Individual racism vs. Institutional racism

"Racism is both overt and covert. It takes two, closely related forms: individual white acting against individual blacks, and acts by the total white community against the black community. We call these individual racism and institutional racism. The first consists of overt acts by individuals, which cause death, injury or the violent destruction of property. This type can be recorded by television cameras; it can frequently be observed in the process of commission. The second type is less overt, far more subtle, less identifiable in terms of specific individuals committing the acts. But it is no less destructive of human life. The second type originates in the operation of established and respected forces in the society, and thus receives far less public condemnation than the first type." Kwame Ture & Charles V. Hamilton Black Power The Politics of Liberation in America


As millions of Africans celebrate the inauguration of Obama around the world, we must remember we've seen over and over again that those who are willing to capitulate to institutional racism, willing to not condemn the systematic oppression too much-- get rewarded, while the rest of us continue to suffer. This symbolic victory over individual racism is in fact an insidious means for the maintenance of institutional racism.

This symbolic victory over a more blatant form of racism does nothing to attack the institution of racism. In fact, it is used as a blunt weapon to dull the political consciousness of the masses. The capitalist press in true form, uses the advancement of an individual to attempt to forestall the inevitable victory of the masses struggling for a new, just, Revolutionary society. It waxes poetically about a new post-racial America, a color blind, meritocratic society, where we could all get along. When in reality, the game aint changed, just the players. It's still the same system of exploitation with a little more color. We've become more integrated into the American political system than ever before, yet we remain powerless as a People.

One commentator tried to liken Obama's victory to Mandela's in Azania. Last I checked we still living in shanty towns over there, white farmers still got the good land over there...and we still living in the ghettos and barrios over here. The final solution will only come when we awaken to the fact that we must uproot the whole system. Until then, we just playing at it. Until then, the struggle continues.

Obama is a Cracker

"They have a new gimmick every year. They're going to take one of their boys, black boys, and put him in the cabinet so he can walk around Washington with a cigar. Fire on one end and fool on the other end. And because his immediate personal problem will have been solved he will be the one to tell our people: ‘Look how much progress we’re making. I’m in Washington, D.C., I can have tea in the White House. I'm your spokesman, I'm your leader.’ While our people are still living in Harlem in the slums. Still receiving the worst form of education."
--Malcolm X

CEMOTAP organized a debate up in Harlem on whether Obama was good for African People. hmmm..they also organized a celebration for Obama's victory back on November 9th, so we already knew where they stood on the issue, which may have been why they didn't invite me or any other Revolutionaries up to the debate. The participants agreed to a self-imposed ban on the "c" word. I came late so had no choice but to guess what that "c" word was, that the debaters kept hinting at("i'm not gonna use the c word"). At some point I realized the word must have been cracker. As in Obama's better than the 43 crackers that got to be President before him, or Obama is gonna make these crackers respect us now. Nice thought because doesn't everybody hate crackers--I know I do--but false because Obama-is-a-cracker. To borrow a sentiment from my fellow BK native Jay-Z, now I don't mean that in the sense of having pale white skin. But in the sense of being the new face of our oppression. Well, the "c" word might as well have been c.i.a., capitalist, coon which I thought would have all been apt for a discussion on Obama, yet somehow none of these words crossed the lips of any of the "debaters" either.

Instead, we were subjected to some very militant sounding rhetoric signifying nothing, by those who were pro-Obama. Some of them sounded downright confused. As if they were looking for some shred of evidence of "change we can believe in" to hang onto. Somebody said he was giving us winks. It's cool that he don't talk about "black issues" and that he ran a "post-racial" election cuz he's still down. He created a Urban Policy iniative. That's not a token iniative, that's a wink ya'll. One even had the audacity to point to us and say we wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for that great cracker Obama. By the same twisted, confused logic we should thank a cracker for shooting Amadou 41 times because that brought us together. We should thank the cracker slavers for bringing us together in this wonderful country. We should thank the crackers that came up with Jim Crow, man we got a lot a crackers to thank. But the greatest cracker of all time has got to Mr. Obama.

Another one got up and said "I aint gonna intellectualize, I'm gonna go off emotion". Now there's some truth in advertising. If only all the "debaters" could have been this honest, I wouldn't have been so mad and I could have enjoyed it on solely entertainment value, the same way you can enjoy the WWF, or commercial hip-hop. Man, I knew it was gonna be in a church, but nobody told me there was gonna be testifying. "That's right I voted for Obama--this is for my grand daddy and my grandmama who couldn't vote for such a beautiful black (Cracker) man". Well, guess what, yo Granddaddy and grandmama used to have a name for those of us who wanted to go live in the big house. We didn't use to testify about how the cracker was good to us either, we used to say "eat dirt and die you cracker". Those were the days.

