I know I'm far from alone, especially within the African liberation movement, when I say a lot of you people talking and writing right now about Donald Trump turn our stomachs. You are acting as if this country has suddenly taken an incredible turn towards overt racism and fascism. I understand that there are people who have always believed the lie that this is a great country based on democratic ideals, but that's your problem if you can't tell a lie from the truth. This country has always held the official position that white supremacy, patriarchy, homophobia, and class oppression against all working people, including Europeans, is just some subordinate side note that is an aberration, and not the definition, of what America really is. Yeah, we've been hearing that narrative for 500+ years, so we understand it. That doesn't mean we are going to sit by and let you continue to perpetuate it.
America isn't broken. It's not great. It never has been great. It's not sidetracked. It's not in an unusual state of confusion. America is the exact same thing today that it was in 1776, 1876, and 1976; a brutal empire that is based on exploitation, murder, and destruction. Its history defines what's happening today with Trump and we'll explain how. The American capitalist system dominates world economics today. The U.S. funds almost half of the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) budget and the IMF is responsible for setting the economic agenda for the majority of the world today. The U.S. capitalist system also financially dominates the political and economic agenda for the United Nations which is the highest body of international cooperation on the planet today. This U.S. capitalist system is also the very same system that got its initial seed money from investing in the tri-angular slave trade which horrifically and brutally displaced literary hundreds of millions of Africans. The forced labor these Africans carried out created the seed money that started this entire banking and insurance industry which we already just mentioned finances the world today. What this means is without this brutal terrorism that was systematically carried out against Africa and Africans for hundreds of years, there would be no Barclays Bank, Lloyds Bank of London, Aetna Insurance, New York Life Insurance, J.P. Morgan Chase, Lehman Brothers, BankAmerica, Wachovia, Merchantile Bank, Brooks Brothers Suits, Wells Fargo Bank. Yes, what we are saying is the very foundation of the capitalist system was built and maintained through systematic racism. We are saying that each of those corporations, under decades of pressure from the reparations movement, have come out recently and admitted everything indicated here (google it and see for yourselves). Plus, the other aspect of this heavily guarded secret is that these corporate giants, understanding their gruesome secret would not endear them to the masses of people on the planet, manufactured the lie of white supremacy to justify their rape and pillaging. They established curriculum in the schools which taught you nothing about Africa, Asia, or the Americas before 1492. They taught you that Europe is the pinnacle of world civilization. This basis made it easy for them to use their corporate media to pound home the message that we did nothing to contribute to the planet Earth. As a result, it became easy for the masses of confused Europeans (white people) to see us as less and it became equally as effective for us to see ourselves the same way. And, none of this is conspiracy theory. To understand how all of the above manifests itself, all one has to do is follow the course of the ruling class families who started and continue to rein on top of the capitalist system. Study the history of the Rockafeller family for example. You will see that they are the family that maintains controlling interest (stock) in NBC, Chevron, and Chase Manhattan Bank. Over the last 100 years, they have had something like 15 governors and 20 congress people in their family. They have had at least one vice president of the country. They have been in decision making positions on all of the Ivy League universities which set the curriculum for the entire education system in this country. So, just by following that one family, and their interests, you can see a clear example of how white supremacy has been systematically implemented for hundreds of years.
Its critical to understand that just because we frame the exploitation in the past, the oppression isn't a thing of the past. The foundation we speak of set up a system that continues to perform the same level of oppression everyday. Its just so automatic that most of you don't even know how to identify it's workings. King Leopold is dead, but the IMF serves the same purpose in Africa today that he did hundreds of years ago. Colonialism no longer exists, but neo-colonialism places a black face in a leadership position, but that black face represents and carries out the same interests that colonialism carried out previously. So, Belgium, France, Germany, the U.S., etc., no longer directly govern in the Congo, but they have established a long series of reactionary politicians in their image so that the columbite tantilite industry (coltan) - the mineral ore that motors electronic devices like cell phones and computers, continues to be exploited wholesale while Africa is left with nothing. This process continues to fuel Europe and America's rise and dominance while keeping Africa poor and dependent. And that system could not continue to work without the racist narrative of us being incapable of developing Africa ourselves to back it up. This history is important because it explains to you where the mentality of the people at the Trump rallies comes from. It explains why he's so popular and it gives clues as to how this problem should be addressed. We know the capitalist system is in a severe state of decline. We know that the frustrations articulated by Trump and his supporters are just the manifestations of what happens when the ruling classes divide working class communities. Racism has historically been their most potent weapon to do this. We've already seen this movie when the masses of Europeans in Azania, South Africa, or Zimbabwe, are asked to accept justice in policy and we certainly see it with the actions of the zionist state of Israel. We can even see it in how the Indigenous people's of the Western Hemisphere are systematically treated. America, like Israel and the other European powers, is as racist today as they were yesterday. And, they will always be racist because racism is profitable for them. Nothing new to see here. And even the stale argument that they are acting out in racist ways more often today doesn't hold water because they have never stopped acting out. If overt acts of racism are increasing, that's not a reflection of any new phenomenon as much as it is the results of failing to address the foundations of white supremacy in this society. African people have been educating about the mentalities being expressed at Donald Trump rallies for decades. The problem isn't that its happening now. The problem is many of you just won't listen until its too late.
