African men who physically, sexually, and emotionally abuse women, any women, you don't get to claim that white supremacy is tearing you down when you get held accountable for your actions.  Yes, it's true that many African men (me included) grow up in extremely macho environments.  Yes, it's true that we learn very patriarchal values in those environments e.g. the strong survive, and that men should be the leaders of society (meaning there must be consequences for those who do not do what we desire).  Regardless of that, there are many African men who don't brutalize women, in any way.  So, if you are an African man (really any man), and you brutalize women in any way possible, stop being a coward and claiming white supremacy is responsible for your incarceration, discrediting, etc. because of your abuse.  You don't think that when we have a unified socialist Africa that we won't hold you accountable?  White supremacy is real. Its a very dominant presence in all of our lives, but we won't accept you hiding behind white supremacy as a method of justifying your abusive behavior.  We call upon you to reach out and get the necessary help that you need.  If you truly care about our people and communities.  If you care about our youth and our future, then you must submit to your demons and seek out help.  Myself, and many other brothers, will help you get help if you humble yourself enough to admit you are unable to control yourself.  

Of course, we know part of the reason you are unable to see what you are in the mirror is because so many other people engage in dysfunctional behavior that enables you.  From Damon Wayans stupid comments about some women being "unrapable" - he clearly hasn't seen the stats on the numbers of elderly, and even deceased women, who are raped - to the horrific justifications and sick messages of support for behaviors from people like R. Kelly and Bill Cosby, we continue to glorify cowardly African men.  Cowards who do absolutely nothing to advance our people.  We do this while sucking the life blood out the brothers who sincerely work for our liberation while respecting women in the process.  Many of us view these balanced brothers as "weak" because we won't join you in your childish behavior towards our LGBTQ folks, and your backward and cowardly behavior towards women.  And that goes for your second line coward brothers who may not have physically hit a woman or raped a woman, but you adopt the equally cowardly "its not my business" or "I didn't know how to respond" position because you are too feeble minded and lacking of heart to know the correct time to stand up against injustice.  

Here's news for the cowards.  We don't want you in our organizations.  We don't need you.  Me?  I'll take a thousand women as comrades instead.  I don't need you because when the moment of truth comes, you won't be there when I need you.  You have already proven how much of a  coward you are.  You don't even know the difference between true strength and posturing.  True strength speaks to knowing how to admit you are wrong and facing the uncertain and frightening road of changing the things about you that must be changed.  It means telling negative people you won't have them in your life.  It means saying your sorry and living up to the responsibility of that.  It means standing up when no one else is willing and doing the unpopular thing if its the right thing to do, regardless of the consequences.  Those things to me are manhood and those are the things we are going to teach our young men so they won't grow up to be like you.  We need the social revolution to grab you up and either transform you or move you completely out of the way.

Stop blaming white supremacy for your behavior.  The capitalist system is certainly responsible for your dysfunction, but you are responsible for your ideological recovery.  Take that road and let's move forward towards a place where we respect all of our people and all of humanity.  Aren't you ready to really make progress?  Aren't you tired of pretending to be a man?  Let's stop glorifying these celebrity fools and let's start glorifying correct values and behaviors.  Let's stop pretending that we must line up behind an @sshole like Bill Cosby, because he's supposedly being attacked by the very same system he's spent the last 50 years emulating and bootlicking for, and let's start listening to our sisters.  Let's start acknowledging our LGBTQ family members, and welcoming everyone into our community who desires peace, who can love, and who is willing to work for a better future for our people everywhere and all over humanity.

In 1970, Kwame Nkrumah wrote "Class Struggle in Africa."  He penned this book while he was living in Guinea, forced to move there in 1966 after the CIA (criminals in action) inspired coup overthrew his democratically elected government in Ghana.  Enthusiastically accepted by the people of Guinea and graciously installed by Sekou Ture and the Democratic Party of Guinea as the co-President of the country, Nkrumah spent the final seven years of his life writing about what's needed for the African revolution to be victorious.  "Class Struggle" was Nkrumah's attempt to explain what was happening in Africa with the new (at the time) and ongoing phenomenon of military coups overtaking democratically elected governments.  Having experienced an imperialist inspired and supported coup that sabotaged his government in Ghana, "Class Struggle in Africa" was an extremely prophetic account of how the forces of evil are engaging in stopping Africa's march towards liberation.

"Class Struggle" focuses in on the imperialist tactic of using the military to intervene.  The process is carried out in a very sophisticated fashion where the guns are accompanied by slick propaganda campaigns that seek to confuse the people of imperialism's objectives.  At the center of this process is an effort by the capitalist forces to establish a national bourgeois class in Africa that would serve to protect the political and economic interests of the international bourgeois/capitalist class (multi-national corporations).  Nkrumah expressed that creating this counter-revolutionary class is essential to insuring the next phase of exploitation and domination in the absence of the European presence in Africa.  The next phase was correctly identified by Nkrumah as "neo-colonialism" where in the words of Kwame Ture "the master is no longer there, but his system is institutionalized."

The current scenario in Burkina Faso is clear evidence of Nkrumah's vision.  Today's Africa, forty years after Nkrumah's death, is the very vision he articulated.  Neo-colonialism operates fully in most areas of Africa.  In the case of Burkina Faso, the so-called Regiment of Presidential Security - a military run group within the country - attempted to remove Michel Kafando and Prime Minister Issac Zida from power and replace them with General Gilbert Diendere, a long time accomplice of Blaise Compaore, the previous president of Burkina Faso who was forcibly removed from power by the masses of people in the country last year after he attempted to illegally extend his 27 year rule.  Nkrumah would call this sad state of affairs a classic example of neo-colonialist manipulation in Africa.  And, the fact the illegal coup was stopped by the Nkrumah and Sekou Ture inspired ECOWAS group is further testimony of Nkrumah's analysis of neo-colonialism and actual Pan-Africanist perspectives on solving problems.  

Ironically, Compaore's status as an agent of neo-colonialism was confirmed in 1987 when he played a central role in overthrowing the revolutionary Pan-Africanist government of Thomas Sankara.  In fact, it's quite possible that Compaore is even complicit in Sankara's death.  This should be considered the most clear and complete validation of Nkrumah, and Sekou Ture's vision of Africa.  It also further validates their correct vision for a Pan-Africanist, revolutionary, and independent approach to solving Africa's problems.  This perspective also gives much needed context to Kwame Ture's analysis that "everything happening in Africa today, as bad as it is, is only further evidence that Pan-Africanism is inevitable!"

