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Breonna Taylor; Charles Barkley & The Illusion of Truth

9/29/2020

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As most people who don’t have their heads firmly planted in the ground understand by now, Breonna Taylor was the conscientious medical worker who was shot dead by a police invasion into her residence on March 13, 2020, in Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.  Using this concept known as a “no-knock” warrant (allegedly designed to provide police with the advantage of catching suspects off guard), police broke into Taylor’s apartment and the end result is she was shot dead multiple times while her boyfriend, who courageously fired back at the unknown intruders, shot and injured one of the police terrorists.

The Attorney General of Kentucky, a so-called African man, announced that no charges would be filed against the invading police terrorists.  In the aftermath of that, and every single incident of police terrorism against the African masses, former basketball hall of fame player Charles Barkley, using his platform on the popular “NBA Tonight” show on the TNT network, expressed that the police had a right to kill Taylor because her boyfriend fired at them upon their entry.

Many Africans and other people concerned about justice are understandably upset with Barkley (and others for similar comments).  And, there is of course no chorus of European (white) people telling Barkley to stick to sports like they do nonstop when athletes speak up against police terror.  Still, its worth mentioning that Barkley, an unquestionable talent on the basketball court, is widely ridiculed for his lack of analytical knowledge about basketball games and players.  His constant bad choices with who will win games and series are well documented for anyone who follows professional basketball.  So, if he doesn’t even know what he’s talking about in the field in which he exceled, certainly, we cannot be expected to take any analysis he provides on the political issues impacting our people seriously.  Plus, we understand that the role of people like Barkley and Shaq O’Neal is to shill for the capitalist system.  As Malcolm X so accurately pointed out in 1963, the capitalist system is always quick to find any “negro entertainer, trumpet player, ball player” to sic against any African who stands up and denounces this system of injustice.  In those days, it was people like Jackie Robinson.  Today, its Charles Barkley (and many others).  The capitalist system awards its slaves to speak favorably towards its interests and its not like these Africans are widely educated on political issues.  Everyone knows that elite athletes like Barkley and O’Neal have lived pampered and shielded lives.  This isn’t to say they are not subject to experiencing police terror.  They are, but even if they do, its on an individual basis.  They are usually quite isolated from the experiences of the masses of African people and anyone relying on their perspectives to justify a position on these issues is just looking for a cheap way to believe whatever they wish to believe.

Going much deeper than Barkley could ever go, the real contradictions here are related to the clear divide which has always been here that is now an open sore for all to see.  The masses of African people do not fit within this oppressive capitalist system.  The method in which institutions of this society attack and terrorize us, along with the degree to which the masses of Europeans in this society quickly align themselves with the system oppressing us, illustrate this reality. The alignment of certain Africans with the system of oppression is just another example of the “house slave, field slave” class analysis that Malcolm, Nkrumah, Ture, and others have explained to us.  And, its that degree to which people protect this system which should be the core element that most of us are focused on.

For example, Barkley and others have been fast to express that Taylor’s boyfriend fired upon the police and that is justification for the police to have killed Taylor.  There are several serious issues here.  What we know factually is that there are multiple witnesses i.e. people in surrounding residences, who gave statements indicating the police burst into Taylor’s residence with no announcement of who they were.  In other words, no “THIS IS THE POLICE!”  Only one witness claimed there was an announcement and the fact that one person was the one who ended up being summoned by the grand jury is the same type of stacked anti-African activities that characterize this criminal injustice system that poses as justice in this society.  But, for the sake of argument, even the most basic and un-intellectual among us can understand that in the course of an emotionally charged activity like police bursting into someone residence armed, there is going to be quite a bit of confusion.  So, under those circumstances, what was said will always be questionable as its proven that people don’t hear things in that type of charged environment.  In other words, the fact Taylor’s boyfriend fired at the police is understandable, even if he fired first which is largely contested, despite the confusion about the sequence that people like Barkley are apparently unaware of.  Besides, what Taylor’s boyfriend did is exactly what all the white/right people preach they accumulate massive stockpiles of arms to address.  The tyranny of the government bursting into your house to impose their will against a “free people.”  Yet, you will never hear any support for Taylor and her boyfriend from this racist crowd because they use all that patriotic rhetoric as shield and cover for their real beliefs that we are not actual people worthy of (what they believe) is a great country that (they believe) they created without any involvement from any of us.  So, in their minds, the police could set off a nuclear explosion against our people that killed thousands of us at once, and they would immediately find justification with that.

Of course, this dysfunction is fueled by the current U.S. empire president, and regardless of who wins the election in November, it will continue to be fueled by whomever occupies that seat.  The foundation of this level of anti-human white supremacy is as common to this backward society as the sun coming up each morning. 

The bottom line here is that incidents like what happened to Taylor are clear evidence as to why people feel the need to say that African lives matter.  With Breonna Taylor, she was a medical student taking risks every-day to keep people safe from covid 19.  She had no criminal record (not that it would matter) and so she doesn’t fit the racist narrative that these savages place on every African victim of police terror.  Their dishonest and dysfunctional strategy of pointing to any criminal record of any victim, no matter how old or unrelated, is their go to argument to justify police terror against African people.  Its like white perpetuators of incidents never have criminal records, they do, but these people never use that tactic in those incidents.  In fact, pretty much every one of these police terrorists have records of abuse and multiple complaints against them, so clearly we are talking about a process that is designed to criminalize the African masses.

The fact the person these police terrorists were supposedly looking for in Taylor’s apartment didn’t live there and that this person was allegedly already in custody is not even being discussed.  This should be the primary information shared about this incident, yet no one is talking about it because in the scheme of things, it doesn’t matter.  The only thing that matters is creating a narrative to justify police terrorizing the African masses because doing so ensures that this empire and its bankrupt values are upheld.  And, for the people engaging in this disgusting behavior, all that is important to them is preserving the empire they believe in.  If millions of us die in the process, that’s perfectly fine with these beasts.
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Finally, the fact the family of Breonna Taylor received a financial settlement is, in the eyes of materialistic capitalist oriented individuals, supposed to provide some level of peace to somebody somewhere.  It doesn’t because most of us are not cemented to upholding money the way so many sick and dysfunctional people loyal to this empire are.  As Malcolm also said, we are not speaking the same language to the people we are having these conversations with.  Our advice is stop having these conversations with these people.  Just like Barkley, the objective these people have isn’t the same as yours.  They aren’t trying to come to a just conclusion.  They are focused exclusively on upholding the empire that they project their personal identity and power through.  They don’t care what doing that does to you, clearly.  So, don’t waste another moment of your time with them.  Instead, use that energy to work with people who you can organize to defend ourselves from these primitive people.  That’s the most important thing we can be doing right now.  If nothing else, a case as clear cut as what unfortunately happened to Breonna Taylor should be concrete evidence that illustrates this reality to us loud and clear.

