Blog Archives

Libyan Slave Trade: Reaction Will Not Solve this African Problem

11/28/2017

To everyone expressing outrage at the systematic enslavement of African people in Libya, North Africa, of course this is a terrible crime and we must stop it. These types of incredible tragedies happen in Africa repeatedly, and for the same reasons; the masses of people in Africa remain powerless and disorganized. There is absolutely no person living and breathing who can dispute this. That's why its more than a little frustrating that many of the folks screaming the loudest today about slavery in Libya, were no where to be found when support for the Libya's previous government; the Libyan Socialist Jamihiriya was in power, up until 2011. This is very important people. We have to learn from history! The definition of insanity is repeating the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. When oppressive practices are exposed in Africa; whether its the mining industries (coltan, cocoa, diamonds, gold, etc), oppression against women, the proliferation of U.S. military bases in Africa (Afro-com), the response of mostly well meaning activists is to widely expose the issue (good), and then immediately and systemically turn to reformist approaches controlled by capitalist countries like the U.S., Britain, and France, to address these issues on a singular and disconnected basis. The results? The problems continue and get worse.

This is the unfortunate, sad, and tragic story of Libya. Many of these well meaning people are very quick to point out that this slave trade is victimizing Africans (Black people) and is being carried out by Arabs. These folks point this out because they hold the position that the problem is simply an issue of Arabs being in Africa. These people proudly point to a history of Arabs participating in the trans-Atlantic slave trade as if this current sad situation is some sort of historical connection to the specific relationship of oppression between the Arabs exploiting Africans. This may be a convenient version of history, but it is classically unscientific and a-historical. Of course, Arabs participated in selling Africans into slavery during the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Of course Europeans dominated this slave trade. And, yes, Africans participated in selling other Africans. First, its important to differentiate the economic period dominated by slavery several thousands of years ago from the trans-Atlantic slave slave of just 150 years ago. Thousands of years ago, evolving from the dominant period of communalism as the world's most prolific form of economic operations, slavery was the system that was in existence in every country on the planet Earth. This is an ill refutable fact. This means everyone had slavery. In fact, it was this system of slavery, which produced the first class divisions in the world, that created class differences that eventually led to feudalism becoming the dominant economic system in the world. These class divisions have always proven to be much deeper than any racial divisions and this is proven by the fact the Europeans who came into Africa, the Arabs who came to exploit, they each had little difficulty in finding elite classes of Africans who were more than willing to wheel and deal with them in order to sell out the masses of people. This reality set the stage for the trans-Atlantic slave trade where elite Europeans, Arabs, and Africans, participated jointly in the enslavement of the masses of African people. This fact is shocking to people. It will make some people mad, especially the anti-European/Arab elements within our communities, but it is 100% ill-refutable by anyone who engages in even the most basic study of African history.

The above history obliterates the fantasy peddled by race hustlers within our communities who wish us to believe that we were all skipping around Africa as kings and queens for thousands of years. They wish us to believe this because in doing so, we probably won't be critical enough in our thinking to see their black power pimp plan to use our people's struggle today to financially benefit from our suffering. Most of these people are the descendants of those who sold us into slavery. Those that aren't are confused because of their pain at experiencing our suffering. This pain has caused some of us to lash out at all Europeans and Arabs in this unscientific way. The point is clearly, if all of us were kings and queens, who were the subjects? Everyone knows that subjects don't exist on the same level as the kings and queens. Listen to this. If you are African in the Western Hemisphere, your people were certainly subjects who were sold by the elites into slavery. Just take a deep breath and accept it because its ill refutable. If you wake up to this reality, maybe you can grow to the point where you, like me, want to overthrow the kings/queens. This is all tough to take, but if we are going to truly understand what's happening in Libya in order to do something to stop it from happening there and everywhere else, we have to see the world scientifically.

The problem in Libya isn't just Arabs being there. Why, just six short years ago, Africans in Libya were the most secure and prosperous in all of Africa. This is again, ill refutable. The Libyan Jamihiriya, under Muammar Qaddafi had achieved a level of socialist development that had made Libya the pinnacle in Africa for standard of living, education, health care, and every other area of life. Due to this, Qaddafi was the most popular person in Africa. If you don't believe that, just talk to Africans living in and around the Sahara Desert. Libya had successfully created an advanced water distribution system that regularly delivered potable water to people in and around the Sahara, something that was unthinkable just 20 years ago. And Qaddafi never had small plans. His country led the charge to bring Africa into technological advancement by introducing the concept of the Libyan Dinar (currency) that Libya was proposing to become Africa's currency under a united Africa that Kwame Nkrumah, Sekou Ture, Amy and Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X, and other Pan-Africanists dedicated their lives to achieve. The dinar would be backed by Libyan gold and the implementation of this vision would have changed the game in the international economic arena. This is why the Jamihiriya was relentlessly attacked in 2010/11. If you recall, this attack was couched in the so-called "Arab Spring" uprisings which were supposed to be popular movements against regimes in the Middle East. A so-called Transitional Council emerged as the "democratic forces who were going to liberate Libya", but once Qaddafi was brutally hunted down and savagely murdered, even the so-called Transitional Council admitted that were it not for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) relentless bombing and satellite surveillance, they could never have "won" in Libya. Translation; these criminal forces relied on imperialism's terrorism to overcome all real popular support Qaddafi maintained. The aftermath is NATO destroyed all Libyan infrastructure, including the Great Man made Lake (GMR) or Wasra Dam project. The gold was stolen. And, in a matter of a blink of an eye, Libya went from the most stable place in Africa to one of the most dangerous. Any student of Revolution knows that revolutionary struggle is designed to benefit the people on the bottom of society. if you study Libyan history, particularly the history of Qaddafi himself, you will learn that he was born poor in the Benoin Desert region of Libya. When he led a successful takeover of power on September 1, 1969, he immediately put in place policies that benefited the poorest in his country, many of whom hailed from the same desert region that he did. The majority of folks from Benoin are so-called Black people. So, immediately after these thugs called the Transitional Council were handed power of Libya by the imperialists, they began a terrorist campaign designed to punish the people who supported the Jamihiriya, which was the only force in that region that prevented them from exercising their oppressive tactics against the people there.

So, this slave trade of course has racist elements within it. Everything in this capitalist dominated world has that. But the foundation of this tragedy is imperialism's destruction of the Libyan Jamihiriya. This was the work of Obama (and Hillary Clinton) the recent descendant of those elite Africans who sold us into slavery and the spokesperson for imperialism in 2011. So, for those of you who want to frame this within a strictly racial lense, recognize that your racial vision should have Obama squarely in the sights. They savagely destroyed Libya, like they attempted to do in Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, and everywhere their feet touch down.

