Ahjamu Umi's: "The Truth Challenge"
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Africans, 2018, & The Spectacle of Social Media Created Leaders

12/31/2017

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If it wasn't so damaging to our people, it would be outstanding comedy.  Think about it.  The African masses within the United States of capitalism - the people who are produced from a collective, humanist, and egalitarian culture in Africa - are dealing with the most clownish and opportunistic individualistic characters and we are calling them leaders for our people.

There are too many of these people to name, but I'll just focus on two of them; this Dr. Umar Johnson and Tariq Nasheed.  I focus on these two because they are embroiled right now in a youtube battle of put downs against one another that would be best suited to take place in front of a liquor store.  Not that two people cannot have a disagreement, but these two proclaim to represent our struggle for liberation against oppression.  With the glorious struggle and history that we have as a people, how did we come to this place where people like this, who openly refer to each other as the n word, and use every slimy method of putting each other down, are recognized by so many of our people as the voices of our dignity?

First, it must be acknowledged that people like these two are nothing new for African people.  Our people are oppressed.  We're oppressed politically, economically, and spiritually.  And, we have been oppressed this way for hundreds of years.  Consequently, we long for respect and dignity in ways that we don't really understand.  We will do anything to give us a chance to move out of this suffering existence.  We are so eager to do this that we historically don't use the most rationale in selecting our spokespeople.  We are socialized within the tradition of African churches where slick rhetoric is basically all that is required to gain power and maintain it.  This happens within the context of the patriarchal system where a man speaks this rhetoric and everyone is expected to fall in behind him.  In this scenario, its often not whether this man is speaking truth, but how whatever he's speaking makes people feel, subjectively.  That's the dysfunctional place we find ourselves in and we have never had a shortage of people who were primed to take advantage of us over it.  From Daddy Grace and Father Divine in the 1920s in Harlem, to Jomo Kenyatta doing nothing to disclaim false rumors that he led the Land and Freedom Movement (the Mau Mau) in Kenya in the 50s/60s, to Reverend Ike in the 70s.  African people have always been easy suckers for a good rap.  If you don't believe that, just go into any African church on Sunday.  You will observe people who don't even have enough money to pay their light bills placing their last dollars in the collection plate after a strong sermon.  These slick tongued preachers have even convinced our people that doing that is really the only chance they have of getting into heaven.

So, if you understand that dysfunctional phenomenon, then its not hard to conceive how people like Johnson and Nasheed can create a vision for a people.  A vision of capitalism (of course) e.g. creating individualistic wealth at the expense of the masses of people, with a healthy dose of classless Black Nationalism thrown in.  This is what these guys are selling and because they definitely know how to package it right, many of our people are buying it, hook, line, and sinker.  And, now, these two "men" are going after each other on social media, declaring that they should have a boxing match with one other over their back and forth sniping and attacks against each other.  All of this while the masses of African people everywhere are engaged in a fight for our very survival.  Erica Garner, daughter of Eric Garner who was brutally murdered by New York City Police, has died this week at age 27, clearly in large part due to her broken heart at the lack of justice in her father, and everyone else's cases.  Our people in Libya, left shelter-less by U.S. imperialism's wicked destruction of the Jamihiriya government of Muammar Qaddafi, are being forced into the most brutal slavery and suffering.  Our people have an infant mortality rate in the U.S. that rivals technologically underdeveloped countries.  There are close to 100 U.S. military bases in Africa today and they are there to re-colonize our homeland.  They are there to help crush our people's resistance against the systemic oppression of the cocoa, coltan, gold, uranium, bauxite, diamond, etc., industries where our life expectancy is 40 years old.  All of this is happening to our people and these two negros are going to box it out over some BS.

Its not difficult to understand why we continue to fall into this trap, selecting people who don't deserve it as our leaders.  The masses of African people are not organized.  In fact, we are chronically disorganized.  Because of our state this way, we have absolutely no idea which way is up.  For example, many of us still have faith in a system that has oppressed us for over 500 years.  We still believe in the Democratic Party which has betrayed us so openly and consistently that they must be running out of ways to do it at this point.  We are a mess.  And, because we are in such bad shape we are akin to the man in the desert who thinks he sees a bottle of water.  Any semblance of anything that sounds good to us, we'll take it.  And, the truth must to told that most of us have no experience organizing our people so we don't rightfully understand that no person is going to come out of the woodwork and save us.  We are going to have to save ourselves, but we don't yet realize that so many of us are still looking for Dr. Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Rosa Parks, Kwame Ture, to come save us.  Well, all of them are dead so we are stuck with Johnson, Nasheed, and these other social media created leaders - umm or somthing.

At some point, our people must develop some political sophistication.  We can't just continue to measure things based solely on how it sounds to us.  We have to acknowledge that we may not have the right tools to properly assess what we hear.  We have to develop much stronger tools of analysis.  For example, the first time I heard of these people I was suspect, but I did my research.  I went to hear Johnson speak and I left the event with everything I thought confirmed.  I'm a long time activist/organizer so one thing I learned a long, long time ago is no one person can solve our problems as a people.  I mean we have had some of the baddest individuals a people can produce.  Amilcar Cabral, Kwame Nkrumah, Sekou Ture, Patrice Lumumba, Amy Garvey, Marcus Garvey, Shirley Graham DuBois, Huey P. Newton, Thomas Sankara, Assata Shakur, Kwame Ture, Malcolm X, Imari Obadele, etc.  and none of them could solve the problem on their own.  So, that tells me we can't solve it without the masses of our people organized.  Or, without the organized masses because only the masses make history.  That's what I know and there is no scientific challenge to that principle that can hold water.  So, the minute it became clear to me that these individuals had no organizations to offer our people, I knew then that what we really had are more black power pimps, or people who use our struggle for their own individual advancement.  You see, I was fortunate to learn from people who were really dedicated to our people's liberation.  Kwame Ture (Stokely Carmichael) was a person who could have been a governor in the U.S., or at least the mayor of any large city.  All of his political contemporaries from the 60s achieved that.  People like Marion Berry, Julian Bond, Jesse Jackson, etc.  Kwame didn't want any of that.  He only wanted the power of the organized masses.  So he spent most of his life organizing for the masses.  Not building up his own name and finances.  So, after having role models like that, there's no way in hell I could ever relate to these social media stars who haven't risked one hair on their head for our people's liberation.  And, I'm saying that as someone who has often risked my own life for our people and for justice, so let me say it again.  I don't see where these people have risked anything for our people.  So Johnson can say on youtube (as he did) that Kwame Ture was weak on Pan-Africanism" because he was socialist, but I know that he couldn't hold Kwame's toenail clippings.  Of course he's anti-communist because that flies in the face of his money making plans against our people.  