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The Unknown Relationship Between Malcolm X and SNCC

9/20/2020

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Malcolm X speaking to Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) youth after his 1961 debate with Bayard Rustin
El Hajj Malik El Shabazz, better known as Malcolm X, has taken on an iconic stature throughout the activist world in general, and the African world in particular.  Malcolm’s evolution from a petty criminal to one of the Nation of Islam’s most dedicated and effective organizers, to the developing revolutionary Pan-Africanist and uncompromising organizer he became in his final eleven months is legendary.  His ability to take some of the most complex political components and break them down in terms that everyday people can relate to is central to the political development of millions of people over the last half century.  Also, his (often understated) organizing skills and capacities should be studied by all serious organizers for positive social changes.
The Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), although most often overlooked, especially in bourgeoisie academic works, is truly one of the most influential organizations in the U.S. of the last 100 years.  Founded by the venerable Ella Baker in 1960 to help fulfill her vision of providing students with an activist entity independent from Dr. Martin Luther King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), Baker – who served on SCLC’s governing board – wanted SNCC to unleash the militancy and creativity of our youth.  And, that is without question exactly what SNCC did.  Instrumental in helping establish voting rights while dismantling segregation laws, SNCC activists helped introduce a new level of organization to the African human rights movement.  That new level was a focus on long term organizing projects instead of the one-off mobilization events that SCLC and Dr. King institutionalized throughout the civil rights movement.  Unlike SCLC, SNCC avoided media focus on its work.  Instead, SNCC activists flooded into the most dangerous regions of the Southern U.S., challenging racist practices and values head on, often with devastating consequences.  Obviously, with this approach, alerting local racists through a media presence could not be practical for the type of work SNCC engaged in.

Most people today may have some understanding, good or bad, about the work of Malcolm X and SNCC, even if people don’t have dates, people, and details.  Still, most folks with more advanced understandings of the work of SNCC connect the organization with Dr. King, not Malcolm X, due to SNCC’s origins being tied to SCLC and because of the perceived working relationship between the two organizations i.e. engaged in the primarily non-violent struggle for civil rights for African people in the Southern U.S.  As a result, most people are not aware of the extent to which SNCC intentionally crossed paths with Malcolm X in the early 1960s.  And, how that relationship blossomed to a level where Malcolm’s ideas came to greatly influence SNCC, to the point where Malcolm’s influence clearly surpassed that of Dr. King and eventually played a role in the developing a militancy of SNCC that contributed mightily to the emerging Black power movement of the late 60s.

Malcolm, even before his break with the Nation of Islam, articulated positions of African dignity and self-determination that has a general appeal to African people and many other people.  This is true because dignity and self-determination are key components to every human’s desire to reach their full potential.  Malcolm’s appeal to our dignity was designed to attempt to wake up that element with us.  He embarked on this path understanding clearly that doing so required us to face up to the dangers involved.  Dignity within a system reliant upon our continued oppression is risky work.  Malcolm’s perspective embodied the principles sang in James Brown’s classic 1968 hit “Say it Loud, I’m Black and I’m Proud” when Brown sang “we’d rather die on our feet than live on our knees!”  It can actually be said that there would have been no such James Brown song without the Black power movement that produced it.  And, there would have been no modern Black power movement without the heavy influence of Malcolm X.  Although his rhetoric always contained those elements of dignity and self-determination, core components within Nation of Islam theology and practice, it was Malcolm’s last eleven months after being out of the Nation that further cemented his legacy in SNCC and the broader African communities across the world.  It was during that last year that Malcolm solidified his understanding, participation, and relationship with the worldwide Pan-African movement.  This was expressed by Malcolm developing relationships with Pan-African revolutionaries like Kwame Nkrumah and Sekou Ture and his founding of the Organization of Afro-American Unity (patterned after Nkrumah’s Organization of African Unity – the African Union today).  Malcolm, like Nkrumah and Ture, eerily predicted the specter of neo-colonialism which contributed to his assassination as well as the overthrow of Nkrumah’s government in Ghana and serious challenges to African liberation that continue to plague our movements today. 

The unknown portion of Malcolm’s relationship with SNCC is explained by understanding the experiences of SNCC activists on the ground in brutal territory in the U.S. South.  Unlike other organizations like SCLC, SNCC organizers existed doing their work isolated and in constant danger.  They faced constant arrest, torture, brutality, and even murder on a regular basis.  The reality of racist sheriffs and others who could enact racist violence with immunity were daily experiences for these activists.  These experiences radicalized them in ways that challenged them to push back against the mainstream civil rights movement leaders.  The entire premise of the principle (not tactic) of nonviolence employed by SCLC and the mainstream movement was based on our pain humanizing the racists inflicting violence against us.  SNCC organizers knew from daily experience that this humanization process was ineffective.  In fact, a better argument could be made that the more we turned the other cheek, the more brutal our oppressors became against us.  Also, SNCC organizers lived day to day with the local African community members, often in extremely violent environments.  Contrary to the widely perpetuated myth, these African communities in the South lived daily with the presence on firearms.  They needed them to hunt and to repel violent white supremacists.  And, contrary to how history is taught, they often used those weapons to protect themselves.  When SNCC organizers entered this environment they learned quickly that the nonviolence that they were taught was a principle was never going to become a way of life for the people they were working to organize with, and for good reason.  To these local Africans, their European neighbors had long ago demonstrated no respect for morals of nonviolence in the face of terror.  This reality forced SNCC activists to begin to consider different approaches to activist work in the South.

The seeds for this change in thinking had already been planted.  Malcolm X actually had his first official interaction with SNCC as early as 1961 when he was invited by SNCC to engage in a public debate with Bayard Rustin.  This happened when Malcolm was still pretty much firmly situated within the ideology and structure of the Nation of Islam.  Rustin was a key advisor to Martin Luther King and a principle influencer to King’s commitment to nonviolence as a principle.  King, Rustin, and the broader civil rights movement were not prepared for the impact Malcolm’s staunch opposition to nonviolence would have on SNCC organizers as a result of his performance during that debate.  Malcolm won major points with SNCC activists by speaking directly to the concerns mounting within them about being committed to the philosophy of nonviolence when the people they were fighting against didn’t adhere to the same principles.  To many in SNCC, Malcolm’s belief that nonviolence is an effective tactic when working, but self-defense is better when necessary, made much better practical sense based on their actual experiences.  As a result, many staffers within SNCC continued to be influenced further by Malcolm’s ideas after that debate event and some of them even managed to maintain communication with Malcolm.

