The Attorney General of Kentucky, a so-called African man, announced that no charges would be filed against the invading police terrorists. In the aftermath of that, and every single incident of police terrorism against the African masses, former basketball hall of fame player Charles Barkley, using his platform on the popular “NBA Tonight” show on the TNT network, expressed that the police had a right to kill Taylor because her boyfriend fired at them upon their entry.
Many Africans and other people concerned about justice are understandably upset with Barkley (and others for similar comments). And, there is of course no chorus of European (white) people telling Barkley to stick to sports like they do nonstop when athletes speak up against police terror. Still, its worth mentioning that Barkley, an unquestionable talent on the basketball court, is widely ridiculed for his lack of analytical knowledge about basketball games and players. His constant bad choices with who will win games and series are well documented for anyone who follows professional basketball. So, if he doesn’t even know what he’s talking about in the field in which he exceled, certainly, we cannot be expected to take any analysis he provides on the political issues impacting our people seriously. Plus, we understand that the role of people like Barkley and Shaq O’Neal is to shill for the capitalist system. As Malcolm X so accurately pointed out in 1963, the capitalist system is always quick to find any “negro entertainer, trumpet player, ball player” to sic against any African who stands up and denounces this system of injustice. In those days, it was people like Jackie Robinson. Today, its Charles Barkley (and many others). The capitalist system awards its slaves to speak favorably towards its interests and its not like these Africans are widely educated on political issues. Everyone knows that elite athletes like Barkley and O’Neal have lived pampered and shielded lives. This isn’t to say they are not subject to experiencing police terror. They are, but even if they do, its on an individual basis. They are usually quite isolated from the experiences of the masses of African people and anyone relying on their perspectives to justify a position on these issues is just looking for a cheap way to believe whatever they wish to believe.
Going much deeper than Barkley could ever go, the real contradictions here are related to the clear divide which has always been here that is now an open sore for all to see. The masses of African people do not fit within this oppressive capitalist system. The method in which institutions of this society attack and terrorize us, along with the degree to which the masses of Europeans in this society quickly align themselves with the system oppressing us, illustrate this reality. The alignment of certain Africans with the system of oppression is just another example of the “house slave, field slave” class analysis that Malcolm, Nkrumah, Ture, and others have explained to us. And, its that degree to which people protect this system which should be the core element that most of us are focused on.
For example, Barkley and others have been fast to express that Taylor’s boyfriend fired upon the police and that is justification for the police to have killed Taylor. There are several serious issues here. What we know factually is that there are multiple witnesses i.e. people in surrounding residences, who gave statements indicating the police burst into Taylor’s residence with no announcement of who they were. In other words, no “THIS IS THE POLICE!” Only one witness claimed there was an announcement and the fact that one person was the one who ended up being summoned by the grand jury is the same type of stacked anti-African activities that characterize this criminal injustice system that poses as justice in this society. But, for the sake of argument, even the most basic and un-intellectual among us can understand that in the course of an emotionally charged activity like police bursting into someone residence armed, there is going to be quite a bit of confusion. So, under those circumstances, what was said will always be questionable as its proven that people don’t hear things in that type of charged environment. In other words, the fact Taylor’s boyfriend fired at the police is understandable, even if he fired first which is largely contested, despite the confusion about the sequence that people like Barkley are apparently unaware of. Besides, what Taylor’s boyfriend did is exactly what all the white/right people preach they accumulate massive stockpiles of arms to address. The tyranny of the government bursting into your house to impose their will against a “free people.” Yet, you will never hear any support for Taylor and her boyfriend from this racist crowd because they use all that patriotic rhetoric as shield and cover for their real beliefs that we are not actual people worthy of (what they believe) is a great country that (they believe) they created without any involvement from any of us. So, in their minds, the police could set off a nuclear explosion against our people that killed thousands of us at once, and they would immediately find justification with that.
Of course, this dysfunction is fueled by the current U.S. empire president, and regardless of who wins the election in November, it will continue to be fueled by whomever occupies that seat. The foundation of this level of anti-human white supremacy is as common to this backward society as the sun coming up each morning.
The bottom line here is that incidents like what happened to Taylor are clear evidence as to why people feel the need to say that African lives matter. With Breonna Taylor, she was a medical student taking risks every-day to keep people safe from covid 19. She had no criminal record (not that it would matter) and so she doesn’t fit the racist narrative that these savages place on every African victim of police terror. Their dishonest and dysfunctional strategy of pointing to any criminal record of any victim, no matter how old or unrelated, is their go to argument to justify police terror against African people. Its like white perpetuators of incidents never have criminal records, they do, but these people never use that tactic in those incidents. In fact, pretty much every one of these police terrorists have records of abuse and multiple complaints against them, so clearly we are talking about a process that is designed to criminalize the African masses.
The fact the person these police terrorists were supposedly looking for in Taylor’s apartment didn’t live there and that this person was allegedly already in custody is not even being discussed. This should be the primary information shared about this incident, yet no one is talking about it because in the scheme of things, it doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is creating a narrative to justify police terrorizing the African masses because doing so ensures that this empire and its bankrupt values are upheld. And, for the people engaging in this disgusting behavior, all that is important to them is preserving the empire they believe in. If millions of us die in the process, that’s perfectly fine with these beasts.
Finally, the fact the family of Breonna Taylor received a financial settlement is, in the eyes of materialistic capitalist oriented individuals, supposed to provide some level of peace to somebody somewhere. It doesn’t because most of us are not cemented to upholding money the way so many sick and dysfunctional people loyal to this empire are. As Malcolm also said, we are not speaking the same language to the people we are having these conversations with. Our advice is stop having these conversations with these people. Just like Barkley, the objective these people have isn’t the same as yours. They aren’t trying to come to a just conclusion. They are focused exclusively on upholding the empire that they project their personal identity and power through. They don’t care what doing that does to you, clearly. So, don’t waste another moment of your time with them. Instead, use that energy to work with people who you can organize to defend ourselves from these primitive people. That’s the most important thing we can be doing right now. If nothing else, a case as clear cut as what unfortunately happened to Breonna Taylor should be concrete evidence that illustrates this reality to us loud and clear.