So, lastly, if you read this blog, you know I have never before talked negatively about people who were not specific representatives of imperialism against our people.  I don't believe I am contradicting myself in this column because as was stated, these guys don't even have organizations so all I'm talking about are two individuals who are doing a great job making themselves look bad.  I don't know either of them.  I would only suggest that if either of them have any sincere commitment to our people's forward progress, first, they should take their efforts towards organization building.  While they are doing that, they should take their beef off of social media and talk to each other.  If they can't talk it out, then fist fight it out, but that should be between the two of them and no one else.  And, I'm only saying this because that has been my personal practice.  This is important because African people have enemies in this society everywhere.  This government is our enemy.  So, it doesn't really matter whether these two are legitimate or not (I don't believe they are).  The fact so many of us believe they are is dangerous in terms of how our enemies can use their public beef against our movement.  This is what this government has been doing to us for hundreds of years.  This is just the first era where we are actually and openly helping them to do it, apparently without even being on their payroll.  And, the fact these two guys are either braindead or incredibly naive enough to not know the potential damage their posturing can do to our people speaks volumes about how ill prepared they are.  They couldn't lead me out my front door.

For my folks, there are no saviors for us.  If you want true liberation and freedom you have got to be willing to contribute to this fight yourselves.  You must be in organizations because that experience will provide you with the tools you need to spot hustlers a mile away despite how good they talk, how well they dress, and how much they appear to speak to your needs.  Our solutions don't lie in individualism, patriarchy, or capitalism.  And, until we can develop the type of political sophistication to recognize that, we will forever continue falling into this trap where people take our money and dignity while pitting us on another lonely path to nowhere.

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How Genuine  Leadership Should Look in Oppressed Communities

12/28/2017

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As we prepare to enter 2018 its time we seriously examine the direction we are going in.  We know we cannot do that properly if we don't know where we are or where we came from.  In this age of the non-profit Industrial Complex - where so many people have been taught over the last three decades that non-profits are the front line troops against injustice - that becomes a critical point to start this conversation.  Not that all non-profits are bad.  There are some very good ones, but that doesn't escape the fact that the non-profit model was advanced as an alternative to community based independent organizations.  The reason?  At the end of the day, non-profits rely on corporate and/or private and public funding streams to finance their work.  This means that no matter how militant their message, the non-profit must answer to those who cut the checks and usually, those people doing that have interests in maintaining the system, not overthrowing it.  Independent organizations are not beholden to anything except the communities they serve so they are free, and required, to serve the interest of those communities, regardless of how radical or militant the method of serving those communities becomes.

If you subscribe to revolutionary politics than you not only must accept the independent organization approach, but you must belong to one.  There can be no compromise on these two conditions because if you are truly revolutionary (and not just bumping your gums about it) then you have spent enough time studying revolution to know revolutions can only happen with mass participation and direction.  No few people or individuals make revolution.  That's only in the movies.  The real life versions require the participation and leadership of millions of people working together on a collective level.  The individualistic, macho rugged male leaders of the revolution you are always presented with are not the true leaders of any true revolution.  In those cases, if you look closely, you will always see mass organization.  You will see women in leadership of the revolution.  You will see students, elders, workers, peasants, all playing their leadership roles.  If you can't find all of that you either don't know how to find it or what you are looking at isn't a genuine revolutionary process.  And if you, or anyone around you, attempts to argue that there has never been such a revolution, stop.  Go back to the research box.  Do some, and get back to us when you are ready.

That brings us to the question of leadership.  What is leadership?  Is it that macho guy killing everyone, having access to all the women, and giving everyone orders?  In the movies produced under capitalism, yes, that's leadership, but in real life that's toxicity.  In real life leadership looks like those people, young, old, in between, men, women, neither, all ethnic backgrounds of life.  Those people who decide to place the interests of humanity in front.  The decision to do this requires these fine people to engage in serious work to strengthen their humility, self-lessness, and courage.  They need their attributes because those things will give them the vision, patience, and determination they need to keep fighting in the face of countless efforts to derail them.  For example, this leader must understand that their objective is the advancement of the work, not personal recognition.  That's why the true leader never organizes the work around themselves.  Their work is never about featuring them in any way.  They aren't concerned about getting interviews.  This revolutionary leader would never run for bourgeois office.  They would never attack others in the movement personally.  In fact, this leader may not even become a local leader.  What they will do is develop many local leaders, many of whom will never even realize who helped them develop.  And this leader knows no one is going to give them any credit for anything.  Actually, many people may even be challenged to articulate exactly what they did, but no one will doubt that they were and are a central part of everything productive that is taking place.  

These virtues are fundamentally important.  Especially in this age of social media.  Where people can create themselves anyway they want.  Where the truth is far less important than having the ability to make people feel something.  Where the objective isn't justice, but well, whatever you want it to be.  In this age there are people who actually have no organization to speak of.  People who have nothing tangible in terms of organizing experience.  People who have none of that, but who do have a very well polished social media presence.  And because of that, many, many, people consider these social media folks leaders.  And these folks believe this because they are weak on the virtues expressed here.  They don't even have a gauge from where to evaluate the virtues because most of them don't possess any organizational experience themselves because social media doesn't require that.  To proliferate in the social media universe all that's required is a computer, a title, and that all important ability to make people feel something.  Unfortunately, most of those with any organizing experience today possess that of the non-profit variety.  You know, that world of check ins and debriefs where people actually think those things are the same as revolutionary praise, criticism, self-criticism.  Today, no self criticism is practiced.  That's why so many of so-called new leaders splinter as soon as any significant level of criticism is waged against them.  Not used to principled struggle.  The type that takes place within any revolutionary organization on a daily basis.

So, since so many people lack the basic necessities of leadership today, it will be difficult at first for many of you to effectively identify leadership functioning around you.  Here are some clues on what to look for.  That person you take for granted who always shows up.  That person who always seems to have what you need to make you look and feel better about what you are doing. That person who always encourages everyone that we can and will win.  That person who's word is bond.  That person who takes that extra time to nurture relationships.  Who isn't gossiping.  Who isn't tearing people down.  The one everyone trusts who comes through time and time again.  The one who always comes prepared.  Always reads.  The one who doesn't make excuses.  Who values your time and efforts.  The one no one ever credits for anything, but people are always hating on for completely insignificant reasons.  The one who refuses to veer off course while so many of us are focusing on the drama creators and flakes.  Those who continue to insist that our work be focused around their trauma.  Who make all the work about them individually.  If you stop giving this latter group all your attention you will begin to learn to recognize the true leaders who are operating around you all the time.  And, maybe then you can begin to truly appreciate what they contribute to us.  Hopefully, that will motivate you to begin your journey towards becoming a true leader.  We are going to need you in 2018.

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I Was Just Racially Profiled on Your Glorious Holy Day

12/25/2017

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Yes, you can definitely count me among those who has nothing to do with Christmas.  I don't push my views on people about it.  You never see me running up to people asking them what they are going to do to denounce the imperialist santa claus.  Instead, my policy for years has been if you don't bring it up to me I won't bring it up.  I'll wish you and your family the best and leave it at that.  It never fails though.  People always approach me with "Merry Christmas", etc.  To which I usually respond that I don't celebrate Christmas which leads to a very defensive (and un-necessary) reaction on their part.  So, to avoid that sorry and inevitable exchange, I do my best on this day to avoid people.   I enjoy the solitude of it.  Today was spent inside, all day.  The only person I talked to was my daughter.  It was great, but after spending the last several days battling the flu, I decided tonight that I needed to go out and get some tea and/or vitamin C.  So, with little options being open, I drove downtown to the 7Eleven on J Street.  I parked and as I walked up to the store I encountered a European man, about 40.  He appeared to be intoxicated.  He wore a santa hat and gave the impression of someone who had spent time at one of the many nearby bars.  He was leaned against a tree with his pants down, urinating into the tree in front of the many passer-bys on what is one of Sacramento's busiest streets.  Since I was walking directly by him, and he was staring at me as if I was the one who was engaging in questionable behavior, I quipped "you can't do better than that?" He said nothing as I went into the store. 