One example of this was a reported meeting at an ice cream parlor in Harlem in 1963.  There is no evidence that this meeting was anything beyond a chance meeting, but Malcolm was there and so was Kwame Ture (formally Stokely Carmichael) and Cleveland Sellers.  Malcolm, Ture, and Sellers engaged in ice cream consumption while also consuming the merits of Malcolm’s position that our struggle was more than just one of civil rights in a backward society.  And, that consistent with that position, if this government was not willing to make any level of commitment to ensure our lives were protected, we have the right and responsibility to protect ourselves.  That ice cream parlor discussion extended for a period of time and long after the ice cream was eaten, the SNCC organizers left that meeting with fresh and personal validation for the emerging militant beliefs that they were exploring which were confirmed by the concepts being advanced by Malcolm X. 

From that point forward, SNCC activists, particularly those like Ture who had roots in more nationalist formations within SNCC like Howard University’s Non-Violentl Action Group, began to push the concepts expressed by Malcolm X more and more in SNCC spaces.  There was growing support for these debates since the ideas Malcolm was articulating squared up much better with the on the ground realities SNCC organizers faced in the South than the ideas of King which more and more people within SNCC began to feel were somewhat disconnected from the realities of the work they were doing. 

As a result of the above, the connection between Malcolm and SNCC intensified.  In 1964, Malcolm organized an event in Harlem where SNCC activists from McComb, Mississippi, U.S., including Ms. Fannie Lou Hamer, came to Harlem to talk about the work taking place in Mississippi.  During that event, Malcolm spoke extensively with praise for the work of SNCC in extremely dangerous conditions.  He expressed his support to protect these activists and he again took advantage of the ideological disconnect between Dr. Kings nonviolence and the practical commitment to self-defense that even if Ms. Hamer publicly expressed support for.  These connections were further cemented when Dr. King was in jail in early February 1965.  SNCC, engaged in a major organizing offensive in rural Alabama,  extended another invitation to Malcolm to come to Alabama and talk to the African masses.  Malcolm responded by going down and speaking to an overflow crowd at Tuskegee University and then to an equally enthusiastic crowd in Selma, Alabama.  SCLC, recognizing the shift in consciousness among SNCC organizers and how that shift was influencing members of the Congress of Racial Equality and other participants in the civil rights movement, decided to endorse Malcolm speaking at the Selma event instead of opposing it.  Andrew Young, one of King’s key aides, and also someone in the King camp who had a cordial relationship with Malcolm, argued to other SCLC staffers that it was much smarter strategically to endorse Malcolm’s presence and situate him within the program where speakers surrounding him could blunt his militant radical message as opposed to permitting Malcolm to participate unchallenged. 

Malcolm responded by giving one of his most memorable presentations in Selma.  It was during this presentation that he articulated one of his most pointed perspectives in explaining the class contradictions between house slaves (dedicated to fulfilling the interests of the ruling class slave masters) and the field slaves (committed to overthrowing the slave master and creating freedom for the oppressed).  What he did with that work in Alabama, just days before he was assassinated, was solidify his legacy in the minds of the young SNCC activists.  They now felt confident enough to further advance Malcolm’s views that African people, and African people alone should be the architects of our own destiny.  And, that we should take that position regardless of how the European capitalist power structure responds to us.  And, finally, we should be prepared to defend our dignity “by any means necessary” while recognizing that our struggle is an international struggle that must be linked to people fighting against oppression all over the world.  Also, it should be noted that Malcolm’s influence on SNCC contributed mightily to other ideological developments within SNCC that Malcolm didn’t have direct involvement in.  For example, inspired at least in part by Malcolm’s consistent criticism of the U.S. policy role in undermining the self-determination of emerging African nations, SNCC worked through Harry Belafonte to travel as an official delegation to Guinea, West Africa, in 1964.  Hosted by Sekou Ture and the Democratic Party of Guinea, the SNCC delegation members, including Ms. Hamer and then SNCC Chair John Lewis, were constantly reminded by members of the PDG that their responsibilities were forever rooted in recognizing that the struggle for human rights in the U.S. is part and parcel of the worldwide African struggle for dignity and self-determination.  Upon returning, Lewis commented that “everywhere we would go, people wanted to know what our position was in relationship to Malcolm X!”  This reality had a profound impact on Lewis, clearly one of the most ardent King disciples within SNCC.  And, from that point forward, even the future U.S. congressman developed a strong respect and admiration for Malcolm X. 

Under these conditions, the 1966 election for SNCC Chair resulted in Kwame Ture defeating John Lewis.  This election reflected SNCC’s sharp turn in the direction of much more militant ideas articulated through Malcolm X and away from the ideas represented by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  Within a year from that election, SNCC had emerged as the voice of the Black power movement throughout the U.S.  Unlike pretty much all the other civil rights organizations, including King’s SCLC, SNCC came out against the zionist state of Israel.  SNCC also played a significant role in pushing Dr. King to take a position against the war in Vietnam.  This is documented by the fact that the night before King gave his historic speech against the war on April 4, 1967, one year to the day before he was assassinated, King phoned Kwame Ture and told him that he should come that next day to hear that speech because he was going to be happy with King’s statements against the war. 
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Today, nothing happening within African activist circles in the U.S. – whether it’s the Black Lives Matter movement or anything else – is in existence independent from the foundation laid out for us by SNCC and its push for Black power.  It was this mass push which raised the consciousness of the African masses.  In other words, without SNCC there would be no Black Panther Party.  Without the Panthers there would be no Black Lives Matter movement.  And, situated within all of that was Malcolm’s clear ideological role in challenging SNCC to grow.  For those out here who claim that ideological struggle is fruitless, this history is a clear repudiation of that position and a clear endorsement of the necessity and importance of ideological struggle.  As Kwame Ture was fond of saying; “organization decides everything!”  And, ideological development is the cornerstone of organizational capacity.  The role of Malcolm with SNCC is confirmed for history.  All we have to do is study this and other developments and use that knowledge to strengthen our march towards forward progress.

