For the last 35 years I have started many more of my days in locker rooms than not. So, I have spent as much time with as many men as any other man and the men I've known over the years are as macho as they come. Throughout my male bonding periods, I've always avoided speaking of women as body parts, partly because it never sat right with me and partly because I was always to shy to say much of anything about women. I won't deny that there was discussion about women taking place all the time, but I can say truthfully that it never evaporated into statements about what people were going to do to women's bodies because doing so is without question sexual assault In other words, even if some of the guys I knew were sexual predators, they knew better than to voice it as it would have been shot down immediately, even in my early dysfunctional, macho, social circles. So, there's absolutely no question in my mind that Donald Trump is clearly the piece of trash I'd always assumed him to be. And everything else he's said he would do - from walling off Mexico to saving my African people - has done nothing except confirm my opinion of him. In fact, he's no different than any of the other people who have emerged in election cycles from the Republican party. They are consistently elite, out of touch, racist, patriarchal, and unashamedly in support of everything imperialism does to maintain its power grip on the world.
On the other side of the so-called aisle, one of the main reasons Trump is still able to grasp some stability is because Hillary Clinton is just as slimy and disgusting as he is. Her role in supporting her vile husband's mission to imprison the entire African population in order to bolster the prison industrial complex in the 90s is well documented. And her leadership in destabilizing and destroying the Libyan Jamihiriya has eliminated on of the brightest beacon of hope on the African continent. And, that's not to mention her policies of terror against the people of Honduras, Syria, and a number of other geographical areas. So, as an African observing this political circus, I'm supposed to accept that my choices are someone who has dehumanized African youth or someone who has discriminated against us in housing. Someone who destroyed self-determination in Africa or someone who supports destroying self-determination in Central America. Someone who pimps Africans for a party who has lied to us for the last 60 years or someone who pimps us for a party that doesn't even hide its disdain for us.
As election day draws closer, the same old rhetoric in the African community and so-called progressive circles is that the Democrats ala Clinton is the lessor of two evils in order to avoid a Trump presidency. These people rail continuously that a Trump presidency will spell disaster for all peace and justice loving people and all of humanity. The problem with their argument is history doesn't confirm their position. It confirms that regardless of whether its a Democrat or Republican, the masses of working people are in trouble. This is substantiated by spanning the last several decades going back from Obama to Kennedy with several Republicans holding office in between. During this 56 year period, Africa has gone from the continent of newly found independence, promise, and potential, to the place of destabilization, suffering, and continued poverty and desperation. There are now over 60 U.S. military installations in Africa - consolidated under Republican Bush and stabilized under Democrat Obama. These bases, funded by U.S. tax dollars, lauded as being put in place to combat the so-called Islamic state, have actually done nothing to curb extremist violence. They have created U.S. intelligence outposts in every area of Africa and they have served as viable weapons against any form of active self-determination and organization on the African continent. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and its structural adjustment programs were forced into Africa under Democrat Clinton and maintained and nourished under Republican Bush and Democrat Obama. These programs have eliminated any potential for self-determination in Africa on an economic basis and they have served to become the latest form of neo-colonialism to devastate Africa's potential. Within Europe, African people have become public enemy number one over this same time period. Anti-African sentiment is at an all time high. Neo-nazis are being elected to office across Europe in wide margin and the recent decision by Britain to leave the European Union, although clearly a manifestation of the Union's imperialist objectives, was also influenced widely by racist sentiments and a desire by Britain to have greater control over its borders. Within the U.S. African incomes rose for the first few years of this time period, but have declined at a steady pace over the last 30+ years while we continue to set record pace at being incarcerated. State sponsored violence against us maintains levels consistent with any time since reconstruction and U.S. politicians don't even see the need to maintain appearances any longer as it relates to attempting to at least appear not to be racist. The lessor of two evils argument holds no water and for people to continue to argue that as if it has legitimacy is like arguing that a fox is a safer security guard for the chicken coop than a wolf because his personality seems to be better. This argument suggests that since there is no question we will be devastated, the only part we get to choose is whether that terror is brutal and vicious, or whether it is less painful and more palatable. I don't know about you, but neither way is acceptable to me.