I was in there a while because that spot is action packed and going through the line can take a minute.  When I left the store and walked back to my truck, the drunk santa white man was no where to be found, but no sooner than I drove off did I notice a black and white unit pulling out several spaces behind me.  The patrol car pulled in behind me, tailgating me.  Like most African people, I knew what this meant.  I calmly drove the four blocks and made my right turn to head in the direction of my residence.  The police lights went on and I pulled over.  

Two city cops walked up on each side of my vehicle, shining flashlights inside.  The one on the driver's side asked for me driver's license and insurance which I provided to him without a verbal response.  A lot of so-called police rights advocates teach against just handing over your documents, but every African knows what this moment is really about.  The driver's side cop took my documents back to their car.  The passenger side cop didn't move.  He continued to shine his light on my vitamin C on my passenger's seat.  When the other came back, this was our verbal exchange (give or take a word or two):

Him:  "Where you headed Mr. U-mee?"

Me:   "It's Oh-me."  i glance at the vitamin C on my passenger seat.  "You followed me from the 7Eleven.  I don't think its a mystery what I'm up to."

Him:  Hands me back my documents.  "Well, we had a report of a suspicious character downtown so we were following up."

Me:  "I think that was the white man in the santa hat peeing on the sidewalk that you should be looking for..."

Him:  Ignores my comment.  "Carry on."  And they both walk off.  Now compared to many traffic stops we endure, and even many I've had myself, that one was an extremely minor one, I admit.  My purpose for highlighting it this evening is because I'm sick of not being able to go to the damn store for some medication without being harassed for living.  And, the hypocrisy of a fake holiday that is supposed to represent humanity, but in actuality, represents mass materialism, is like an annual thumbing on the nose at all those who experience this oppression on a daily basis.

Please don't get me wrong.  If you celebrate Christmas, more power to you.  I sincerely hope you were able to have one tenth of the positive day that I did (before tonight).  I don't wish any negativity upon you and your Christmas.  In fact, to be completely honest, I don't really believe it possible for me to care less what you do.  My beliefs, and any efforts to express them, are based on a desire to maintain my own sanity and have little to do with any of you.  Especially when a simple trip to the convenience store could easily result in tragedy.  

I'm going to spend the next hour or so trying to regain that relaxing mindset I was in.  I can't help, but think though.  If myself, and people like me, don't have the right to enjoy our peace and tranquility without being harassed on your holiday, why the hell does anyone have the arrogance to think that the hypocrisy of it all shouldn't also interrupt your day?  It sure interrupted mine.

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A Better Society is Impossible without Mass Political Education

12/23/2017

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If you have ever watched the U.S. capitalist news entity - the Cable News Network - or CNN, you may have seen the irony.  They have a commercial where they show an apple.  A voice narrator explains that you are looking at an apple, despite whatever efforts people make to convince you that it is a banana.  The suggestion is that CNN presents facts in their news reporting.  Unfortunately, this is certainly not the case for CNN, the British Broadcasting Company (BBC), or any of the imperialist news outlets.  Those entities are owned and controlled by private capitalist interests.  For example, the David Rockerfeller empire owns controlling interest in all NBC affliates, including CNN.  They also control Chevron and Chase Manhattan Bank.  So, there can be no illusion about objective reporting from these entities.  Their job is to propagandize you to support the imperialist agendas of their owners.  And, they use an entertainment approach to do it.  CNN and BBC even use the same type of dramatic music during their newscasts that is used in movies during tense scenes as a tactic to subtly influence how you receive the information they are pumping at you.

That's how CNN can air a propaganda show such as the one they aired this evening, focused on "terrorism in the 70s."  Their propaganda efforts are so systemic that within the last hour, they dedicated a portion of the program to the Weather Underground organization.  This organization was a group of young Europeans in the U.S. in the 70s who bombed symbols of U.S. imperialism to protest capitalism and white supremacy.  This program focused on the bombings without mentioning once that the Weather Underground never harmed a single innocent person in all the bombings they carried out.  The only exception to that was the unfortunate and unplanned explosion in their safe house in New York in 1970 where three of their members were killed.  The program suggested otherwise.  That the Weather Underground was a violent and murderous organization.  Then, without giving you any time to let that dishonesty seep in, they moved to labeling Yassir Arafat and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) as terrorists while incredibly, positioning the zionist state of israel as the victim state in that conflict.  The program even placed blame for all acts against isrealis, such as the killings of isreali athletes at the 1972 Olympics, on Arafat, when its common knowledge that there were many factions within the PLO and the more militant ones were not only opposed to Arafat and his al-Fatah organization, but actively sought to kill him on a number of occasions.  The program went on to label the United Kingdom as the same type of victim state as israel while calling the Irish Republican movement a terrorist movement.

Hopefully, most of you reading this are not at all surprised by what imperialist outlets like CNN actually do to propagate the masses.  That's not the point of this piece.  The point is there is absolutely no way in hell that the true forces of justice are going to ever change the tide against us until we make a complete and uncompromising commitment to political education as the primary weapon against the imperialist system.  Today, we have millions of well meaning activists who rely 100% on social media for their information.  Think about how often you actually see anyone anywhere reading a comprehensive book about history, philosophy, economics, politics, etc.?  Rarely if ever do you see that.  This is extremely dangerous and should be our top priority in 2018.  How can we change the tide and get people focused on reading comprehensive material on  a systemic and organized basis?  Why is it important that we do this?

The reasons this change is essential is because we have an entire generation of people walking around today thinking they have an analysis of what's going on without them having engaged in five minutes of serious study about the problem.  A common phrase used everywhere is "that happened before I was born" as if that's any justification for being ignorant.  Isn't that the purpose of books?  Plus, that statement defies logic.  Millions of people believe in Jesus and Allah and their history came about long before you were born, yet you see the importance of letting someone tell you (because most don't study it themselves) the relevance of these belief systems?  

Political education serves the purpose of creating an educated and committed cadre who are dedicated to uncompromising struggle to challenge the power structure.  By cadre we mean people who have made that commitment and the only way one can make such a commitment is by understanding the forces at work.  And, the only way you can understand the forces at work is to engage them in comprehensive study.  Not an internet article, but comprehensive study.  The only reason I can instantly recognize the lies on CNN, and anywhere else, is because I have spent my entire adult life in such a comprehensive study process within my political party - the All African People's Revolutionary Party (A-APRP).  I'm going on my 34th year of participating in the A-APRP's work study process.  This is an organized political education program where we study and discuss books among the membership.  Then, we take what we learn and apply that to our work.  That mostly means providing us the nutrients to understand the challenges of this struggle so that we can weather the storms and work through them to keep fighting.

