Weekend News

We know what we must do. We have to gather as much accurate information on the conditions in our community (both the good and the bad) and we should create revolutionary solutions. Many in this generation have talked about cooperatives. I do believe that cooperatives (or economic independent systems used to benefit the common people) are one solution out of many to address such things. We should form more community based solutions dealing with education, health, etc. We should attack poverty. If we don’t attack and try to end poverty, then we will not see true liberation. The reason is that many Brothers and Sisters now still suffer in poverty and even homelessness. There should not only be an increase in the minimum wage, but we should break up the big central banks causing much of the recession in the first place (with its evil QE and pro-bailout policies). Corporate international banks have to be prosecuted too. Evil Wall Street bankers should be tried and go into jail after they have been proven to conduct criminal actions. In its replacement, state and localized banks can assist the common people more. Ending the war on terror and taxing the super-rich fairly (including ending the Bush tax cuts for the top 2 percent) can get resources necessary to fund our infrastructure. There should be an ECONOMIC BILL OF RIGHTS (that will address the need for economic justice as the late Dr. King advocated), end unfair corporate tax loopholes, even place a special fee on Wall Street corporations, end tax breaks & subsidies for big oil, gas, including oil companies, end wasteful spending from the military industrial complex, end imperialism, and even institute an annual guaranteed income to assist the poor. We have to address the environment, health, our family issues, and massive economic inequality as a means to improve the black community. Not to mention that we need more self-determination. The black nationalists are right that we should pool our resources as black people to fund our own black institutions (like using our pooled resources to fund our businesses, our stores, our schools, and the rest of our infrastructure. This has been advocated by Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X, and Dr. Claud Anderson. They are correct. We need GROUP ECONOMICS). Independent black organizations helping the community for real ought to receive support by us. Many black kids are scapegoated for the social ills of Western society. The vast majority of black youth are strong, they are fighting for what is right, and they desire to just live their lives in a productive fashion. It is our responsibility to nurture the youth, so when they became adults, they are imparted with wisdom, strength, and the commonsense to live out their lives maturely. The kids today do need discipline, but also compassion. They need to be told that they should never dream small. They need to be continually told that they are somebody with great dignity plus worth. They ought to dream big and thrive for excellence in their conduct and their overall being.

LBJ and Nixon were in error about the Vietnam War. Nixon's treason never justifies LBJ's Vietnam mistakes. It just places the truth into context. The Vietnam War has ended the Lyndon Johnson reelection chances. He made many domestic successes and foreign policy mistakes and miscalculations. If LBJ's Vietnam peace talks succeeded, we might live in a totally different world. Luci Baines Johnson is Lyndon Johnson's daughter. She made complaints about the views on LBJ's administration. She wanted folks to understand his landmark advocacy and passage of social legislation like civil rights, medical care for the elderly and environmental protections. LBJ tried to end the Vietnam War in 1968. That effort was sabotaged by the Nixon Presidential campaign operatives. This has been proven by documents and tape recordings declassified by the National Archives. Many mainstream journalists and some conventional historians don't know about this information. Establishment historians like even Doris Kearns Goodwin refuse to acknowledge the new material. Many documents contained in a file that LBJ's national security adviser Walt Rostow labeled “The ‘X’ Envelope” and those archivists at the library privately call their “X-File.” LBJ tried to end the war before he left office. Yet, he should be blamed for the decisions to send a half million U.S. combat troops to Vietnam and his other aggressive, militarist policies worldwide from Latin America to otherwise. More than 30,000 American soldiers and possibly a million Vietnamese died during LBJ's Presidency. He ordered bombing campaigns. By 1968, Lyndon Johnson wanted to end the war as shown from the documents from Rostow's "The X Envelope." Johnson learned of Nixon's sabotage of the Paris peace talks by Nixon agents getting South Vietnamese President Nguyen van Thieu to boycott them in exchange for promises of a better deal under a Nixon administration. LBJ called this maneuver treason, which it was. He told this to his confidantes including Republican Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen. And among the White House inner circle, Johnson seemed the most inclined to go public with the evidence before the 1968 election, but he was dissuaded by several top aides, including Defense Secretary Clark Clifford who told Johnson, “Some elements of the story are so shocking in their nature that I’m wondering whether it would be good for the country to disclose the story and then possibly have a certain individual [Nixon] elected.” Nixon was involved in Watergate 3 years later. The fact that Johnson in January 1969 secretly ordered Rostow to take with him the file on Nixon’s peace-talk sabotage – what Rostow then labeled “The ‘X’ Envelope” – clarifies the longstanding mystery of why Nixon launched his “Plumbers” operation in June 1971, thus setting in motion what would become the Watergate scandal. Nixon wanted a file about him found. Nixon was desperate to cover up – might finally drive a stake through the heart of the Watergate-era trope endlessly recited by the mainstream U.S. news  media that “the cover-up is always worse than the crime!” That silliness might not survive recognition that the “crime” that Nixon was ultimately covering up was his treachery that blocked peace talks which might have saved the lives of more than 20,000 U.S. soldiers and maybe a million more Vietnamese. LBJ first found out about Nixon’s plan to “block” the peace talks from the private discussions of a Wall Street banker in Nixon’s camp who was placing bets on stocks and bonds based on his inside knowledge that Nixon was making sure Johnson’s peace talks failed. Johnson then confirmed the conspiracy through NSA and FBI wiretaps. Richard Nixon did not start the Vietnam War, but he prolonged the war. Richard Nixon used the Southern strategy as a means to exploit and profit from white resentment against the civil rights movement of the 1960's in order for him to get elected. He betrayed many Republicans who ended slavery and supported fair treatment for black human beings. Richard Nixon carried out the illegal, secret bombing of Cambodia. Nixon supported reactionaries that overthrew Allende in September 11, 1973. So, we see that great leaders have favored public action as a means to address the nation's problems. When states are left to do what they want and when business tycoons are left to do what they want to do, then suppression of human rights always come about. When the national government provides for the general welfare of society in a strong, progressive way, then humanity is enriched. 

