The not guilty verdict for George Zimmerman is several hours old now. Reports are coming in from all over the world of spontaneous demonstrations against the verdict There are even some sporadic reports of some acts of rebellion. Tensions are very high. African people, and all peace loving citizens, are enraged at the prospect that a 17 year old African child could be openly and savagely killed with absolutely no recourse and accountability. People are frustrated because we've traveled down this road many times before. Since these feelings we have right now are not new, our rage is supplemented by the ignorant, insensitive, and outright racist attacks against African humanity that we are subjugated to each time something like this happens. For example, rightwing idiots - from talk radio to television to print media to athletic club hot tubs around the country - are saying things like "he (Trayvon) had no right to be in that neighborhood!" "Zimmerman was doing his job!" "There was no evidence to convict Zimmerman!" These types of ignorant comments are so feebleminded that they almost don't deserve responses, but since a lot of well intentioned, but ignorant, people are subjected to those comments, it's important to refute them. The facts in this instance are clear. What happened is a 17 year old African child was walking to the store from his father's house, which was in the same neighborhood. He was confronted by George Zimmerman and Zimmerman shot and killed him. That's all any of us who weren't there know for sure. Now regardless of whatever dishonest white people say about this situation (and their well trained negro lackies as well), anyone reading this knows that if this was your 17 year old son who was murdered, and the same facts laid out above were consistent, you know damn well that you would be yelling from the mountain top that Zimmerman is a murderer.
So since we all know the above, how does this type of thing happen in a so-called civilized society? Well, the answer is this obviously isn't a civilized society. We can't ever confuse technology with civilization. The truth is this is an extremely barbaric society where money is more important than people. It's a society where African life was introduced to it as property in a system that was maintained for 350 of the 500 years we have existed in large numbers in this hemisphere. That's 70% of our time spent in this society. I would argue that the last 150 years, or 30% of our time here, has been spent reinforcing those reactionary values that African life is inferior, or worth less. So for those barbaric people out there who demonstrate their stupidity by saying things like "white people didn't riot when O.J. was acquitted" the educated response is white people have been rioting against African people with systematic violence for 500 years. The complete anniliation of the entire town of Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1921 by white law enforcement, for no reason whatsover, and the Philadelphia, Penn, police dropping C4 on the entire African community in 1985 in an attack against the peaceful MOVE Organization. These are just two simple examples of this systematic violence. We can add in the racist disparity of arrests and sentencing to round out the injustice. For those of you who are soft in the head, that means African people - men and women - get harsher sentences then whites for the same convictions. So, there is absolutely no question that the system is just as racist today as it was 300 years ago. That means the systematic racism is alive and well. African life has less value. If you understand that, then you understand why it doesn't matter one bit whether Zimmerman is white, "Hispanic", Ukrainian, or Martian. You should also understand why there should be no surprise when something like this happens. In fact, no one should be shocked or even disappointed by this verdict. Everything worked exactly as it was designed to work. The attorneys, both the prosecution and defense, played their roles perfectly. The judge played her role as expected. The jury response and decision was 100% predictable and the media did exactly what it's set up to do, spread ignorance, lies, and fortify the foundation of white supremacy in it's messaging. So if this is the reality, is there a solution and if so, what is it?
The solution can't be continued faith in the capitalist system. If anything, this verdict is clear and continued proof that as long as African people are disorganized and weak, we lack the power to hold the system accountable to our interests. That means, in our current state, when things like this happen, the best we can do is hope and pray for justice because we have no means to insure we receive it. We also can't just continue to say the solution will come from putting our faith in God. Doing so is tantamount to addressing problems by avoiding them e.g. getting high or drunk. Whether we get high on drugs, or a fantasy message of hope, there's no difference at the end of the day. Finally, we can't go out and break windows and set fires. This type of response may give us some individual sense of power, but it does absolutely nothing to address the problems that create this reality. It's quite clear what the solution is. We have to make the decision that until we come together as African people, as peace loving people from all communities, and organize to politically educate our families, friends, co-workers, etc., we can expect more of the same. Until we build organizational capacity to confront and overturn this racist, capitalist, sexist, power structure, we will forever be grieving, losing, and wondering when our day of justice will come. Our day will come when we make it come. So the question everyone has to ask themselves today is what organization do you belong too? What are you doing to make that organization stronger, committed, and prepared to contribute towards improving these terrible conditions? How can we empower our communities so that we are no longer forced to rely on racist structures that are designed to oppress us to bring us justice? We are asking each of you weigh your rage today and think through that critical question. If you don't do that, then you are not really concerned about what happened to Trayvon Martin or anyone else. You should simply accept the reality that many more Trayvon's will be killed by racist individuals, confused fools of all races (including other Africans), police, etc. If we don't know about something then we can't be held accountable to it's consequences, but once we know, then it now becomes our responsibilitty. We know we can't trust the capitalist system. We know this. So our refusal to accept this reality and organize to do something about it places any future blood, wherever it happens, on our hands? Let's get organized people! We can address these problems. Join some organization working for justice! Let's make the changes we need to make to build for a positive future. We can't do it as individuals. We can only do it as organized sectors in all levels of this society. Are you ready and committed to do more than just get angry and complain?