When I was growing up in inner city San Francisco, my parents, other adults, and my friends and I, used to always talk about the street pimps and how effective they were at manipulating the young women they forced to work for them.  This practice was known as the implementation of pimp ideology or "pimpology."  As I grew older, I realized quickly that those street pimps were not the architects of pimp ideology. Actually, they were at the very bottom of the food chain.  They learned their craft from the master.  The capitalist system.  These capitalist are so good at manipulating the thinking of the world that the majority of the almost 7 billion people on the planet never question them on the most obvious and criminal of contradictions.  For example, U.S. President obama tweeted out support for the young lad who was criminalized by his school for creating a technological device when obama's government, and all the others before his, are responsible for creating and maintaining the racist, anti-Islam, sentiment that fueled the school's actions against the young man.  Building on that, half of the world's imprisoned population are in the U.S., Russia, and China, with the U.S. having the highest percentage of imprisoned persons on the planet.  Everyone of those incarcerated persons are convicted of crimes that you pay taxes (if you live in a capitalist country) to empower the government to commit against innocent, peaceful people.  I'm talking about murder, theft, drug trafficking, rape, kidnapping, all committed and documented against the peoples of Vietnam, El Salvador, the Congo, Cuba, Venezuela, the Philippines, Grenada, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, Haiti, Iraq, Afghanistan, Azania, South Africa, occupied Palestine, Somalia, Sudan, Ireland, and countless other countries.  Women and men languish in prison for committing drive by shootings while Chris Kyle is given medals, glorified, and risen up as an example of success for dehumanizing human beings and killing dozens of them.  He's given a pass because he and others see the people he killed as the enemy, but that vision is no different than how those convicted of murder in gang wars see the persons they supposedly killed.  For the most part, those convicted of gang killings have more justification for carrying out their alleged acts of violence than a thousand Chris Kyles will ever have.  Yet, he and his ilk are heroes while Snooky, D Bone, and Chewy are violent thugs.  

Continuing on, millions of persons are experiencing serious financial difficulty in this society.  These hard working folks have lost their jobs for extended periods of time and fell behind.  They have lost their houses and many have been forced to rely on public assistance.  For their troubles, these people are told they are experiencing the problems they face because they haven't worked hard enough, or they have made bad decisions.  Meanwhile, the multi-national banks, many whose trickery and fraud is the real reason behind the suffering these people are experiencing, were awarded an $873 trillion "bailout" five years ago for their crash and financial problems.  This bailout was supplied courtesy of the working class tax payers, many who fall within the category that started this paragraph.  No one ever questions the decision making of these big banks as the reasons for why they ended up in their poor financial position.  In case you forgot, I'm talking about Chase Manhattan, Lehman Brothers, AIG, Wells Fargo, Wachovia, etc.  Yes, these are all the very same culprits who's financial foundation is based on capitalizing on the tri-angular slave trade that horribly exploited Africa and millions of African people while stealing the land of the Indigenous people's of the Western Hemisphere.  These people have never worked an honest day in their lives.  They exploit us to do that for them, yet no one ever accuses them of lacking a work ethic.  In fact, most people are so brain dirtied that they don't even think to question the absurd logic that the purpose of the bailout was to create jobs.  Five years later, where are those good bank jobs?  The only job growth is in service industry; low pay, no benefits.  Don't hold your breath waiting for those office bank jobs to surface.

The final example for this testimony is around the question of justice.  African people have a history of standing up to resist this racist system.  As Kwame Ture said it "we have burned this country from plantations to cities."  What we have seen when people have justifiably risen up to express outrage against police terrorism is our people characterized as thugs and criminals for our righteous rebellion.  Meanwhile, the descendants of Europe are given to setting fires, breaking windows, and turning police cars over, not to protest an injustice, but because their football or baseball team won a meaningless championship.  Or, as in the case of New Hampshire, because they could not purchase the pumpkin size of their choice.  None of these people are labeled as thugs.  Instead, FOX News, CNN, and others characterize them and vicious killers like Dyann Roof as misguided and psychologically troubled.   

These contradictions illustrate that this capitalist system can never be based on freedom and democracy.  Instead, its about today what it's always been about; murder, theft, and injustice.  Twenty years later they are still mad at one Orenthal James Simpson for employing the same strategy the capitalist system has always employed; creating the reality you want to justify your actions.  The masses of Africans see this contradiction clearly.  That's why they cheered the O.J. verdict.  Not because we like O.J.  Africans know he abandoned our people back in the 1960s.  It was an exercise in the U.S. getting as Malcolm X said "a case of chickens coming home to roost."  Our vision is becoming clearer everyday and many other people are also finally starting to wake up to these contradictions.  This is how we know the days of the capitalist system are numbered.  Despite the smoke and mirrors, the old African proverb will eventually come true; "when you boil dirty water, the scum always rises to the top!"  

I have a secret.  I binge watch shows on Netflix and other providers. Everything from  "The Walking Dead" and "Fear of the Walking Dead" to "Longmire" and "Jericho."  For those who aren't familiar with the concept, binge watching means you find a television series that is offered through a provider and you watch, from your computer phone, or television, as many episodes as the show has available.  Depending upon when the show was produced, and when I discover and decide to watch it, I could have several seasons of episodes to watch.  And, once I get entirely caught up, I am then forced to deal with the emotions that come with that accomplishment. What I mean is If the series is out of production, that means experiencing a sense of loss once I'm to the end of the episodes.  If the show fortunately happens to still in production, then once I'm out of episodes to watch, I'm faced with that same sense of loss along with a foreboding that I will have to wait an entire year to to live through the show's experience again.  

The benefit of binge watching, and the reason I do it, is because of that feeling of a child on Christmas when I have the realization that my show has released another season that is ready to watch and/or when I come to that point of watching a new show where I know I'm hooked.  I enjoy the process the most.  The planning and organizing necessary to carve out the required hours I'll need to focus entirely on watching my show.  Since I'm an extremely busy person, this isn't easy.  I think that's why I have such joy when I'm able to steal away a weekend day where there are no events, no meetings, no assignments.  Where no one is trying to reach me.  That rare occasion when there are no immediate expectations.  I have the entire day to myself and I can totally engross myself in my binge watching.  Food must be planned and the obsession is then permitted to play out for as long as I can get away with it.

I binge watch because it permits me to escape from the pressures of having to live up to people's expectations of me and my work. Escaping into the clutches of the show I'm watching allows me to watch other people deal with their fictional problems which makes me feel better about the real life problems of organization building that I face everyday.  Sometimes, I even get ideas about how to engage my work from what I'm watching since the shows I like are always about collective dynamics and how people solve problems together, a component that is essential to the revolutionary organizing work that I do.  Am I challenged by the contradictions the shows offer?  Of course.  Television is a corporate entertainment industry within the capitalist system which means any show this system produces is going to contain and promote the values that drive this system; white supremacy, patriarchy, homophobia, etc.  These contradictions are so prominent that the only way I can watch a show is if I can justify in my mind that the show isn't crossing the line as it relates to honesty and decency.  I've canned watching many shows 10 or 15 minutes into it, because I was insulted by it's messaging.  The shows I decide upon I can tolerate for their shortcomings, but most of all, they permit me to not think about the worries I have.  