Poet's Corner

A little something from my brother Cassius

FIFTH DIMENSION IS WON

How do I break through the fifth dimension?
Time is ending as I begin my day
I'm running out of time to break down the fourth wall
Ancestors reap the pain and sorrow of tears that drip into the scorched earth
Red dirt. Blood Red. Blood-shot Eyes. Green Envy
the color of currency that buys airtime
buy a voice, goodbye to hope
good guys buy hope by selling drugs
depressing the thought
pressed into my consciousness like Afro-pics
pressed into my no longer nappy hair
no longer happy here, nappy hair
pressed 'til its straight enough to pass
passers-by wonder were you really born there?
where?
The third world -did you come from the scorched earth?
Their red blood flows through blue veins as green eyes
see white collar crimes as less black
less urban, less problematic, less poor
where less is more
Excuse me but for a second
I thought we all were one

The Obama Gambit

I went to a program yesterday where the statements that received the greatest positive reaction from the crowd were completely contradictory(at least in my mind--obviously not, in the collective mind of the audience): Statement 1: Imperialism was hurt in Vietnam, it was hurt in Iraq and it will be buried in Africa. Statement 2: I voted for him(Obama) cause he is Black. On their face, these statements may not seem related, but my mind has been whirling trying to reconcile them into one coherent worldview. The fact is they can't be reconciled and the reaction to these statements are actually symptomatic of a sort of political schizophrenia. Of being African and still putting some hope or giving some credence to the idea of an American identity. My favorite statement of the night was in response to a question posed(facetiously, i hope) about whether we could look forward to a kinder, gentler foreign policy(read imperialism) from an Obama presidency, it was profound in its simplicity: the president of America is still the president of America.

We must see the Obama presidency as just the latest stunt imperialism has pulled out of its bag of tricks. We can see the game aint changed, only the players. Indeed, what separated Obama from the pack of Democrats initially, was his foreign policy. Specifically, his stance on the war in Iraq, but who does he choose as his Sec. of State,(the face of foreign policy) but Hillary Clinton who sought to position herself as the most hawkish Democratic candidate(read trustworthy guardian of imperialism). By the way anyone remember those commercials about who do you want to pick up the phone at 3am?. His chief of staff is Rahm Emanuel- a super wealthy Zionist war hawk. Along with Hillary Clinton, Obama's vice president Joe Biden authored the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act which imposed economic sanctions on the people of Zimbabwe. The president of America is still the president of America.

We see imperialism just got a makeover--putting a African face on imperialism aint change we can believe in, matter fact it aint change at all. It is actually Imperialist rule in blackface. This is what Nkrumah called neo-colonialism.Of course, the Obama gambit is meant to distract us from the conflicts inherent to capitalism, but in fact it is doomed to fail and fall victim to its own contradictions. Africans and people all over the world have their expectations raised while imperialism is still the order of the day and so the conflicts have not been resolved.

Let's put things in a little historical context. When imperialism could no longer rule through naked colonialism, it turned to an indirect form of rule. It propped up puppet rulers who were willing to do their bidding. Look at Papa Doc in Haiti, Mobutu in the Congo. Look at Mandela's presidency, people rejoiced around the world at the end of the apartheid regime and assumed progress would be made. In fact, under the guise of democracy the same exploitative system of capitalism continued to function and the same people who were rich before apartheid are richer and the Azanian/South African masses are still suffering at the hand of imperialism.

So this is nothing new, same old same old. It actually clarifies the contradictions, which is why Nkrumah called neo-colonialism the last stage of imperialism. It got nowhere to go, but down. Once the conflicts around race are removed("give a black man a chance") and people realize imperialism is still the old dirty bastard it always was, the People will be forced to deal with class conflict as the last great obstacle between them and a truly democratic society free from oppression.

The death of an empire

Dam, I hate to sound like Chicken Little but the American imperialism is falling! American imperialism is falling! Here are my top ten signs that you can slow down the Revolution, but it can't be stopped.

10. Castro retired

This might sound like a bad thing, but for him to consistently spit in the face of American imperialism from only 90 miles away and not die a "premature death" and the Cuban people haven't suffered a coup means imperialism is definitely dying.

9. NYPD pig kills himself out of "guilt" of killing someone

what? i'm serious I can't make this story up. A pig kills himself out of "guilt", sounds oxymoronic, but I say it's a sign of the times.