I don't mean to belittle anyone, but frankly, I hate to see people posting and talking about being demoralized and burnt out.  To me, that's a manifestation of the lack of political education.  I can guarantee you that the Rockerfellers don't get burnt out.  That family has been among the leaders within the capitalist ruling class for centuries.  They are able to do that because they are the committed cadre for the capitalist system.  That means they are our unquestionable enemies.  So, how can we ever expect to defeat them unless we are more serious than they are?

Those statements may anger some people, but you cannot refute them.  And, I should admit that I have no concern about your anger if its based strictly on emotion.  We are revolutionaries and there is no sentiment in revolution.  Its unfortunate, but its true.  If we are going to actually be victorious against our enemies we are going to have to step up our game folks.  Being keyboard warriors is not going to get it done.  We are going to need to become scientists who study the objective conditions that face us.  There is one statement by Maulana Karenga that I agree with when he said "everyone hasn't earned the right to an opinion."  

The good thing about a political education campaign is its something that everyone can and should participate in and its something that everyone has to agree will benefit all of us.  The more serious we get about engaging this struggle scientifically, the better prepared all of us will be.  We will do better with resolving our internal contradictions and we will become much more proficient in taking care of ourselves (instead of believing that self care is abandoning the struggle).  So, if you don't belong to an organization, you have to join one.  If you don't, we have no reason to even listen to you because you don't even take seriously what you are saying.  You won't even form a unit to bring it into existence because you can't  do it by yourself or else you would have done that already.  So, stop wasting valuable time and join.  For those who are in organizations, you must have a comprehensive political education process.  That means, you have to study concepts.  Socialism, capitalism, imperialism, class struggle, patriarchy, Black Nationalism, Pan-Africanism, Pan-Americanism, Pan-Arabism, Marxist-Leninism, Maoism, Trotskyism, Castroism, Nkrumahism-Tureism.  All of this should be studied intensely.  A-APRP cadre everywhere on earth are prepared to speak with authority about all of those concepts and we simply wish to share the wealth because we know it will help us.  Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was correct when he said "a person who doesn't stand for something will fall for anything."  Political education, not guns, not accountability processes, not social media callouts, political education.  That's what we need.  That great son of Africa George Padmore said "revolutionary at 20, moderate at 30, conservative at 40, and reactionary at 50."  Without comprehensive and organized political education, Padmore's statement is what unfortunately awaits you because it is impossible to sustain consistency against the forces of evil when all you have powering you is anger.  That's why people burn out because the anger, frustration, anxiety, etc., isn't sustainable . Only a clear and committed vision of a better world will sustain you.  It is not to say those emotions don't have their place.  They do.  Political education teaches us to channel those emotions in healthy ways.  That's what we need.  Political education has been my priority my entire life.  Who's with us in 2018?


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A Healthy Alternative in December When You Don't Celebrate

12/17/2017

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This week is the week before the annual commemorations take place.  And, I don't celebrate any of it.  I haven't celebrated "Christmas" since the early 1980s.  I'm not a Christian and I certainly refuse to support and participate in the capitalist grab bag that poses each year as a holy holiday.  Since I stopped celebrating it before my daughter was even born, she was never lied to about a Santa Claus.  She has never celebrated it and she's quite fine not celebrating it at 30 years old.  My refusal to celebrate that one is my protest against the naked consumerism of the day.  Instead of an alleged celebration of the birth of Christ, Christmas is the ultimate symbol of materialism, individualism, and anti-human promotion.  So, I protest it. 

I don't celebrate Kwanzaa and my reasons have nothing to do with this most recent neo-consciousness about the contradictions surrounding Kwanzaa Founder Maulana Karanga.  I don't celebrate it because I respect, but fundamentally disagree, with Karenga's Organization US position that our pathway to liberation for African people is paved with a renewed consciousness around African values (Karanga's reason for inviting Kwanzaa and the Ngozu Saba concepts of Kawaida that birthed Kwanzaa).  I am convinced that since it is the system of capitalism/imperialism that is responsible for the oppression of African people and all of humanity, our pathway to liberation is tied to our organizing ourselves to wage a relentless struggle against the forces that oppress us.  Of course, a spiritual and ideological foundation is absolutely necessary for this fight, but we believe revolutionary Pan-Africanist ideologies - like our Nkrumahist/Tureist ideology - provide us with that spiritual/ideological framework to wage our struggle.  And to us, that framework is reflective of a class struggle based cultural war against the forces of imperialism that is fueled from the most humanistic, egalitarian, and collective elements of our African culture.  Not some symbolic return to a classless African past.  So, no Kwanzaa for me either.  

Since this so-called "holiday season" is focused on getting you to spend money, and then spend some more money, before you move to spend even more money, the capitalist propaganda this time of year, even with Kwanzaa, represents an annual turning of the stomach for me.  So, why am I optimistic to move into this coming week?

I'm looking forward to it because since I don't celebrate any of it, and therefore I'm pretty well insulated from the onslaughts that come with December each year, I use this time for reflection.  Since my family is mostly, and unfortunately, deceased, although I spent some years raising their consciousness to my approach to this time of year, for those family I do still have, at this point, its not even something I have to deal with.  And, since my daughter, and my friends and comrades for that matter, generally have the same philosophical approach to these so-called holidays that I have, there is no pressure from them about participating in them.  Therefore, I'm free to spend this time doing whatever I want.  For me, that's developed into reflection into what I've done to bring me to this stage of 2017 and definitely, what I intend upon doing to confront 2018.  

The last several years this reflection process has involved taking trips to provide me space and environment to engage in that process.  In 2015, I spent this time in Ghana.  In 2016, I was Tanzania.  Africa, as is always the case, is always helpful in my spiritual growth and soundness because I can depend upon not having the pressure of these imperialist holidays.  People don't exchange presents in Africa.  Christmas is seen simply as a time for family.  And last year, after returning from Tanzania after Christmas, I took a trip to the Oregon coast to spend New Years.  I took bike rides.  Walked on the beach.  Did plenty of writing on my current manuscript.  And thought about what I wanted 2017 to look like and what I would need to do to make that happen.  That ended up being moving back to California and I can say that 2017 has pretty much gone exactly the way I envisioned it that weekend in Lincoln City, Oregon, around new years last year.

Those experiences have solidified within me the desire and necessity to use this period for further reflection.  Most people are off being dominated by imperialism right now so you have less of a concern about being distracted.  And, since most people that know me know my beliefs on these so-called holidays (if they have been paying attention, which some people just don't know how to do), they are well aware that I don't participate, so they have learned that although I appreciate them thinking of me, I would prefer not to attend their dinners, etc, that are focused around these holidays.

So, no overseas trips this year, but I'm going to be spending much of the rest of 2017 thinking about my goals for 2018 and what I need to do to make them happen.  At the top of my list is publishing my third novel "The Paradox Principle."  I have placed my life and soul into my books.  I'm confident of their quality and the impact they have on people's lives has been demonstrated to me time and time again.  The only thing that's missing is I haven't had the institutional support to market my works and I'm determined to make sure I figure out how I can make marked improvement in this area in 2018.  So, my reflection will be on the pain and frustration I've experienced because of the shafting I received from my last publisher and what I've learned so that I can prevent that from happening in 2018. One of the things my reflection has taught me is pain is the most motivating element I can think of.  My strong desire to not have those experiences again causes my creative energies to function at levels higher than normally possible. 