Just remember that this slave trade in Libya could not happen without imperialism. Boko Haram's presence in Africa could not happen without imperialism. ISIS could not happen without the contributions of imperialism. So, if you truly want to stop this slave trade in Libya, we have to address the issue of imperialism. If you never did anything when the Libyan Jamihiriya was under attack. If you ignored those of us who talked to you about it, that's ok, but its time to correct the problem. We cannot correct this issue without addressing the core problem. Until the African masses are organized and united, we will not have the capacity to stop these attacks against our people. Whether its slavery in Libya, terrorism against our babies in Nigeria, or police terrorism against us in the Western Hemisphere, this still rings true. We owe ourselves more than just reacting and getting upset. We have to join organizations working to organize our people. If we truly want to solve problems like this, that is really the only way.

0 Comments

Decolonialism's Priority Work: Repairing Love/Respect for Africa

11/26/2017

0 Comments

If you want to see the impact of 500+ years of colonialism on African people, anywhere in the world, all you have to do is spend an afternoon watching Face Book or Youtube videos. These social media channels are filled with negative interactions between African people. And that's Africans from all over. Africa, Europe, the Americas. The Caribbean. The common themes are us fighting each other. Patriarchy and homophobia are often present, but the most consistent element is intense hatred of ourselves, by ourselves. Along with these images, which promote the most base anti-African/human aspects of our existence, there are anti-African ideologies and philosophies swirling around everywhere. There are the folks promoting the concept that Africans in the Eastern world do not identify with Africans in the west. There are even the people who are proudly claiming that those of us in the African diaspora (outside of Africa) do not even descend from Africa! Is all of this a reflection of our abilities and rights to believe whatever we want? Or, is all of this a result of something much more sinister?

Here's what we know for sure e.g. meaning there's plenty of science, and not just emotional foundations, to back these ideas up. First, the capitalist system has never promoted the emergence of an educated mass population. School systems in Africa, Europe, and the Western Hemisphere, are filled with curriculum that lies. Evidence of this is overwhelming. In the Western Hemisphere we just experienced one of many backward holidays where millions of intelligent people ignore and dismiss the trauma the day represents for Indigenous people simply because they haven't been able to figure out how to find a better and different time of year for loved ones to get together. And, within the last two years, I've seen "Huck Finn" as a featured book for children in schools in West and East Africa. In schools all over the world, African history is non-existent. Even basic information about Africa, such as its role in creating and/or advancing the world's major religions; Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, is no where to be found. Nothing about Africa's role in advancing some of the world's original scholarship around math, philosophy, science, and art is taught anywhere in organized education around the world. This vacuum of scholarship has left Africa open to the racist and stereotypical image that has been aimed at it for centuries to justify colonialism and slavery. Examples are the beliefs that our people are lazy and lack initiative. That's why they starve and are unable to solve basic problems of technological underdevelopment and poverty. These distorted images have been institutionalized in the consciousness of African people. The results are today, everything American, British, Israeli, or French, in Africa is given more prestige. Since it comes from European people, it must be better. You can even find Africans wearing confederate flag emblems in Africa because if its from the U.S., no matter what it actually means, it has more value. People in Africa commonly see the road to progress leading through the Western capitalist countries e.g. the countries dominated by Europeans. For Africans in the West, there is a desire to be associated with the (perceived) winners. Based on how history is taught, that is not Africa. It can even be argued that African identity in the U.S. is tied specifically to the wealth, or the desire to achieve wealth, that people believe exists in this country. It cannot be effectively argued that African identification to the U.S. is related to patriotism? Besides a few token sell out individuals, there is no evidence in our communities here of that. So, under these conditions, its not hard to understand how many Africans in the West would see it necessary to disassociate themselves from Africa, or at least be highly indifferent about it.

The miss-education of African people has worked in disconnecting us from Africa, but its even more important to stress why this process is necessary. Many well meaning African people agree with the impacts of colonial education, but these good people believe this system has prevailed because of the evil of Europeans e.g. they don't like us so therefore, they work to demean us. If only the truth were so simple. The destruction of Africa's legacy is a thing because that process was created by the same multi-national corporate message/image makers that sell you everything you buy. The same people who rose to economic prominence on the backs of our African ancestors. The same people who continue to profit and control world resources today on the backs of our Mother Africa. The only way this system could ever work for so long is if the majority of people in the world believe it. And, the architects of this system need you to believe it because that's the only way they can continue to get away with their exploitation. In other words, I had a conversation last night with a wonderful and younger developing African organizer/activist. We discussed the anti-European reaction that is prevalent within African circles today. Their comment to me was "white people stop us from doing anything we need to do." Certainly, the vast majority of Europeans on Earth are equally imbued with this white supremacist ideology. So, that means most of them are going to play their designated role as the shock troops protecting white supremacist capitalist interests. The fact that besides limited white privilege moments, they never see the benefits of their loyalty, they continue to play that role. Still, the question of how they stop us is a valid one because the answer is that if we decided to organize ourselves there is really nothing all the Europeans on Earth could do to stop us from doing anything. The fact we haven't organized ourselves is more a result of our buying into white supremacy than it is white people stopping us from doing anything. In fact, I'm sure that if African people began engaging in serious efforts to organize ourselves, it would force Europeans to start doing the same within their own communities. Anyone who doubts that doesn't understand history or mass movements. It was the African independence movements that sparked the U.S. civil rights and Black power movements. It was those African U.S. movements that sparked the women's liberation and LGBTQ social justice movements. So, what's needed is an African awakening to the reality that we are disconnected from Africa because us doing so permits the European capitalist network to continue to exploit Africa without us doing a single thing to stop them.

Its clear that Africans are divorced from who we are through misinformation. And, the purpose of this misinformation is to keep us from seeing the value of Africa and how us reclaiming Africa (from the clutches of imperialism) is really the salvation to all the problems we face as a people. The problem cannot be solved by us watching youtube videos. All that is accomplishing is us being won over by opportunists and reactionaries. We have to figure out how to create a culture of intellectualism where study of Africa is not only desired, but seen as necessary by our people. Once we seriously study Africa, we erase the confusion about Africa. Once we do that we begin to relate to Africa. When this happens we want to see Africa strong and independent because we realize that doing this makes us strong and independent. Once we know this, we begin working for that strength and independence. The more of us who do that, the closer we get to victory. And when victory comes into the horizon, there will be very few of us running around here talking about "I ain't no African and I ain't concerned about Africa."

