that disrespect.  The country is so racist that many of us find joy in just seeing an African win a game dominated by rich Europeans.  We are able to remove Tiger from the equation because we know there are many Europeans who remove any of us as human beings from any equation.  As a result, we find joy in just seeing those people seethe.  Also, since Tiger has spent the last 10 years or so battling adversity related to his unfaithfulness and his personal injuries.  Maybe his victory helped some people feel like there is hope for them in their personal struggles as well.  There isn't anything wrong on the surface level with any of these approaches and certainly, no one can blame Africans for utilizing whatever techniques we can generate to feel better about our wretched conditions.

The argument here is all of this signals to us that its imperative that we find ways for us to process our needs in ways that are reflective of our dignity.  Ways that don't require us to mitigate, remove, adjust, anything to express our desire for victory.  The answers to us are contained within our culture.  Despite the cruel oppression against us.  Despite unending efforts by our enemies to paint us as the reasons for our suffering, our people continue to practice methods of dignity that are so attractive that other cultures cannot help, but to attempt to emulate us at every turn.  All one has to do is turn on the television and you will see commercials from major capitalist corporations using our slang, style of communication, dress, etc., to sell their worthless products.  The reason for this?  It doesn't matter that this system provides us no respect as a people.  We have found ways to generate that respect for ourselves.  We do it with how we talk.  How we walk.  How we dance.  How we function within this system.  We are cool to everyone, regardless of whether they admit it or not, because unlike them, we are not caricatures of this system.  Generic duplicates of Europeans.  Most of us find ways to be as far away from that as we can achieve and this is attractive to people.  Observe children of immigrants from Asia, etc., for example.  Their parents often did everything they could to be as European as possible, including being completely anti-African.  Their children, seeing the bankrupt morality within this, reject those backward values.  It is people like this, along with European youth and others, who connect deeply with our African identity because to them it represents a true humanity that cannot exist within this caricature culture that capitalism demands.  This is what is meant when Kwame Ture says "African people civilize America!"  Since the country is built and maintained on our oppression (along with our cousins from Indigenous communities), our determination to maintain our identity automatically represents the most dignified thing happening in this terrible country and many people recognize that.

This is the type of wonderful phenomenon that we must figure out how to further define and highlight for ourselves and all of humanity.  Once we can get our people to understand this reality, we will no longer need to work so hard trying to find ways to maintain our dignity by living through disgusting people who disrespect us.  People like Tiger Woods owe an unquestionable debt to African people.  Without our struggle he would never be where he is.  He wouldn't have received the opportunity.  It is even true to say that without our struggle, Tiger's mother would never have been able to even come to this country from Thailand.  Before the civil rights inspired 1965 Immigration Reform Act, immigration into this country was based on a quota system structured around previous immigration from any country e.g. countries in Europe.  The 1965 act changed that in a way that has made this issue a major point for racist Europeans (and their African parrots, etc) today.  

We don't need Tiger Woods if he doesn't want to relate to us.  We can find ways to gain that feeling of victory without his dumb golf wins.  He apparently doesn't even have the sense to recognize that we were the only people who stood by him when capitalist America turned against him 10 years ago.  This type of disrespect represents time for us to hold these types of people accountable.  Once we learn to do that, we may find that everyone who previously rejected us is begging us to be let in.

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How White Supremacy Benefits from Classless Black Nationalism

4/14/2019

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Yvette Carnell is one of the main spokespersons for the so-called "American Descendants of Slaves (ADOs) movement. On the surface, its a black nationalist effort, but underneath, what they are really talking about is more capitalism in blackface.

For the casual observer, the concept of Black nationalism and white supremacy are diametrically opposed to one another.  Black nationalism is the belief that African people must unite to overcome racist oppression.  On the other hand, white supremacy is the system that enforces oppression against Africans and other non-European people on a worldwide basis.  The nuance comes when you factor in that neither of these belief structures can be properly evaluated without including a class component e.g. the mechanisms of how the capitalist system functions and interacts with humanity.  

