In the 1995 movie "Higher Learning", African students led by the character played by actor Ice Cube, just defeated a group of neo-nazis in a fist fight on campus. Actor Omar Epps, celebrating the victory with the brothers, brags about punching one of the Hitler troops and beating him down. The Ice Cube character, sitting down brooding, permits this to happen for a few moments before retorting (I'm paraphrasing) "everything in here they own. This furniture, this school, you...We're behind enemy lines dawg! One beat down will never compare to 400 years of captivity!"
If you understand what that statement means to us Africans, and other oppressed people, then you shouldn't have any problem understanding why those of us who live this struggle aren't joining those of you who are celebrating some victory of sorts (in your minds) because that white supremacist got sucker punched. We aren't celebrating because like the line in the movie, we know that one white coward sucker punching another white coward does absolutely nothing to alleviate any oppression anywhere (anyone who sucker punches is a coward). And to the multitudes of so-called conscious Europeans, of course mostly men, who claim the punch is an inspiration to people everywhere who oppose white supremacy, you should be very careful in making that statement because by doing so, you expose just how little work you are actually doing to dismantle oppression (and how little you understand about how oppression works).
In 1968, a bunch of well meaning, yet egotistical and arrogant White youth within the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) announced an event called "Days of Rage." The idea, a sincere effort that wasn't very well thought through, proposed to have thousands of White youth come into the City of Chicago and wage war against the City during the Democratic National Convention which was taking place there that year. When word of this "action" got out, Black Panther Leader Fred Hampton immediately denounced the idea. When he did so, scores of all knowing White men came down on him, accusing him of being afraid to confront the state. They made these accusations against the man the state set up and murdered one year later.
What those Europeans in SDS failed to understand about Chairmen Fred's message was that their planned adventure in Chicago, that Hampton called "Custeristic" was an adrenaline rush for these ego driven White men and that the consequences of their actions would be borne by the already besieged Chicago African community. Clearly, Hampton's fears were realized.
Its in this same tradition that we criticize the "'Custeristic" sucker punch against that white supremacist scum. Its amazing that all those know everything White people apparently don't know enough to decipher that besides their egos being calmed, that lone punch probably only makes things worse for our people. All these alienated and disaffected White youth who no one is organizing will see that punch as further proof that they need to rally behind those people who their dysfunction tells them are trying to stand up for them. As a result, that action, instead of intimidating them out of a life of white supremacy, will certainly further entrench them within it. Then, when they go out to exert their frustration, its not all you know everything White boys that they are going to be seeking out. Its going to be us they seek out. Its going to us they shoot down in cold blood. Its going to be us they shoot up in churches, fast food restaurants, or schools. So, we know you don't really care anything about that, or at least you aren't experienced and informed enough to think about it, but we are thinking about it because unlike you, we are sincerely interested in ending oppression against our communities.
We think about it because we know these people first hand. We have gone up against them for centuries. Unlike you, our experience with them isn't driven by ego and adventure. Its driven by horror. Our families are former slave families from the South. I grew up with stories about night-riders and terror. Then, right on course, I had my own experiences with that terror. I organized with others, learned skills, and we got good at being able to defend ourselves, but our defense against them wasn't ego driven. it was survival driven. In September of 2016, I helped organize security for some good organizer folks where we faced off against armed and organized white supremacists every day for two weeks. I stared these people down nightly and stayed alert, prepared to lose my life if they attacked the people I was there to defend. So, excuse me if the last thing I need are phallic challenged keyboard warriors who arrogantly try to tell me why its important to stand up against white supremacists. That right there is laughable. What we need is for serious people to start hitting those neighborhoods, those white neighborhoods, and talking to those disaffected youth. What we need is for Europeans to start getting your people and organizing them against this system so that they stop attacking us. What we need is for you to stop thinking you can tell us anything about white supremacy because we have more information about it in our last bowel movement than you will ever have your entire life. Fred Hampton was right in 1968 and we are right today. By refusing to organize white people, engaging in macho driven fantasy accounts of standing up against oppression, and by spending time arguing with us instead of engaging in that organizing work, all you are doing is reaffirming how ineffective and useless you are to any real meaningful work. In fact, some of you present so many problems for us that when it comes to identifying threats against us, it is very difficult to see you as any better than the neo-nazis. In 1994, Khalid Abdul Muhammad said on the Phil Donahue show that he believed "there is a little bit of Hitler in all White people." I remember watching that, laughing, and thinking how much I disagree with him. Today, as I've gotten older and gained more experience, I still don't believe that statement, but I gotta be honest, its getting harder and harder each day.