There's no reason for us to continue to act as if there are no other alternatives. Of course there are alternatives. We can stop acting like the Democrats and Republicans really represent us. We can stop pretending that police agencies are here to serve us (as if when they shoot us or act in a primitive manner against us that is some sort of deviation from the norm). We can stop acting like the capitalist system with just a few tweaks and adjustments will become what we need to eliminate class oppression, white supremacy, patriarchy, homophobia, and all forms of human suffering. I say to all those who are protesting, good work, but we cannot see the direct action as the objective. Direct action has to be a tactic to achieve the objective. Since the act of protesting is by definition reform, meaning it is rooted in the concept that the system can be changed through a demand, that means you who are protesting do not believe in revolutionary change. There is no problem there, but you do need to define what your objective is. It cannot just be showing up over and over with no plan and no recourse. Consider taking some time to create that plan. Have enough vision to see how you can shut the system down for more than an afternoon. How about shutting it down for months? How about organizing your people so that you can have shifts of people to hold down disruptions for as long as we need them to bring the system to its knees? How about supporting your actions with mass political education so that the persons who can't get to work because of our actions cannot be used against us by the imperialist system because we are providing them an analysis so that they can understand why we are doing what we are doing? Those of us who are revolutionaries would help you with that political education piece and that could serve as a vantage point where we could consolidate our work. I've written countless times about necessary approaches for revolutionary work so I won't rehash that here. I will say to those who claim to support revolutionary organizing, stop getting drawn into reformist politics and start focusing on that revolutionary analysis that is so needed at times like this. Stop being lured into having to defend the Democrats because you have to denounce Trump and the Republicans. Stay true to your anti-capitalist politics or abandon them all together so that we don't have to keep cleaning up your confusion. I won't defend Obama over Bush or Trump. Not Barack, Michelle, or any of them. They are all proponents of imperialism. Or, as Kwame Ture so correctly put it "only the Democratic Party has millionaires and houseless people within the same party by convincing the houseless people that their interests and those of the millionaires are one and the same." That's what you have in U.S. electoral politics. A millionaire running against a billionaire. That is what's happening next month and that's what has been happening for centuries. And all the vote really represents is your rubber stamping the political and economic agenda for the super rich. When are we going to stop permitting ourselves to be prostituted so easily?
You may think some change will be happening next month, but I know the only change that's ever going to happen is the change we make happen. So, no matter who wins, my work will remain the same. Organizing revolutionary consciousness and capacity to fight against this system for uncompromising change. Organizing Africans towards one unified socialist Africa. Organizing and supporting the struggles of the Indigenous people's Palestinian peoples, Filipino people's, and working class Europeans who are tired of the fox versus wolf magical trick. I'll see you on November 9th and I'll say the same thing I've been saying for 30+ years. Let me know when you have had enough of this circus show and maybe we can get coffee/tea. Maybe people like us can get coffee/tea everywhere. And, then we can sit down and start planning the real work we need to be doing.
On the other side of the so-called aisle, one of the main reasons Trump is still able to grasp some stability is because Hillary Clinton is just as slimy and disgusting as he is. Her role in supporting her vile husband's mission to imprison the entire African population in order to bolster the prison industrial complex in the 90s is well documented. And her leadership in destabilizing and destroying the Libyan Jamihiriya has eliminated on of the brightest beacon of hope on the African continent. And, that's not to mention her policies of terror against the people of Honduras, Syria, and a number of other geographical areas. So, as an African observing this political circus, I'm supposed to accept that my choices are someone who has dehumanized African youth or someone who has discriminated against us in housing. Someone who destroyed self-determination in Africa or someone who supports destroying self-determination in Central America. Someone who pimps Africans for a party who has lied to us for the last 60 years or someone who pimps us for a party that doesn't even hide its disdain for us.