In other words, without a class analysis of Black nationalism, we cannot properly understand what Black nationalism is.  You can't just say support for every African is Black nationalism because every African doesn't have the same class interests.  There are Africans who are a part of, and committed to, the values and political/economic agenda of the worldwide bourgeoisie.  Some of these people, like Barack and Michelle Obama, are/were spokespersons for the international bourgeoisie, meaning their purpose is to speak in favor of, and to support, international capitalism and imperialism.  And, based on your class interests, this reality is either not an issue for you, or its a defining factor in determining how to relate and engage the African liberation struggle.  Today, there are many African voices like Candace Owens, Yvette Carnell, Cornel West, Ben Carson (all U.S. based mouthpieces for the capitalist right), Paul Kagame (Rwanda President), Cyril Ramaphosa (South Africa President - the country we properly call Azania), Nana Akufo-Addo (Ghana President), Akilo Bangote (Chief Executive Officer for Bangote Corporation in Africa), and far too many African entertainers and others, who may look African, but everything they believe and promote is in the interests of maintaining the power of the capitalist system.  This is an insidious contradiction for African people.  Oppressed so desperately by the capitalist system, we are easy prey for anyone who's rhetoric seemingly provides temporary relief from our suffering.  Most of our people lack the political training and experience to decipher the difference between "pro-Black" rhetoric that promotes so-called economic development, wealth building, strong determination to direct your life, etc., from a grounded analysis that suggests that a system (capitalism) that was built and maintained on Africa and African oppression cannot be utilized to liberate African people.  This is without question a class challenge.  Those people in the former group described above would have you believe that anything that can possibly benefit you as an individual, or a few of us (like just those of us in the U.S.), with a blackface on it, is a good thing.  These people promote this belief regardless of how damaging this system is to the rest of African people and humanity.  We'll provide a few examples.

Many of the arch critics of Pan-Africanism today don't have enough of a class analysis to tell you the difference between neo-colonialist African presidents - fully supported by capitalism/imperialism - like Ramaphosa, Kagame, etc., from revolutionary Pan-African liberation movements fighting for genuine Pan-Africanism on the ground like the African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau (PAIGC), Pan-African Union for Sierra Leone (PANAFU), the Pan-Africanist Congress of Azania (South Africa - PAC), etc.  If it wasn't so ridiculous, it would be humorless to watch the so-called voices for this American Descendants of Slaves (ADOs) "movement" equate revolutionary Pan-African struggle (the liberation movements on the ground, some of which were just provided to you) from the neo-colonialist presidents named above (and those not named) who are in the back pockets of imperialism.  For others, all someone like Kagame or Ramaphosa has to do is say something sounding remotely like a pro-African statement, and far too many people will permit that lone statement to convince us that this person is firmly in the camp of African unity.  An example is the recent letter of condolences Barack and Michelle Obama sent to the family of slain rapper/activist Nipsey Hussle.  In that letter, the Obama's won over millions of Africans who saw their "effort" as a genuine act of connecting to the suffering of our people.  On any deeper level this assertion is insane if one considers the millions of African youth who's policies Obama's administration caused extreme death and trauma.  The total destruction of Libya.  Mass incarceration of African youth in the U.S.  The support of the illegal coup in Honduras.  The development of Africom throughout Africa.  These are just a few of the legacies of Obama that have produced devastating results for African people, yet all he has to do is write a letter that tugs at the emotional heart strings of our people and he is viewed as a friend to the African masses by so many of our people.

This happens because of the subjective desire we have to believe that everyone who has dark skin is a part of the African movement for justice. Its also a reflection of our deep seated training that anything the capitalist system does has validity therefore, many of us gauge success and legitimacy based on how capitalism views things.  If capitalism approves, its legitimate.  If capitalism disapproves, its not legitimate.  As insane as it is, our very enemies are the definers of success in the minds of many of our people.  There's also the convoluted philosophy that suggests if an African speaks out and/or acts against our people e.g. Colin Powell, Clarence Thomas, etc., this is something that could be corrected just by the African gaining a better understanding of our situation.  A strong class analysis recognizes that lack of understanding is not the problem here and any level of emotional desire is not going to change that.  This problem is the result of these Africans making clear decisions, based on their actions, to confirm their commitment to international imperialism.  In other words, its extremely naive for anyone to believe that Barack Obama, after signing off on the National Defense Authorization Act in 2012, the bombing of Libya into submission in 2011, and the creation of almost 100 U.S. military bases in Africa during the duration of his regime, did all of that out of ignorance.  These are the actions of someone who is unquestionably committed to capitalism and international oppression against the African masses.  There are far too many Africans who have been viciously murdered and/or oppressed from his policies for him to claim ignorance.  In fact, he lauds his actions around the world.  Anyone who chooses to ignore this very painful and clear reality is either ignorant about this suffering (likely) and/or is making the same decision Obama and these other "people" make to turn your backs on the masses of our people and humanity for the sake of a specific agenda.  A personal agenda.  A jaded agenda that places you and/or a specific class element of our people against the needs, aspirations, and desires of the masses of our people everywhere.

