Monday News in late March of 2014

Many of them or the racists obviously don't know who they are. The reactionaries don’t want to live in the past (or mention the past), because they want to ignore the past (as a means to diminish the suffering, pain, and interests of BLACK PEOPLE). It is the arrogance of white reactionaries that is truly shameful. The Brother named John Henry, David Jones, and others have proven scientifically the genetic ties between white people and Neanderthals. It is the faux superiority complex of them (or white racists) that should be opposed by any black person. They or white racists are definitely jealous of our black melanin, our fighting spirit, and our heroes (like Martin Delaney, Malcolm X, Sojourner Truth, John Henrik Clarke, Harriet Tubman, Ella Baker, etc.). We know about our history from the Kingdoms of West Africa to the great scientific scholars among our people in the 21st century. The Black Panthers had weaknesses, but they were strong, dedicated, intelligent, and heroic Brothers and Sisters who fought oppression. The original Black Panthers were a key part of the overall Black Liberation Movement. They were created during the 1960’s. They instituted legitimate programs like educational programs, health care services, community patrols to watch and monitor the police (and avaricious dope dealers who wanted to exploit those suffering drug addiction), and organizing tenants, etc. Their 10 Point programs have principles that are relevant in our time. Their programs had popular support and dealt with community building. The BPP were heavily opposed to fascism. We need community building a radical redistribution of economic and political power as a means to see revolutionary, social change in the word. The Black Panthers outlined a revolutionary analysis of the happenings of the world. Their breakfast programs helped many children. In parts of New York City, Black Panthers were successful in driving dope dealers out of some neighborhoods. It was required to be educated on revolutionary thinking as a prerequisite for someone to join the Black Panther Party. So, we should be anti-oppression, anti-imperialism, and pro-freedom. There are geniuses in all races including black people. The Afro-British Imafidon family is known as the smartest family in the U.K. The youngest siblings, Peter and Paula, made history by becoming the youngest students to enroll in secondary school. Their older sister, Anne-Marie, was the youngest student to pass A-level computing at the age of 13. That family is black. The Sister Autum Ashante was accepted into the University of Connecticut at the age of 13. The FBI with their COINTELPRO propaganda program slandered the Black Panthers collectively as a criminal enterprise when they were opposed to capitalism and economic exploitation. One article by one of the NY 21 Panthers was entitled, “Capitalism + Dope = Genocide.” The Panthers were right that the CIA was involved in drug running in a long time and that the FBI used abhorrent policies that violated the human civil liberties of people across backgrounds. Also, it is great to study the words and literature from Fanon, Malcolm X, Bobby Seale, Huey, Angela Davis (who believed that prisons are obsolete now in our contemporary society), Kwame Ture, Nkrumah, Jamal Joseph, Michelle Alexander, Marshall Eddy Conway, and others. These human beings give insights into the psychology of an oppressive system. The oppressive system deals with mass imprisonment of our Brothers and our Sisters, the War on Drugs, economic exploitation, imperialism, and other forms of bigotry common in the world. So, we are going to understand the past, live in the present, and fight for a better future for our people.

Synagogues have been destroyed, the rights of Russian speaking people have been violated, and other abhorrent measures have occurred by the fascist, puppet regime in Kiev. It is a positive update that at least President Obama and Vladimir Putin are at least talking. Putin is not perfect, but he is neither Hitler nor Mussolini either. Real folks want this crisis to be resolved in a peaceful fashion, but I will never recognize that fascist state (that came about as a product of a slick putsch) in Kiev at all. Only a hypocrite would claim to love democracy but back a fascist influenced Kiev government. Many leaders of that puppet regime have fascist and Neo-Nazi ties. John Brennan told a senior lawmaker on Feb. 28 that a 1997 treaty between Russia and Ukraine allows up to 25,000 Russia troops in the Crimea region, the Los Angeles Times reported on March 3. "The number of Russian troops that have surged into Ukraine in recent days remains well below that threshold, Brennan said, according to U.S. officials who declined to be named...." Crimean independence is a welcomed development. Self-determination is a human right and Crimean human beings voted for their independence via a peaceful referendum (They did not use violence against civilians or passed evil laws at all unlike the fascists in Kiev did). Imperialism under any cloak is evil. I wish for Ukraine & Crimea to be independent and free. Malcolm X gave huge respect to Fannie Lou Hamer, Gloria Richardson, and other Sisters in the struggle. Fannie Lou Hamer was courageous and worked diligently to oppose the Vietnam War, she fought against poverty, and she worked to advance the concept of cooperatives in American society. Ella Baker was the Mother of SNCC. Fannie Lou Hamer allied with Malcolm X as a means to advance liberation for black people. Malcolm X became more progressive on issues of women than even Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was as others have mentioned before. When Malcolm X traveled in Africa and other locations, he transformed and expanded his fundamental understanding of the world. Brother Malcolm posed with Shirley Graham DuBois in Accra, Ghana. Both of them agreed with a pan-Africanist agenda that desired women to achieve education and true human dignity. Therefore, we have every right to advance anti-imperialism, anti-colonialism, and anti-capitalism. As Malcolm X said: "...It is impossible for capitalism to survive, primarily because the system of capitalism needs some blood to suck. Capitalism used to be like an eagle, but now it’s more like a vulture and can only suck the blood of the helpless. As the nations of the world free themselves, then capitalism has less and less victims, less to suck, and it becomes weaker and weaker. It’s only a matter of time in my opinion before it will collapse completely.”(Malcolm X, January 18, 1965 in the Young Socialist Magazine). Fannie Lou Hamer passed away in 1977. RIP to her.