Today, we see that Haiti is oppressed by many Western forces from the U.S., Canada, and France. The West is continuing to exploit cheap labor for Western industrial assembly lines. There are even many Canadian mining companies in Haiti that are exploiting Haiti's impoverished population. They exist in Africa and in Latin America too. As black people and human beings in general, we have the responsibility to advance an anti-imperialist agenda for Haiti. We are in solidarity with the oppressed in the world. We all disagree with ending the cycle of Western military interventions, coups, and the propping up of anti-democratic, anti-people regimes. We reject the capitalist exploitation of the people in Haiti. We do these actions in the memory of Toussaint. We are near the 10th anniversary of the February 29, 2004 coup of Haiti. It was created by imperialists against the laboring classes and the democratically elected government of President jean-Bertrand Aristide. Even Canada's Jean Chretien's Liberal government wanted to discuss Haiti's future without input from Haitian officials. This meeting wanted Haiti's elected president to go. The meeting had high level U.S., Canadian, and French officials there. President Aristide had been kidnapped and exiled to Central African Republic. Many FL or Fanmi Lavalas supported have been killed and harmed with the U.N.'s military intervention as well. The FL government wanted investment in education, job creation, healthcare, public services, and increasing the minimum wage. The FL has been banned from serving an electoral instrument of the people. We have the Michel Martelly regime in Haiti now. The UN should end its occupation of Haiti. The Haitian Revolution was about African defeating Western imperialism. It was the Haitian Revolution by way of its June 1801 Constitution that unambiguously declared universal freedom from enslavement in Article 3, “There cannot exist slaves on this territory, servitude is therein forever abolished. All men are born free, live and die free and French.” The Haitian Revolution beyond the hypocrisy of the French & American Revolutions, brought enslaved free from bondage. Napoleon restored slavery by France in 1802 and that is why France was again defeated by Haiti. France really abolished slavery in 1818. Haiti also aided Bolivar, Francisco de Miranda and other revolutionaries too. Today, many Haitians are in solidarity to fight for real education and workers' rights. There are grassroots efforts that are fighting for truth and justice. There are the human rights group called Défenseurs des opprimés (or Defenders of the Oppressed), Tèt Kole Ti Peyizan Ayisyen (Small Peasants Working Together) — Haiti’s largest organization of small farmers; Batay Ouvriye — one of the most prominent labour organizations; Ayti Kale Je (Haiti Grassroots Watch) — investigative reporting; SOPUDEP (Society of Providence United for the Economic Development of Pétion-Ville) — education and community development; and Bri Kouri Nouvèl Gaye (Noise Travels, News Spreads) — investigative reporting. The imperialist IMF was involved in the 2004 coup too. The United Nations should be held accountable for its introduction of cholera in Haiti. The 2010 cholera outbreak killed over 8,300 deaths and infected close to 650,000 Haitians. We have to fight neoliberalism too. Haiti's rice industry has been harmed with heavily subsidized agricultural products from abroad. 