Sometimes it gets scary to me.  After watching a show for a few hours, I feel guilty, as if I should be doing something more productive.  I wonder how people would react if they knew I was spending my time watching some show about Europeans saving the day.  But, then I remind myself that my life is filled with pressure everyday. I have quite a bit of responsibility and I'm expected to solve problems, mediate conflict, and give inspiration, all the time.  I spend all day working in my day job as an organizer, doing all of those things, and then in the evenings, I continue on organizing the same way in my personal life.  I carve out time consistently to write.  I write regularly in this blog, in the organizational spaces, and for my continuing series of literary fiction works.  I communicate regularly with my daughter and help her with her needs since she's living in a new city engaging in new facets of her life.  I work out daily.  I read regularly.  Voraciously.   I don't get high, drink, or engage in any other type of numbing and relaxing behavior.  Practically the only non-productive behavior I permit myself to engage in is my binge watching.  That said, I'm aware.  I know Hollywood is an expert in exploiting my insecurities, hopes, and desires, to get  and keep hooked on these shows.  I guess I'm writing this because I believe that I try to always give much more than I consume so although binge watching isn't the healthiest activity, there are things that are much worse.  So, this is my acknowledgement that on a day like today, I know I spent a little time setting this day so I wouldn't have any other responsibilities so I can watch a show.  Up to this point, besides writing this article, I've done nothing else today besides watch a show.  And, I don't think my binge watching compromises my principles and commitment to Nkrumahism/Tureism and the African revolution one inch because at all times, my work takes precedence and priority.  So you enemies shouldn't misread any of this.  This is no declaration of burnout or morale issue.  My focus will always remain 100% on eradicating injustice and I stand ready to work always to those ends.  But, on a lazy day like today, when I've worked hard all week to complete quite a bit of quality work.  Where I've worked along and/or through at least five or six crisis's this week, and I've resolved more than one problem issue, I'm not going to punish myself for deciding to click off on this and go right back to my show.  One whole season left to watch.  Looks like I'm tied up for the rest of today at least.  Then, once I am through with this one, I'll be recharged to battle further, forward, on to victory.

You can probably count the words on one hand that are more controversial and misunderstood than socialism or communism.  Everyone has an opinion and sentiment about both words in spite of the fact very few people with these opinions have done any study and/or analysis to support their points of view.  The most consistent response you are likely to get is from someone who was either born in a country that is perceived as socialist or communist or someone who has visited one of those countries.  Whichever the situation, none of these points of view are strong and/or scientific enough to warrant any attention.  The fact remains that the best authority on socialism and communism for most people seems to be the capitalist misinformation machine. 

The confusion extends beyond just an understanding of economic systems into the cultural realm.  Many people within the African community will tell you that socialism and communism are "white man ideologies" and therefore ill relevant to the African liberation struggle.   This dialogue seeks to clarify these points of confusion.

First, socialism/communism are universal principles.  They are systems with values and cannot be evaluated based on the behavior of people who claim to represent them anymore than Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Anarchism, Buddhism, and any other way of life can be evaluated based solely on the people who claim to be adherents.  Socialism/communism, being systems based on principles, are only able to be evaluated if one understands the principles that govern those systems.  No understanding of the principles, no ability to make a proper assessment.  In other words, once you understand the principles, you are then in the position to make an assessment of whether the system calling itself socialist is indeed that.  Otherwise, what you are looking at is people and practices that fall short of the principles of socialism/communism.  This is an indictment of those people, not socialism/communism.  For example, Halle Mengistu Mariam from Ethiopia, claimed to be a socialist during his rein as leader in that country.  All of the countries of Eastern Europe, or the old Socialist Bloc, from East Germany to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) claimed to be socialist/communist.  If one knows the principles of socialism/communism, one would know none of those governments pass the test of socialist/communist principles, but not knowing those principles, you are unable to make that assessment.  The same can be said for other countries like Canada, Britain, the Scandinavian Countries, etc., that are often mistaken for socialist/communist countries.  All of these countries are dominated by corporate, or capitalist, capital, so they cannot be socialist, but yet the confusion persists because of the lack of understanding of those principles.

Before we define the socialist/communist principles, it's important to address the second confusion previously mentioned related to culture.  Since socialism/communism are universal systems with principles, they cannot belong to any one culture no different than physics or music belong to any one culture.  Since they are universal systems, it is incorrect from a dialectic perspective to say Newton "discovered" physics.  He couldn't discover anything.  All he could do is record the results of experimentation.  The laws of physics were around long before him and they are around long after he is gone because they are universal.  Well, socialism/communism should be viewed as the same.  Especially since the belief that Karl Marx "invented" socialist and communist theory is incorrect.  He certainly recorded the system of capitalism, but the truth is Marx wrote very little about socialism/communism.  He never organized a political party that brought those systems into practice.  He mostly wrote about the demise of capitalism.  Other people, like the Tunisian Ibn Kaldoun - that means he was an African - wrote about labor and surplus during his time in the 12th Century, long before Karl Marx knew how to write.  This is not to mention that much of Marx'es vision about a collective economic society (socialism/communism) evolves from the communal reality of Africa some eight thousand years ago.  So any effort to credit Marx, Engels, Lenin, etc., with solely being the voices of socialist/communist ideology is very limited and uninformed when Africans and other people of color do it and very racist when Europeans do it.  Also, we believe ideology comes from culture so as Africans, we cannot be Marxist/Leninist.  We respect that ideology for Europeans, but our ideology has to reflect our experience and material reality so we advance Nkrumahist/Tureist ideology as the ideas that guide the African revolution taking it's lead from Kwame Nkrumah and Sekou Ture those African ideologues and practitioners for African liberation, socialism and world communism.