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The Unknown History of Systemic Theft of Indigneous Lands

9/14/2020

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 In 2020, it should be first knowledge with everyone that the Western Hemisphere is the land of the people indigenous to this hemisphere.  And, that the reason these folks are not in possession of these lands today is because of a systemic, violent, and uncompromising process to steal these lands from them.  All of this is ill-refutable, yet widely unknown.  Shamefully, there are often efforts advanced today to even deny and/or dispute the rightful claim of the Indigenous people of the Western Hemisphere to their just homelands.

The attacks against clear truth and justice as it relates to Indigenous people happens for several reasons.  The myth of white supremacy has contributed towards creating a toxic environment around any questions of justice.  Every institution in every country in the Western Hemisphere – from Canada down to Chile, including the Caribbean – is guilty of institutionalizing this white supremacy myth.  The myth has been systematized in all schooling, faith worship, and foundation “values” in these countries.  Consequently, Europeans believe, by and large, that the wealth and advancements in this hemisphere, particularly in the U.S. and Canada, reflect superior work, faith, and value accorded to the descendants of the European Judeo Christian mythology of greatness. In other words, these Europeans believe they are entitled to this wealth, land, etc.  They refuse to believe the truth, that all of it is stolen.  They are programmed to negate the clear reality, referring to themselves as Americans (the core buy in to white supremacist propaganda), believing that these countries in their current capitalist format are following the dictates of God and/or scientific forward progress. These very same people who call the police on us just for walking down the street, because they have been led to believe our very existence is some threat to them, will totally dismiss the legitimate claim that the actual textbook definition of looting is the European theft of lands and resources from the Americas, Africa, etc.  The overwhelming majority of Europeans believe those lies, even many of those who claim to be soldiers for justice.  Since this myth is so institutionalized, they have no choice.  Its not as if mass revolutionary political education is widespread where people are taking it upon themselves to learn the actual history of all peoples.  A history that would obliterate the white supremacy myth with ease.

And, for us, there is deep shame about the complete ignorance so many of our African people possess around this question of Indigenous lands.  We have been so overwhelmed by capitalist propaganda designed to eliminate our understanding of and connection to our mother – Africa, that many of us resort to making up historical lies in order to provide us a sense of pride in ourselves and our history.  These lies include variations of African people being indigenous to the Americas.  Or, to suggest that we built these countries and therefore have some stake here.  The purpose of these positions is to connect us to this country so that these people can claim that we have some undeniable rights to the wealth that exists here.  None of these people can demonstrate any concrete analysis of actual African history.  That’s why they believe in fantasies lies instead of the actual proud and distinguished history of Africa and our unquestionable resistance to European colonialism and slavery.  Again, since there is no desire on behalf of so many of us to engage in the necessary organized political education required to rebuke the type of foolishness that masquerades as legitimate history, you can say pretty much anything today in this environment where accountability is absolutely non-existent.

Its this dysfunctional backdrop that has made every effort to dissolve the history of how these lands have been stolen from their rightful caretakers.  Every one of the 50 states that make up this empire implemented some version of homesteading laws that stole Indigenous lands as policy.  There were federal laws that were enacted to expedite the theft of Native lands.  In 1862, Abe Lincoln signed into law the Homestead Act which was designed to accelerate the theft of Indigenous lands.  The law permitted people to file claims for up to 160 acres of land for nothing more than a filing fee.  Although newly freed Africans were technically permitted to apply for this land, there are no records of any of us being granted land parcels.  At least beyond a negligible level.  Of course, Indigenous peoples were denied since it was they who were systemically kicked off the lands and forced onto the reservations.  This law stayed into effect for 124 years, until it was repealed in 1976.  During that century, 10% of U.S. lands – or 270 million acres – were claimed through this immoral process.  Over 4 million homestead claims were filed and 1.6 million deeds in 30 states throughout the Western U.S. were granted.

Along with that savage thievery, there were always a number of complimentary policies that were enacted to further ensure Indigenous lands were seized from Native peoples.  During the Franklin Roosevelt presidency in the 30s and 40s, he signed federal legislation designed to offset the impacts of the great depression.  This legislation provided for the federal government creating and funding 92 livable communities across the U.S.  Communities were families were given parcels of land, houses, agricultural training and equipment, all free.  Of course, these lands in question were Indigenous lands, meaning the Native peoples were systemically kicked off and relocated to reservations.  Also, it goes without saying that Africans were prohibited from participating.  Many of these communities still exist today.  Novelt, Penn, is one of them.  A town of 892 people – all white -  it serves as one example of thousands of European families who received everything they have free, at the direct expense of the terror inflicted upon the Indigenous people of the Western Hemisphere.
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We are revolutionary Pan-Africanists which means to us, Africa is primary to any discussion about African forward movement.  This is true regardless of where Africans live, what language we speak, what God we do or don’t worship, etc.  Consequently, we may live in the Western Hemisphere, but to us, Africa is our mother.  She’s our home.  And all she needs is liberation so that her vast mineral wealth can be redirected away from multi-national capitalist corporations, and towards the masses of two billion Africans.  Where it rightfully belongs.  Since that is our vision and objective, we don’t have any issues recognizing that these lands belong to the Indigenous peoples.  They have every right to define their struggle as they see fit, but we can’t help, but admire the words and writings of long time political prisoner Leonard Peltier.  When asked how many Indians exist in the U.S., Peltier stated that there are millions if you count the Indigenous people who commonly refer to themselves as Latinos, Mexicans, etc.  In his words, they are one people.  Since this analysis mirrors our Pan-African perspective, it makes sense to us, but again, this is something the Indigenous people will work out without outside interference.  Whatever pathway they chose to embark upon collectively, etc., our role is to support them in efforts to move past relying on European morality to recognize broken treaties.  To move to a direction of complete Indigenous self-determination and organization to fight for their lands back.  Our work to liberate Africa of course makes their work easier just as their work for reclamation of their stolen lands weakens this imperialist empire, thus making our work easier.  This is the type of real solidarity that will become more and more solidified.  And, this reality is the reason that our enemies continue to intensify their efforts to keep our two peoples divided and ignorant about our own histories as well as the histories of each other.  Regardless of what our enemies do, their abilities to continue their tricks are operating on borrowed time.

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Booing a Silent Show of Unity:  White Supremacy Naked & Exposed

9/10/2020

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Thursday night, September 10th, 2020, the National Football League (NFL) returned for its 2020 season.  The last of the major professional sports leagues to return to action during the pandemic, the NFL historically generates more revenues than all the other professional sporting leagues combined.