This is the class struggle that Sekou Ture spoke so eloquently about in his classic work "The History of Class Struggle" from "Strategy and Tactics of the African Revolution."  The hard truth as Chuck D told us "every brother ain't a brother."  The core reality is that everyone who looks like us isn't our friend while there are plenty of people who don't look like us who are absolute comrades in arms with our struggle for international justice.

So, just because someone has an African name.  Wears African clothes.  Preaches against interracial relationships.  Calls for "black dollars to stay in black communities (whatever the hell that actually means)", doesn't mean that person(s) are really for mass African advancement.  When Mobutu Sese Seto became president of the Congo in 1965 he did so solely from the support of the so-called Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA- Criminals in Action) program of de-stabilization against the Congo that has been written extensively about here and elsewhere) efforts to place him in power as their neo-colonialist puppet leader.  His job was to squash any efforts to bring justice to the Congo after the CIA inspired the illegal assassination of Patrice Lumumba and the destruction of Lumumba's National Congolese Movement.  Most of our people couldn't give you two quality sentences about Lumumba and his organization's work to liberate the Congo, but that same number of us would be impressed on the surface level if we knew of the lengths Mobutu went to in order to appear to be pro-Black.  In the early 70s he changed his name from Joseph Mobutu to the African Mobutu Sese Seto and he changed the names of everything in the Congo this way, including the name of the country which was changed to Zaire.  On the surface, he was for everything African, but only those lacking a class analysis can be fooled by this fake face-lift attempt. 

Revolutionaries, people who will stop at nothing until we have a complete transformation of society - eliminating capitalist oppression once and for all for socialist development leading to world communism, always must start with a strong class analysis.  These revolutionaries can never accept the capitalism in blackface that the Obamas, Kagame, Mobutu, Cornel West, ADOs, and the others represent once you peel back the surface layer.  As my mother always told me; don't be so easily fooled.  Any talk of African liberation without a strong class analysis is a scam designed to fleece you of your money and other resources.  And, you can usually very easily identify the scammers because while the masses of our people suffer, and they are talking tough pro-black rhetoric, they live in comfort, at the expense of our people.  That isn't to say revolutionaries should live by a vow of poverty, but it is to say that any class analysis will show you that these pseudo black nationalists are building no institutions for liberation while their personal fortunes are being built daily.  For some of you, since your only true goal is to join them, that's ok.  For the real revolutionaries, its just further work we are doing to educate our people so one day we can rid the earth of this type of scum.   So, after all that, if you still don't know the difference between us and those types of so-called black nationalist scum, that should tell you that you have much work to do on your class analysis tools.

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A Revolutionary Pan-Africanist Analyst on Events in Sudan

4/11/2019

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Sudanese Defense Minister and Vice President Awad Ibn Auf just announced that the Sudanese military had removed President Omar al-Bashir from power.  This action resulted from the mass protests that have rocked the country for the last few months.  For those of us concerned about Africa’s political reality, these protests are a welcome sight.  They represent the people of Africa taking the future of our national homeland into their own hands, claiming their own power.  This reality also negates the rhetoric from those who claim mass action cannot overcome the resources of the power structures in place.  For those people, it should be restated that the Sudanese military was forced to take action to respond to the people’s demand that Bashir be removed.

Still, it is critically important that we have analysis from a revolutionary Pan-African perspective on anything that happens in Africa and throughout the African world.  Imperialist dominated media outlets are linking the military usurping of power in Sudan to the recent removal of Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika as a rekindling of the so-called “Arab Spring” uprisings from 2010 and 2011.  When those occurrences happened in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, etc., we said then that those so-called “uprisings” were not revolutionary movements and we warned that how a cake looks on the outside has nothing to do with what the cake tastes like.  This is not to say that mass uprisings that have not matured into revolutionary struggles are reactionary.  The mass uprisings are critical elements in the struggle to advance towards revolutionary change.  Our point back in 2011 was that those so-called uprisings, because they were focused on the removal of individuals in power, were ultimately not going to be mass movements steered by the masses of people in those countries.  The present reality in Egypt and Tunisia confirms we were correct.  The conditions of oppression remain.  And, in Libya, the concerted effort to connect the Libyan Arab Jamihiriya government of Muammar Qaddafi to the reactionary puppet regimes in Egypt and Tunisia was simply a ploy to convince the international community that the Libyan government, like the other two countries, had limited to no mass support.  We said then that imperialism was targeting Qaddafi for reasons having nothing to do with democracy.  It took the release of that imperialist Hillary Clinton’s emails (when she was Secretary of State targeting Libya for Obama’s criminal regime) to finally convince many of you that we were right.