Finally, those principles we spoke of reflect values that must be in place in order for socialism to exist.  I say socialism, and not communism because a proper understanding of economic history tells us that the dominant economic system has evolved repeatedly throughout history based on people's ability to evolve and advance.  People's culture and contributions always move and evolve.  The first recorded organized system of social interaction was communalism where the means of production (the water, food, natural resources) were utilized collectively for shared benefit.  Then, as society grew and advanced, and men figured out that patriarchy would permit men to physically dominate and advance power, slavery became the dominant system of economics.  Then about seven thousand years ago, feudalism, or kingdoms, took center stage thus consolidating patriarchy, taxation, and oppression by class.  Five hundred years ago, the tri-angular slave trade provided the seed money for industrialization which fueled the development of capitalism where the means of production are controlled by private interests for profit purposes.  Capitalism, having institutionalized patriarchy, added white supremacy to its menu of appendages.  Now, we are in the epoch where socialism is the next level of advancement.  We know this because Nkrumah was correct when he said the primary contradiction today is the struggle between the classes, the struggle between the haves and the have nots.  This struggle seeks to answer the critical question of our time; who will own and control the means of production?  Either some will own it (capitalism) or all will own it (socialism).  Thus as socialist revolution becomes more of a reality - and we are of the belief that revolution is the only way we can achieve socialism, not through the capitalist ballot box system - it serves its historical purpose as the system where class systems are eradicated.  Thus, it is the transition between capitalism and communism.  So, back to those principles.  During this socialist period, we will be looking for a planned economy where the resources of the society are identified and planned for production based on the needs of that society.  For example, 10 million people?  How many jobs are needed based on the ability to produce cocoa, rice, diamonds, etc., to feed all of those people and properly run our society?  That's planning.  Then, free education, free health care, guaranteed employment, state caps on wealth and housing expenses.  All of this doesn't diminish incentive as the capitalist would have us believe because incentives are based on collective goals like eliminating white supremacy, patriarchy, AIDs, other diseases, houselessness, other problems in society, not getting rich from monetary accumulation.  

Finally, we strive towards communism, but understand there is no communism in the world today and there has never been any communism.  Anyone who has called any society that exists a communist society is trying to fool you and anyone who falls for that trickery is uninformed.  Communism is a society without class structures.  Or, a society where class has been eliminated as a system of exploitation.  Therefore, in order for communism to exist, the majority of the world would have to be socialist.  Obviously, we are quite a ways from seeing that happen.  The point of socialism is to do the work of eliminating class structures.  That's why education is free because eventually, backward ideas are wiped away and the conditions for making positive social change are evident.  State apparatus is eliminated during communism because people have reached the level of consciousness where police and social service are no longer necessary as agencies.  The people take on those responsibilities themselves.  

Now, we know this analysis won't move some of you because no matter what's said, you are going to be anti-socialist/communist, but for those who genuinely wish to properly understand these concepts, hopefully this will help us come that much closer to a better understanding.  You should want that because whether you like it or not, socialism is on it's way baby!

In today's capitalist two second attention span aura it's so easy to get sidetracked.  It's so common to focus on the negative that we forget all of the wonderful things that happen in our lives and communities everyday.  We have relationships with people and exchange awe inspiring work with them for years and something changes and we never see those people again.  This type of thing happens and there may be solid material conditions for it, but one thing we have to get much better at is recognizing the contributions people make to our lives.  So, I want to recognize some people you may know or not know.  Either way, if there is anything I've organized, done, written, or said, that offers you the slightest inspiration, then you should know who these people are.  They probably won't make Ebony or Time magazine, but to me they are very important people whose names I'm mentioning because they are in large part the reason I'm who I am today.  All of these people are either currently, or have been at some time, members of the All African People's Revolutionary Party (A-APRP).  The focus is the A-APRP because I have spent 60% of my life in this organization so more than anything else, this organization has been, and continues to be, the primary influence on my existence.

Some of the people I'm talking about here I still talk to and work with.  Some of them, for various reasons, I haven't talked to in years because they are now physically transitioned or if alive, political reasons or just capitalist survival and existence have facilitated a break in our interactions.  Still, with complete respect and honesty, whether I'm in contact with them or not, I  recognize all of them.  

I want to start by speaking of my brother Zizwe Mtafuta Ukweli.  Today, he's a professor at Lincoln University in Philadelphia.  I haven't actually spoken to him in a while, but I think about him all the time.  When I was a young man in the California Chapter of the A-APRP in the 80s, I was entralled with Zizwe.  He was so intelligent and articulate, yet so humble and approachable.  He could take the most complex Nkrumahist-Tureist ideological tenets and break them down into digestable bites.  Early on, I imitated his witty saying often.  His Common Sense Deficiency Syndrome (CSDS) analysis he developed in the 90s when he was touring with and advising KRS-1 and the Boogie Down Productions crew was pure genius and it really helped me grasp these difficult concepts.  Plus, he was always willing to talk about these concepts in a way that didn't make you feel insignificant.  Thank you Brother Zizwe!

Macho Shabaka was a brother who lived in Sacramento where I joined the A-APRP.  He was on the Central Committee of the A-APRP at the time with people like Kwame Ture (Stokely Carmichael), Bob Brown (founder of the Ill chapter of the Black Panther Party and the person who recruited Fred Hampton into it), Mawina Kouyate, the long time respected coordinator for the All African Women's Revolutionary Union, and David Brothers, the founder of the Brookyn Black Panther chapter.  At that time, we considered the Central Committee to be the voice of God and here was Shabaka, as we called him, living in Sacramento, representing that body.  I wanted to impress him.  I'm sure he has no recollection of this, but I remember being on the Cal State University Campus and running up to him while he was engaged with other African students I knew. I interrupted their discussion to announce that I had just pilfered a copy of Maulana Karenga's "Introduction to Black Studies" and for some dysfunctional reason, I thought announcing that to this brother would demonstrate to him that I was a serious revolutionary.  My relationship with Shabaka grew.  I would spend time at his apartment.  Some times i helped him organize notes from Central Comittee meetings.  I started helping coordinate Kwame Ture's speaking engagements.  It was through this work that I really began to learn about Pan-Africanism and the strategy and work of the A-APRP.  This was before I first traveled to Africa.  Before YouTube.  Before social media.  Often, before computers.  I would read pages and pages of handwritten notes and I learned.  I asked him countless questions and he helped me understand.  He was patient with my ignorance and I appreciated that.  He challenged me when I strayed to far outside the party's structural capacity.  Unfortunately, that patience began to diminish years later as I grew in my own voice and began to question him on a variety of things.  Today, it has been probably about 13 years since I've seen and talked to him, but I respect all the time he spent with me and I could not and would not be the organizer I am today without him.  So, thank you Brother Shabaka.

Brother Munyiga Lumumba is an organizer for the A-APRP in Oakland/Berkeley who was actually the speaker in Sacramento whose words convinced me to make the decision to join the A-APRP.  It was March of 1984.  From that time up until the early part of the 2000s, this brother was really my leader in many ways.  I tried to learn from his fearless, confident, and aggressive style of representing the A-APRP at a time when talking about Africa, socialism, Palestine, and the things the A-APRP talks about was a very bold thing to do.  Then, there was his willingness to take charge when leadership was necessary.  Recently, I was able to post on Youtube a converted video from 1991 of Tupac Shakur performing at the A-APRP organized African Liberation Day in Sacramento.  Munyiga was the person who made that happen.  Unfortunately, like Shabaka, I feel that our work together took a turn for the worst when I began to question things and think more for myself, but I still appreciate all that I learned from this African and I thank you Brother Munyiga for your guidance and inspiration.