I also want to establish myself again as a presenter and organizer around Pan-African movement in California.  To do that I will of course need another plan.  Much of the next week or so I will spend thinking through how to craft that plan so that I execute it. 

Believe that I will produce these plans and I will execute them.  I will move into 2018 (provided I'm fortunate to live into it) with confidence and enthusiasm.  That's why I appreciate this time of year because I have the basis to prepare myself for the struggle ahead.  Being able to do so helps me inoculate myself against the challenges facing me because preparing for them mitigates that fear.  And, anyone can do what I'm doing, probably better than I can.  That's why I firmly recommend to people who have sincere faith (not imperialism posing as faith).  People who have values that are anti-imperialist and pro-people.  Resist the massive pressure to give in to imperialism this time of year.  Engage and feed your spirit with a quiet protest and resistance against all of this madness.  Take time to reflect on how you can be better.  There's a clear irony, but if you are at all into giving presents, you will realize that this is the best present that you can give yourself and in building yourself in healthy ways, you provide society with its best present from you.


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Attempting Moral Appeals to A Society that has no Conscience

12/13/2017

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Exactly 50 years ago, Kwame Ture - when he was a U.S. civil rights/Black Power activist known as Stokely Carmichael, made a very clear and concise statement on this subject that is well worth repeating today.  He said "Dr. Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement's work is based on appealing to the moral conscience of the U.S.  The problem is the U.S. has no conscience!"  

The U.S senatorial race in the state of Alabama that ended last night with the election of Doug Jones as the first Democrat to do so in 25 years is a case in point.  There is little disagreement that Jones doesn't win that race were it not for the overwhelming allegations of sexual assault against young women looming over Jones's opponent in that race; Roy Moore.  The local shopping mall in Moore's hometown had placed their security personnel on alert whenever Moore entered that mall because of his constant harassment of young women - translation underage - in the mall.  Obviously, a mall doesn't enact a policy like that against a known public official for no reason.  Yet, you saw Moore run for that office, openly castigating the women who continued to stand by their allegations.   He had significant support from people all over the state of Alabama, despite the clear credibility of these allegations against him.  Despite his clear and stated hatred of LGBTQI people.  Despite his clear embrace of white supremacy and patriarchy.  Moore and his supporters easily dismissed any questions challenging their integrity on these questions.  Many of them bluntly stating that their commitment to certain reactionary policy decisions outweighs their concern about these allegations against Moore.  The man got over a half a million votes and the full support of the Republican party and the president of this country.

If you understand Kwame Ture's statement in 1967, none of the developments in Alabama, or any similar contradictions regarding the U.S. president's own sexual assault allegations, and his, and his supporter's, similar dismissal of these credible charges, should surprise you in the least.  Kwame's point with his statement is this country was founded on theft of land and theft of labor.  And, this theft was carried out and institutionalized through systemic violence and terror.  This is absolutely ill-refutable, yet today, a large percentage of this society acts as if none of that happened that way.  For example, there are plenty of people who agree with Moore's sentiment that slavery was not much of a problem in U.S. history. 

There is little doubt that truth and justice are completely separated from material reality in this society.  As a result, the tactic of using human decency to appeal to people representing power in this society (either those who actually hold power or those who identify with them) is completely ineffective.  Its ineffective because this society doesn't care one bit about truth and justice.  It only cares about validating its agenda, regardless of how many people are murdered, maimed, terrorized, traumatized, etc.  

In fact, if you understand this country's true history, you shouldn't at all be surprised that the current president embraces open neo-nazis or that the previous president bombed the most stable and prosperous country in Africa - Libya - into submission.  There's no conscience.  There never has been.  So, the representatives of this empire will tell you one thing one day and change their position and deny what they said previously without twitching an eyelash.  If you believe this can happen simply because the right moral appeal to these people hasn't happened, you are one naive individual, but there is much more to this.

For those who are looking at what happened in Alabama last night as some sort of victory, we recognize the logic that drives you to that conclusion.  The fact African people and the large percentage of us who voted, ended up being one of the major factors in determining this race is significant.  Not because of the electoral victory of this Jones person.  His main (and often repeated) claim to legitimacy as it relates to African people was his prosecution of the racist murderers of four young children in the Birmingham church in 1963.   I'm sorry, but Jones gets no credit from me.  Those babies were viciously murdered 54 years ago.  Jones's role as the U.S. prosecutor who put those murderers in prison 20 years ago is far to little to late.  The climate 20 years ago was ripe for the convictions of those vicious thugs.  I could have gotten them convicted with no legal training.  Meanwhile, they got the chance to live most of their lives in an Alabama that Doug Jones and everyone else knew they existed in, despite everyone also knowing they were responsible for those murders in 1963.  So, excuse me if I refuse to get excited about anything coming out of the Democratic or Republican parties.  What is worth acknowledging is the power our people, and all dispossessed people, possess if they are mobilized and moved beyond that to organization.  The lesson for those of you who just cannot wrest yourselves away from the Democratic party and the U.S. capitalist reformist movement is that you should tap into that desire from dispossessed communities to act in their interests.  That desire should be organized so that a movement can be built that ensures that working people from all dispossessed communities have political vehicles to organize themselves to achieve power for their communities.  Frederick Douglass told us two hundred years ago that "power concedes nothings without a demand."  If you were confronted by brutal aliens you wouldn't rely on moral appeals to save your life.  So, why do so many of you continue to rely on those appeals against an empire that has clearly proven to you that your morality is a foreign language to its ears.  I'm not saying you must become revolutionary.  You are clearly not ready for that.  I am saying you should view last night as a call to action to organize for power, even within your reformist work.  To ignore this call at this stage in history is the height of laziness and insanity.

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Women: A Serious Guy Here with Serious Dialogue about Dating

12/11/2017

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This blog, of course, always deals with serious political issues impacting African people and humanity.  So, some people may find this piece a departure.  I don't.  With all the issues surrounding relationships in general, and the behavior and existence of men in particular, I think this issue of dating and relationships is without question a political issue because I believe everything is political.  Or, as an elder in Ghana once told me; "everything is political, even how you are able to use the bathroom!"  Also, let me apologize up front if anything in this article comes off in a way I didn't intend.  This is definitely a raw post.  I've put off writing it for a long time.  I've felt people wouldn't understand it.  I am particularly concerned about anything African women think.  I decided to just go for it because this is core content from the gut.  And, I think its time for more of this.  I landed on I can polish as I go. I  can continue to grow.  I always have.

Now, I have been writing this blog for seven years.  I started with just a few readers.  There are many readers today, but in a world and society that overvalues the trivial and ill-relevant while dismissing the serious and necessary, I get very few comments about my writings.  So, I don't know what to expect here, but I'm very hopeful that I can hear from women.  No offense to my LGBTQI folks, but I'm interested in hearing from women who connect romantically to men because I'm a cis or heterosexual man.  Also, although I am interested in hearing opinions from non-African (Black) women, I'm especially interested in hearing from African women, particularly those over 40 years of age, who have a Pan-African consciousness and are interested in strong, serious men with vision and compassion.  But, I digress.  I'd love to hear your thoughts on what I'm writing here and I've love to hear them anyway you feel comfortable sharing.  Either by direct response here, Face Book, Twitter, psycho connection, anyway possible.  And, please share, share, share, this article.  Please let it reach as many people as possible (I've never asked anyone to do that in the almost 300 articles I've written and posted on this blog so there!)