We have also said many times that neo-colonialism is the dominant problem in Africa today.  By neo-colonialism we mean a system where European capitalist interests, developed and firmly entrenched in exploiting Africa after 500+ years of colonialism and the trans-Atlantic slave trade, are now institutionalized throughout Africa despite the fact the Europeans may not be physically present.  The mechanisms of capitalist corporations and exploitation are operational.  Corporations like Cargill International, Voltec, Bangote, Debeers, etc., function with fully trained staff (trained by and for European capitalism e.g. the values of profit over people) and full access to all resources available where they exist.  This is how neo-colonialism looks and there is no space on the African continent today where this system isn’t dominant.  Under neo-colonialism, African heads of states serve as the gatekeepers for imperialism.  Their job is simply to keep anything from conflicting with capitalist interests.  Therefore, no protests, no uprisings, and certainly, no revolutions.  For their loyal service to the enemies of humanity, they receive riches and comfort.  Bashir, Paul Kagame in Rwanda, Mobutu Sese Seto in the Congo, Buhari in Nigeria, Addo in Ghana, etc.  These are the faces of neo-colonialism in Africa.  In the case of Sudan, the people of that country decided they are finished with al-Bashir because of Sudan’s declining economy.  Inflation in that country is up into the low 70s (percentage wise).  The price of bread and other basic goods in Sudan today is high enough to raise eye brows even in the capitalist countries.  Also, people justly place much of the blame for the Darfur trauma of a few years ago at Bashir’s feet.  Approximately 300,000 people were killed and several hundred thousands have disappeared since 2003 in Sudan.  The source of this problem was the Bashir government seeing the people of the Darfur region as wanting to overthrow his government.  The truth is the Darfur region housed oil reserves that oil analysts predicted had the most profitable potential of any reserves on Earth.  The Darfur conflict fueled the eventual succession of South Sudan from Sudan in 2011.  And when South Sudan left it took with it about 70% of Sudan’s oil wealth which has contributed to the drastic economic situation Sudan finds itself in today.  Sudan today has a non-existent credit rating to borrow on the international market and this reality has crippled the country’s ability to negotiate for goods which has contributed to the devastating problems with the economy.  Meanwhile, Western imperialism can play like its appalled by events in Darfur and other human issues in Sudan when in reality if they decided they are opposed to the Bashir government, that is only because that government is no longer willing or able to serve their imperialist interests the way they desire.

Sudan’s economic woes are a critical component in Bashir’s loss of power.  The history in Darfur is also a critical component.  In fact, Bashir was indicted for committing crimes against humanity for his brutality in the Darfur situation, but as heinous as these things actually are, they do not get to the root of the problem in Sudan.  And that root has little to do with ethnic and/or religious differences.  In Sudan, before 2011 when the country split into two, there were plenty of Christians who sided with Bashir’s government and there were Muslims who supported the claims of the Sudanese People’s Liberation Movement, the voice of Southern Sudan.  There were Nubians (Black), Zaahawa, Copts (many also Black), Beja, etc., on all sides of these issues. 