So, don't tell us the focus of the problem is stopping Trump. You act like we don't know that the African women who disrupted Bernie Sanders in Seattle were not treated any better than the Africans at these Trump rallies. Those women heard many of the same things said to them that you are all up in arms about Trump supporters saying. I've been hearing White people tell me to go back to Africa since the 70s. The only difference now is I've been to Africa many times and I love and live to fight for Africa today as opposed to being ashamed of her as I was when I was a child hearing those racist remarks. So, it's not just about Trump, Sanders, or any bourgeois politician. Its this country which has always been based on white supremacist ideology. So, to us, its appropriate that the KKK should be front and center to this discussion. Trump, Sanders, Clinton, Cruz, the Statue of Liberty, the U.S. flag. All of it represents white supremacy. The only real question is the one Malcolm X raised 50+ years ago. It's whether you want to deal with a fox or a wolf. Clinton and Sanders are foxes. Trump and Cruz are the wolves. One pretends to be your friend whereas the other one lets you know immediately that you are in danger. Different tactics, but either way you are still dealing with a canine that will eat you up at the end of the day.
The real focus of the problem is that too many people in this country view capitalism as their personal identity. So, millions of people who have this vision are incapable of accepting a vision for the future that isn't based in capitalism. You accept that this campaign scam is the best vehicle to make change and you focus most, if not all, of your attention on this clown show instead of actual organizing work that can build capacity in communities to truly transform this society. No one is talking to European people in America with a revolutionary message on a systematic basis. No one is really even trying to do that. That leaves them to the KKK, the skinheads, and Trump, etc. Meanwhile, you continue to empower millionaires and billionaires to solve working class people's problems and then you wonder why you don't make progress. You continue to buy into this lie that America is the center of the world and that the empire can be somehow salvaged and reformed when there is 500+ years of evidence that clearly tells us otherwise. So, stop looking and talking so much about the trauma you feel about Trump because Trump and George Washington were cut from the exact same cloth. The problem is your country, its values, and its foundation. And until you wake up and accept that and stop trying to rewrite history, you are as much the cause of the Trumps that develop as the KKK or anyone else you want to blame and separate yourself from.
America isn't broken. It's not great. It never has been great. It's not sidetracked. It's not in an unusual state of confusion. America is the exact same thing today that it was in 1776, 1876, and 1976; a brutal empire that is based on exploitation, murder, and destruction. Its history defines what's happening today with Trump and we'll explain how. The American capitalist system dominates world economics today. The U.S. funds almost half of the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) budget and the IMF is responsible for setting the economic agenda for the majority of the world today. The U.S. capitalist system also financially dominates the political and economic agenda for the United Nations which is the highest body of international cooperation on the planet today. This U.S. capitalist system is also the very same system that got its initial seed money from investing in the tri-angular slave trade which horrifically and brutally displaced literary hundreds of millions of Africans. The forced labor these Africans carried out created the seed money that started this entire banking and insurance industry which we already just mentioned finances the world today. What this means is without this brutal terrorism that was systematically carried out against Africa and Africans for hundreds of years, there would be no Barclays Bank, Lloyds Bank of London, Aetna Insurance, New York Life Insurance, J.P. Morgan Chase, Lehman Brothers, BankAmerica, Wachovia, Merchantile Bank, Brooks Brothers Suits, Wells Fargo Bank. Yes, what we are saying is the very foundation of the capitalist system was built and maintained through systematic racism. We are saying that each of those corporations, under decades of pressure from the reparations movement, have come out recently and admitted everything indicated here (google it and see for yourselves). Plus, the other aspect of this heavily guarded secret is that these corporate giants, understanding their gruesome secret would not endear them to the masses of people on the planet, manufactured the lie of white supremacy to justify their rape and pillaging. They established curriculum in the schools which taught you nothing about Africa, Asia, or the Americas before 1492. They taught you that Europe is the pinnacle of world civilization. This basis made it easy for them to use their corporate media to pound home the message that we did nothing to contribute to the planet Earth. As a result, it became easy for the masses of confused Europeans (white people) to see us as less and it became equally as effective for us to see ourselves the same way. And, none of this is conspiracy theory. To understand how all of the above manifests itself, all one has to do is follow the course of the ruling class families who started and continue to rein on top of the capitalist system. Study the history of the Rockafeller family for example. You will see that they are the family that maintains controlling interest (stock) in NBC, Chevron, and Chase Manhattan Bank. Over the last 100 years, they have had something like 15 governors and 20 congress people in their family. They have had at least one vice president of the country. They have been in decision making positions on all of the Ivy League universities which set the curriculum for the entire education system in this country. So, just by following that one family, and their interests, you can see a clear example of how white supremacy has been systematically implemented for hundreds of years.
