How White Supremacy Benefits from Classless Black Nationalism

Yvette Carnell is one of the main spokespersons for the so-called "American Descendants of Slaves (ADOs) movement. On the surface, its a black nationalist effort, but underneath, what they are really talking about is more capitalism in blackface.

For the casual observer, the concept of Black nationalism and white supremacy are diametrically opposed to one another.  Black nationalism is the belief that African people must unite to overcome racist oppression.  On the other hand, white supremacy is the system that enforces oppression against Africans and other non-European people on a worldwide basis.  The nuance comes when you factor in that neither of these belief structures can be properly evaluated without including a class component e.g. the mechanisms of how the capitalist system functions and interacts with humanity.  

In other words, without a class analysis of Black nationalism, we cannot properly understand what Black nationalism is.  You can't just say support for every African is Black nationalism because every African doesn't have the same class interests.  There are Africans who are a part of, and committed to, the values and political/economic agenda of the worldwide bourgeoisie.  Some of these people, like Barack and Michelle Obama, are/were spokespersons for the international bourgeoisie, meaning their purpose is to speak in favor of, and to support, international capitalism and imperialism.  And, based on your class interests, this reality is either not an issue for you, or its a defining factor in determining how to relate and engage the African liberation struggle.  Today, there are many African voices like Candace Owens, Yvette Carnell, Cornel West, Ben Carson (all U.S. based mouthpieces for the capitalist right), Paul Kagame (Rwanda President), Cyril Ramaphosa (South Africa President - the country we properly call Azania), Nana Akufo-Addo (Ghana President), Akilo Bangote (Chief Executive Officer for Bangote Corporation in Africa), and far too many African entertainers and others, who may look African, but everything they believe and promote is in the interests of maintaining the power of the capitalist system.  This is an insidious contradiction for African people.  Oppressed so desperately by the capitalist system, we are easy prey for anyone who's rhetoric seemingly provides temporary relief from our suffering.  Most of our people lack the political training and experience to decipher the difference between "pro-Black" rhetoric that promotes so-called economic development, wealth building, strong determination to direct your life, etc., from a grounded analysis that suggests that a system (capitalism) that was built and maintained on Africa and African oppression cannot be utilized to liberate African people.  This is without question a class challenge.  Those people in the former group described above would have you believe that anything that can possibly benefit you as an individual, or a few of us (like just those of us in the U.S.), with a blackface on it, is a good thing.  These people promote this belief regardless of how damaging this system is to the rest of African people and humanity.  We'll provide a few examples.

Many of the arch critics of Pan-Africanism today don't have enough of a class analysis to tell you the difference between neo-colonialist African presidents - fully supported by capitalism/imperialism - like Ramaphosa, Kagame, etc., from revolutionary Pan-African liberation movements fighting for genuine Pan-Africanism on the ground like the African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau (PAIGC), Pan-African Union for Sierra Leone (PANAFU), the Pan-Africanist Congress of Azania (South Africa - PAC), etc.  If it wasn't so ridiculous, it would be humorless to watch the so-called voices for this American Descendants of Slaves (ADOs) "movement" equate revolutionary Pan-African struggle (the liberation movements on the ground, some of which were just provided to you) from the neo-colonialist presidents named above (and those not named) who are in the back pockets of imperialism.  For others, all someone like Kagame or Ramaphosa has to do is say something sounding remotely like a pro-African statement, and far too many people will permit that lone statement to convince us that this person is firmly in the camp of African unity.  An example is the recent letter of condolences Barack and Michelle Obama sent to the family of slain rapper/activist Nipsey Hussle.  In that letter, the Obama's won over millions of Africans who saw their "effort" as a genuine act of connecting to the suffering of our people.  On any deeper level this assertion is insane if one considers the millions of African youth who's policies Obama's administration caused extreme death and trauma.  The total destruction of Libya.  Mass incarceration of African youth in the U.S.  The support of the illegal coup in Honduras.  The development of Africom throughout Africa.  These are just a few of the legacies of Obama that have produced devastating results for African people, yet all he has to do is write a letter that tugs at the emotional heart strings of our people and he is viewed as a friend to the African masses by so many of our people.