0 Comments

Taking Time to Honor a True Woman Heroine: Mawina Kouyate

11/24/2017

1 Comment

While listening to American Indian Movement (AIM) leader Bill Means address those assembled the other day, I was tapped on the shoulder. Upon turning around I was greeted by an AIM elder who noticed my All African People's Revolutionary Party (A-APRP) hoodie logo. This wonderful elder went on to tell me that he, like many AIM members, have a long standing respect for the A-APRP. In his words "you'll supported us long before it became fashionable." His words meant a lot to me. There is no shortage of criticism in this work and praise and recognition are few and far in between, but what really stayed with me was what he said next. He went on to explain that he had worked closely with "Sister Mawina (Kouyate) in the 70s in South Dakota." I asked him what work they engaged in and he said that during the Leonard Peltier trial in 1975, Mawina was the liaison with the A-APRP and her job was to make sure any support needs AIM had were supplied for.

Although I didn't know those details, I wasn't surprised. I first saw Mawina in 1985 at the All African Women's Revolutionary Union's conference in Harlem, New York. That conference served as my very first time leaving California. After ending up in a car in Bensonhurst by accident, I was pretty overwhelmed by the time we got to City College New York where the meeting was being held. My first assignment was child care, or YPI as we called it after the Young Pioneer Institute of the Convention People's Party in Ghana under Kwame Nkrumah. The child care shift was me and one other organizer I didn't know who was from another part of the country. We had about eight children to watch, but to my 22 year old inexperienced self, it could have been 30 children. I did my best. We did our best. When the praise/criticism session took place at the end of the day, my child care shift was harshly criticized for "drinking all of the milk" before all the children were able to have any. This was already a couple of years after I had stopped drinking milk so I knew I hadn't done it and I hadn't seen my co-comrade drinking any milk either, but it didn't seem like any of that was going to matter to the over hundred African women who were then demanding to know who were the organizers on shift. Before that exchange got any more out of hand, Mawina stood up and begged for calm. She logically explained that who was on shift was ill relevant because whomever it was, they certainly wouldn't have intended to drink up the children's milk. She spoke of the need for humanism and patience. Soon, the agenda moved on.

I was extremely grateful to Sister Mawina that night. Although I didn't actually meet her at all during the conference, her intervention during the milk discussion had a significant impact on me. Although this is certainly not an issue anymore, and hasn't been for years, in those days, I was painfully shy. Although, I knew I hadn't drank any milk and I hadn't seen anyone else except children drink any, if that discussion turned to focus on us who were on duty, I know I wouldn't have known how to speak up and defend myself. Although she surely had no idea, I was enamored with Mawina that night for standing up for me.

When I returned to Sacramento from the conference, I read as many A-APRP memos and talked to as many older cadre as I could to find out whatever about Sister Mawina. I knew she was the coordinator of the women's wing and she was also on our Central Committee which in those days was a who's who of the African liberation movement. We had the late David Brothers who was the legendary co-founder of the Brooklyn Black Panther Party chapter. We had Bob Brown who was an original co-founder of the Illinois Black Panther Party (before Fred Hampton was recruited into that chapter). And, of course, there was Kwame Ture e.g. Stokely Carmichael. Those men were outstanding, but what I remember of that old Central Committee were sisters Moremi and Mawina. I learned that Mawina was a fearless tenant rights activist in Harlem during the 60s and 70s. It was also rumored that when Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) trained and equipped criminal Jonas Savimbi (equipped to serve imperialism's interests in Angola) came to Harlem, that Mawina stepped out in front and slapped him. I don't know if that actually happened, but from what I was learning about Mawina, if it was ture, it wouldn't have surprised me.

I finally met Mawina when we brought her to California State University, Sacramento, to speak for Women's History Month in March of 1986. It was my first major event serving as M/C for the A-APRP. Today, I can say I've served in that role hundreds of times, but on that day, I was overwhelmed with nervousness. I wore a white shirt and tie, clothes you couldn't pay me to wear to a party event, or other type of event, today. I rehearsed my words several times the days leading up to the event, but I was sure I would flub them. I certainly remember babbling through meeting Sister Mawina, but I'll never forget her reassuring words to me; "you are here to serve our people young brother. The ancestors are proud of you!" It was a much needed confidence boost for a youngster who had been significantly beaten down by this system. I needed people to believe in me and that day, and many times afterward in my political and spiritual development, Mawina played a major role in providing personal inspiration.

Over the next several years I had a number of times to work with Mawina on various projects, including ones that happened overseas. What I learned about her is she was personally a major artery for the A-APRP. Her New York apartment was our communications center at best. If one was to spend any time there, you would see Africans from any number of countries coming through. One more than one occasion, Mawina was dispatched to our California chapter to referee disputes among the cadre leadership out here. And, she served that role all over the Party. In one of her many courageous acts, Sister Mawina served as the A-APRP's representative in planning and carrying out the first Million Man March organized by Minister Louis Farrakhan in Washington D.C. in 1995. The A-APRP has always done its work two ways. We work under the radar and we push political consciousness. And, we are good enough at doing it that you may not necessarily know who we are, but you will know our message. In the case of the march, we consciously wanted to have a woman represent us because with all due respect to the Nation of Islam, we know it is our people, not just our men, who are under attack by this vicious system. So, it may not seem like a lot to you now, but for Mawina to serve on that planning committee 23 years ago with strong willed men like Minister Farrakhan, Maulana Karanga, and the others, was quite an accomplishment for a woman. And knowing Mawina like we do, you will never convince me that the vast participation of women in the march program like Mawina, Dr. Betty Shabazz (Malcolm X's widow), Rosa Parks, and Maya Angelou, wasn't heavily pushed for by her in her capacity as a member of the planning committee. That's what has always separated the A-APRP from other organizations to me. While others would spend all their time debating about the Minister or whatever, we get involved and influence the politics. Organizing 101. I listened and learned well. Especially to Sister Mawina.

I'm still shook by Mawina's death in 2001. It was sudden and although Kwame Ture made his physical transition three years earlier, I'd argue that the A-APRP has struggled to recover from Mawina's loss as much as Kwame's, David Brothers (2007) and anyone elses. She was an institution in this organization and throughout the African liberation movement. Like most women, her contributions are overlooked and underappreciated, but I thank that AIM comrade for reminding me just how important she is to our collective struggle. To my individual struggle to grow and mature in this work.