Its critical to understand that just because we frame the exploitation in the past, the oppression isn't a thing of the past. The foundation we speak of set up a system that continues to perform the same level of oppression everyday. Its just so automatic that most of you don't even know how to identify it's workings. King Leopold is dead, but the IMF serves the same purpose in Africa today that he did hundreds of years ago. Colonialism no longer exists, but neo-colonialism places a black face in a leadership position, but that black face represents and carries out the same interests that colonialism carried out previously. So, Belgium, France, Germany, the U.S., etc., no longer directly govern in the Congo, but they have established a long series of reactionary politicians in their image so that the columbite tantilite industry (coltan) - the mineral ore that motors electronic devices like cell phones and computers, continues to be exploited wholesale while Africa is left with nothing. This process continues to fuel Europe and America's rise and dominance while keeping Africa poor and dependent. And that system could not continue to work without the racist narrative of us being incapable of developing Africa ourselves to back it up. This history is important because it explains to you where the mentality of the people at the Trump rallies comes from. It explains why he's so popular and it gives clues as to how this problem should be addressed. We know the capitalist system is in a severe state of decline. We know that the frustrations articulated by Trump and his supporters are just the manifestations of what happens when the ruling classes divide working class communities. Racism has historically been their most potent weapon to do this. We've already seen this movie when the masses of Europeans in Azania, South Africa, or Zimbabwe, are asked to accept justice in policy and we certainly see it with the actions of the zionist state of Israel. We can even see it in how the Indigenous people's of the Western Hemisphere are systematically treated. America, like Israel and the other European powers, is as racist today as they were yesterday. And, they will always be racist because racism is profitable for them. Nothing new to see here. And even the stale argument that they are acting out in racist ways more often today doesn't hold water because they have never stopped acting out. If overt acts of racism are increasing, that's not a reflection of any new phenomenon as much as it is the results of failing to address the foundations of white supremacy in this society. African people have been educating about the mentalities being expressed at Donald Trump rallies for decades. The problem isn't that its happening now. The problem is many of you just won't listen until its too late.
So, don't tell us the focus of the problem is stopping Trump. You act like we don't know that the African women who disrupted Bernie Sanders in Seattle were not treated any better than the Africans at these Trump rallies. Those women heard many of the same things said to them that you are all up in arms about Trump supporters saying. I've been hearing White people tell me to go back to Africa since the 70s. The only difference now is I've been to Africa many times and I love and live to fight for Africa today as opposed to being ashamed of her as I was when I was a child hearing those racist remarks. So, it's not just about Trump, Sanders, or any bourgeois politician. Its this country which has always been based on white supremacist ideology. So, to us, its appropriate that the KKK should be front and center to this discussion. Trump, Sanders, Clinton, Cruz, the Statue of Liberty, the U.S. flag. All of it represents white supremacy. The only real question is the one Malcolm X raised 50+ years ago. It's whether you want to deal with a fox or a wolf. Clinton and Sanders are foxes. Trump and Cruz are the wolves. One pretends to be your friend whereas the other one lets you know immediately that you are in danger. Different tactics, but either way you are still dealing with a canine that will eat you up at the end of the day.
The real focus of the problem is that too many people in this country view capitalism as their personal identity. So, millions of people who have this vision are incapable of accepting a vision for the future that isn't based in capitalism. You accept that this campaign scam is the best vehicle to make change and you focus most, if not all, of your attention on this clown show instead of actual organizing work that can build capacity in communities to truly transform this society. No one is talking to European people in America with a revolutionary message on a systematic basis. No one is really even trying to do that. That leaves them to the KKK, the skinheads, and Trump, etc. Meanwhile, you continue to empower millionaires and billionaires to solve working class people's problems and then you wonder why you don't make progress. You continue to buy into this lie that America is the center of the world and that the empire can be somehow salvaged and reformed when there is 500+ years of evidence that clearly tells us otherwise. So, stop looking and talking so much about the trauma you feel about Trump because Trump and George Washington were cut from the exact same cloth. The problem is your country, its values, and its foundation. And until you wake up and accept that and stop trying to rewrite history, you are as much the cause of the Trumps that develop as the KKK or anyone else you want to blame and separate yourself from.
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