As election day draws closer, the same old rhetoric in the African community and so-called progressive circles is that the Democrats ala Clinton is the lessor of two evils in order to avoid a Trump presidency. These people rail continuously that a Trump presidency will spell disaster for all peace and justice loving people and all of humanity. The problem with their argument is history doesn't confirm their position. It confirms that regardless of whether its a Democrat or Republican, the masses of working people are in trouble. This is substantiated by spanning the last several decades going back from Obama to Kennedy with several Republicans holding office in between. During this 56 year period, Africa has gone from the continent of newly found independence, promise, and potential, to the place of destabilization, suffering, and continued poverty and desperation. There are now over 60 U.S. military installations in Africa - consolidated under Republican Bush and stabilized under Democrat Obama. These bases, funded by U.S. tax dollars, lauded as being put in place to combat the so-called Islamic state, have actually done nothing to curb extremist violence. They have created U.S. intelligence outposts in every area of Africa and they have served as viable weapons against any form of active self-determination and organization on the African continent. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and its structural adjustment programs were forced into Africa under Democrat Clinton and maintained and nourished under Republican Bush and Democrat Obama. These programs have eliminated any potential for self-determination in Africa on an economic basis and they have served to become the latest form of neo-colonialism to devastate Africa's potential. Within Europe, African people have become public enemy number one over this same time period. Anti-African sentiment is at an all time high. Neo-nazis are being elected to office across Europe in wide margin and the recent decision by Britain to leave the European Union, although clearly a manifestation of the Union's imperialist objectives, was also influenced widely by racist sentiments and a desire by Britain to have greater control over its borders. Within the U.S. African incomes rose for the first few years of this time period, but have declined at a steady pace over the last 30+ years while we continue to set record pace at being incarcerated. State sponsored violence against us maintains levels consistent with any time since reconstruction and U.S. politicians don't even see the need to maintain appearances any longer as it relates to attempting to at least appear not to be racist. The lessor of two evils argument holds no water and for people to continue to argue that as if it has legitimacy is like arguing that a fox is a safer security guard for the chicken coop than a wolf because his personality seems to be better. This argument suggests that since there is no question we will be devastated, the only part we get to choose is whether that terror is brutal and vicious, or whether it is less painful and more palatable. I don't know about you, but neither way is acceptable to me.
There's no reason for us to continue to act as if there are no other alternatives. Of course there are alternatives. We can stop acting like the Democrats and Republicans really represent us. We can stop pretending that police agencies are here to serve us (as if when they shoot us or act in a primitive manner against us that is some sort of deviation from the norm). We can stop acting like the capitalist system with just a few tweaks and adjustments will become what we need to eliminate class oppression, white supremacy, patriarchy, homophobia, and all forms of human suffering. I say to all those who are protesting, good work, but we cannot see the direct action as the objective. Direct action has to be a tactic to achieve the objective. Since the act of protesting is by definition reform, meaning it is rooted in the concept that the system can be changed through a demand, that means you who are protesting do not believe in revolutionary change. There is no problem there, but you do need to define what your objective is. It cannot just be showing up over and over with no plan and no recourse. Consider taking some time to create that plan. Have enough vision to see how you can shut the system down for more than an afternoon. How about shutting it down for months? How about organizing your people so that you can have shifts of people to hold down disruptions for as long as we need them to bring the system to its knees? How about supporting your actions with mass political education so that the persons who can't get to work because of our actions cannot be used against us by the imperialist system because we are providing them an analysis so that they can understand why we are doing what we are doing? Those of us who are revolutionaries would help you with that political education piece and that could serve as a vantage point where we could consolidate our work. I've written countless times about necessary approaches for revolutionary work so I won't rehash that here. I will say to those who claim to support revolutionary organizing, stop getting drawn into reformist politics and start focusing on that revolutionary analysis that is so needed at times like this. Stop being lured into having to defend the Democrats because you have to denounce Trump and the Republicans. Stay true to your anti-capitalist politics or abandon them all together so that we don't have to keep cleaning up your confusion. I won't defend Obama over Bush or Trump. Not Barack, Michelle, or any of them. They are all proponents of imperialism. Or, as Kwame Ture so correctly put it "only the Democratic Party has millionaires and houseless people within the same party by convincing the houseless people that their interests and those of the millionaires are one and the same." That's what you have in U.S. electoral politics. A millionaire running against a billionaire. That is what's happening next month and that's what has been happening for centuries. And all the vote really represents is your rubber stamping the political and economic agenda for the super rich. When are we going to stop permitting ourselves to be prostituted so easily?
You may think some change will be happening next month, but I know the only change that's ever going to happen is the change we make happen. So, no matter who wins, my work will remain the same. Organizing revolutionary consciousness and capacity to fight against this system for uncompromising change. Organizing Africans towards one unified socialist Africa. Organizing and supporting the struggles of the Indigenous people's Palestinian peoples, Filipino people's, and working class Europeans who are tired of the fox versus wolf magical trick. I'll see you on November 9th and I'll say the same thing I've been saying for 30+ years. Let me know when you have had enough of this circus show and maybe we can get coffee/tea. Maybe people like us can get coffee/tea everywhere. And, then we can sit down and start planning the real work we need to be doing.
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