1 Comment

Thankstaking & The Psychological Normalizing of Colonialism

11/20/2017

0 Comments

The holiday itself is a strictly Western Hemisphere creation. Its certainly celebrated annually in the U.S. and Canada. In both instances, Europeans were responsible for stealing land from Indigenous people. And, lets be clear what we mean by "stealing land." In the U.S. today, land ownership is the most common pathway to wealth. If you or your family own land you got it by either taking out a bank loan and financing it, or someone in your family got the land through a deed process. Since it was only a short time ago that Indigenous e.g. red peoples, inhabited all of this land, whatever you and your family got it, your bank and/or deed process would have had to have bought the land from Native people's at some point. Clearly, you cannot provide proof of this purchase because no purchase took place. The land was taken by force from the rightful inhabitants. That's force, meaning violence, murder, rape, and terrorism. Whatever way people attempt to justify and purify it, that's what happened. That's why you have the land today, period.

As amazing as it may seem to some, there are people today in 2017 who would dare dispute this accurate account of history. The reason they are arrogant enough to do this is because this truthful narrative of history has never been the "official" history taught in schools, church, throughout the media, and in any structure in this country or around the world. The old saying is the ruling classes write the history. And therefore, that means The Indigenous scholar Vine Deloria was correct when he said "when the white man came, we had the land, and he had the Bible. Once he got here, he got the land, and we got the Bible." As stated, this correct historical account is hidden under the white supremacist myth that the thankstaking holiday is some sort of commemoration to the "mutual respect and support between the Indians and white folks." This historical lie is based in the racist manifest destiny belief that Europeans had a spiritual responsibility to civilize the backward people - all brown people - in order to carry out God's vision of what the Earth should look like.

Most people committed to justice are at least somewhat aware of these contradictions, but most people are unfortunately beholden in one way or another to this backward version of history. That's why you can Google any story detailing the protests against police terrorism, for example, and the comments sections will be filled with people arguing against the protests and telling African people if we don't like it here, we can go back to Africa. The basis of that statement is a belief on behalf of European folks that first, this is their country e.g. they own it. Second, that the development of this country resulted exclusively from the wise and courageous leadership of white people (the systemic exploitation of Africa and other places had nothing to do with anything). And, third, that African people in the U.S., who descended from slavery, owe some form of gratitude to white colonialists because they "rescued us from the dark continent."

Its important that we understand that one of the most potent tools to advance this backward version of history is the holidays this country pushes down our throats every year. Sure, they want you to spend money on them all, but that's almost icing on the cake. The core purpose for these holidays is to instill an ideological and philosophical commitment from everyone to the vision of imperialism. The country was "created" with the best intentions. To help the Indians because they needed that help. They didn't possess the capacity to build this society without the benevolent white parents. And every year we set aside these days, just to meet with our loved ones, we are subconsciously submitting to their narrative, whether we mean to or not. Televisions will be on Thursday and all the commercials will be dropping hints of this imperialist narrative. Your children are attending school and you better believe they are being fed the filth of this despicable lie. The churches are 100% controlled by imperialist ideology to such a degree that you would believe Jesus was a Lamborghini driving capitalist. So, if you honestly and naively believe you are not being propagandized to accept manifest destiny, whatever you do this Thursday, you are not being honest with yourself. And, please spare us the tired line that you just use the day to "give thanks." That your thanks has no connection to the holiday. If you believe that you probably believe that your support for Veterans Day is just about supporting your loved one who was forced to serve in the U.S. military and your support has no impact on creating a culture and environment where supporting U.S. military hegemony around the planet is taken as an automatically needed and worthwhile element in this world.

The only way you can truly combat this phenomenon is the same way you disrupt anything that's not good for you. You decide to resist it with every bone in your body. Its not enough to tell yourself you aren't participating when practically everything you are doing is still patterned after the imperialist concept, just with a different name. You have to be involved in activities designed to confront and deconstruct the lie. If you have an unthanksgiving ceremony in your area, attend it and spread the word about why you are attending it. If you don't have something like that near you, organize your own ceremony. The point is you have to be actively doing something that's opposed to the dominant message in order to properly resist that message.

As for your get together's, this imperialist society forces people to work more hours than any other capitalist industrialized country so of course we realize its difficult to find days that everyone can get together, but if there is a will, there is a way. Many people, including myself, have done this over the years. Yes, intentionally get together at alternative dates as a protest. Its always a challenge, but with proper organization, you can do it. The benefit is your children and your own spirit will prosper from not giving in this these vicious and unhealthy lies all year, every year.

The key to oppressing a people is to break their spirit. And, the way to break a people's spirit is to destroy their connection to their culture. A significant piece of white supremacy is to deny the Indigenous story. Doing so diminishes them just as denying slavery is a clear attack against the dignity of African people. The more we do to challenge this attack against oppressed people in every form we can, the more we weaken imperialism's ability to control the thinking of the masses of people. You won't resist imperialism by pretending to not acknowledge it. Imperialism is embedded in every fabric of this society and we don't have the level of organization to be engaging it in everything around us without it influencing us. We think we are resisting while our children are learning that if they can claim something is theirs and get away with it, then its theirs. Just stop and think about all of this when you watch the cranberry sauce being passed this Thursday.

0 Comments

A Revolutionary Pan-African Perspective on Events in Zimbabwe

11/16/2017

2 Comments

What we know at the point of this being written is that the Zimbabwe military appears to have physically taken control over governance in the country. Its being widely reported that Zimbabwe President and leader of the governing Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF); Robert Mugabe, is being detained at his residence by military forces.

These developments have obviously escalated intense rumors that the military has taken over the government in a coup. The reasons circulating for this action are that the people of Zimbabwe are revolting against the corruption of the ZANU-PF/Mugabe regime.

Although we do operate with forces on the ground in Zimbabwe, it would be extremely ill-responsible to maKe final conclusions at this early juncture. What is clear is that the military is certainly responding to these events in ways that are definitely not customary for coups in Africa. The top general has declared for the last 48 hours that Mugabe and his family are not under arrest and that ZANU-PF is the unquestioned leader and governing apparatus for all of Zimbabwe. Up to this point, there have been no reports of violence anywhere in the country. This strange and unchartered approach to a challenge in power in Africa, to which there have been many in just a short number of years, makes it impossible for us to examine the situation without remembering the always constant role of imperialism in anything having to do with Africa’s affairs.

Prominent among this focus on imperialism is the debate about whether this latest development is the result of Mugabe and ZANU-PF’s corruption and political incompetence or sabotage from the capitalist/imperialist network.