Brother Akinsanya Kambon was a former Vietnam Vet and Black Panther from Sacramento who was indicted in 1969 in the death of a Sacramento Police officer (the charges were later overturned).  He is a gifted painter/artist and he was present at the March 1984 event where I decided to join the A-APRP.   Unlike the previous brothers mentioned, Brother Kambon, as I called him, wasn't as keen at articulating Nkrumahist/Tureist ideology as the other brothers, but he knew firearms and fighting techniques and he was willing to share his knowledge with young brothers like me and I ate that information up.  He was also a fantastic story teller and I would sit and listen to him for hours.  His stories inspired me because he spoke of our will to survive and resist oppression. Plus, he taught me you can tell stories with humor.  One of my fondest recollections was hunting on the Indigenous Red Wind land with Kambon and some former L.A. gang bangers.  The humor and comrade relations meant so much to me. For that, I appreciate this brother.  Thank you Brother Kambon.

Brother Dedon Kimathi was also a former Black Panther and was a leading A-APRP cadre in Southern California for years.  In August of 2015, this brother made his physical transition.  I don't have any personal stories about spending time with Dedon, because I never spent any personal time around him.  On a personal level, we were completely different on a philosophical plane and therefore often clashed.  In truth, the only time I spent around him was in A-APRP meetings, but it was that time that I will never forget.  This brother's ability to break down complex party concepts and especially how he articulated the history of the A-APRP, especially in California, was invaluable for my intense hunger to understand this organization and how I could engage it better.  In spite of my personal issues with him, his ability to do this, along with his intense work on KPFK in L.A. for years, and his work with the Crack the CIA, Bloods and Crips, etc., is all to be respected.  For this, I wish Brother Dedon a very strong rest in power and I express my appreciation for his hard work, wisdom, and commitment to our liberation.

Brother Akubundu Amazu is still a very active member of the Cali A-APRP chapter.  In fact, he serves on the A-APRP Central Committee today.  Akubundu also never appeared to aspire to become big at articulating ideology, but I distinctly remember him approaching me at my very first chapter meeting in 1984.  He introduced himself and his sincere happiness at my decision to join the A-APRP's work study process resonated with me.  I felt I had a real comrade and friend and I was right.  Over the years, this brother has continued to check in with me on a regular basis with encouragement for my work and criticism when warranted, but always in the same principled method.  Most people who know and/or organize with me know of my love for Guinea, the Democratic Party of Guinea, Sekou Ture, etc., and how much time I have spent learning about that society and history.  I must say that it was Akubundu's travel to Guinea that made what that country has contributed to Pan-Africanism real to me for the first time.  It is also from him that I've learned that need for continued principled struggle and honesty.  He has helped me realize this is the only way we can destroy the dominantly liberal atmosphere that makes organizing circles often so toxic.  So, thank you brother Akubundu.

Now, I know somebody's saying "he hasn't mentioned one women," but that isn't by accident.  I just saved the best for last.  Sister Nehanda Imara was the first African in America I ever met who had traveled to Africa.  I remember that first chapter meeting in 1984 when someone told me I needed to talk to her "because she just got back from Senegal."  I ended up having to encounter her later that day because she was helping host the meeting at Laney College in Oakland and we had a problem with the campus police that required her assistance.  Since that time I've had the opportunity to struggle and build for decades with this sister.  She was always very helpful in pointing out things to me that I needed to focus on in order to become a better organizer and revolutionary.  I remember one time when someone admonished me for the book I was reading.  It wasn't the "right" book for Pan-Africanists to be reading.  I barely responded to the critique, but Nehanda took me aside and told me correctly that I should read whatever I could get my hands on and that I needed to have the backbone to tell this person that.  There have been many more building interactions over the years as this sister is still very active in the Cali A-APRP today and as I've now traveled many times to Africa, including twice to Senegal, I always remember that this sister, who spends much of her life now in Africa, was the actual person who helped me make my personal connection to Mother Africa.  Thank you Sister Nehanda.

Sister Tumikia Watu Khuthasa was an organizer for the A-APRP in the Bay Area.  She never attempted to portray herself as a leader in the party.  I don't remember her saying much during meetings and I don't remember her taking on major presentation roles often, but what I do remember and still respect about her is her consistency.  After the events, after the meetings, she was always there offering encouragement.  She was there filling in the blanks for me and helping me understand why what we do is important.  And, most importantly, when I went through my personal life turmoils, she never cast judgment, she offered support.  She still does, playing a humble role of offering her house (along with my dear brother Nidamu) when I've brought a total of probably 20 people from Oregon to the Bay for events over the last two years.  Thank you Sister Tumikia.

There are many others I could discuss.  People I haven't spent as much individual time around, but who influenced me all the same.  People like Mzuri Pambeli in Southern California, the foundation of party organizing in that region for years.  She remains a major inspiration for me from the first time I met her in 1985 to talking to her by phone within 48 hours of writing this.  Then, there are always the immortal leaders of the A-APRP who have made their physical transitions.  People like David Brothers, Mawina Kouyate, and of course - Kwame Ture.  I had opportunity and exposure to work with all of them often and productively and can speak to their character and commitment to African liberation and forward human progress.  

There are undoubtedly people I didn't mention that I could mention.  There are some people outside the A-APRP I am not ready to mention yet for valid reasons.  The point is it is my hope I can inspire you to think of those people who made/make a difference in your life and that you acknowledge that in some way.  Whether they are in your lives now or not.  I am not here just because of me. I'm here in large part because of these people I'm telling you about.  To have any understanding about who I am and why I do the work I do, you have to know about these people.  They helped take this insecure, anxious, but determined young man on a path that I trust brings you some hope. Maybe this helps you connect the dots to those who helped shape your consciousness.  I believe if you can recognize where your inspiration came from, you can then have a focus to provide continued inspiration to others.  That's how we keep the flame lit and the hotter the fire, the quicker we can burn down the bad and construct the new.  Hopefully this helps you in that journey.  Hopefully if those mentors who I'm not in regular contact with see/read this, they can appreciate my sincere desire to recognize their efforts to contribute and how their work positively impacted me.  Hopefully, we can talk and work together again one day.  Hopefully, I can continue to work and build with those I'm still connected to.  And, as my good comrade sister from the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement told me when I greeted her recently and asked her how she was doing; if they just say my name for libation after I'm gone, then I'll feel that I've done my part.

