There's a lot of strong and passionate discussion and opinions circulating within the African community about Martin Luther King III meeting with Donald Trump this past weekend and comedian Steve Harvey having a similar meeting with Trump previous to that. Both men came out of their respective Trump meetings praising the billionaire's sincerity. Both are suggesting that we should recognize and accept Trump's victory so we can plan around working with him since he will soon become the country's 45th president.
The criticism against King III, Harvey, and a host of other people who are taking similar positions needs deeper analysis and focus. First, to the notion that anyone has to accept Donald Trump, what's clear is that almost half of the qualified voting public in this country didn't vote for Trump or Clinton. That's a clear message that the majority of people didn't prefer either one of them. Its also a gateway into the thinking many of us advance that we are under absolutely no obligation to believe that our only world option is the demopublican parties and the capitalist system. The first rule of political struggle is you must gain leverage. The problem with African people in this fight in this society is we don't understand that principle. And, as a result, we are always positioned as beggars to the power structure when we have a great deal of power that we simply just aren't organized to utilize. In other words, since Trump (and really any other president) hasn't given you any reason to trust or believe in him, in fact, he's insulted and ridiculed you openly and repeatedly, you should claim your dignity and insist that you owe him and his administration as much respect as they are providing to you - and the answer to that is 0.
And even if you decided as King III and Harvey suggest, that we have to bargain with Trump, you cannot do that from a position of weakness. Your bargaining can only come from organizing a mass movement that holds Trump, and any capitalist office holder, accountable to your interests. By accountable we mean your movement is strong enough to create consequences for them if they don't deliver. You know, things like shutting down their shipping of products. The capitalists don't like that when their money is impacted. History is full of examples of them backing down immediately when that happens. Do some research on that and you can start with the Montgomery Bus boycott. Unfortunately, Harvey and King III don't understand this. They believe that just them sitting at a table, with nothing behind them, is enough to garner some concessions from a egotistical idiot who clearly doesn't know what he's doing. They are operating under the classic illusion of bourgeois analysis, that individuals make history, not the masses of people. And, if you are a conscious student of history, you will be able to see very soon how wrong they are when nothing tangible comes from their grinning and buck dancing with the master.
Of course, the problem here isn't what many well-intentioned, yet misinformed Africans are referencing. I've heard more than a few African woman say the problem is the weakness of men as opposed to African women who would never compromise for Trump or anyone else. Although I understand and agree with the sentiment they are expressing, from a materialist standpoint, it doesn't measure up. Oprah Winfrey did her own buck dance in support of working with Trump through Twitter recently for example. Instead, I would suggest that the real problem is that these Africans we are talking about are not people who made their name in the trenches of fighting for African liberation in an organized fashion. Martin Luther King III is simply someone who has been riding the coattails of his parents for decades engaging in no real concrete efforts to build capacity for us to fight back with any teeth against our enemies. And Steve Harvey is simply an entertainer who has created fame for himself by grinning and pleasing White America and anyone else who is charmed by his extremely unfunny brand of humor. When you attempt to measure these people up against the organization and capacity builders like Malcolm X, Kwame Nkrumah, Sekou Ture, Shirley Graham and W.E.B DuBois, Marcus and Amy/Amy Garvey, Carmen Periera, Patrice Lumumba, the Black Panther Party, Amilcar Cabral, Kwame Ture, Assata Shakur, etc., then it becomes immediately easy to understand why Kking III and Harvey are so weak in the knees, licking boots so easily, and completely confused about how real change takes place.
I briefly watched a segment on "NBA Tipoff" yesterday where Shaquille O'Neal, Charles Barkley, and Kenny Smith, former NBA players, were at the Civil Rights museum in Atlanta. The show was in commemoration of the King holiday. The format was designed to depict the three NBA players as commentators on the movement, yet all three of them had about as much concrete information about our history as you could use to fill a thimble. So, what we were left with was the European man who works with them on NBA telecasts serving as the guide and facilitator while those three idiots consistently gave their subjective and uninformed analysis of the movement that created the conditions for them to even be sitting there in the first place. Yet, this is the society we live in where comedians, talk show hosts, and basketball players are portrayed as the experts of our liberation struggle. There are of course plenty of real expert organizers and activists who will never be spotlighted because their work is about challenging this system, not legitimizing it. So, you should not be confused by Steve Harvey's buffoonery. Our strength lies in the same place it's always existed. In our ability to come together, organize, and make a demand based on our collective determination. If you don't leave MLK weekend with anything else this year, understand that last statement. Even with the best intentions, all Harvey and King III can do is get promises and even if Trump, Obama, Clinton, or Donald Duck are sincere in their promises, we would be fools if we relied on that as something concrete for the future of our babies. Our movement is our only safety net, our only salvation and these celebrities and assorted clowns are not going to understand that because they have never participated in that realm, but its your responsibility to understand it. And, its your responsibility to participate in that realm if you really want us to have any type of voice that truly means something for our future.