Of course, imperialism is trumpeting the tune that all of this is the result of mismanagement by Mugabe/ZANU-PF. They are even acknowledging that this latest occurrence has nothing to do with the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) the main so-called opposition movement in Zimbabwe. Instead, they are labeling this incident as the result of a power challenge between Mugabe and Emmesson Mnangagwa, the former Vice President of the country that Mugabe dismissed last week. According to imperialist sources, Mnangagwa, a long time ZANU-PF official who’s roots trace back to the independence struggle against Britain, is a historical ally of Mugabe who fell out of favor because of Mugabe’s desire to position his wife Grace to succeed him once he dies (Mugabe is 93 years old). The imperialist narrative goes on to suggest that the nepotism displayed by Mugabe’s desire to have his wife replace him is the type of corruption that has caused suffering in Zimbabwe. The type of suffering that, according to our enemies, has pushed most people in the country to turn against the ZANU-PF government. And, there are plenty of alleged Pan-Africanists, Black Nationalists, and so-called friends of Africa who are more than willing to dance in step with this statement of events in Zimbabwe.

We of course, do not believe the situation to be that simple. Kwame Ture told us repeatedly that no analysis of our people can ever be complete without including our enemies in our assessment. And, the perspective that the primary issues are ZANU-PF, and Robert Mugabe’s, incompetence doesn’t include what roll the enemy is playing. In our view, that explains why these series of events just don’t seem to be adding up.

We are not making the weak argument that everything is imperialism’s fault and anything else is an excuse to justify ZANU-PF’s failures. Clearly, ZANU-PF has made mistakes. Many of them. And without question, corruption is certainly a problem that needs to be addressed, but we also have evidence that corruption is not nearly the issue in every area that imperialism has claimed it to be. Plus, imperialism has hardly been able to contain itself with glee in celebrating the events in Zimbabwe, claiming the major source of disdain for PANU-PF to be the land reform movement that has defined the Mugabe regime since 1980.

What’s ill refutable is that ZANU-PF, against the will of imperialism, has remained steadfast committed to the land reform program since ZANU-PF’s victory over colonialism in 1980. According to the United Nations (UN) Commission on Agriculture, at that time, 4660 European (white) farmers dominated Zimbabwe’s economy by controlling and owning 14.8 million hectares of the best arable land in all of Zimbabwe. By comparison, the UN reports that 6 million Africans owned 16.4 million hectares of the most low quality agricultural land in the country. Keep in mind that up to the end of colonialism, which ended with ZANU-PF’s overwhelming legislative victory in April of 1980, whites were assured the best and most prestigious jobs while Africans were prohibited by law to own anything that Europeans could benefit from. In other words, land was distributed by race. So, the land disparity itself existed solely because lands were violently seized from Africans for over 300 years and handed on a silver platter to white people. What all that means is Europeans were assured by law to have the best of everything and control over the entire country. ZANU-PF responded by announcing the land reform program which was designed to redistribute said arable lands back to the Africans it was stolen from. It’s very important to state those truths because imperialism would have you believe today that the land reform has been a violent theft of land from hard working Europeans that has failed miserably. In fact, I challenge you to Google “Zimbabwe land reform” and virtually any article or source you receive will refer to the violence that has stolen land from the victim white people in Zimbabwe. Never is it mentioned that hundreds of thousands of Africans were killed as a result of 300 years of colonialism while this intense violent takeover of white owned land since 1980 has resulted in less than two dozen whites being killed.

And, despite imperialism’s dedication to painting Mugabe and ZANU-PF as piss poor managers of Zimbabwe’s economy, there is ample evidence that the land reform program – by imperialism’s own acknowledgement the hallmark of Mugabe’s presidency – has started to show clear signs of progression. The Zimbabwe Land Reform Development Study, an independent study from a non-governmental research group, has been widely cited in its recognition of the land reform program’s implementation in the Masvingo Province where almost 30% of the country’s land reform policy has taken place. According to the study, contrary to what imperialism would have us believe, 75% of the redistributed land has gone to low income people and not relatives, friends, and other nepotism related transactions as have been claimed. Most of the remaining 25% has gone to public lands, like parks. This perspective is validated by the gradual, but consistent, rise in income among people in Masvingo which provides credibility to the claims ZANU-PF has always made about the program. The report goes further to chronicle the extent to which the farms owned by Africans are active and the degree to which farmers are participating in efforts to further develop and consolidate the growing production of the farms.

Overall, conservative estimates are that farms have changed households for approximately 170,000 families in Zimbabwe since 1980. An amazing effort to redistribute wealth that was wrongly controlled by the racist Ian Smith regime in colonial Zimbabwe into the hands of the African people it rightly belongs to. And these efforts are starting to show strong life in the economic sphere.

No matter what people think, the truth is it has only been 37 years since independence in Zimbabwe. Even if all the claims of incompetence aimed at ZANU-PF are true, isn’t it also true that every people have the right to develop over time? Isn’t it true that problems, errors, inconsistencies, and issues, are a normal part of the growth process as a young country matures? Especially since much of that time has been inhibited by the sanctions against Zimbabwe imposed by the U.S., Britain, and the other imperialist countries? It must also be noted that one of the most damaging legacies of colonialism is the lack of training and availability of skilled operators once the colonial class leaves the country. Since the colonialists only trained who they knew would work in their interests, Zimbabwe, like all newly independent African countries, had very few people who actually had administrator experience in governing a country. As a result, wouldn’t it make sense that in the time that a young country would struggle to be productive, those few in positions of privilege would be apt to take advantage e.g. the issue of corruption? Isn’t that a part of the process of a country growing and maturing into its actual ability to govern itself? If all that is true, and its very difficult to refute it otherwise, it seems strange for everyone to act, at the prodding of imperialism, like after 300 years of brutal repression, a people would be expected to be running without any of these problems a mere 37 years after independence?

None of this is to release Mugabe or ZANU-PF from their shortcomings. If you read this blog, then you know much has been written about the challenge in Zimbabwe, the former Libyan Jamihiriya, Ghana under the Convention People’s Party, and Guinea under the Democratic Party of Guinea, to grow to figure out a way to address opposition without it being antagonistic. Corruption under all of these conditions is always a problem, but at least the conditions provide a logical reason, as unfortunate as it may be, for its existence. Massive corruption exists in fully technologically developed capitalist countries that have been operating and benefitting from exploiting Africa for decades and even centuries. So, the expectation that it shouldn’t exist in a 37 year old poor country is insane, despite the principles expressed by that country. Clearly, the political consciousness is never ahead of the reactionary consciousness in any society until much work is done. That’s why political education is always so important because without it, that consciousness is going to be hard to institutionalize.

We can’t pretend to predict what will happen in Zimbabwe. Whatever happens now in Zimbabwe its also clear that the people in Zimbabwe overwhelmingly expressed their unconditional support for ZANU-PF and Robert Mugabe as recently as 2008. Regardless of what anyone may think of that, even if the people there are wrong, that is for them to figure out. And, they will in due time, one way or the other. I know this because we believe in and support the people of Zimbabwe just like we believe in and support people all over Africa. This is our process to travel down our road towards freedom, unity, and Pan-Africanism. Anyone who ignores those realities is doing the bidding of our enemies, despite whatever outward appearances you represent.