The fact that this is a trending discussion across African (Black) social media in recent days magnifies the problem with social media communications and practices.  From reading these articles, the focus evolves from the countless discussions about Europeans (Whites) appropriating African culture.  From that premise, now some people are questioning whether African people can appropriate from ourselves.  We should have seen this day coming.  Today represents a time in history where analysis evolves most often from quick sound bite social media articles that rely overwhelmingly on talking points.  Non-existent is strong supported analysis backed by unshakable research and history.  In fact, make an effort to try and challenge much of what passes today as analysis with a well balanced historical perspective that is based in science and people will practically spit in your face.  What's the difference between well researched and quick social media sound bites you say?  Using this absurd question of African appropriation, I'll explain what I mean.

Because this social media sound bite approach rejects a science, data based analysis for evaluating social developments, anything that sounds good goes.  So, as a result, if the argument that Europeans are stealing African culture because it isn't theirs is the basis of this appropriation argument, than some people are concluding the same logic could be expanded to suggest that Africans born in the Western Hemisphere are guilty of stealing an African culture they know little about as well.  The problem with that approach is it isn't grounded in history and it's anything except scientific.  Here are some examples.  Appropriation as a term is defined as taking cultural aspects and using them to advance an agenda that doesn't respect and cultivate the culture.  Instead, it views the culture as a means to an end, usually a financially beneficial end which is the definition of exploitation or appropriation.  This definition can be applied to most cases of European usage of African culture when their interaction with the culture, from dress, dance, language, and expression, isn't genuine in the sense of reflecting their real lived experience and expression (speaking of Europeans who grow up in African neighborhoods for example), but is instead a falsified caricature that is used for some reason other than advancing African culture for the main purpose that it serves today; to advance the self-determination of African people against capitalist oppression.  The reason the appropriation argument is baseless as it applies to Africans anywhere is our culture under colonialism and neo-colonialism is an expression of our dignity.  In other words, there is no benefit in Africans wearing African clothes especially when the dominant messages are that we should assimilate as "Americans" in this so-called "post-racial" society.  So, within the environment of capitalist exploitation of African culture (as a part of capitalism's overall exploitation of Africa) wearing African clothes, speaking African languages, traveling to Africa, and uplifting Africa, is seen primarily as a sign of resistance in the U.S.  I was reminded of this most recently when I attended a social event dominated by Europeans.  As is often the case, the question of my African name (changed legally 31 years ago) came up.  When another European asked them (because I wasn't interested) if they held a name that reflected their families being someone else's property - as names like Johnson, Jones, Smith, etc., represent for us - would they want to keep those names?  The people answered a resounding no.  So this person went on to explain that my changing my name was my desire to be free from that bondage and to create that dignity and freedom for future generations of my family.  That was a perfect explanation.  I have spent the last three decades beaming with pride at the fact everyone who meets me, works with me, organizes with me, and encounters me at the hospital, supermarket, and in every restaurant where I have to be called to be seated, has to respect Africa.  This is prideful because I know that in respecting Africa, they have to respect me, but the people at this social event still didn't understand.  Despite the valiant effort of this European, they never got it.  When I talked to this exasperated person later on, I told them the reason for the continued confusion had nothing to do with their near flawless explanation.  Instead, it had to do specifically with the fact Europeans have been remote-control programmed for centuries to believe that their personal and collective identity, and the capitalist system, are one and the same.  Therefore, if they  believe that, which the vast majority of them do, then since this capitalist economy is maintained on Africa's exploitation, its no wonder that any effort any African here makes to connect with Africa is going to be met with suspicion, fear, and antagonism because by identifying with Africa we are challenging capitalism.

The last sentence above is really the reason behind this African appropriation foolishness.  There are forces everywhere that don't want Mother Africa to be connected to her children because that means destruction for this system and many of us, as Malcolm told us, love the master.  The language may be different in 2015, but it's still based in the same "what's wrong boss, we sick? mentality.  There's no other rational reason why any conscious thinking African would raise such a backward concept.  Clearly, we are as much Africans today as we were 500 years ago.  The fact we don't know this doesn't diminish that one inch.  Kwame Ture would characterize our identity as "we are Africans in America, fighting against capitalism."  I understood that as a 16 year old high school student when my cake cutter comb was banned from school.  I understood it when African college students rebelled against police aggression in Virginia Beach during spring break in 1992.  I remember the media reports kept talking about how the students had shirts with Africa and Malcolm X on them.  I think of this every time an African is shot down by police or even one of our own confused brothers or sisters.  We don't fit.  We never have.  We never will.  The media called us refugees in New Orleans in the days after Katrina because we aren't Americans.  No matter how much we try to be.  No matter how much time passes.  No matter how much Oprah is liked, everyone wants to be like Mike, and Beyonce is admired, we are still not Americans and this is made clear by the masses every time we burn another city in response to injustice.  Kwame Ture again; "we have burned this country from plantations to cities."  

There is one final element to this equation.  Identity is primarily political, not biological.  When we say we are Africans, we are making a political definition, not a biological one.  Our definition is based in the definition of identity provided by Kwame Nkrumah, not capitalism.  Our definition is a self conscious African is someone who lives and works for African liberation.  A conscious African is one who knows there is a problem and an unconscious African is one who participates in our oppression.  Our objective is to bring us all to the level of self conscious Africans, but the definition is political.  What do we mean by that?  Recently, I walked into a store that was owned and operated by a brother from Ethiopia.  When I walked in, I had on an African shirt that I got from Gambia last time I was there.  The brother saw me and asked where I was from. I responded that I was born in San Francisco.  he replied by saying "oh, you are an African American?"  I said "no, you are."  He looked at me and said "I'm Ethiopian."  I said "you may be, but you are also African American."  I pointed at his daughter (presumably) who was running around the store with a shirt with the American flag on it.  I said "you came here from Africa to assimilate and be a part of the American capitalist society.  That makes you an African American because you came from Africa, but your identity is American, or at least that's your objective.  Me?  I'm an African fighting against American imperialism, so I'm more African than you are!"  He said it was an interesting analysis and then he went back to working on being an American I guess.  My point is that's a political definition of African identity.  It's much more than just where you are born and what language you speak.  Its about what your interests are. 