The criticism against King III, Harvey, and a host of other people who are taking similar positions needs deeper analysis and focus. First, to the notion that anyone has to accept Donald Trump, what's clear is that almost half of the qualified voting public in this country didn't vote for Trump or Clinton. That's a clear message that the majority of people didn't prefer either one of them. Its also a gateway into the thinking many of us advance that we are under absolutely no obligation to believe that our only world option is the demopublican parties and the capitalist system. The first rule of political struggle is you must gain leverage. The problem with African people in this fight in this society is we don't understand that principle. And, as a result, we are always positioned as beggars to the power structure when we have a great deal of power that we simply just aren't organized to utilize. In other words, since Trump (and really any other president) hasn't given you any reason to trust or believe in him, in fact, he's insulted and ridiculed you openly and repeatedly, you should claim your dignity and insist that you owe him and his administration as much respect as they are providing to you - and the answer to that is 0.
And even if you decided as King III and Harvey suggest, that we have to bargain with Trump, you cannot do that from a position of weakness. Your bargaining can only come from organizing a mass movement that holds Trump, and any capitalist office holder, accountable to your interests. By accountable we mean your movement is strong enough to create consequences for them if they don't deliver. You know, things like shutting down their shipping of products. The capitalists don't like that when their money is impacted. History is full of examples of them backing down immediately when that happens. Do some research on that and you can start with the Montgomery Bus boycott. Unfortunately, Harvey and King III don't understand this. They believe that just them sitting at a table, with nothing behind them, is enough to garner some concessions from a egotistical idiot who clearly doesn't know what he's doing. They are operating under the classic illusion of bourgeois analysis, that individuals make history, not the masses of people. And, if you are a conscious student of history, you will be able to see very soon how wrong they are when nothing tangible comes from their grinning and buck dancing with the master.
Of course, the problem here isn't what many well-intentioned, yet misinformed Africans are referencing. I've heard more than a few African woman say the problem is the weakness of men as opposed to African women who would never compromise for Trump or anyone else. Although I understand and agree with the sentiment they are expressing, from a materialist standpoint, it doesn't measure up. Oprah Winfrey did her own buck dance in support of working with Trump through Twitter recently for example. Instead, I would suggest that the real problem is that these Africans we are talking about are not people who made their name in the trenches of fighting for African liberation in an organized fashion. Martin Luther King III is simply someone who has been riding the coattails of his parents for decades engaging in no real concrete efforts to build capacity for us to fight back with any teeth against our enemies. And Steve Harvey is simply an entertainer who has created fame for himself by grinning and pleasing White America and anyone else who is charmed by his extremely unfunny brand of humor. When you attempt to measure these people up against the organization and capacity builders like Malcolm X, Kwame Nkrumah, Sekou Ture, Shirley Graham and W.E.B DuBois, Marcus and Amy/Amy Garvey, Carmen Periera, Patrice Lumumba, the Black Panther Party, Amilcar Cabral, Kwame Ture, Assata Shakur, etc., then it becomes immediately easy to understand why Kking III and Harvey are so weak in the knees, licking boots so easily, and completely confused about how real change takes place.
I briefly watched a segment on "NBA Tipoff" yesterday where Shaquille O'Neal, Charles Barkley, and Kenny Smith, former NBA players, were at the Civil Rights museum in Atlanta. The show was in commemoration of the King holiday. The format was designed to depict the three NBA players as commentators on the movement, yet all three of them had about as much concrete information about our history as you could use to fill a thimble. So, what we were left with was the European man who works with them on NBA telecasts serving as the guide and facilitator while those three idiots consistently gave their subjective and uninformed analysis of the movement that created the conditions for them to even be sitting there in the first place. Yet, this is the society we live in where comedians, talk show hosts, and basketball players are portrayed as the experts of our liberation struggle. There are of course plenty of real expert organizers and activists who will never be spotlighted because their work is about challenging this system, not legitimizing it. So, you should not be confused by Steve Harvey's buffoonery. Our strength lies in the same place it's always existed. In our ability to come together, organize, and make a demand based on our collective determination. If you don't leave MLK weekend with anything else this year, understand that last statement. Even with the best intentions, all Harvey and King III can do is get promises and even if Trump, Obama, Clinton, or Donald Duck are sincere in their promises, we would be fools if we relied on that as something concrete for the future of our babies. Our movement is our only safety net, our only salvation and these celebrities and assorted clowns are not going to understand that because they have never participated in that realm, but its your responsibility to understand it. And, its your responsibility to participate in that realm if you really want us to have any type of voice that truly means something for our future.
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