8. Mugabe is still in power

Imperialism started calling for regime change as soon as it realized he actually wanted to give the People the land. They propped up a puppet opposition, they called for U.N. sanctions. They put pressure on other members of the AU to denounce him. It was starting to look like the same script was being played out again, but after all that he's still there.

7. Voting in America is at less than 50% of the electorate

Some of you might say this is a good thing for imperialism and it's definitely in their interest to keep the masses ignorant and apathetic. At the same time though, one of the tools of imperialism is keeping the People invested in the system and propagating the lie that it is their interest. Right now, more than half the people aren't that invested in this empire. That's a sign of an empire on the decline.


6. The Patriot Act

As empires start to decline, they become more reactionary in futile attempts at staving off the inevitable rise of the People. They lose all pretense of freedom and democracy and become more and more fascist. I present you exhibit A.

5. The weakening of the dollar

The modern day empire is not just about military might, but more importantly is economic might. The dollar has been used as the currency on the world market and put America in a pretty powerful position, but that's all changing. American debt is rising, the price of everything in America is rising and the People are getting restless.

4. America is losing wars in Iraq & Afghanistan

America's mission of imposing its culture and democracy on the world just aint as easy as it used to be. The People are fighting back and America is being exposed for what it is.

3. America has sanctioned torture

When torture by the US is sanctioned in places like Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay, the veneer of American moral authority is ripped off for all to see and the hypocrisy is laid bare, this can only mean one thing. Imperialism is on its last legs and is making one last dying grasp at the reigns of power.


2. Both "major" candidate endorse a bailout for the capitalist class.

The majority of the people have to worry about things like rising gas prices, unemployment, healthcare, social security, home foreclosures and both "major" candidates choose to bailout the people that most would lay the blame on for this economic crisis. Never has the real interest of democratic/republican parties been on such naked display. As they close rank, it can only mean one thing: we are witnessing the death knells of the American empire.


1. American might have a "black" President

This is the number one sign that the end is near. That alone should be enough to convince you that imperialism is getting pretty desperate. What if he does win? Does that make imperialism all good now?

The Blowoff

So I just got blown off by Tayo because she's been "looking forward to this vp debate for weeks". Maybe HD is right, maybe I do just be talking to the wrong people. Maybe I need a new circle of friends. Wow, i'm stunned everyday by the level of political consciousness we at. Maybe I shouldn't be though. Capitalism is a helluva drug. Most of us been sippin this kool-aid since birth and even some so called Revolutionaries is like "i'm scared of Mccain". Dam, this is deep. It's still bigger than Hip-hop. It's still bigger than Mccain or Obama. It's still bigger than just being a good person. We need good Revolutionaries. Yea that means reading. That mean studying political systems and learning the ideologies at play. That mean being organized!! You part of an organization, i might disagree with you, but at least you making an honest attempt and I could respect that. Do that and we'll figure out what works. But if you aint, and you just kool with your little spot on the plantation, at least be honest about it. Don't front like you about something and you really aint about nothing. You can't tell me nothing if you aint never did nothing cuz you don't know nothin. You aint in no position to criticize me until you've put in some work for your people. People, there's a science to everything. There's a science to growing plants and there's a science to growing consciousness. We'll be scientific about every single thing except for the most important thing: our Liberation. I'm telling you this is deep. I'm real aggy right now, but that's kool, that just make me know we got a lot more work to do.

Hasta La Victoria!!

Notes for the Revolution

So Mike said "you all talk, if you aint bustin nothin, you aint about no Revolution". I looked at him for a second and sadly realized he thought he was dropping some deep truth. A Revolution is a process it is not an event. One reason the Revolution will not be televised is that it aint that entertaining, its just not as dramatic as some would like it to be. It don't happen overnight and a real Revolutionary must be committed to it 24/7 for life.

The Revolution needs 3 things: a political Party, a path towards its desired goals and cadre faithful to the path.


Every Revolution has a common ideology--uncompromising principles, a conception of the desirable woman/man and society, and philosophical, religious, economic, political, social, and moral theories and rules of behavior. Ideology is total. All thoughts and behaviors fall either within or outside the acceptable range of a given ideology.

The job of a Revolutionary Party is to ideologically train the People and gain conscious adherents to a Revolutionary ideology. Ideological training not only changes the way one thinks. If one truly adheres to an ideology, this is reflected in their action. Ideological training and Revolutionary Practice lead to a Revolutionary consciousness.