I can continue to develop this a 1000 different ways, but the point is the only difference between any African anywhere is a boat stop.  In fact, it's entirely possible that Africans in America have blood connections to Africans in Cuba, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Canada, Britain, etc.  And, its certainly correct that we all have historical and cultural connections to Africa.  That's why the appropriation argument is so invalid.  If we used these people's logic than I guess the fact we have sickle cell anemia, a disease that results from blood cells mutating as the body's form for fighting malara, a disease common in Africa, is a case of us appropriating sickle cell anemia?  I guess the fact linguists who are experts in English have confirmed (look it up) that the way we speak Africanized English, or what they call "Ebonics" is the result of the violent transition of African languages like Ebo, Yoruba, Fulani, Twi, Wolof, etc., with English from the colonialism/slavery process?  So, does this mean we are appropriating Ebonics?  Does the fact we do African things like answer non-verbally like "Um huh, uh uh, um, um, um, and we all understand that when it happens, those methods of responding are central parts of African communication with Ethnic groups like the Hohentots...Does this mean we are appropriating something?  Does the fact we love seafood, because that was and remains a primary food throughout West Africa, does that mean we appropriate our love for Red Lobster?  This is third grade foolishness by people who are either painfully ignorant about our history or there is a sinister plan to continue to keep us confused about our very real and legitimate connection to Africa?

You can help stop this foolishness by forwarding discussions like this and other revolutionary Pan-Africanist based analysis while at the same time refusing to perpetuate this foolishness which seeks to divide our people.  But then there is one aspect of their argument that is ill-refutable.  For the most part, many of us don't embrace our African culture (understand the difference between our Pan-Africanist definition of culture and the European anthropological definition) with respect and dignity.  Instead, some of us do approach our cherished culture with that same means to an end vision that some Europeans do.  The difference is when we do that, we aren't appropriating our culture, we are just making fools of ourselves by playing directly into the hands of our enemies.

I was having a discussion with a group of people I was working with for my job.  The work involves helping facilitate these folks in carrying out a course of action in their work-sites.  Some of the people had strong doubts about their ability to succeed.  Much of what you have to do in my line of work is talk to people as a group, and then talk to all the people in the group individually so you can help shore people up.  In one of those one on one conversations, the person told me that what made them uncomfortable is that it seems as if the objective was to be confrontational and they "don't do confrontation."  I proceeded to tell that person that whether they meant to or not, they were not being truthful.  Of course, they reacted adversely to my statement.  "What do you mean?  I don't like you calling me a liar!"  I told this person that if they gave me just a few minutes, I could show them why I was accusing them of being (unwittingly) untruthful.

I then asked the person if they had ever exercised before in their life?  They laughed and said "of course, but what the hell does that have to do with anything?"  I then asked them if they had dieted before?  Had a relationship?  Pursued education?  Developed a skill they are now good at?  In each instance they, like all of us, had done some variation of all of those things.  So with that, I asked them what the common denominator is with all of those things?  After some back and forth, I explained that the common element is all of those things require struggle e.g. confrontation and discomfort.  You can't go to high school or college and complete without struggle.  Remember those long caffeine induced nights of studying?  Was that easy?  When you worked to get in shape by running, lifting weights, doing squats, burpies, was any of that fun while you were doing it?  Has any relationship you have had that was good been without its conflict?  And, isn't the reason you view that relationship as positive is because you learned how to work through the conflict in a productive fashion?  The point is Frederick Douglass was correct when he said "there is no progress without struggle."  That is a universal principle that applies to any aspect of life.  The reason we know this because that principle is tied to the scientific principle of dialectical and historical materialism.  The short version/definition is everything tangible is materially based which means it occupies space and holds weight.  Look around you for examples, they are everywhere.  In fact, the only thing that probably won't qualify is your ideas, emotions, etc.  The question is how does material move?  How does it make history?  How does it manifest itself in society?  It does it through history, meaning the manifestation in which the material evolves from one form to another e.g. bauxite to aluminum, cocoa to chocolate, coltan to computers/cell phones, etc.  It also evolves through the process of dialetics, or the struggle of opposites.  Every piece of material, including each of us, is involved in a struggle of the power of opposites.  Which side will win?  Youth/age, love/hate, right/wrong, etc.  If you think about it, those questions form the essence of what your life consists of in one form or another.  So, this struggle is universal and there is absolutely no way around it.  There has to be struggle in order for you to move forward.  Me to move forward.  For us to move forward.  And, as Kwame Nkrumah succinctly put it, the primarily dialectical struggle is the class struggle between the haves and the have nots.  

What all this means is we have to learn how to discard the teachings of the capitalist system.  It teaches us incorrectly that our objective should be to try and avoid struggle at all costs.  In fact, it teaches that struggle/confrontation, etc. are bad words which means things are going to be hard for you and who wants everything to be hard?  No one wants everything to be hard, but there are many things, ironically most things that are worthwhile - like freedom -that will require struggle and confrontation to achieve victory.  So, this thinking that avoiding struggle is a positive work is idealistic and dysfunctional.  The old African proverbs like "the rougher the water, the stronger the swimmer" is correct.  It's through addressing difficulty and working through it that we learn how to become better human beings.  So, this is critical to understand because this healthy logic of confronting difficulty, especially in collective fashion, is the key to us solving the problems we face.  Capitalism doesn't want that to happen.  It wants us to continue to believe like the person I mentioned; that struggle is a negative.  If we believe that, then we will believe success against capitalism is not achievable and since our objective is to avoid struggle, then we will stop the moment we face adversity.  For those who are involved in relationships and organizations, isn't that what happens?  The minute there's conflict, people are gone.  Is that right or wrong?  Far to often, it's right.  Struggle is unavoidable and the only way you get better at navigating through it is by practicing.  That means hanging in there and working it out.  Try it with your family when things get tense.  Try it with your partner.  Try it when the reading you are trying to do gets difficult.  And, definitely try it when you run into that person or persons (and you will, or already have) in your organization who you have conflict with. I know we can do it because I see us hang in there with oppressive jobs and reactionary relationships because we perceive some benefit, like a pay check, in enduring that oppression, but we don't see the same benefits in the organizations and relationships that are attempting to bring liberation.  Or, maybe we respect our enemies more than each other?  Well, if we are serious about fighting back, we are going to have to change our thinking.  You can't beat science anyway and conflict is unavoidable.  Or, if you think you have a way to successfully get through life, solving all these problems, without encountering and addressing conflict, I wish you would stop making us all suffer and share your secret.

When I say refugees I'm speaking specifically about displaced people from South Sudan, Somalia, and other countries in Africa, along with Iraqis, Palestinians, Afghanis, etc.  All of these people are fleeing unstable and dangerous conditions in their country of birth so their having to flee to Europe or the U.S. is an attempt to find safety.   This distinction must be made because the capitalist media labels Africans who are forced to flee from one part of Africa to another as "refugees."  The borders for the existing 54 countries in Africa were created from colonialism and neo-colonialism so we must acknowledge that an African anywhere in Africa is at home and cannot be a refugee.  So, what's happening is the world today is facing an epidemic problem of people being forced to flee from dangerous political circumstances.  The issue is the capitalist countries that offer the most stability are governed by white supremacy and capitalism.  The raw racist policies that dominate in Europe and the U.S. present a climate where darker people are increasingly unwelcome in those societies.  The other difficulty is you are talking about millions of people being transplanted which creates innumerable human health and capacity calamities.  