Its great to see Bashir go, but like the change in individual “leaders” in Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, etc., that alone isn’t going to change much in Sudan.  The problem is a systemic problem.  Neo-colonialism is the last stage of imperialism and imperialism is the highest stage of capitalism.  Since neo-colonialism is the end of the road for what imperialism has in its toolkit, what all of this signals is its just a matter of time before the tricks run out.  The people of Sudan, just like the people of South Sudan, and all of the rest of Africa, the African world, and humanity in general, all need an end of imperialist exploitation and the maintenance of the neo-colonial system that ensures imperialism stays in place and capitalism can function business as usual.  Capitalism/imperialism thrive on exploiting cheap African human and material resources.  This is the problem that must be corrected.  This is the real issue that the people of Sudan are protesting.  The fact Ibn Auf (Sudanese Defense Minister and Vice President) already announced that the military will hold power for at least two years indicates clearly that just removing Bashir isn’t the solution.  Its actually ironic, but Bashir himself came to power in a military supported coup, 30 years ago.  So, his removal isn’t the solution and despite imperialism’s efforts to convince you that it is, you should not be confused, especially since you have seen this movie many times before.  Not only the man, but the entire system must go.  And, despite the fact most people in the so-called industrial world know very little about what happens in Africa on a daily basis, these types of mass uprisings are happening everywhere.  Our work is to support them and ensure they are not side tracked with limited agendas (like replacing one despot with another one). Our work is to be on the ground, organizing to unite the true revolutionary Pan-African forces so that the people’s actual voice can not only be heard in token ways, but can be supported and actualized in ways that build and bring true power to Africa and her children.  Our people have been led by false hope for to long.  There is no solution as long as imperialism remains intact.  If we don’t accept that reality, we will be having similar conversations about Sudan and other places for years to come with no real relief in sight.
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I'm 57 Today.  The Same Age Kwame Ture was when He Left Us

4/8/2019

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1968 Birthday party commemoration for Huey P. Newton after he was imprisoned for the death of a corrupt police person. From left to right, the late Bunchy Carter of the Los Angeles Black Panther Chapter. Seku Neblett - former BPP Field Marshall and current A-APRP member living in Ghana. Kwame Ture. Jamil Abdullah al-Amin (H. Rap Brown), Bobby Seale. And, unidentified young Black Panther

And this is significant to me because Kwame Ture (formally known as Stokely Carmichael) has been a primary role model in my life for the last 40 years.  Outside of Malcolm X, there isn't another figure who has had more influence on my life and I actually got the opportunity on numerous occasions to even work with Kwame in person.  Thus, verifying his legitimacy as a revolutionary of impeccable integrity and commitment.  

I honestly doubt I will ever come close to emulating the real life organizing work of Kwame Ture.  His actual life would be a best selling motion picture without having to exaggerate at all.  His work alone with the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party in 1964 and the Loundes County Freedom Organization in Alabama in 1965 are pinnacle works that helped shape the social landscape in this country.  He made major contributions to expanding the Black Panther Party into a national, and international, organization.  And all of that important work doesn't even compare to the groundbreaking work he contributed from 1968 to his transition in 1998, where he helped build the All African Committee for Political Coordination (A-ACPC) - the strategic vehicle to achieve revolutionary Pan-Africanism ("The Handbook of Revolutionary Warfare" Kwame Nkrumah) along with the All African People's Revolutionary Party.

While Kwame's comrades/contemporaries in the 1960s, people like Jesse Jackson, Julian Bond, Marion Barry, Andrew Young, went on to gain prestigious personal positions of power (while the conditions of the masses of African people have digressed significantly).  Meanwhile, those 60s warriors like Kwame Ture, Jamil Abdullah al-Amin (H. Rap Brown), and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., all people who lived by principle and integrity while dismissing personal wealth and privilege, all ended up in different places than the Jacksons and Youngs.  al-Amin has been in prison for the last 13 years on trumped up charges connected to his community work in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S., where he was wrongly convicted of killing police.  Dr. King of course, was assassinated 51 years ago in Memphis, Tennessee, U.S.  For Kwame Ture life after the 60s meant spending those last 30 years of his life doing the grueling on the ground, day to day, organizing work from Guinea-Conakry, West Africa.  By choosing this path, he willingly took himself out of the spotlight that some of those others utilized to individually advance themselves.  He opened himself up to endless scrutiny and criticism for leaving the U.S.  And, with rampant confusion apparent about Pan-African work, which is still dominant today, there is this ridiculous narrative that Kwame really didn't accomplish much during those last 30 years.  Some of this analysis, whether intentional or not, even infers that Kwame's focus on the African revolution during those last 30 years (and his work from Africa) may reflect declining mental health on his part (which by extension would mean the same for the rest of us).  This is sad indeed and to me is comparable in trauma in some ways to the fates our other freedom fighters who were physically attacked/liquidated had experienced.  The end results are always the same.  Discredit our independent, militant, movements for self-determination.