My perspective is that of a man who all that know me have to acknowledge is selfless, compassionate, dedicated, confident, but not egotistical, courageous, and dependable.  That means I mean what I say and say what I mean.  It means you can depend upon me to have your back and give effort to be there for you when needed.  I say all of that not to brag, but to give context for the comments I make here.  I make every effort to be accountable for mistakes I've made in my life and my consistency in doing that has provided me a sense of purpose and determination.  What I mean is often, women say they desire a man who is honest, who knows how to communicate, and who can be depended upon to do what he says he will do.  I think my history confirms that I am not perfect, but I'm all of those things, but my experience has shown me that most women actually don't want all of those things in a man.  Most of the time when I'm talking, most women have nothing to say.  Most don't seem to know what to do with a man who is ready to be a real man.  What is a real man in my view?  A man who admits he is wrong and that he is afraid, but who never lets fear stop him from doing what needs to be done.  In fact, a man who is a leader in doing what needs to be done.  A man who keeps his promises.  My experience is when you have those attributes, most women, most people, are intimidated of you and don't really want much to do with you.  For example, I've had many instances where I've been told by women that they appreciate feeling like they have someone who will stand up for them in me, but then having those same women crumble and disappear when I actually do stand up (which I'm going to do).

I'm often wondering what's going on here.  I'm an easy person to communicate with.  I'm open and willing to share and be vulnerable, the cornerstones of good communication.  I work on myself and I do implement changes when identified and needed.  I'm dedicated to my beliefs, but I'm far from dogmatic.  What I mean is I can work with anyone on beliefs who's willing to work with me.  I have an acute sense of justice and to a fault, I'm always willing to place myself in harm's way to do the right thing.  I believe those to be good values and attributes, yet they continually scare off women in one way or another.  Either they feel like its too much or they don't think they can live up to something, what I don't know.  I don't mean to imply this has been an issue in every relationship.  I am human and have made mistakes that helped dismantle good relationships.  I'm not saying the failure was all my fault, it wasn't, but I acknowledge my share, meaning I realized I wasn't ready for those situations.  In each case (there are two of them), I've acknowledged my shortcomings to those women and apologized to them.  And, I'm happy to say I have healthy relationships with both of them today, but again, I digress.

Without continuing to share too much information (I already admitted that I have no problem being vulnerable and sharing - and that means listening also), I'll say that my main point is with all of the terrible and destructive behavior by men taking place in full view of the world today, I'm disheartened by the many accounts by women, particularly African women, who are expressing their pain at feeling disrespected and abandoned by men, particularly African man.  I have no intention of making my blog a dating site, but I'm just trying to say to those woman that there are some of us out here who try for you.  Who care about you.  Who are responsible and dedicated.  I wish nothing in return for delivering this message.  I've learned quite a bit about myself in recent years.  I don't drink.  I don't smoke and/or get high.  I exercise daily.  I watch very little television.  I'm a prolific writer (meaning I spend quite a bit of my time loving the art of writing).  I'm a warrior for justice.  I don't celebrate any imperialist holidays, but with all of these things, I still feel like I'm as fun to be with as anyone who does all those things.  Ten years from now I have absolutely no intention of living in the U.S.  My life is focused on and dedicated to liberating the means for material production, not acquiring material items.  I recognize that all those characteristics are going to be buzz kills for a significant portion of the population that identifies as women.  If that's true, so be it.  I'm happy as I am, but I do hope that we can do some work on this disconnect.  As I tell my 30 year old daughter everyday, if you are a serious person, and you project that confidence and self assuredness, you are going to attract the same, but its going to take time.  Those types of quality people don't drop from trees.  You will make many mistakes as I have, but I tell her that the important thing isn't the mistakes you make, but the things you learn and implement from those mistakes so that you can improve.  I believe all of that so I also believe things will work out just fine for me.  Not worried about that at all.  Still, I am an organizer and I firmly believe that problems go away only when we do the necessary work to solve these problems.  So, women, I'd love to hear from you.  Its time for a positive dialogue where we as man are accountable to the methods in which we have contributed to patriarchal behavior.  I'd love to know what you think.  And, honestly, I'd love to debate some of you because whether we admit it or not, at least a part of our problem is we have accepted many of the capitalist values that are contributing to our oppression.  For example, many of our African men are raised by women so who was it that passed on all those negative anti-women values?  Its not blaming African women (or all single mothers) who do the best they can while the man does nothing except possibly contribute money - the absolute minimal contribution a man can make to his children.   So, its not blaming women, because women are not to blame for these issues because these problems are systemic.  That means we can't just blame men without addressing these systemic problems.  We have to change the system and with it men and many women.  We also have to continue to challenge and work with men on a daily basis, which I have been doing for years, and will continue to do.  We have to create a culture where disrespect and negative behavior is not acceptable, but all you have to do with watch youtube to see that we have much work to do in our African communities.  I want to change all of this, but I can't do it alone so I'm raising these issues.  Hopefully we can start a positive dialogue about all of this.  I believe our future is at stake.  I'd love to hear what you think.  Do we have a future?  What are we willing to do to address these contradictions?  What are you doing?  What work do you do?  How do you see having a healthy relationship with African men?  Is such a thing possible?  If so, what ingredients are necessary?  As I said, I do my work on myself so I'm not looking for anyone to do my emotional labor. I'm just interested in hearing and discussing how I can get better.  How we can get better together.  I'm really interested and I hope you are too.



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The Libyan Mathaba:  Key to Understanding Today's Suffering

12/8/2017

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Although its great to see so many people up in arms and upset about slavery in Libya today, its more than disheartening to realize that most of those people will also be moving on to the next "big story" as is the typical cycle.  So, for anyone paying attention longer than the usual week or two, its important for you to recognize the reasons the Libyan Jamihiriya was terrorized by imperialist forces and handed over to the thugs who are authoring the deplorable situation taking place there today.  

The Libyan Socialist Jamihiriya - the society that emerged in Libya in 1969 under the leadership of Muammar Gaddafi, was unquestionably a source of inspiration in Africa during its existence.  People all over Africa sought to make it to the Jamihiriya for health care, education, and other necessary resources.  The country had extensive wealth as a result of the oil refining  industry that the Jamihiriya nationalized from Chevron and other multi-nationals who controlled oil production in Libya prior to 1969.  As a result of how the Jamihiriya collectively used those resources to improve the conditions for Libyans and all Africans, the Jamihiriya was immensely popular, not just in Libya, but all over Africa. 