2 Comments

The Big Lie of U.S. Veterans Day: The Gift that Keeps On Giving

11/10/2017

0 Comments

As this represents another annual weekend commemorating this strange holiday within the U.S. known as "Veterans Day", this tradition of recognizing service in the U.S. military continues. So many good people are posting pictures of themselves and their loved ones who have served in one of the branches of U.S. military service. Scores of people respond with gratitude for "service to this great country." And all of these folks are touted as heroes and heroines. This is of course the purpose of this day right? To honor these brave souls who have sacrificed so much? Or is it?

Like much in this country, this entire phenomenon is the definition of an oxymoron. Or two things existing together that shouldn't exist. The contradicting variables are that the U.S. military is not the hero/heroine in any presence it has anywhere on the planet earth. And, whatever "service" the people who participate within the military engage in, the U.S. government is not at all concerned about the well being of those past and present service people.

My awakening to these realities started long before my political consciousness experienced its first seedlings. My father was born and raised in Shreveport, Louisiana, U.S. Louisiana is in the deep South in the U.S. It was one of the anchor slave states until the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. Louisiana certainly and proudly enforced racial segregation and oppression from the Hayes Tildon compromise in the 1870s up through the 1960s. It wasn't until I was a late teenager that I was able to encourage my father to disclose even the most basic elements of his youth, but I did sit in the next room as a child and ear hustle when my parents and my grandmother, all from Louisiana, told their stories about the horror and trauma of their youth. I remember one story my father told repeatedly that terrified me as a child. When he was 10, he accidentally brushed up against a European woman in the market place when he reached for an apple. As soon as he brushed her, he retold how he dropped the apple, as he was trained to do, and ran the three miles home to inform the adults of the incident. Upon hearing his account of what happened at the store, the adults immediately mobilized everyone on the block to take up armed shifts at his house. Later that night, the white/night riders did come. These were people known to my kinfolk, despite their faces being hidden by the hoods they wore. One glimpse of pride that still resonates with me is the knowledge that my ancestors had the courage to stand out there, armed themselves, and refuse to turn my father over to these racists, which included so-called law enforcement people. This is a story that practically any African within the U.S. or in the colonial Caribbean and Africa can tell because this is what Jim Crow segregation and colonialism looked like. So, you should understand when I tell you that by the time I was 17, my father finally decided to turn to me and talk about his experience in the U.S. military. You see, my father was drafted into the U.S. army for the Vietnam war. He was forced to go. He opened up because he was worried about the Iran hostage crisis at the time. Worried about the U.S.s growing military influence in Central America and the continued escalation against Cuba and the cold war overall My father finally opened up because he had a message for me. He told me that he would be eternally disappointed in me if I ever considered going into the U.S. military. He told me that he was forced to go and fight for a country that would not even stand by his basic rights as a human being in the state where he grew up. He made it clear to me that the only rights I had were rights that were secured for me by our civil rights movements. If I could get a job I was qualified for. Live where I could afford. And, do anything I could do, it was because of those brave souls who fought against Jim Crow segregation and institutional racism in this society. His point was that his time in Vietnam did nothing to contribute to any rights I had, or anyone else, including the Vietnamese people. I listened to him closely. Partly because as I mentioned, this was pretty much the first time he really said anything of substance to me beyond typical father discipline type stuff or sports talk. Also, I listened because what he said made sense to my growing understanding that as a young African man, I was walking through this society on a much different path than the one I was always taught I would travel on.

After obtaining my Bachelor's Degree a few years later, I tested well on the Law School Admissions Exam and I was tentatively accepted into Bolt Hall Law School at the University of California, Berkeley. I was eliminated from consideration because of my refusal to sign up for selective service eligibility (for a potential draft). The Reagan Administration had made refusal an automatic rejection for any financial aide and/or loans. My family had no money so law school was out. I have never regretted it because I have always wanted to be a front-line activist and organizer for justice, not a legal observer or court room supporter. Those folks are wonderful, but God knows I've fulfilled my activist aspirations, but my father's message made it clear to me that the military was not for us and I'm forever thankful to him for initially opening my eyes in this way.

Beyond my personal experiences, we have to confront this ever expanding lie that the U.S. military represents truth and justice throughout the world. This is the lie that's perpetuated to our children in school, certainly in all professional sports, in the media, and even in church. Over the last couple of decades, the U.S. has sent troops to Vietnam, fighting a war on the wrong side of history. The Vietnamese people were fighting a war for national liberation. A right all people possess and if they decide that socialism is that path for them to achieve that, who the hell is the U.S. to decide for them that this is wrong. In 1983 the U.S. refused Greneda's initial invitation to build their airport, but when that small Caribbean country invited Cuba to build it, the U.S. used an unfortunate internal squabble among Greneda's leadership to invade that country. In 1986, the U.S. defied international opinion by carpet bombing Libya and after two decades of killing hundreds of thousands of people in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. has done nothing in those countries except breed instability and the type of resentment that has made the emergence of groups like ISIS possible. And illegal military operations and/or support in Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen, have further contributed to instability. Now, the most recent military uptick is surrounding the U.S. going to war against North Korea. In this instance, North Korea is portrayed as a rogue country that is completely ill-responsible and unstable. The truth is the U.S. has killed thousands of North Koreans in bombing over the last several decades. The U.S. has continued to threaten North Korea with bomb tests off the Hokkaido Islands in Japan. North Korea, like any logical entity, has the right to protect itself and that's all they are doing. The U.S. again, as always, is on the wrong side of history. The reason why this happens repeatedly is because the reason the U.S. is involved in these military confrontations has never had anything to do with freedom or justice. If this was true, the U.S. would have gotten involved in Afghanistan years ago when conditions under the Taliban were so oppressive towards women that it was illegal for them to go to school. The U.S. would have intervened in Vietnam in the 40s when Japanese colonialism ruthlessly oppressed the Vietnamese. No. The U.S. only gets involved when there is a connection to the economic interests of U.S., Western European, and zionist Israeli corporations and political desires.