In other words, this man who could have been governor of any state, mayor of any city, chancellor of any large university and/or foundation, stayed committed to revolution and the construction of Pan-Africanist socialist development, spending the last year of his life in overwhelming pain. Yet, continuing to engage the work of our glorious revolution right down to his last breath.

As I reflect on being 57 today, as I already said, I know my life and contributions aren't going to match what my big Brother contributed.  In fact, I use his massive contributions to continue to inspire me.  Whenever I get down, discouraged, depressed, or uninspired, I intentionally think of Kwame Ture and what he worked through.  That approach has helped me stay on track for years.  What that approach does for me today is push me to think in terms of what else I can do.  I may never have the level of impact that Kwame had, but I can certainly continue to push, push, push, to get as close to that contribution as is humanly possible.  I cannot predict the future, but if I'm fortunate enough to continue to live on for a while longer, that just means I have that much more time than Kwame was granted to do even that much more.  

In African culture, particularly Revolutionary African Personality (RAP) culture - the culture of the African revolution - we don't view our personal born days as days of personal attention like is done in Western societies.  Instead, another day you experience on this earth reflects more gratitude one must have for the masses of the people because it is the masses who created and maintain the conditions from which all of us exist today.  So, for me, birthdays mean reflection on what we can do to continue to struggle relentlessly against our enemies.  I'm 57 today.  Kwame Ture didn't live past 57, but I'm here.  My people are still here.  We are in position to continue his work.  And, you better believe that's exactly what we are going to do.

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Capitalism; Revolutionary Art; & Why I Published Through Amazon

4/7/2019

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When I was a young child, the first thing that I developed any interest in was Major League Baseball.  I loved my San Francisco Giants.  I loved them so much that even though it only took me a short period of time back then to figure out that Willie Mays was really not somebody to be respected on a macro level, I can still today recite all of his career statistics off the top of my head.  During those early 1970s, one of, if not the best, shortstop position players in the game was Dave Concepcion who played for the Cincinnati Reds baseball team.  I remember watching games then and hearing announcers rave about Concepcion's skill level at his position.  Still, I was perplexed because Concepcion routinely made more errors than a lot of shortstops.  As I got older, I realized that him making errors and still being the best at his position wasn't a contradiction.  His range in the field was so wide that he often got to balls that other shortstops had not chance of even reaching.  Thus, his potential for errors was greater.  

As I've grown and dedicated my life to radical, Pan-African, organizing work, I've thought of the Concepcion example often because it applies universally to this work.  The more you do.  The more you contribute, the more criticism you will receive.  Due to the dysfunctional basis of this society, that's just how things happen.  There are many reasons for this, but the basic reason is that by being a person who makes things happen, you are automatically creating pressure for those who do nothing.  Since honesty and integrity have absolutely nothing to do with material reality in this society, even by many who are supposedly "conscious", most people won't have the backbone to say that your dedication intimidates them.  Instead, they will attack your work because the people they attack it to (it will seldom come directly to you) are just as dysfunctional as they are.  So, the attacks are rarely challenged.  Usually, they are met with reinforcement.  To be grounded and committed to this work, you have to understand all of this.  You have to tell yourself its not personal all the time.  You have to be steeled in understanding that the incredible risks and sacrifices you make will be met with skepticism and outright hostility, even by some of the people your work directly benefits.  

I've heard negativity towards my work for years.  I've spent more time than I care to remember engaging people who ended up treating me and my efforts in the most terrible form imaginable.  And, I have no reason to believe the release of my latest novel is going to be any different.  To be proactive, I decided to write this piece to address why I decided to publish my book through Amazon.  I'm involved in this work everyday.  Not just on the weekends.  Not just after waking up a few years, months, weeks ago.  I've been doing this for a long time.  I understand how capitalism works fairly well.  I understand how imperialism upholds capitalism fairly well.  I understand how neo-colonialism fortifies imperialism which maintains capitalism much better than a lot of people.  So, believe me when I tell you that I certainly understand what and how Amazon does business.  I know about their labor practices and what they do around the world.  I also understand that companies like Amazon are subsidized by everyday working people who don't even shop through them because they pay their workers so little that those workers must depend upon social welfare programs to eat.  Since working people pay for food stamps, etc., we are subsidizing Amazon everyday.  I am fully aware of these things. 