Much of what was highlighted above about the Jamihiriya has become common information in the previous weeks, but what hasn't been talked about at all is the actual threat that the Libyan Jamihiriya posed to imperialism.  Clearly, one of the most important contributions of the Jamihiriya was the creation of the International Mathaba and the Anti-Imperialist Center (AIC) IN 1982.  The Mathaba, which means "Center" was formed to model the University of Sankore (Timbuktu) from thousands of years ago in Mali.  People traveled from all over Africa and the world to come to Sankore and discuss the issues of the day.  It was one of the world's first centers for academic and intellectual analysis.  The Mathaba was formed in this image to provide a center for this work to take place in Africa.  This was an essential institution because up to that point, the only international center for anti-imperialist activities was the Communist International (Comintern) formation which was controlled by the Soviet Union.  For many African and other brown revolutionaries, the Comintern was always a non option.  The Soviet Union strictly required that all Comintern participants, which usually met the local communist parties like the Communist Party of the USA - which received funding from the Comintern - followed lock step loyalty to the Soviet line.  This meant the Stalinist version of Marxist/Leninism.  George Padmore, the Trinadadian born Pan-Africanist who served as Stalin's political secretary before breaking with the Soviet leader over the Soviet Union's alliance with the U.S. during World War II, wrote the classic book "Pan-Africanism or Communism" which illustrates the decision by Pan-Africanists to abandon the Comintern in the 1940s to develop independent Pan-Africanism ideological foundations for socialist development.  Forty years later, the Mathaba would come to serve as a viable vehicle to help facilitate this vision.  The Mathaba's mission statement made its intentions to achieve this objective clear; "To Resist imperialism, racism, fascism, zionism, colonialism, and neo-colonialism."  From 1982 forward, the Mathaba had international meetings where liberation movements from all over the world participated.  Revolutionaries participated in governing committees within the Mathaba.  The awards committee had participants like Kwame Ture (Stokely Carmichael) who along with his committee colleagues, voted to award the (then) Palestine Liberation Organization with a large cash donation in 1989, followed by the American Indian Movement receiving the same vote the following year.  The Mathaba continued to serve as an international station of support for liberation movements throughout the 80s and 90s, but the legacy of the Mathaba was probably reflected in the historic 3rd al-Mathaba Congress held in September 2000.  This congress featured Gaddafi giving a full length speech that clarified the objectives of the Mathaba.  To give you a snapshot of the wide spread level of interest that the Mathaba attracted at that time, the list of people present at that third congress is a virtual whos who in national liberation politics.  Minister Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam introduced Gaddafi for this historic speech.  Present was Robert Mugabe, then president of Zimbabwe.  The Partido de Communista e.g. the Communist Part of Cuba, was represented.  As was the African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau (PAIGC). Daniel Ortega of the Nicaraguan Sandinista movement was present.  Hugo Chavez was there.  Sam Nujoma of the Namibian independence movement.  Gaddafi used his speech to make a call for the creation of one African currency through the development of an African bank that would be facilitated by the Mathaba.  Gaddafi expressed that this project would help offset the impact of the international imperialist sanctions that had been in effect against Libya (allegedly because of Libya's possible involvement in the Lockerbie plane crash in 1988).  

Of course, the U.S. led imperialist destruction of Libya and murder of Muammar Gaddafi completely derailed all of the progress and work of the Jamihiriya and the Mathaba anti-imperialist center in 2011.  Some of the failures of the  Mathaba to serve as that consolidated center for anti-imperialist activity must be discussed.  The Jamihiriya's focus on viewing the Mathaba as a vehicle to advance the Jamihiriya's adherence to "The Green Book's Third Universal Theory" concepts can be debated.  This theory was designed by Gaddafi to serve as a guide for implementing democracy without utilizing a political party to do so.  Also, the question of the Jamihiriya's decision making around who to work with is certainly up for debate.  Their unfortunate relationship and role in helping Charles Taylor in Liberia is an example of some of their questionable decision making.  And, the fact several questionable characters in African politics, such as Blase Compraore (the president of Bourkina Faso and the person who played a significant role in the overthrow and assassination of Thomas Sankara in 1987) were invited to that 3rd Congress.  Also Yahya Jammeh, the embattled president of Gambia who refused to leave office before the people forced change was an invited speaker at the congress.  In fact, 10 African heads of state, most of whom are simple puppets for imperialism, served as speakers at the congress.  Possibly this was a strategy by Gaddafi, but the fact none of these so-called leaders responded in a positive way when Gaddafi and the Jamihiriya were assaulted by imperialism in 2011 speaks volumes.

Even casual observers, or subject matter experts (including those whose qualifications are spending at least an hour of social media research on any subject) agree that Gaddafi and the Jamihiriya were disposed, at least in large part, because of their efforts to advance the concept of one African currency.  It was through the Mathaba that this concept first developed its legs.  And, since the Mathaba was the vehicle where the vision of African liberation was nurtured and developed, its safe to suggest that the Mathaba was the entity where the insemination process for these revolutionary ideas occurred.  Imperialism knew this and so it stands to reason that they had eliminating the Mathaba as a central objective in eliminating Gaddafi and the Jamihiriya. 

Since so much of the popular commentary around this slavery issue is controlled by individual "experts" and other forms of anti-organization forces, most people are not recognizing that the strength of the Mathaba was the revolutionary organizations that made up its participants.  The important lesson learned from that is those mass organizations provided the brain thrust that produced the revolutionary idea of creating an African currency.  There are many other great ideas that came from that formation nd it is our responsibility to continue to develop those ideas, despite what they did to Libya.  The development of independent African unity under one socialist continental government is the only way we can protect ourselves against trauma like slavery in Libya, as well as all the other problems impacting Africa and Africans everywhere.  The key is setting up formations that can replace the Mathaba and improve upon its shortcomings.  This can only happen with the infusion of revolutionary organizations.  That can only happen with people joining and participating in those revolutionary organizations.  The decision is ours.  We can be satisfied to just be immediate experts on the trauma our people experience, or we can make the decision to get involved so we can do something about it.  



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Fred Hampton, COINTELPRO & How Activists Still Don't Get It

12/1/2017

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December 4th, 2017, commemorates 48 years since Chicago state terrorists stormed Fred Hampton's apartment and viciously murdered Chairman Fred and Mark Clark.  Everyone else in that apartment was brutally terrorized, including Akua Njeri (then Deborah Johnson), who was eight and half months pregnant at the time with (now) Chairman Fred Hampton Jr.

Plenty of people know that story.  And, just as many people know now that the coordinated attack that early morning in 1969 was a part of a carefully facilitated program directed nationally by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).  Probably just as many people are also aware that J. Edgar Hoover, the Director for the FBI who authored this program which is known today as COINTELPRO (counter intelligence program), cut his teeth as a 24 year new director for the newly formed Department of Justice in 1919.  Hoover began his career by spearheading the government's efforts to frame, discredit, and disrupt the then newly emerging Universal Negro Improvement Association led by Marcus Mosiah Garvey.  By the time the 1960s came around, Hoover had perfected his agencies abilities and resources to disrupt and terrorize African organizations working for justice.  Over the years, many organizations and individuals were attacked, framed, terrorized, murdered, and imprisoned by illegal FBI tactics and in the period between 1967 and 1971, the Black Panther Party was the bureau's primary target.  Many people know that today.