I listened to the Sister Yandy Smith’s speech about health care as a means to witness her words. I am a fair man, so I listened to her views. Bless her and her family. The ACA was a compromise between those who loved the status quo and those who wanted supremely universal health care. The current ACA law was heavily influenced by corporate lobbyists (as the Heritage Foundation originated a lot of the ACA’s compositions) and by the leaders of the health insurance industries. Many people will benefit from the law while others will struggle still. The ACA is not the smoking gun. It is the beginning and a step. Every industrialized nation in the world has universal health care but America. Margaret Flowers, MD has great research on this issue and she advocates a single payer system, which I have no issues with. Health care is a human right since improving our health is a key part of living life in the highest potential possible. So, we should continue to fight for the final goal, which is universal health care. There is one study (from a a new Wallet Hub report) alone documents the hypocrisy, deception, and extremist nature of the leadership of the GOP. The numerous statistics are not misleading since it documents how many Red States rely heavily on federal government funding. These states can reject federal government funding and use policies to not pay more in federal taxes, but they don’t. The Tea Party/GOP clique always lecture human beings on federal government sending, but their greatest supporters rely on potent federal government aid (including social programs like Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, etc.) heavily. They talk about the poor receiving welfare, but ignore welfare given to the super wealthy in the form of tax breaks, bailouts, and other giveaways (in a record level). Wall Street has received record profits. They ignore how corporate corruption & lax regulation not the government alone caused the BP and West Virginia environmental disasters. They regularly and continually ignore solutions that can decrease the poverty rate in America from instituting an increase of the minimum wage (that most Americans support), the establishment of a guaranteed annual income, ending imperialism, and a comprehensive, jobs program that can create jobs via public investment. The social safety net has every right to be maintained since many parts of it from Social Security to Medicare has benefited the lives of millions of America for decades (we have the stats to prove it). So, I will never be a Republican at all. I believe in workers’ rights, I believe in establishing a clean environment, and I believe in protecting human civil liberties.

Kobe Bryant's commentaries were interesting to say the least. When the Heat players and others were wearing hoodies and supporting Trayvon Martin’s family, they were not rejecting the right of political diversity among the black community. They were not demonizing black people who embraced alternative points of view. They were allying with a grieving mother, a grieving father, and a grieving family. Even vicious racists disrespected Trayvon Martin’s family before. Yet, Kobe says nothing about that and he said nothing about other ethnic groups too. If he said similar words about Hispanics, Jewish people, and others among other backgrounds, he would be heavily criticized by those human beings. So, human beings have every right to support the human dignity of Trayvon Martin. His life had value. Kobe never said those words about his own legal plight years ago either, which is very ironic. Those of goodwill use the tragic death of Trayvon Martin as a means to strongly oppose extrajudicial murder of black humanity, to oppose police brutality, and to build more in our own communities. That is the essential point of the matter. We have the right to help each other, to respect each other, and to ally with each other as black people. African Americans have a strong legacy. African Americans are made up of human beings that fought for civil rights, that instituted massive technological and scientific achievements, and believed in true dignity. Anybody that denigrates AAs is an ignorant person point blank period. Many of the youth face real, significant challenges. We are not naive about the shadiness of individuals who desire to exploit the youth for nefarious purposes. Materialism and selfishness are common evils present among the youth and others in the human race. Some fail to witness that legitimate investments in your community (that can improve the community) will yield much greater long term benefit than immediate, selfish social gratification. You are right that we should never aid any person that looks down or has irrational, bigoted hatred of black people. Some of the youth should not be naive about the actions of the oppressor. The oppressor can change stripes, but their goal is still the same (which is the exploitation, control, harm, etc. of black people). Many of the youth are doing the right thing and those who are doing what is right ought to be acknowledged and respected. You are again correct to call for the need to build in our black community and to advocate economic justice too. No man can be free unless all women are free. No woman is free unless all men are free too. Both genders in our people must experience justice as a means for the black community to experience liberation.