With the backdrop of consistent unrest throughout the U.S. for months stemming from the masses of people expressing their fatigue at seeing repeated terrorist police shootings of unarmed African people, the NFL played its first game.  The players for the Houston Texans remained in the locker room during the playing of the so-called national anthem and the “Black” National Anthem “Lift Every Voice and Sing” (performed by artist Alicia Keys).  The Kansas City players, ironically still sporting a racist mascot name against the Indigenous people’s of the Western Hemisphere, took the field during the playing of each song.  Once both teams were on the field, the teams joined hands for a moment of silence against white supremacy.  The NFL, unlike Major League Baseball or the National Basketball Association, chose to permit fans to attend games this season.  Approximately 16,000 fans were present during this initial game.  And, when the moment of silence took place, many of those fans were heard, on national television, booing that expression.

For people who’s eyes are wide open to what this country represents, what its always represented, and what it will always represent, this reaction in Kansas City was no surprise.  It was actually a welcome sight because we prefer to deal with concrete reality in life.  Too often, so much in this bourgeoisie society is muddled in confusion and subterfuge.  The booing of a simple moment of silence, not a protest of any kind.  Not a rally.  Not a demonstration.  Not urban unrest.  Just a simple moment of unity and silence.  And, it was widely booed. 

That reaction further confirms what some of us have been telling you for centuries.  There is no space or time in the last 500+ years when our cries for justice haven’t been meant with contempt, dismissal, and often violence.  During chattel slavery, from the late 1400s through the mid to late 1800s, every single effort to express opposition to the brutal and inhumane treatment that represented our day to day experiences, was routinely met with a chorus of voices who were quick to deny and refute any effort to confirm our humanity.  In the proceeding 100 years of legalized racial discrimination called “Jim Crow” or so-called “separate, but equal” (untrue), the moment any of us challenged the morality and legality of a system that institutionalized racial discrimination (while enforcing it with state sponsored terrorism), there were always plenty of voices who dismissed and denied our suffering.  And, today, when we still simply cry out for justice, there are more than enough voices who continue to deny the legitimacy of our quest for the right to exist.

If you are reading this and you are a person of any level of integrity, there is absolutely no way that you should ever let anyone say again in your presence that they oppose the protests because of any reason they can conjure up.  Clearly, they are not opposed to “rioting” as they claim.  If they were, they would have to oppose everything in this country since the country was looted from the Indigenous people.  They certainly couldn’t ever sanction the existence or visiting museums since those places are nothing, but celebrations of the European looting spree of the entire planet.  They cannot claim to support “peaceful protests.”  Even if you know someone who believed that lie when Colin Kaepernick carried out “peaceful protesting” four years ago, the fact these barbaric people booed a quiet show of unity does everything to shatter that myth about the issue being the type of protest.

The truth, which has always been the truth underneath all the horse manure that poses as honest dialogue in this backward society, is that this society depends upon our oppression for its very existence.  As a result, any expression we wage to exhort our dignity as human beings is a threat to the existence of this empire.  Consequently, the people who identify with the empire, no matter who they are, understand consciously or unconsciously that in order to protect this oppressive society, they must oppose any statement we make asserting our rights.  And, by booing a moment of silence, they simply confirm this.  Also, this reality proves regardless of what the athletes, including Kaepernick say, that the protests (even if the athletes don’t fully realize it) have always been about the flag and the military as well as police terrorism.  The truth is you cannot separate any of that.  The flag is the symbol of the country that denies our oppression and continues to manifest that exploitation.  The military is the instrument that protects the interest of the empire.  Trying to separate the flag, anthem, military, etc., from police terrorism is like trying to separate love from a relationship.  You may have something that fools people on the surface, but in truth, there can be no substance to that equation. 
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By booing a simple act by players from all nationalities to express unity in silence, it should be clear that there is a large segment of this society who have never wanted justice for us and who never will.  Its obvious that in professional baseball, basketball, football, etc., we are seeing plenty of European (white) athletes who are having no problem standing in solidarity with their African teammates against police terrorism.  I would imagine they do this because they live in close proximity to large numbers of Africans on a daily basis.  They hear the stories of police abuse and terror and they come to understand it on a human level.  There are millions of Europeans on the streets who are growing into this consciousness every day.  Yet, there are still millions of people, primarily, but not exclusively, European who continue to hide behind dismissing and denying African dignity by claiming that their opposition is process related.  This was the very same argument racist segregationists in government always used when opposing civil rights legislation in the 50s and 60s.  Those “people” always dismissed our suffering, arguing that their issue with proposed changes was timing, the type of resolution being demanded, etc.  This is a classic tactic of elevating the process above the pain.  And, this is done because the people doing it care nothing about our pain.  All they care about is maintaining empire.  They booed a show of unity.  A silent show of unity.  They did that because they don’t want unity with us.  They never have and they never will.  And, the moment we finally recognize and respect that undeniable truth is the moment we begin our long awaited march towards freedom and justice.

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The Portland Shooting; Individual Action Or Collective Organizing?

9/4/2020

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If you are not familiar with the politics surrounding Portland, Oregon, U.S., an individual who has been identified as an anti-fascist activist in the area allegedly shot and killed a man identified as a white supremacist last Saturday night.  The details of the incident are still unclear, but video evidence provides substantial support for the assertion that the victim was clearly a white supremacist. 

I lived in Portland, Oregon, U.S. for seven years, leading up to 2016.  And, I didn’t live there as a go to work and get my information from television type of person.  I can say humbly, yet confidently,  that while I was there, I made a significant contribution to the activist culture there, especially towards colonized people building capacity for our own self-determination.   Also, while there, I engaged in consistent work that forced me to be in direct physical confrontation with Oregon’s white supremacist militia community.  Plus, before even moving to Oregon, I already had plenty of experiences with violent white supremacists i.e. confrontations, fights, organizing protection against them. 

I say none of this to tout myself on an individual level.  In fact, this piece seeks to directly challenge the entire individualistic approach to analyzing the conditions we face today.  I look to my experiences, particularly those related to mobilizing/organizing communities to defend themselves against white supremacists, including police, as the main challenge to much of what is happening today.