And, the thousands of U.S. people who enlist in the military are nothing more than cannon fodder to carry out the objectives of U.S. imperialism. Of course, there is no question that people join the U.S. military because there are limited economic opportunities otherwise for working class populations. A tour in the military comes with the G.I. bill which provides resources to attend school, buy a house, etc. We know options are limited, and we know this narrative is very carefully kept out of the mainstream focus so that most people don't realize they are accomplices to oppression against humanity. Most people want to believe they are doing the right thing. That's just how we are wired. So, its not hard to understand why so many good people, who I know must know better, buy into this corrupt narrative that U.S. military service is to be heralded. We all know anyone can follow unjust orders to contribute to repressing people who don't deserve being repressed. It may be understandable, but its not heroism. And the fact about 25 U.S. service vets kill themselves daily indicates these folks know that. I've spent too much time with former vets, taking them to try and secure benefits the government is trying to deny them, to be confused on this question. This government doesn't give a rat's ass about U.S. veterans. The only reason they trumpet the propaganda is because the ruling classes know that the best way to get the masses of people to support their imperialist agenda is to appeal to our emotional element. Our husbands, wives, girlfriends, boyfriends, people friends, family, etc., who "served." Since we of course support our people, by default, we support the imperialist agenda. This is the real reason why the military pays millions to professional sports leagues for these daily and weekly displays of U.S. nationalism where the military is used as the pawn to visualize this dysfunction. This is so institutionalized that most of your families never even think to ask the question why or what this display even has to do with the sporting event you are watching/attending.

My father died in 1999. And every year on this day, I'm thinking of him. I'm not posting any pictures of him in his army uniform. Even if I was confused enough to do that, I couldn't. He didn't have any pictures. He didn't want any. My way of honoring him, and all of you, even those of you who celebrate this day, is by challenging this backward narrative that justifies oppression and continues to contribute to this lie. Sekou Ture said "truth crushed to earth a thousand times will still rise." The truth is the U.S. military is a criminal organization and its wars are crimes against humanity. If you were a member, we need you to come out and tell the truth to the public. You doing that is the best cure for waking people up before we are forced to suffer through the next imperialist war. Kudos to those vets who are doing that work. They need your help. Then you will really qualify to be heroes and heroines.

0 Comments

Who Really Has a Legitimate Right to Use the N Word?

11/4/2017

0 Comments

After hundreds of years of consistent usage, the "n" word arguably is the most controversial word in the English language. And, its not even an English word from an entomological standpoint. There are many folk tales about the origin of this word, but probably the most logical one is that it derives in some way from the Latin word "Niger" (which also evolved into a French word) which means black. This definition makes the most sense because it explains how the word came to be contained in the name of at least two African countries; Niger and Nigeria. And a historical understanding of the white supremacist myth, and its purpose of serving as the justification for the oppression of African and other brown people, makes it easy to see how a word describing the color black, which was and is seen as negative as a part of white supremacist folklore, could have been developed within that oppressive framework to become a slur designed to further diminish African people.

One thing that isn't refutable. That word today when used is bound to produce an emotional response. Also, over time, it has developed widespread international usage. So, the question here today is who has the right to use the word?

The debate rages. Some Africans feel that the word is ok when used in social interactions between Africans. Some of us even assert that the word has no power at all. That its basically no different than any other word. The folks in this camp even argue that by using the word, as much as possible, we can even diminish and eliminate the hurtful and historical impacts of the word. The other side of the argument these people promote is that anyone not African cannot use the word and that by using it, they instantly and automatically are insulting African people.

Its an emotional word and therefore the arguments are going to be heavily fueled by emotion. That makes it difficult, but not impossible, to attempt to make a plausible argument for who should be able to use the n word. That's what we will attempt to do here. And, we will make our attempt using as much empirical and material evidence as possible in as clear and concise terms as we can muster.

To do so, we must make a distinction among those who are talking about the word as well as those who the word has historically been directed at. Whether the reference is negative or positive, that would be African people. Within the worldwide African community, there are Africans who have experienced the word as a tool used to dehumanize and degrade African people, usually with the threat and/or perpetuation of serious violence against us. These Africans find it impossible to compromise with the usage of this word on any level. Then, you have Africans who haven't experienced the word in anyway besides verbal communication, usually between African people, whether in person or through popular culture e.g. rap music, etc. These are the people who argue its just a word. And, as a side note this latter group of Africans usually have no direct experience with personal racist treatment. Not saying they don't know that racism exists. These people can detect the institutional racism in their lives, like being randomly pulled over for no reason when the cop who pulls you over doesn't exhibit any insulting behavior besides asking you where you are going when no crime is suspected of being committed. I'm saying that this group of Africans don't have those experiences where they have been assaulted for being African with the n word being used in that experience against them.

For context, let's re-state that white supremacy is a concept of history that is designed to discredit and wipe out the contributions brown people have and are making to contribute to the world's advancement. The purpose of this concept has always been to justify brown people being exploited and discriminated against. For example, as is stated often in this blog, this entire capitalist economy was born from seed money produced from the trans-Atlantic slave trade. And, this economy today is maintained based on the systems of slavery and colonialism that were initially set up 500+ years ago. The architects of this oppressive empire knew that they needed a story to justify their plundering so they came up with manifest destiny e.g. the need to "civilize the primitive natives" and all the resulting systems that institutionalized their civilizing process like the Monroe Doctrine, the colonial terms in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, and Central and South America, including the colonial education systems. The institutional racist doctrines of the Christian religion(s). The International Monetary Fund. The World Bank. The African Military Command. On and on. Fast forward 500+ years later and everyone is convinced that Europeans are the framers of civilization everywhere and that the rest of us have basically been along for the ride. Within this context, it would difficult to argue that the n word in its development and institutionalization was a term of endearment. It was without question used as a tool to dehumanize us by separating us from Africa. Our great scholars and activists and organizers against and around the psychology of oppression, like Franz Fanon, Bell Hooks, Angela Davis, Carter G. Woodson, Steve Biko, Amilcar Cabral, Kwame Nkrumah, Malcolm X, Marcus and Amy Garvey, Sekou Ture, etc., have all effectively argued that the only to control an entire people is to destroy their spirit and the best way to do that is to diminish their connection to their culture. The disconnection to the culture is critical because as Ture teaches us, culture is the method in which any people define their history and their legacy. Without it, a people cannot assert and impose their will on society. So, by convincing a people that they possess no culture, you effectively teach them that they have no essence. Consequently, it becomes easy at this point to tell them whatever you want to tell them and for them to believe it.