That's why its so shocking, so incredible, so head shaking, that so many activists, so, many allegedly well meaning people, so many folks, still routinely and nonchalantly continue today to  doggedly perpetuate the very same practices and tactics which were, and still are, the FBI'S main tactics for destroying the capabilities of justice organizations to function effectively.  I'm taking about the very popular practice of "calling out" people who have behaved badly in organizations on the internet.  Doing it on social media, email, anywhere on the internet.  This person stole money from the organization.  That person did this to another person in the organization and/or in the community, etc.  All of that being broadcast for anyone and everyone to see, including the forces who actively organize against us.  And, I'm not talking about this happening every once in a while.  I'm saying that this extremely ill advised practice is common place and can be seen taking place on a daily basis.  I am even arguing that the FBI's recent announcement that it is going to target African "Identity politics" activists is largely a result of this practice by activists.  Our negligence and shoddiness in our work has probably provided our enemies with plenty of juicy details from which to wage their inhuman attacks.  Their announcement was simply the cloak to disguise what they are doing.  And, some of us are so incredibly naive that we wonder out loud why they are targeting us while we provide them with the tools to do so.

Our organizations are micro elements of the communities and societies we live in.  So that of course means all problems and dysfunctions that exist within society are going to exist within our organizations.  Absolutely, we need to find ways to eradicate those behaviors so please don't pretend that the message here is to ignore and/or dismiss sexual assault, bullying, patriarchal behavior, theft of organizational resources, etc.  I have been forced to spend far too much of my organizational life confronting these realities for me to have patience with people who want to lazily misinterpret what is being said here.  Those problems must be confronted as they are strong doses of self-destruction when left unchecked.  The question is the proper mechanisms from which to address those issues.  Calling people out on the internet is not the proper mechanism and here are the reasons why.

During those early COINTELPRO years when the FBI employed actions such as "badjacketing" against individuals such as Kwame Ture (Stokely Carmichael), Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. etc., and framing actions against the Black Panther (to oppose) the US Organization, etc., the FBI had limited access to our organizations.  They had to rely on the element of surprise to ensure their methodologies would be successful.  When they tried something against us, they assessed the results to determine their next steps.  Often, as in the case of efforts to discredit and label Kwame Ture an FBI/CIA informant, the bureau expressed (Freedom of Information FBI documents) surprise and delight that their letters and efforts worked as well as they did.  When their forged letters between the Panthers and US started to ratchet up tensions between the two organizations, the FBI again expressed surprise.  In fact, the FBI fell all over themselves celebrating after they were successful in framing Geronimo Ji Jaga (Pratt) of murder in 1972.  In other words, they often had no way of knowing how well their sabotage would work until it worked.  And, although this isn't nearly as discussed, there are plenty of examples where their sabotage didn't work as they planned.  One example is their effort to frame and bring down an entire segment of the African and Indigenous/Indian liberation movement with their take down of a Palestinian owned travel agency in Washington D.C. in 1988.  To make a long story short, their intention was to discredit several organizations.  They issued indictments against Kwame Ture and Bob Brown (All African People's Revolutionary Party), Minister Louis Farrakhan (Nation of Islam), and Bill Means and Wabiinii (Vernon Bellecourt) - (American Indian Movement).  All of this was around the joint efforts of these organizations to challenge the U.S. travel restrictions against the Libyan Jamihiriya as those organizations sought to protest the U.S.'s illegal bombings against Libya.  Although Brown and Wabinii did prison time behind the FBI's efforts, their desire to bring much more devastation down on all these organizations failed miserably because of the discipline and commitment of all of the people involved, including those who served time.

Today, beyond a few isolated sectors, that level of discipline is nonexistent.  People readily and willingly help the FBI and police sabotage the movement by removing any and all guesswork for them.  People openly discuss antagonisms and contradictions online.  They hand the FBI/police the source of contradictions on gold platters everyday.  And, by doing so they give our enemies the opportunity to further exploit divisions, weaknesses, and shortcomings to the point where we are willing to immediately dismiss and destroy the potential for any good work while we never really understand where much of this antagonism to further disrupt our work is coming from (that element of COINTELPRO hasn't changed).

So, with so many historical examples, why is this still happening so consistently?  Well, one possible reason is with the vast emergence of so many newer activists with the recent activism against police terrorism, the lack of experience and knowledge about police tactics creates lots of naivete around this subject today.  The blame here goes to older activists because of our inability to bridge generational gaps.  There is massive distrust of older activists and as a result, even when older activists provide direction around this issue, many of the newer activists are not willing to trust and accept it.  That's our fault.  We need to work harder to humble ourselves, open our minds, act right, behave with dignity, and go about the work of building those relationships and that trust.  Doing so only strengthens our work which makes it much harder for the FBI/police to derail us.

Another reason is most organizations today, due again probably to naivete about the workings of COINTELPRO, focus so much on "security culture."  This is a serious error because this approach relies on false security actions like prohibiting cell phones in meetings and only permitting people to attend meetings if someone knows them.  The holes in these amateur approaches should be obvious.  Everyone in capitalist societies learns how to put on a front.  That's requirement one in these backward systems.  So, all these superficial approaches have done what for us?  Instead, the focus should be on forming a disciplined cadre of organizers through consistent and mass political education.  If people are dedicated and committed to principles they will stay the course of the work and they will prevent people from derailing that work.  When you have that level of commitment from your soldiers, you needn't worry about "who is the police" because the masses of people in your organization will be your protection against sabotage.  They will not allow it.  Political education is the key to making the work mass in character and it eliminates the isolation that is eminent with "security culture."  The best thing you can do to help our enemies is isolate people.  By doing so, you make conditions ripe for sabotage.  And, by broadcasting who you wish to isolate you give our enemies the blueprint necessary for them to figure out how to make that isolation blow up in our faces.  Give me a scenario where problems within organizations have grown and I bet I can show you where the police have been pulling their puppet strings against you.  That's why the moment your organization is on the verge of a breakthrough in the work, that's when the bottom always falls out.  And you thought it was a coincidence?

Finally, we are back to how do you address those problems people are posting about?  Political education, which most of our organizations do not institutionalize, including - yes - the Black Panther Party, is a major component.  Then, from there, build the structures needed to ensure you can build to supply nurturing processes that hold us all accountable to ourselves and each other.  Che Guevara told us that revolution must be guided by love.  If we are building structures that cause us to burn out on this work, something's definitely wrong with how we are doing it.  Ideological strength from a social revolution in our work will do wonders in helping people grow so that our organizations are healing and helping places.  Not places that drain us empty.  Maybe our desire to call people out is our unconscious attempts at filling that emptiness?  To seek validation?  That could be.  It certainly isn't being done to solve the problem and help us grow.  So, if the organization and/or people in the organization are doing even some work that is productive and positive for our communities, we have to think about how we go about attacking the problems in that organization.  Again, this isn't a call to go along to get along.  This is a call for us to make a commitment to learn how to address contradictions in ways that don't throw the baby out to clean the bathwater.  We can do it and we can learn from those before us.  The 1988 incident described could have been an absolute disaster were it not for the discipline and political consciousness of those involved.  Its no accident that all three of those organizations retain mutually respectful relationships today, 30 years later.  And, I'm thankful to have grown up in this work under many of those people mentioned because it permitted me to understand in ways I wish to convey to those coming along now, how these beasts work against us.  So, regardless of how you may feel about those older efforts, organizations, or individuals, the important thing is that we all commit to this principle.  The police don't deserve the level of support and help we are providing them in sabotaging our efforts to bring about justice for all of humanity.


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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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