I didn't make my decision lightly.  I went through the same process I went through with each of the three previous books I've published.  I researched publishers.  I researched literary agents.  I created an Excel spreadsheet.  I plugged in the agents/publishers I wanted to send a query to.  The query is the summary on the back of every book.  That write up is what you send out to initiate interest in your project.  If there is interest, the publisher and/or agent will request chapters of your manuscript.  This evolves into them reading the entire book and if they like it, they make you a publishing offer.  They offer you a contract.  The contract consists of publishing rights, royalty amounts paid to you, what promotional work they will do for your book, etc.  Each of the publishing experiences I'd had with all three of the published books were traumatic to say the least.  The first company in 2010 did practically no promotional work.  All they did was call one book store and schedule the space.  What you want in this area is for the company to publicize your events, make sure books are ordered, and have a program developed so that you can come in to people and talk about your book.  They didn't do that.  The second and third books (I'm talking about three completely different publishing companies) were produced in 2015.  The first company that produced my second novel did some marketing through their networks, but they did absolutely nothing to set up promotional events despite the contract calling for them to do so.  They did have a network where the book sold, but to this day, four years later, I have never received a dime in royalty income from them.  I pursued legal action against them and the owner filed bankruptcy.  So, there you go.  My only other option was to fly to New York City and meet him in an alley way.  Believe me, I considered doing that often, but all doing that would have accomplished is create issues for me.  The third book was published by a company in Germany.  As far as I can see, after publishing the book, they did nothing whatsoever to promote the book.  

Based on my research of this publishing industry, with all three of those publishers, they apparently have processes built up to get enough books ordered from them to meet their expenses.  Evidently, once they reach that point, they are done and never actually have any intention of putting any time and energy into promotional work.  That's bad enough, but in each of those three situations, my ability to have access to the books is limited because of the unprincipled practices of the publishers.  The only way I can order each of those three books is the same way you can.  By ordering them at retail prices while receiving nothing for my labor and passion in creating the books.

It was never royalties that concerned me.  My primary focus has been producing these books to promote the concepts within them.  Those who have read my books understand that.  Others don't.  The latest book - the 740 page "The Paradox Principles" - is strictly about a group of activists who become targeted by the FBI/CIA.  Its a story of people coming together to fight back against the beast.  Its about teaching people that we can win.  Those are the concepts I wish to spread far and wide.  So, this was never about royalties to me.  Its always been about talking about the books.  That's why the lack of promotional work has been the largest slap in the face.  The lack of paid out royalties just reaffirms the wickedness of this capitalist system while also placing additional pressure on me to finance my work out of my pocket.  

After I went through my initial research for this book, I sent queries to about a dozen publishers and agents.  I only received two outright rejections (common).  I did reach the point (described above) of receiving three publishing offers from three different companies, but when I researched promotional work those three publishers had done for their previous authors, I saw the same results I'd experienced with the three previous publishers.  Those contracts also possessed some of the controls I wanted to get away from e.g. no control over pricing, etc.  As a result, after about three weeks of thinking about it, I decided on Amazon after doing extensive research.  I reasoned that with them, I would be able to control my work.  I can order books at print cost which will make them much more available to me to spread around.  I was able to set my own pricing for my book through them, something I've struggled with each of the previous publishers on.  With this latest book, I set the price as low as I possibly could e.g. $19.99 USD for a new 740 page book.  The ebook version is only $9.00.  Being able to control the pricing was important to me so I could ensure as many people as possible could afford it and I could afford to get as many copies as I needed.  

The promotional work for "The Paradox Principles" is completely on me, but its always been like that anyway so at least this time I'm not waiting for something that isn't going to happen.  Instead, I'm relying on my creativity to come up with ideas on how to get the book in people's hands.  I have connected the launch of the book to a July trip for African youth here in Sacramento to go to Ghana.  I'm donating 75% of royalties to this important effort to take our youth home.  I have other things I'm doing.  The process is slow and it causes a lot of anxiety, but I'm going to give it my best shot.  Any help, ideas, people have, I'm open.

My realization was that when it comes to publishing companies the question isn't how to avoid dealing with criminals.  The question is what type of criminal you want to have to deal with.  With this choice, I'm at least able to control the essential aspects of my work which is something artists from any genre will understand.  Its a means to an end and that end is the continued work to heighten the revolutionary consciousness of the masses of people.  At the end of the day, that's the only thing that matters.
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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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