Previous to posting the article I recently wrote entitled "White militias: As Usual, the White Left Misses the Point", this blog was registering around 9000 viewers per month. This week alone, traffic has increased to over 16,000 people and many of them are responding to that article with a great deal of passion. Several of the responses have been well thought out and reasoned in their assessment of the material I presented, but probably about 70% of the dozens of responses serve as further evidence of how insidious capitalism and white supremacy are at influencing, and in some cases dominating, the thinking of the White left. In other words, despite concerted efforts of some of the respondents to suggest that their points defeated the logic I presented with my material, I am further convinced that the style and content of many of the responses further confirms the core point my article; the masses of European/White activists seem much more consumed with themselves (i.e. their egos) than building legitimate movements for justice. I say that because many of those responses dismissed and simplified the entire article in such a childish way, suggesting that my thesis attempted to lamely argue that "if you are European, and you are not directly organizing the right White militia movement, than you are not doing anything." If you read the article in a comprehensive and critical way, then you should know the thesis of the article was not that the 12 or so gun toting militia people should be the primary focus of millions of radical white activists. The actual thesis is that many of the core ideological components that drive these militia folks e.g. capitalist ideology, white supremacy, and a distorted justification of white settler invader colonialism, is the same ideology that drives your family, friends, co-workers, and the masses of European people on the planet Earth. Consequently, my point was that if you are serious about seeking fundamental social change, your task is to figure out a way to reach the multitudes of misinformed European masses and to organize them. Revolutions and even successful reform movements, are always rooted in mass participation, not a handful of people. So, history is pretty clear that we can not expect any type of collective mass movement forward with so many European brothers and sisters being so backward in their fundamental analysis of the world. Clearly, work must be done with the masses of white people and the only people who would disagree with that are either the capitalists or people who have no experience or intention of engaging in actual organizing work.
Second issue. Many responses argued that the militia/White right movement is made up of millionaires. Some of you even pointed to the fact the KKK has/had had senators and congress people to illustrate your argument. Sorry, but that's such a non-critical analysis that it's laughable. Clearly, the base of the white supremacist movement is made up of working class Europeans and anyone who doubts that only needs to study the ideological foundation of these movements which is clearly rooted in an analysis of the diminishing conditions of White working class people. Plus, if you know anything about history, you know this analysis about the conditions of White people has always formed the basis of the fear driven white supremacy that capitalism depends upon to keep White working class people distrustful of African, Asian, and Indigenous workers. For example, the argument that freed enslaved Africans would threaten white wages was a primary factor behind the development of the early white supremacist movements, including the KKK, just like the same old argument about Indigenous/immigrant labor is helping drive the far right white movements today.
Finally, some people responded that they have tried to argue, debate, convince, their family members to no avail. Some of you even told me directly that I didn't understand how difficult it is to organize European people. All that did is establish how pitiful you are as an organizer. Look, the first rule of engagement is you have to know who you are dealing with. I'm not just some academic pundit expressing an intellectual opinion. I'm a revolutionary Pan-Africanist organizer who has spent decades putting my body on the line for African liberation and justice. As a result, I've organized every segment of African society from church folk to gang members, on three different continents. I've organized consistently within political environments with people who have experienced more misinformation and trauma than your family will see in the next five hundred years. So don't even try to fix your mouth to tell me anything about the difficulties of organizing people. We are serious revolutionaries here! An African proverb tells us that "if you see me fighting a bear, help the bear, pour honey on me!" We know organizing the people is a difficult task more than anybody. We write the handbooks on how to do this work and those white activists who are humble enough to listen and learn are developing into strong organizers, something many of you could do to if you could just learn to drop your default white is right approach to anything you don't understand.