In the case of this incident in Portland, lots of people are praising the shooting while expressing shock at the fact police cornered and assassinated the Portland shooter in Washington state this past evening.  On a primarily emotional level, these responses from those on the left are understandable.  We don’t control the capitalist dominated narrative.  With the rabidly anti-African, anti-Indigenous, anti-colonized, anti anti-fascist narratives that are forced down our throats 24/7, and the constant images of us being arrested, brutalized, and murdered in cold blood, its clear why people would see this incident as a flashpoint of sorts about us winning something for a change.

Unfortunately, the stark reality is symbolism, which is exactly what drives the romantic desires to highlight the shooting as some sort of victory for the forces of justice, is enough for the majority of us, who are not in anyway engaged with skin in the game (involved in organizing work on a consistent basis) in this process.  For those of us who regularly sacrifice greatly to make our humble contributions, we are long past the symbolic phase.  And, anyone who defines what happened in Portland, i.e. us being brutalized daily compared to one death of one fascist, any different than symbolism is exposing their lack of real understanding of political struggle. 

Now, I didn’t know the alleged shooter.  From accounts from people I do know, he was someone who was sincere about his work for justice.  For the sake of argument, I’ll take their word on that, but even if he was the greatest revolutionary in the history of human existence, or something on the opposite end of that spectrum, that is completely beside the point.  The real issue is white supremacist groups like the one the victim apparently belonged to, organize.  They recruit youth.  They indoctrinate them to their political ideologies and while doing that, they are building relationships with these people to build the capacity of trust among their ranks.  They exist side by side and interchangeably with police agencies and they use those relationships to facilitate their cover in planning and carrying out attacks against us.  They are well organized, supremely supported, and focused on planning and carrying out their agenda of violence and white supremacy.  They terrorize us daily, everywhere.  If we ever think we are going to challenge them on a serious level, we have to mature behind thinking one individualistic shooting is some sort of victory.  Its not.  It does absolutely nothing to advance our collective struggle.  It actually endangers colonized people because those white supremacists will respond to that attack, not just in Portland, but everywhere.  And, the focus of their response will be waging increased attacks against the masses of African and other colonized people.  So, if the primary objective of a lot of these so-called white revolutionaries is to protect African lives, which was supposed to be the foundation of everything happening right now, these individualistic cowboy actions actually do a lot to further endanger us.  Everyone aware of the social conditions in Portland and everywhere else knows that the groups the victim was apparently affiliated with have extensive histories of terrorizing colonized people in the Portland metro area.  With this knowledge, its difficult for us to understand why anyone would think one shooting would do anything except accelerate this violence against us.

Instead of playing up one individualistic shooting that is in no way connected to any mass plan to overrun white supremacist actions, what should be happening.  What needs to happen, is for any truly concerned white activists, not just in Portland, but everywhere, to make that commitment to do the real work.  The work that will extend your spirits, physical energies, and spiritual focuses, far beyond just posting on social media.  That work centered around recruiting and building those capacity creating relationships in white communities.  Work to challenge the currently and mostly unopposed work of white supremacists, police, and the military/militias to recruit among white youth.  At this stage in the process, its impossible for us to understand how any logically thinking person could believe that we can effectively defeat white supremacists when they are engaging in the day to day organizing efforts among white communities I’m speaking of here while all you have to face off against them is the continued sporadic and spontaneous physical showing up to stand off against them at demonstrations.  Meanwhile, that’s all most of you have to offer while they are doing so much more in the organizing realm which is exposed by their abilities to come prepared to bear mace, beat, and even shoot us, while having the police clean up their terrorism.  That is what organization looks like.

Make no mistake about it, despite idealistic attempts to lump us together, the deep rooted racism and ignorance about anti-colonial struggles among most so-called radical white activists ensures that our approaches and participation in this struggle are different.  In other words, most whites know little to nothing about independent organizing efforts by colonized people in our communities.  Nothing at all.  Well, we can report that we are doing our work.  And, most of us support BLM, but we are not a part that movement.  We are building revolutionary capacity and that is why you don’t see us in mass at your demonstrations.  You never will.  Our energies are tied up in struggling for, despite institutional white supremacy (and all its political, economic, social, and psychological manifestations that adversely impact us), a reality where our people are organized along community defense projects to provide us the protection we need from police/white supremacists, and even many of you.  For us Pan-Africanist revolutionaries, this work, even here in this backward country, is always 100% centered around Africa’s liberation.

If you are truly concerned about ending white supremacy (and we have deep suspicions that many of you are not truly interested in that, although many of you are), then you have to mature beyond this fascination with the lone wolf type of actions that the alleged shooter carried out.  White supremacists can utilize the lone wolf approach because they support and work within this capitalist system which is clearly the dominant force oppressing us.  These white supremacists, including police, etc., understand that their role in this process is simply to keep us in line.  Keep us repressed.  So, for them, the lone wolf approach such as that carried out in Kenosha, Wisconsin, U.S. against protesters there, is exactly what they need to keep doing.  Meanwhile, if our efforts are designed to bring about justice, at some point we have to wake up and realize justice requires a mass consciousness about the need for people to be valued over profits.  That requires the type of mass political work we are discussing here.  Lone wolf approaches do little to advance this as evidenced by the statements made by the alleged shooter’s sister who is publicly characterizing him as an unstable and disturbed person.  Something many of our relatives would duplicate if we were similarly in the public discourse for actions we carried out on an individual level with no community support or understanding.  Also, the lone wolf approach for this alleged shooter created the conditions where the police could corner him and do whatever they wanted, which is exactly what apparently happened.  Imagine an organized community to rally around him as opposed to being able to isolate him and move in with absolutely no resistance to speak of. 
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Nothing about mass political organizing work excludes physical preparation.  Anyone who thinks we are advocating just the reading of books without anything supporting those efforts, knows nothing about our work or about revolutionary organizing work in general.  This work includes a mass political education component accompanied by the community defense work I have mentioned and that is reflected in our work.  If you wish more information on this work, all you have to do is read and/or watch one of the many articles and videos we have posted about this work.  Anyone who interprets this piece as an attack against anything is operating primarily based on your emotional reactions.  This piece is clearly about pushing us to get better so that we can win.  Some of us have seen these movies many, many times before.  We know the outcome and we are tired of living through it.  We desire victory and we implore people serious about change to step up the game so that we can move collectively and decisively in that direction, once and for all.
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Violent White Mob Mentality; Nothing New. Just Re-Packaged Today

9/1/2020

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Hundreds of well armed Europeans driving into cities they don’t live in specifically to physically confront protesters who are standing up against police terrorism.  A white teenager armed with a semi-automatic rifle, shoots and kills two people under highly suspect circumstances, yet he receives wide levels of emotional and financial support from white communities, including the empire president.  Most people are viewing these alarming events as a new phenomenon, specific to the 2016 election of the empire president Donald Trump.  A sober history of the United States clearly exposes that this violent white mob mentality and behavior is not new.  Its stitched closely to the entire history of the so-called “founding” of this country.