I am disappointed, but why I am not surprised. The reality is that race is a critical part of the judicial system from arrests, trials, and to verdicts. She is not alone. Many black people refuse to ACCEPT THE TRUTH THAT THE EVIL OF WHITE SUPREMACY is still pernicious and firm in the world today. Some black people want to minimize white racism as a means to embrace some colorblind, fictional reality. The reality is that a white man profiled black people and killed Jordan Davis for just playing loud music, which is evil, demonic, and unjustified completely. Even Nancy Grace admitted that if a black man killed a white teen for playing loud music, there would be no extensive trial (that black man would easily be convicted of 1st degree murder). This is Nancy Grace. Racism against black people is very strong in the culture. Racism is not just about overtly disrespectful words. It is about institutions that discriminate, harm, and deny basic human rights to black people. The verdict never convicted Michael Dunn of murder and she said that the verdict was about justice, but justice was not completely served in this situation. Michael Dunn talked about "thug" music. Many racists use the word thug for you know what. We should not place Creshuna Miles as a scapegoat here. We have every right to disagree with her interpretation, but we have to keep our eyes on the prize. The reality is that Michael Dunn not the Sister Creshuna committed murder against Jordan Davis. Michael Dunn profiled black youth and is known for his racist letters. So, we should be careful here not to place undue blame on this Sister while peacefully disagreeing with some of her words here. Many of the young of our people can't be naive. Obviously, the parents of Jordan Davis have shown commonsense, strength, class, and real discernment in their lives. The family of Jordan Davis is blatantly correct to strongly disagree with the juror. The case blatantly relates to race. Folks can open their eyes and see that Michael Dunn is a white murderer who killed an unarmed black male. Justice was not was shown in that trial. Hold up, I had to research the following point again. She or the juror called Michael Dunn a "good guy." She is more naive than I once anticipated. Michael Dunn is nowhere near a good guy. He is a cold blooded murderer who prejudged black people unfairly. He is a notorious racist that shed innocent blood, because of his irrational ideologies. How can folks talk about justice and the law when the judicial system is filled with unjust, racist laws? The War on Drugs has blatantly unjust policies as exposed by human beings from across the political spectrum. So, we have some work to do in educating our people about the viciousness of mainstream society. We have to educate the black youth that naiveté is not the answer and our blackness should be cherished. We should never tolerate post racial propaganda, but strong discernment in fighting for real justice. As black people, we are going to continue to fight.

We are in a continual fight for our dignity. Many black actors and black actresses had to suffer a lot of indignities, stereotypes, and other obstacles during their lifetimes. When you research many famous actors and actresses, you begin to realize the strong, stirring sacrifices that they have made like Paul Robeson, Dorothy Dandridge, Angela Bassett, and Denzel Washington. It is the mainstream industry (not just many actors or actresses) that perpetuate international stereotypes about black people in the most offensive terms possible. Also, the mainstream media use exploitation of our BLACK IMAGE, use capitalist exploitation of labor, etc. If we want change, then we have to stop degrading each other from private places to the movie screen. We have to love each other and endorse BLACK UNITY PLUS BLACK LOVE. The leaders of our people made the right point in that we have to have the KNOWLEDGE OF SELF as means to build in our community. We have to know ourselves in order to free ourselves from oppression. Now, we can't view the Oscar in godlike terms since tons of independent black movies have excellent messages, great storylines, dedicated talent, etc. but they haven't won an Oscar because of obvious reasons. It is true that the Oscar has been portrayed by some as the only measuring stick of acting talent at the highest level. That is not true since we have the right to utilize our own measuring stick to praise those of excellent talent (n the black community) via our award shows too. We should be more focused on praising real work in the acting field, strive to form independent black owned production companies, and to make our people psychologically more in love with BLACKNESS (and to further appreciate REAL BLACK TALENT). It is a long process, but we have to start. It is as simple as that. Also, we should be careful never to embrace the nefarious goal of "black capitalism." Nixon's FBI mounted a repressive campaign against black revolutionaries and Innis soon supported Republicans. That system only creates a black elite class at the expense of the black poor in the world. When Black Power was turned into black capitalism (or using mainly electoral campaign or just embracing the free enterprise system can win social and political power within the 2 party system), we only see more black oppression of the workers and the rest of humanity. Black capitalism was used to quell the rebellions of the 1960's and it was used to prevent real revolution in the world. We have to critique and criticize capitalism (because token middle class interests is not the vanguard of revolution) if we want to be free. We should address unemployment, low wage jobs, and racist discrimination. We have to use our power to oppose the racist system (for the roots of our oppression are found in the system not in black people at all). We should reject token reforms within the limits of capitalism. The agenda of the establishment is about racism, joblessness, and austerity. So, we should have mass action to struggle and fight being passive toward evil. We have to address the social conditions of the world caused by the ruling class elite and no scapegoat poor people for our oppression at all. 

By Timothy