Kwame Ture said it often. "The capitalist system doesn't lie some of the time. It lies all of the time. In fact, even when it tells the truth, its only because of a double lie." We see examples of this all around us everyday. What should be normal, meaning logical, healthy, and commonly accepted and practiced, is seen as strange. And, what should be strange, meaning unhealthy for human consumption and inappropriate, is made to seem normal. Let's look at professional sports. Hordes of fans giving white supremacist salutes and yelling out racial slurs towards players of color is everyday activity in worldwide soccer (football) culture and no one seems all that upset by it. Professional athletes father children without caring for them on the regular and many of them beat and abuse their partners without remorse, and the response we see to this is women wearing Ray Rice jerseys e.g. supporting him over the woman he mercilessly brutalized. People all over the world, from Standing Rock, North Dakota, U.S., to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, are standing up and protesting injustices and instead of discussing the merits of their protests, people are talking about the style and/or form protest being used. Just this Friday, while helping facilitate security for the anti-prison actions in downtown Portland, I observed African people furious that their bus was delayed and they couldn't get to work. When I engaged these people, I asked them if they realized that without protest that challenged and disrupted the system, they wouldn't have a paid job today because protest is the reason we pushed past slavery and segregation. Their response? "I'm late for work!"
Meanwhile, people are more upset about Colin Kaepernick and other athletes not standing for a bankrupt and meaningless national anthem than they are about the human suffering these brave athletes are protesting against. People are more upset about the sight of houseless people and the issues generated from being housless then they are about the fact millions of people, including many who suffer from mental illness, don't have a place to live. People are more upset about students protesting from Azania, South Africa to North America then they are about the lack of quality education and resources to support education.
Candidates running for national office, whether in the U.S., Europe, Africa, Asia, or the Americas, talk about any and everything, whatever way suites them, and although people have been lied to for decades the exact same way, they continue to require nothing more than the word of these lying politicians to subdue them. All while criticizing you for wanting more and suggesting there should be a better way.
People who have suffered discrimination as policy for centuries are often the most intolerant towards others who are suffering discrimination as if the question is one of qualifying as the most oppressed in history instead of wiping out all oppression. And, descendants of European thieves and murderers are telling the descendants of Indigenous people - who's land this rightfully is - and Africans, who were forced here and who's ancestor's labor built the wealth of this society, without compensation, that if they don't like oppression, they should just leave. And in response to that dysfunction, African people in the Western hemisphere are so quick to let you know that despite the fact they have never read a single book about Africa and have never traveled there, they are convinced Africa doesn't love them. They say this despite having no evidence of this besides the worthless conversations they may have had with some confused and misguided Africans born in Africa. They say this despite the reality that what we do for sure is after 500+ years in this hemisphere, we are definitely, without question, not wanted here.
Things that should seem strange are normal and things that should seem normal are strange. I have an experiment for you. Board any public transportation vessel and immediately click on the most vile song imaginable. Play it loud so that all around you can hear it. Then disembark. Re-board at a later point and play a speech by someone like Kwame Ture or Malcolm X - speaking in clear terms about the unquestionable injustices carried about by this empire against people's around the world. I will guarantee you that more people will speak up against what you are doing while you are playing the speeches then you will hear when you are playing the reactionary and disrespectful music.
Are people insane in 2016? For the most part, yes. Is there a solution? Is there hope? Absolutely! Kwame Nkrumah spoke a phenum of forces in tension. What he meant is the class struggle reflects a series of conflicts on all levels of interaction. This struggle is the struggle of dialectics and it is a scientific necessity in order for change to occur. In other words, quoting Frederick Douglas, "without struggle, there is no progress." When people criticize Kaepernick's legitimate political response while ignoring and dismissing the lives of the people he is standing up for, this is a clear contradiction in progress. When people challenge the rights of the Indigenous people to stand up and protect this land which rightfully belongs to them, that is a clear contradiction in progress. And, when people tell Africans to leave this hemisphere while challenging our right to claim Africa at the same time, that is a struggle waiting to be exposed. So, don't fret at the development of all these things. When Kwame talked about it, he wasn't complaining. He was merely pointing out that the more pressure we add, the more the contradictions will be pushed to a breaking point. So, don't panic. Just keep adding that oil to that fire.
Meanwhile, people are more upset about Colin Kaepernick and other athletes not standing for a bankrupt and meaningless national anthem than they are about the human suffering these brave athletes are protesting against. People are more upset about the sight of houseless people and the issues generated from being housless then they are about the fact millions of people, including many who suffer from mental illness, don't have a place to live. People are more upset about students protesting from Azania, South Africa to North America then they are about the lack of quality education and resources to support education.
Candidates running for national office, whether in the U.S., Europe, Africa, Asia, or the Americas, talk about any and everything, whatever way suites them, and although people have been lied to for decades the exact same way, they continue to require nothing more than the word of these lying politicians to subdue them. All while criticizing you for wanting more and suggesting there should be a better way.
People who have suffered discrimination as policy for centuries are often the most intolerant towards others who are suffering discrimination as if the question is one of qualifying as the most oppressed in history instead of wiping out all oppression. And, descendants of European thieves and murderers are telling the descendants of Indigenous people - who's land this rightfully is - and Africans, who were forced here and who's ancestor's labor built the wealth of this society, without compensation, that if they don't like oppression, they should just leave. And in response to that dysfunction, African people in the Western hemisphere are so quick to let you know that despite the fact they have never read a single book about Africa and have never traveled there, they are convinced Africa doesn't love them. They say this despite having no evidence of this besides the worthless conversations they may have had with some confused and misguided Africans born in Africa. They say this despite the reality that what we do for sure is after 500+ years in this hemisphere, we are definitely, without question, not wanted here.
Things that should seem strange are normal and things that should seem normal are strange. I have an experiment for you. Board any public transportation vessel and immediately click on the most vile song imaginable. Play it loud so that all around you can hear it. Then disembark. Re-board at a later point and play a speech by someone like Kwame Ture or Malcolm X - speaking in clear terms about the unquestionable injustices carried about by this empire against people's around the world. I will guarantee you that more people will speak up against what you are doing while you are playing the speeches then you will hear when you are playing the reactionary and disrespectful music.
Are people insane in 2016? For the most part, yes. Is there a solution? Is there hope? Absolutely! Kwame Nkrumah spoke a phenum of forces in tension. What he meant is the class struggle reflects a series of conflicts on all levels of interaction. This struggle is the struggle of dialectics and it is a scientific necessity in order for change to occur. In other words, quoting Frederick Douglas, "without struggle, there is no progress." When people criticize Kaepernick's legitimate political response while ignoring and dismissing the lives of the people he is standing up for, this is a clear contradiction in progress. When people challenge the rights of the Indigenous people to stand up and protect this land which rightfully belongs to them, that is a clear contradiction in progress. And, when people tell Africans to leave this hemisphere while challenging our right to claim Africa at the same time, that is a struggle waiting to be exposed. So, don't fret at the development of all these things. When Kwame talked about it, he wasn't complaining. He was merely pointing out that the more pressure we add, the more the contradictions will be pushed to a breaking point. So, don't panic. Just keep adding that oil to that fire.
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