There are Detroit water cutoffs and the social counterrevolution in America. Detroit is situated alongside the largest surface freshwater system in the world. The authorities have begun a shutoff of water services. This will target 3,000 households every week for the next several months. If these plans are fully implemented, then it could cause tens of thousands of families will no longer have access to one of the most fundamental necessities of life (that being water). This expresses the cruelty and irrationality of capitalism. This is a blatant social crime and those responsible are criminals. The DWSD or the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department is setting its sights on those who are delinquent on their bills. Nearly 50 percent of all accounts (or 150,000 out of 324,000) fall into this category. This is a city where more than a third of the population lives below the poverty line. The consequences of this policy will be harmful. It will increase the hardship of disease, death, etc. Families will be forced to live without basic sanitation or choose between running water (and other necessities like food, clothing, and health care). A lack of access to running means an inability to shower, use the toilet, cook, or take medications. It can lead to buildings or homes to be condemned, which will force residents into the streets. Breakup of families can come. Children are shifted to relatives or removed by the state on charges of neglect. Like the cutoff of gas or electricity—a mass phenomenon in Detroit—a water shutoff is a destabilizing, debilitating and psychologically devastating experience. Detroit once boasted the highest per capita income in the country as a former center of manufacturing in America. Historically, access to water was seen as a benchmark of social progress. It was considered a national disgrace that, in 1950, a quarter of the population (and half of the rural population) did not have access to plumbing. This act in Detroit is a damning indictment of American capitalism and the corporate and financial elite that runs the country. There have been government programs along with a general increase in living standards that have established plumbing for the vast majority of Americans. Still, there are about 2 million Americans who have insufficient or no running water. The cost of water for consumers was kept low as a matter of policy. Most water companies were set up as public utilities, subsidized by local and federal government spending. There were gains of the working class in the post-World War II period. There advances came directly or indirectly by social struggle. For more than three decades, there has been a systematic effort by the ruling class to turn back the clock. This massive retrogression since the financial crisis of 2008 has turned into a social counterrevolution. This counterrevolution targets the jobs and wages of the working class. The financial and political elite has slashed spending on social infrastructure. A recent report by the Georgetown Law Human Rights Institute noted: “Historically, federal and state governments would cover some long-term costs in the form of infrastructure grants. Since the 1980s, however, these grants have given way to infrastructure loans, pushing water systems to charge their customers full-cost, or near full-cost, rates.” (“Tapped Out: Threats to the Human Right to Water in the Urban United States”). Between 2000 and 2012, water rates in Detroit increased a shocking 119 percent. Over the same period, median household income in the city declined by about 15 percent. Today, the average monthly water bill in the city is $75 ($900 a year)—or about 3.5 percent of the median income. Regressive changes have caused this reality in Detroit. Water rates have surged nationwide in the past 10 years, more than doubling in a quarter of the 100 cities surveyed. Corporate interests want to exploit water resources. Big investors and bondholders finance public utilities. Many who can’t pay for services will see their rates increase. Privatization is growing in Detroit. After undermining the finances of the city through the shutdown of auto production, predatory bank loans, tax abatements and other corporate handouts, and massive cuts in state and federal financial aid, the ruling class wants more real estate speculators to handle its infrastructure (while the working class are forced to leave the city). The privatization of resources and restructuring of the world is one big goal of the elite. The evil of capitalism is that it is based on private profit and the subordination of every social right to the rapacious dictates of the corporate and financial aristocracy. Water shutoffs should be opposed in Detroit. The water system in Detroit should be controlled by real public ownership.

By Timothy