So since we all know the above, how does this type of thing happen in a so-called civilized society? Well, the answer is this obviously isn't a civilized society. We can't ever confuse technology with civilization. The truth is this is an extremely barbaric society where money is more important than people. It's a society where African life was introduced to it as property in a system that was maintained for 350 of the 500 years we have existed in large numbers in this hemisphere. That's 70% of our time spent in this society. I would argue that the last 150 years, or 30% of our time here, has been spent reinforcing those reactionary values that African life is inferior, or worth less. So for those barbaric people out there who demonstrate their stupidity by saying things like "white people didn't riot when O.J. was acquitted" the educated response is white people have been rioting against African people with systematic violence for 500 years. The complete anniliation of the entire town of Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1921 by white law enforcement, for no reason whatsover, and the Philadelphia, Penn, police dropping C4 on the entire African community in 1985 in an attack against the peaceful MOVE Organization. These are just two simple examples of this systematic violence. We can add in the racist disparity of arrests and sentencing to round out the injustice. For those of you who are soft in the head, that means African people - men and women - get harsher sentences then whites for the same convictions. So, there is absolutely no question that the system is just as racist today as it was 300 years ago. That means the systematic racism is alive and well. African life has less value. If you understand that, then you understand why it doesn't matter one bit whether Zimmerman is white, "Hispanic", Ukrainian, or Martian. You should also understand why there should be no surprise when something like this happens. In fact, no one should be shocked or even disappointed by this verdict. Everything worked exactly as it was designed to work. The attorneys, both the prosecution and defense, played their roles perfectly. The judge played her role as expected. The jury response and decision was 100% predictable and the media did exactly what it's set up to do, spread ignorance, lies, and fortify the foundation of white supremacy in it's messaging. So if this is the reality, is there a solution and if so, what is it?
The solution can't be continued faith in the capitalist system. If anything, this verdict is clear and continued proof that as long as African people are disorganized and weak, we lack the power to hold the system accountable to our interests. That means, in our current state, when things like this happen, the best we can do is hope and pray for justice because we have no means to insure we receive it. We also can't just continue to say the solution will come from putting our faith in God. Doing so is tantamount to addressing problems by avoiding them e.g. getting high or drunk. Whether we get high on drugs, or a fantasy message of hope, there's no difference at the end of the day. Finally, we can't go out and break windows and set fires. This type of response may give us some individual sense of power, but it does absolutely nothing to address the problems that create this reality. It's quite clear what the solution is. We have to make the decision that until we come together as African people, as peace loving people from all communities, and organize to politically educate our families, friends, co-workers, etc., we can expect more of the same. Until we build organizational capacity to confront and overturn this racist, capitalist, sexist, power structure, we will forever be grieving, losing, and wondering when our day of justice will come. Our day will come when we make it come. So the question everyone has to ask themselves today is what organization do you belong too? What are you doing to make that organization stronger, committed, and prepared to contribute towards improving these terrible conditions? How can we empower our communities so that we are no longer forced to rely on racist structures that are designed to oppress us to bring us justice? We are asking each of you weigh your rage today and think through that critical question. If you don't do that, then you are not really concerned about what happened to Trayvon Martin or anyone else. You should simply accept the reality that many more Trayvon's will be killed by racist individuals, confused fools of all races (including other Africans), police, etc. If we don't know about something then we can't be held accountable to it's consequences, but once we know, then it now becomes our responsibilitty. We know we can't trust the capitalist system. We know this. So our refusal to accept this reality and organize to do something about it places any future blood, wherever it happens, on our hands? Let's get organized people! We can address these problems. Join some organization working for justice! Let's make the changes we need to make to build for a positive future. We can't do it as individuals. We can only do it as organized sectors in all levels of this society. Are you ready and committed to do more than just get angry and complain?
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