With African culture diminished from the conscious mind of African people, when the colonizer/slave master told us we were "worthless n _ _ _ _ rs" we had no choice except to believe it on some level, whether we wanted to or not because we were not armed with anything to combat this backward thinking. And thus, over the generations, the institutionalization of our internalized oppression was passed on. We believe ourselves to be inferior and others believe that as well. If this were not true, how would we be talking about something called "anti-Blackness?" The conversion is complete. We believe ourselves to be "dawgs" not prisonors of war against the capitalist system. Within this context, it becomes easy to convince us that the tools of our oppressors can somehow be transferred to mean something other than what the oppressor intended because basically, all we have to work with is what the oppressor has given us. So, although the n word has been used to trample on our human dignity, within this dysfunctional and oppression paradigm, some of us have unwittingly convinced ourselves that we can still pull some positive out of this. Or, at least, we can use it without any harm being done. Well, I've got news for you. The harm has already been done so when we use the word, we are simply reinforcing what has already been institutionalized. If you don't believe that, my ask is how you reconcile our use of the n word and the conditions of our people? I can show you countless ways the usage has helped oppress our people where I challenge to show me one way it hasn't.

Of course, we still remember Kwame Ture's words that we cannot analyze anything happening to our people without including the enemy - the capitalist system. It is this system that has been the driver of this dehumanization process. It is this system that has used the n word for decades as a profit tool. The n word was used in the 1920s to sell products from lotion to hair grease to agricultural products. Today that medium is the entertainment industry. What's consistent for all periods over the last 100 years is that all of these products, from the hair grease to the rap records, have caricatured African people and no one can argue with the negative effects this has caused within us. Growing up in an African community, I remember recognizing as a young child that when Africans had a verbal altercation, which often turned physical, the n word was always used. And it wasn't from a standpoint of being about endearment. It was used specifically as a tool to diminish the humanity of the other person it was directed against. The institutional purpose of the word in the first place. "F _ _ k you! n _ _ _ r!" No one with any knowledge of the English language, or any other language, can miss the negative objective in using the word as a noun in that and any other way within that context. Its not like the protagonist in that example was going to say "f _ _ k you! Citizen of the human planet! Family! Friend and/or soon to be friend!" The purpose is to dehumanize so that any further action against that person is justified. And, its no different philosophically than how the words b _ _ _ h or h _ e are used by and against women/femmes to dehumanize them.

Plus, those of you justifying the use of the n word as being intellectually dishonest. Unless you can tell me that you call the people in your life you respect the n word on a regular basis, than you are lying when you say the word has no meaning. If it had no meaning you would call your pastor, your Imam, your parents, your grandmother, anyone you love and respect, the n word because its a term of endearment, right? And, if you really believed it just be a word, with no power, than arguing that Europeans cannot use it makes little sense.

Finally, we have to look at the institutional impact of the word because those of you who use it aren't doing so in a vacuum. You are using it part and parcel of the system that oppresses us. If you and your friends were the only people using the word anywhere on Earth, than we could evaluate it subjectively, but since that's not the case, we cannot look at the impact of the word just by looking at you and how you use it on an individual level. To do so would be the same as saying just because you have eaten a certain unhealthy diet and lived a certain unhealthy lifestyle, and you don't have high blood pressure and/or diabetes, it must be ok if all of our people followed your example. Clearly, that would make absolutely no sense.

The negative institutional results are all around us. When I was walking down a street in Dakar, Senegal, West Africa, in 2003, I encountered an African who approached me wearing sweatpants with one leg pulled up as is the often popular method in which to wear this type of pants. Hearing me talking to my A-APRP comrade in my U.S. accented English, this person walked right up to me smiling. Using his very best English, he said "what's up my n _ _ a? That action produced a hour or so conversation between us where I attempted to educate this person on not calling me that word. As is often the case, our conversation evolved. Soon, we were talking about what Africa needed. This person declared that what they wanted to do to solve the problem is come to the U.S. or Europe and gain skills. I asked them how they would get here and their response was God would provide a way. My response was if God is the source of the resources, and God is universal, why then would they need to come to the U.S. and/Europe to get the resources they needed? Why wouldn't God provide those resources in Senegal? What you have to understand about this exchange is that we as a people have been convinced that we cannot move forward without European guidance and this thought is so entrenched in our psychology that really, when we say God, we are really talking about Europeans. That would be the only logical way to explain why coming to the U.S. or Europe is necessary. But of course, the only way this colonial way of thinking is possible is if we see ourselves as the n word and not African people living and acting from our African culture which is really our main tool for our liberation and our forward progress. Seeing ourselves as the n word means our history can only start with slavery and colonialism so that means the best we can ever be is a smart, well educated, and successful n word on the master's plantation. Maybe that explains why so few Africans in the U.S. even have passports or are interested in having one (I have to say that for those who will rapid respond that the reason is economic) and traveling anywhere outside of the master's plantation?

If you haven't guessed, I'm one of those Africans who has experienced, on multiple occasions, the n word directed at me by racist Europeans during the course of them making every physical effort they could to end my life. I've had approximately 10 of those experiences and I mean serious experiences. I'm not talking about fist fights. I've been called the n word within this context dozens of times. I have the stories of my father, mother, and grandmother, from their experiences growing up in Louisiana in the 30s and 40s, under Jim Crow segregation laws and discrimination. Still, my entire family, including me until I was 17, used the n word regularly. And that includes my four times a week church attending grandmother. This shows you how institutionalized this process is in our psychology. And, I know that if my family wasn't all deceased (except one of my sisters who still regularly uses the n word), all of them would still be using it. This is true because despite whatever lies we may tell, the truth is we believe that's who we are. If we don't know Africa, there's no other possibility because n word is all we have heard our entire lives (not just the word literally, but the dehumanization that the word represents).

So, I call BS on all of you who claim the word is just a word. I don't think anyone should be using it until we have institutionalized being African and understand what that means and act accordingly. I say this because I know that when that happens, we will have no further use of the n word. So, stop buckling to the pressure when you hear the word. Call the question. Raise a discussion. Let's have an international dialogue on using the n word. Don't worry about whether or not we should include Europeans. Most of them are so used to facilitating everything we do that they are going to insert themselves in the discussion anyway because what good is a discussion without European participation? Certainly, those of you who are serious will know how to manage their participation as well as those of us who are not nearly as "woke" as we want to believe we are. Its an important discussion for us to have because we need to deal with this question of how we have been diminished for centuries and how we can restore ourselves. Like everything related to African people today, the solution is with our mother - Africa.

0 Comments

Libyan Slave Trade: Reaction Will Not Solve this African Problem

Decolonialism's Priority Work: Repairing Love/Respect for Africa

Taking Time to Honor a True Woman Heroine: Mawina Kouyate

Thankstaking & The Psychological Normalizing of Colonialism

A Revolutionary Pan-African Perspective on Events in Zimbabwe

The Big Lie of U.S. Veterans Day: The Gift that Keeps On Giving

Who Really Has a Legitimate Right to Use the N Word?

Author

Archives

Categories