The U.S. in its current format, was built upon the introduction of the industrialization period in history.  And, this period, which ushered in the development of the capitalist system, was fueled/financed specifically from seed money supplied through the trans-Atlantic slave trade and the free labor produced from kidnapped Africans.  The original and developing capitalists understood that it was necessary for them to create a justification for this vicious and brutal maintenance of power.  They knew that many of the original “rank and file” Europeans who came and existed here after colonialism had served as the initial indentured servants before the institutionalization of enslaving Africans.  These initial bourgeoisie understood that they had to create a story that would provide a reason why Africans had to be kidnapped and enslaved.  A story that would explain why the lands of the Indigenous people had to be viciously stolen.  They needed a story that would soak up any empathies these Europeans had for any suffering that we experienced.  That story was the myth of white supremacy.

The belief that Europeans were just mentally and spiritually superior (as well as physically as it relates to contact with “savage” people) served to sooth any thought that we deserved any better.  This thinking served to reduce us down to the level of value reserved for roaches.  Most people have no issue stomping out the life of a roach and most Europeans have been conditioned to be equally as disconnected about African and Indigenous lives being stomped out. 

With this thinking becoming institutionalized in education, popular culture, and even faith practice in this society for centuries, it has become such a standard element in this society that most people are not even consciously aware of how this thinking manifests itself, but there are clear examples.  The practice of brutality as it relates to killing African and Indigenous people over the last several hundred years has been so normalized in the fabric of this country that lynchings were spectator sports.  What we mean is for hundreds of years, from the plantation era up through the 1950s, the concept of hanging a living human African being from a tree and watching the life ebb out of them.  The practice of setting a living human being on fire.  Ripping their limbs out from their bodies.  Cutting our babies out from their stomachs.  Using us for target practice.  Mutilating our genitals as sport. Using our mouths to hit golf balls off from.  Using our living babies as bait for crocodiles.  All of these heinous acts and more were considered public entertainment in this country no different than seeing a basketball, baseball, soccer, or football game, etc., is viewed today.

This common public spectacle of us being brutalized would still be a regular thing today had it not been for two social developments.  Although lynchings still continue to this day, the public element of this violence began to cease primarily because of the development of the African independence movement in Africa.  Developing political parties in Africa, from the Convention People’s Party in Ghana to the National Congolese Movement in the Congo, the Democratic Party of Guinea, etc., began to engage in struggle for their freedom and independence.  When Ghana became the first country to escape direct European rule, Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first president, was clear that Africans everywhere, inside and outside of Africa, are one entity.  Denouncements about violence against Africans in the U.S. began to become a regular element of Nkrumah and other African leaders statements in international United Nations and smaller delegation meetings. Constantly during the late 50s, African leaders began to call out the U.S. for the contradiction of claiming to be the center of freedom and democracy while treating large segments of its population like animals.  There are many examples of this, but one we will use is the independence of Guinea in 1958.  On the Democratic Party of Guinea delegation to the U.S. in early 1959, the Africans made repeated efforts to convince U.S. state officials that their reason for coming to the U.S. was not to accept any of the aid packages the U.S. was attempting to shove down their throats (to bride them against landing in the Soviet Union or China’s camps).  Instead, Sekou Ture made every effort to explain that their concern was dignity and respect.  Not just for the newly independent people of Guinea, but for all Africans everywhere, including the millions born and living in the U.S.  Of course, at first, U.S. officials were not able to digest what these confident and dignified Africans were attempting to convey.  The end effect of this international pressure - Guinean independence meant a new level of negotiations that would be required to access their vast bauxite reserves which are essential for aluminum products produced by companies like Kaiser Aluminum – was the U.S. having  to come to grips, at least on a cosmetic level, with what these newly independent Africans were concerned about.  To address this, the Eisenhower regime began to force state attorney generals to prosecute the people carrying out these public lynchings.  By 1960, the spectacle of a public lynching and all public violence against us had all but disappeared.  As was stated, private lynchings still continue, but the image of the U.S. being a country that encouraged this public violence against the African masses was effectively diminished after the decade of the 50s.

Along with that social development, in 1981, an African woman in Alabama, U.S., who sued the Ku Klux Klan over them murdering her son, received a settlement that awarded her millions of dollars of the land and property owned by that KKK chapter.  This was a landmark decision just in the sense of it being the very first time white supremacists were forced to suffer real consequences of any level for engaging in violence against us.  This development certainly made a further contribution towards forcing the white right to change their tactics.

Fast forward to today, white supremacy and the dehumanization of the African masses is alive and well.  It doesn’t have to manifest itself in public lynching events any longer.  Instead, racists have institutionalized code language and practices where they have learned to say things like “law and order” which is code for “we need to suppress these African people.”  It doesn’t matter if 90% of the protesters are white, the imagery is the same imagery it has been for 500 years; the specter of the African slave rising up to rape white women and overrun the plantation.  No public lynching event, but hundreds of whites driving big tire HEMI trucks emblazed with TRUMP signs.  Thousands of whites showing up at protests armed to the teeth under the guise of protecting property.  As in the case of the teenager in Kenosha, Wisconsin, U.S. who shot the two white protesters, no one drives out of state, armed, to protect a business they most likely never utilized.  These are the actions of someone anticipating the opportunity to employ violence against a perceived foe.  These people believe that death is the suitable result for the destruction of property while simultaneously believing that the destruction of property is never a justification for protesting death.  This is the legend of the white vigilante, in the spirt of the KKK, showing up to keep the African slaves in their proper place.  Again, the fact many of the protesters are white is completely ill relevant because in the eyes of these white supremacists, those whites are out there protesting on our behalf.  So, to them, they see those whites the same way they see us.  And, this is also not something new.  There have always been those whites who desired to stand on the side of justice.  There have always been those people who made the decision to stand against the dominant white society.  And, for making that decision, those whites have faced the full wrath and violence of white supremacy.  Whether its Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwener in Mississippi in 1964 or Anthony Huber or Joseph Rosenbaum in 2020, the way in which the broader white community responds to their deaths is key in understanding the consistency of this unfortunate phenomenon.  In all cases, the dominant narrative is to blame the victims for being there. To question their motives and actions.  The vitriol aimed at the Kenosha, Wisconsin, U.S., victims is the same type of vitriol that was aimed at the Mississippi civil rights workers almost 60 years ago.  The fact they are all white is ill relevant.  To the European community, these white people were standing up for African justice and to do that is to stand up against the very foundation that this backward system is built upon.  Anyone who dares do that is subject to death in the minds and hearts of these people.