This happens because of the subjective desire we have to believe that everyone who has dark skin is a part of the African movement for justice. Its also a reflection of our deep seated training that anything the capitalist system does has validity therefore, many of us gauge success and legitimacy based on how capitalism views things.  If capitalism approves, its legitimate.  If capitalism disapproves, its not legitimate.  As insane as it is, our very enemies are the definers of success in the minds of many of our people.  There's also the convoluted philosophy that suggests if an African speaks out and/or acts against our people e.g. Colin Powell, Clarence Thomas, etc., this is something that could be corrected just by the African gaining a better understanding of our situation.  A strong class analysis recognizes that lack of understanding is not the problem here and any level of emotional desire is not going to change that.  This problem is the result of these Africans making clear decisions, based on their actions, to confirm their commitment to international imperialism.  In other words, its extremely naive for anyone to believe that Barack Obama, after signing off on the National Defense Authorization Act in 2012, the bombing of Libya into submission in 2011, and the creation of almost 100 U.S. military bases in Africa during the duration of his regime, did all of that out of ignorance.  These are the actions of someone who is unquestionably committed to capitalism and international oppression against the African masses.  There are far too many Africans who have been viciously murdered and/or oppressed from his policies for him to claim ignorance.  In fact, he lauds his actions around the world.  Anyone who chooses to ignore this very painful and clear reality is either ignorant about this suffering (likely) and/or is making the same decision Obama and these other "people" make to turn your backs on the masses of our people and humanity for the sake of a specific agenda.  A personal agenda.  A jaded agenda that places you and/or a specific class element of our people against the needs, aspirations, and desires of the masses of our people everywhere.

This is the class struggle that Sekou Ture spoke so eloquently about in his classic work "The History of Class Struggle" from "Strategy and Tactics of the African Revolution."  The hard truth as Chuck D told us "every brother ain't a brother."  The core reality is that everyone who looks like us isn't our friend while there are plenty of people who don't look like us who are absolute comrades in arms with our struggle for international justice.

So, just because someone has an African name.  Wears African clothes.  Preaches against interracial relationships.  Calls for "black dollars to stay in black communities (whatever the hell that actually means)", doesn't mean that person(s) are really for mass African advancement.  When Mobutu Sese Seto became president of the Congo in 1965 he did so solely from the support of the so-called Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA- Criminals in Action) program of de-stabilization against the Congo that has been written extensively about here and elsewhere) efforts to place him in power as their neo-colonialist puppet leader.  His job was to squash any efforts to bring justice to the Congo after the CIA inspired the illegal assassination of Patrice Lumumba and the destruction of Lumumba's National Congolese Movement.  Most of our people couldn't give you two quality sentences about Lumumba and his organization's work to liberate the Congo, but that same number of us would be impressed on the surface level if we knew of the lengths Mobutu went to in order to appear to be pro-Black.  In the early 70s he changed his name from Joseph Mobutu to the African Mobutu Sese Seto and he changed the names of everything in the Congo this way, including the name of the country which was changed to Zaire.  On the surface, he was for everything African, but only those lacking a class analysis can be fooled by this fake face-lift attempt. 

Revolutionaries, people who will stop at nothing until we have a complete transformation of society - eliminating capitalist oppression once and for all for socialist development leading to world communism, always must start with a strong class analysis.  These revolutionaries can never accept the capitalism in blackface that the Obamas, Kagame, Mobutu, Cornel West, ADOs, and the others represent once you peel back the surface layer.  As my mother always told me; don't be so easily fooled.  Any talk of African liberation without a strong class analysis is a scam designed to fleece you of your money and other resources.  And, you can usually very easily identify the scammers because while the masses of our people suffer, and they are talking tough pro-black rhetoric, they live in comfort, at the expense of our people.  That isn't to say revolutionaries should live by a vow of poverty, but it is to say that any class analysis will show you that these pseudo black nationalists are building no institutions for liberation while their personal fortunes are being built daily.  For some of you, since your only true goal is to join them, that's ok.  For the real revolutionaries, its just further work we are doing to educate our people so one day we can rid the earth of this type of scum.   So, after all that, if you still don't know the difference between us and those types of so-called black nationalist scum, that should tell you that you have much work to do on your class analysis tools.