If you understand what that statement means to us Africans, and other oppressed people, then you shouldn't have any problem understanding why those of us who live this struggle aren't joining those of you who are celebrating some victory of sorts (in your minds) because that white supremacist got sucker punched. We aren't celebrating because like the line in the movie, we know that one white coward sucker punching another white coward does absolutely nothing to alleviate any oppression anywhere (anyone who sucker punches is a coward). And to the multitudes of so-called conscious Europeans, of course mostly men, who claim the punch is an inspiration to people everywhere who oppose white supremacy, you should be very careful in making that statement because by doing so, you expose just how little work you are actually doing to dismantle oppression (and how little you understand about how oppression works).
In 1968, a bunch of well meaning, yet egotistical and arrogant White youth within the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) announced an event called "Days of Rage." The idea, a sincere effort that wasn't very well thought through, proposed to have thousands of White youth come into the City of Chicago and wage war against the City during the Democratic National Convention which was taking place there that year. When word of this "action" got out, Black Panther Leader Fred Hampton immediately denounced the idea. When he did so, scores of all knowing White men came down on him, accusing him of being afraid to confront the state. They made these accusations against the man the state set up and murdered one year later.
What those Europeans in SDS failed to understand about Chairmen Fred's message was that their planned adventure in Chicago, that Hampton called "Custeristic" was an adrenaline rush for these ego driven White men and that the consequences of their actions would be borne by the already besieged Chicago African community. Clearly, Hampton's fears were realized.
Its in this same tradition that we criticize the "'Custeristic" sucker punch against that white supremacist scum. Its amazing that all those know everything White people apparently don't know enough to decipher that besides their egos being calmed, that lone punch probably only makes things worse for our people. All these alienated and disaffected White youth who no one is organizing will see that punch as further proof that they need to rally behind those people who their dysfunction tells them are trying to stand up for them. As a result, that action, instead of intimidating them out of a life of white supremacy, will certainly further entrench them within it. Then, when they go out to exert their frustration, its not all you know everything White boys that they are going to be seeking out. Its going to be us they seek out. Its going to us they shoot down in cold blood. Its going to be us they shoot up in churches, fast food restaurants, or schools. So, we know you don't really care anything about that, or at least you aren't experienced and informed enough to think about it, but we are thinking about it because unlike you, we are sincerely interested in ending oppression against our communities.
We think about it because we know these people first hand. We have gone up against them for centuries. Unlike you, our experience with them isn't driven by ego and adventure. Its driven by horror. Our families are former slave families from the South. I grew up with stories about night-riders and terror. Then, right on course, I had my own experiences with that terror. I organized with others, learned skills, and we got good at being able to defend ourselves, but our defense against them wasn't ego driven. it was survival driven. In September of 2016, I helped organize security for some good organizer folks where we faced off against armed and organized white supremacists every day for two weeks. I stared these people down nightly and stayed alert, prepared to lose my life if they attacked the people I was there to defend. So, excuse me if the last thing I need are phallic challenged keyboard warriors who arrogantly try to tell me why its important to stand up against white supremacists. That right there is laughable. What we need is for serious people to start hitting those neighborhoods, those white neighborhoods, and talking to those disaffected youth. What we need is for Europeans to start getting your people and organizing them against this system so that they stop attacking us. What we need is for you to stop thinking you can tell us anything about white supremacy because we have more information about it in our last bowel movement than you will ever have your entire life. Fred Hampton was right in 1968 and we are right today. By refusing to organize white people, engaging in macho driven fantasy accounts of standing up against oppression, and by spending time arguing with us instead of engaging in that organizing work, all you are doing is reaffirming how ineffective and useless you are to any real meaningful work. In fact, some of you present so many problems for us that when it comes to identifying threats against us, it is very difficult to see you as any better than the neo-nazis. In 1994, Khalid Abdul Muhammad said on the Phil Donahue show that he believed "there is a little bit of Hitler in all White people." I remember watching that, laughing, and thinking how much I disagree with him. Today, as I've gotten older and gained more experience, I still don't believe that statement, but I gotta be honest, its getting harder and harder each day.
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