And the hatred this white right (or liberal so-called left) has for those whites who buck the system against them is nothing compared to the anger these whites hold against us for daring to assert our humanity.  It’s the same anger that’s always been directed against us.  That anger stems from the reality that capitalism has been, and continues to be in a severe state of decline.  For any doubters of this, all one has to do is look at the last six months and how quickly this “strong economy” came crumbling down to its knees.  Capitalism’s instability has dripped down to the white masses.  No longer able to depend upon the system to placate the white masses, the ruling classes have skillfully reached into their old bag of tricks and curtain called us again to be the scapegoats for even the slightest drop of European discomfort.  If white people are suffering, or even perceive themselves of any potential suffering, its our fault.  We are the cause of all of their problems.  They are completely conditioned to never look at the system.  Just us.  Consequently, this reality continues to increase their misdirected contempt at us.  And, the result is the history of this country is ripe with examples of Africans being brutally terrorized for things as simple as not stepping off the sidewalk in deference to white people.  Or, even touching white people.  Or, in the case of Emmet Till, being incorrectly accused of whistling at white people. 

The premise, the conditions, the results, all the same, whether we are talking about 150 years ago or today.  In the eyes of this country, we have never mattered and despite whatever happens to us, any effort we make to challenge it, will always be met with impatience, deflection, and violence.  During slavery times, all efforts by abolitionists to expose the brutality of slavery were always met with denials, refutations, and violence.  During the 100 years of racial segregation, whatever efforts were made by proponents of justice, civil rights activists, etc., were always met with denials, counter arguments, and violence.  Today, any efforts we make to point out the contradictions of any social ill that is based on principles of white supremacy, will always be met with denials, counter arguments, and violence.

There is no difference in essence.  Only in form.  The social norms of today make public lynching a little more difficult than it was 100 years ago so what has changed is the form in which white supremacy is implemented.  Old racist stereotypes that have existed since white supremacy’s creation have been repackaged.  Africans are dishonest and lazy.  Dangerous and susceptible to violence.  That everything we have we owe to white supremacy and the capitalist system, meaning European Judeo-Christian society.  These old racist narratives are playing out through code language today by criminalizing us to present an image that all we want to do is carry out destruction for no logical or justified reason.  Anything we do is wrong, illegal, and immoral while anything they do is justified and legal.  There were no exceptions to this is 1820 and there are no exceptions in 2020.  The absolute only differences are today the perpetrators of this fraud can wrap themselves in the U.S. flag and in the Bible.  They can do this without even mentioning us by name because everyone has become trained to interpret these symbols as rallying calls against us.  They no longer have to post that the “n - - - - rs are rising up against the slave plantation” like they used to.  Yes, we know some of them still do it that way, but the point is they no longer need to.  Today, all they have to say is “we are protecting America” and after 500+ years of conditioning, everyone knows from that point forward exactly what they are talking about.  They have to protect this European empire from us, the people who strive to take it down.  To steal what the pristine white people have worked so hard to achieve.  Something they believe we are incapable of achieving.  Any white people engaged on our side are just extensions of us to them.

What’s happening now during this pandemic and for the foreseeable future, is that these contradictions have again come to the forefront.  There are millions lining up to challenge the power structure and police terrorism has become the hot point of this struggle.  There are millions who are dedicated to protecting the U.S. empire at any cost and for them, the struggle against police terrorism is the point where they feel they can attack this threat against their beloved empire.  The capitalist ruling classes, of course, understand things on a much more advanced level.  They understand that the empire is built on our exploitation.  So, for them, their essential task is keeping the minds of the masses of white people away from understanding anything concrete about what’s happening.  Their strategic approach is to pull from the old playbook on white supremacy.  It has worked effectively for five centuries so there is absolutely no reason for them to think about changing that strategy now.  So, their message is for white folks to get armed.  Intensify support for police repression against us.  See protecting the empire as their personal responsibility and whatever they do to us in the process of carrying out their patriotic mission, its justified.  Its nationhood.  Its right by God.  And, whatever Africans and other colonized people who foolishly fall prey to their vile rhetoric and adopt it as their own, this is just bonus points.

The mold is cast.  They have the open season on hunting us that they have been waiting for and history demonstrates that they will not be hesitating in using it.  And, as present events illustrate for us, when they attack and kill us they will be protected to the highest levels imaginable.  Any of us who continue to deny reality and act as if we have rights under this system are going to be subjected to the worse experiences you could even attempt to conjure up. 
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What all this will mean for us is we have to get ready.  Just showing up at marches is not going to be enough and doing that could become extremely dangerous everywhere.  Emotional appeals to morality were ineffective during slavery, segregation, etc., and they will be useless now.  As Kwame Ture warned us “nonviolence is an effective tactic when you can convince your adversary that their actions are wrong.  The problem with this approach is it depends upon your adversary having a conscience when America has none!”  Crying and complaining to the instruments of this system are not going to serve us.  The only option we have to keep our families and communities safe is to organize to protect ourselves.  Consistent with the narrative articulated in this piece, white supremacists haven’t “infiltrated” police departments as liberal media constantly harps these days.  White supremacy and police has always been and will always be one and the same.  Our salvation will come from our organized efforts, nothing else.  If we wish to avoid continued terrorism being meted out against us, we will have to come together to stop this ourselves.  This requires everyone getting engaged in organizations complete with political education processes and community defense projects to help us be prepared. Our history is full of our people who understood these realities even centuries ago.  The information on Seminole Indian alliances with African maroons is something that very few have studied, but these relationships existed to protect us against these terrorists.  Organizations from the Lumbee Indigenous Groups in Mississippi to the Deacons for Defense in the same geographical region serve as very positive examples of us standing up against white supremacy to fight fire with fire.  An unspeakable number of lives were saved by the efforts of these organizations.  If we want to survive now, we have to adopt this same spirit of self-determination and take it to a new level of organization just as our enemies are doing with their white supremacist approaches.  

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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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