Serena Williams is the African tennis player in the U.S. who endures an overwhelming level of criticism within the tennis world for the slightest twitch she makes in spite of the fact she is closing in on the most majors victories of any woman and she is undoubtedly the most dominant athlete in her sport and possibly, in all sports.

Diabetes is a disease that results when the pancreas either doesn't produce any insulin (type 1 diabetes) or not enough insulin (type II diabetes).  Insulin is important because its the enzyme that breaks down foods that convert to sugar once consumed.  Any carbohydrate, which is basically anything other than protein (meat, nuts) and green leafy vegetables, turns to sugar.  In other words, when you eat bread, rice, fruit, potatoes, carrots, baked goods, macaroni, etc., it turns to sugar.  If your body is producing insulin properly, the sugar is broken down and there are no issues.  If you are diabetic, your body isn't breaking down the carbs and you need help making this happen through either controlling your diet and exercising or injecting artificial insulin into your blood stream between meals.  The reason I know this much about diabetes is because I, like many Africans, unfortunately suffer from type II diabetes.

What makes the refugee crisis, Serena Williams, and diabetes have undeniable commonalities is the fact that all three elements can be defined within the context of this backward capitalist, racist, society that dominates the world today.  Since capitalism depends upon Africa's exploitation to maintain it's dominance and existence, it relies on a negative image of Africa and Africans to insure people are willing to permit discrimination against Africans to continue.  If people believe  we are  undesirable because we don't work as hard, are unruly and undisciplined, and expect rewards without working for them, then those people will be less likely to think critically about why Africans suffer so much.  This is true even among African people.  This thought process is essential towards maintaining African oppression.  In other words, the refugee crisis is talked about strictly within the context of whether the Europeans or the so-called Americans should have a heart to welcome in these "refugees" because they need help.  Serena Williams is criticized strictly within the context of she is getting criticized because of a perceived negative attitude that she carries around with her.  Diabetes is a disease that overwhelmingly afflicts Africans in the U.S.  Since it afflicts us at epidemic levels, it's depicted as a hereditary disease.  

What's never or rarely talked about regarding the refugee crisis is why Africa, Palestine, Iraq, and Afghanistan are so unstable in the first place and why Europe and the U.S. are as rich and stable as they appear to be?  If these questions are never raised the assumption is going to be that these European capitalist countries are where they are because the people who's identity is tied to those societies have done so much more to place those societies on top.  You already know I'm going to say this is a complete lie.  Africa is unstable because Europe and America work overtime to keep it unstable.  This is necessary for them to do so because it keeps the massive amounts of natural minerals the multi-national corporate elites need to be profitable as cheap as possible.  in other words, the diamond, gold, uranium, coltan, bauxite, oil, cocoa, zinc, etc., industries thrive in profitability by keeping Africa as politically and economically unstable as possible.  This strategy is even openly displayed in capitalist popular culture as displayed in the recent Sean Penn movie "Hitman" which depicted a Belgium Company's assassination of a Congolese Mining Minister in order to insure the company maintains continued license to mine uranium cheaply in the Congo.  This is the story of Africa and its the reason so many of our suffering people are unstable and forced to flee for their lives while you are reading this.  

What's never or rarely talked about regarding Serena Williams is the racist double standard applied to her that doesn't apply to European tennis players, women or men.  Tennis has a strong history of rude, arrogant, and disrespectful players from John McEnroe to Andy Roddick to Kim Clijsters, but none of their characters are attacked to the level of Serena and she has done nothing compared to the antics of some of those European players and many of them, including Andy Roddick, have spoken out verifying as much.  The real issue is Tennis, probably more than any other popular sport in the U.S. besides golf, reflects European Judeo Christian patriarchal culture and the Williams sisters, especially Serena, don't fit any aspect of that.  This is why Serena's body has been shamed more than any professional athlete in sports history.  It's also why the capitalist media would hand down such heavy criticism on her for doing something as innocent as breaking out in a brief dance, popularly known as the "Crip walk" after winning a major tournament.  Professional athletes display inappropriate public behavior on a daily basis.  Clearly Serena isn't a crip and clearly, that dance is a part of popular culture, being appropriated from the inner cities by suburban European kids years ago.  So, the criticism isn't about her glorifying gang life.  It's about maintaining the policy of repressing African culture, whatever way it manifests itself because African culture reflects African expression and African expression reflects a new reality for African people...A free reality.

What's never or rarely talked about regarding diabetes is that it cannot be hereditary.  If it was, it would be an epidemic in Africa, which it isn't.  There are plenty of physiological connections between Africans in the Western Hemisphere and Africa.  One is the fact that sickle cell anemia is a direct result of cell mutation as a mechanism to fight malaria which is a very common disease throughout Africa.  So, if diabetes was hereditary, like sickle cell, there would be a similar connection across the water, yet there isn't because diabetes doesn't result from our history.  It results from the poor diet we eat and the poor environment we are forced to exist in.  The combination of processed foods that lack any real nutritional value, while being heavy in chemical balance, is playing tricks on our bodies and reducing their abilities to do what they designed to do.  This, coupled with the constant stress of living under white supremacist and capitalist oppression everyday, creates a reality where diabetes has become as much a part of who we are in the U.S. as soul food, jazz, and the inner city.  

What ties these three issues together (along with countless other issues) is:

1.  Africa must be disrespected in order for the oppression of African people to be business as usual

This constant makes it possible to murder and disregard the lives of African people.  This is manifested whether it's in shooting us down in the streets, disregarding our suffering as refugees, accepting the lie about why we are oppressed (its our fault), permitting our icons like Serena to be disrespected (its her fault), or accepting the devastating effects of a disease that would probably generate a much different response and priority if it were affecting millions of European youth the same way.

2.  Capitalism is the system and white supremacy is it's tagline:

Of course we are unstable because there's something wrong with us.  Of course Serena is dominant because she's not really human.  Of course we have an epidemic because we don't make the right decisions.  All of this is a part of the system that oppresses us and even if you have lots of money like Serena, you won't escape it.  There is no escape.  The only solution is for us to get together, learn how to work with one another, and for us to organize ourselves to end this reactionary, oppressive political, economic, and social order named capitalism.  Please think on that and keep those thoughts in mind as you come across other linked ways that define our experiences navigating through our oppressive existence.