I'll close with this. I'm a labor organizer by trade which means I spend much time organizing rural, White, working class people here in Oregon. Many of the same people who share a lot with the folks in Eastern Oregon. Some who actually are the folks in Eastern Oregon. I work with these people on a daily basis. I've written two novels that tell stories about how its possible for White people to change the ideological backwardness of their communities ("Find the Flower that Blossoms" and "The Courage Equation"). I've helped form and support White revolutionary activist organizations like the Marilyn Buck Abolitionist Collective here in Portland that is dedicated to doing work to create revolutionary consciousness among White people. So, for you armchair revolutionaries, I know how to organize the White people you say cannot be organized. I could come into your family dinner and dominate your household, but it's not my responsibility to do the work you should be doing. Plus, I have enough work with my African folks. The problem isn't that White people cannot be organized. The problem is that you haven't decided to take responsibility to make that organization happen. You don't know how to actually carry out that organizational work and many of you don't even know the difference between being a revolutionary organizer and being someone who just goes from events to events. You aren't humble enough to listen to those who have practical experience successfully organizing people. People like us who are building institutions for change in African communities and helping more committed White activists than many of you to do the same in European communities. So for those of you who sent in reasoned responses, we again extend our pleasure to meet you, and we look forward to working with you in whatever capacity we can effectively build for a positive future. For those who chose to act out, keep the ignorant responses coming if that's what you choose to do. All you are doing is providing us more humor from which to break up our days because while you are being keyboard warriors, we're continuing to work for the benefit of those who are serious about making change.
Second issue. Many responses argued that the militia/White right movement is made up of millionaires. Some of you even pointed to the fact the KKK has/had had senators and congress people to illustrate your argument. Sorry, but that's such a non-critical analysis that it's laughable. Clearly, the base of the white supremacist movement is made up of working class Europeans and anyone who doubts that only needs to study the ideological foundation of these movements which is clearly rooted in an analysis of the diminishing conditions of White working class people. Plus, if you know anything about history, you know this analysis about the conditions of White people has always formed the basis of the fear driven white supremacy that capitalism depends upon to keep White working class people distrustful of African, Asian, and Indigenous workers. For example, the argument that freed enslaved Africans would threaten white wages was a primary factor behind the development of the early white supremacist movements, including the KKK, just like the same old argument about Indigenous/immigrant labor is helping drive the far right white movements today.
Finally, some people responded that they have tried to argue, debate, convince, their family members to no avail. Some of you even told me directly that I didn't understand how difficult it is to organize European people. All that did is establish how pitiful you are as an organizer. Look, the first rule of engagement is you have to know who you are dealing with. I'm not just some academic pundit expressing an intellectual opinion. I'm a revolutionary Pan-Africanist organizer who has spent decades putting my body on the line for African liberation and justice. As a result, I've organized every segment of African society from church folk to gang members, on three different continents. I've organized consistently within political environments with people who have experienced more misinformation and trauma than your family will see in the next five hundred years. So don't even try to fix your mouth to tell me anything about the difficulties of organizing people. We are serious revolutionaries here! An African proverb tells us that "if you see me fighting a bear, help the bear, pour honey on me!" We know organizing the people is a difficult task more than anybody. We write the handbooks on how to do this work and those white activists who are humble enough to listen and learn are developing into strong organizers, something many of you could do to if you could just learn to drop your default white is right approach to anything you don't understand.
I'll close with this. I'm a labor organizer by trade which means I spend much time organizing rural, White, working class people here in Oregon. Many of the same people who share a lot with the folks in Eastern Oregon. Some who actually are the folks in Eastern Oregon. I work with these people on a daily basis. I've written two novels that tell stories about how its possible for White people to change the ideological backwardness of their communities ("Find the Flower that Blossoms" and "The Courage Equation"). I've helped form and support White revolutionary activist organizations like the Marilyn Buck Abolitionist Collective here in Portland that is dedicated to doing work to create revolutionary consciousness among White people. So, for you armchair revolutionaries, I know how to organize the White people you say cannot be organized. I could come into your family dinner and dominate your household, but it's not my responsibility to do the work you should be doing. Plus, I have enough work with my African folks. The problem isn't that White people cannot be organized. The problem is that you haven't decided to take responsibility to make that organization happen. You don't know how to actually carry out that organizational work and many of you don't even know the difference between being a revolutionary organizer and being someone who just goes from events to events. You aren't humble enough to listen to those who have practical experience successfully organizing people. People like us who are building institutions for change in African communities and helping more committed White activists than many of you to do the same in European communities. So for those of you who sent in reasoned responses, we again extend our pleasure to meet you, and we look forward to working with you in whatever capacity we can effectively build for a positive future. For those who chose to act out, keep the ignorant responses coming if that's what you choose to do. All you are doing is providing us more humor from which to break up our days because while you are being keyboard warriors, we're continuing to work for the benefit of those who are serious about making change.
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