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Wednesday, June 25, 2014

50 Years after Freedom Summer


We have to learn about such events. Freedom Summer was about the collaboration among many groups to end legal apartheid and voting rights discrimination in America, especially in the Deep South (in states like Mississippi). It was a movement that opposed the agenda of white supremacy. It wanted revolutionary democratic power to be in the hands of the people. One great lesson from Freedom Summer dealt with the actions from SNCC and MFDP. The MFDP was created, because the Democratic Party in Mississippi was racist and denied black people the right to vote or to have basic human rights. SNCC and MFDP stood up the Democratic establishment when that establishment offered them a token compromise during the 1964 National Democratic Convention. The compromise was about the Democrats offering MFDP two at-large seats and the entire Dixiecrat delegation would be seated too. SNCC and MFDP rejected the deal outright. They were right to do that. SNCC wanted liberation, they soon believed in self-defense, and they became even more militant than the SCLC. SNCC’s great value was that it broke away the psychological shackles that many black people had in relations to the vicious power structure. SNCC gave confidence to many black people. SNCC encouraged independent thinking in our people. SNCC courageously opposed the Vietnam War and they allied with Malcolm X as well. SNCC was the bridge between old school civil rights leaders and the Black Power Movement (with groups like the Black Panthers, etc.). During Freedom Summer, a lot of courageous human beings died for the cause of freedom and justice. We have to acknowledge the fact that people shed blood in order for us to be blessed to live during this age. Another lesson that we can learn from Freedom Summer was that it used grassroots educational programs to help the people. Many of the tactics that they used back then are some of the same tactics that we can utilize today. The reason is that we still face economic injustice, educational complications, and other issues. Yes, we still have to fight laws that restrict the voting rights of human beings today. The Voting Rights Act ought to be totally defended as Sister Angela Rye has accurately said. We have a lot of work to do. *Yes, Fannie Lou Hamer was a great organizer of Freedom Summer too. Ella Baker, James Forman, Kwame Ture, John Lewis, and Robert Moses are some of the many heroes of SNCC. We want social justice and we want black people to be fully free. There have been many who have not heard of the words or actions of SNCC. Kwame Ture (who loved Africa. One of his gifts was that he wanted us to have solidarity with Africans globally. We love Africa too. Kwame Ture's mentor was Dr. King) and Brown opposed imperialism. They were right to disagree with the Vietnam War. Also, the value of SNCC was that they advocated courageousness and a revolutionary spirit. I have heard many of Kwame Ture’s speeches before. It is rare for people in this generation to say the words that he has said in public. Dr. King admired the strength of Kwame Ture and Brown, even though Dr. King was in favor of nonviolent resistance. So, Dr. King and Kwame Ture were great friends. SNCC did the positive thing of inspiring Dr. King to be more militant and he became more militant overtly by 1967. More Brothers and Sisters need to know this information about our real history. All people are entitled to justice. Our people never stood down in the midst of oppression. In every era of American history, black people fought for their rights that should have been ours by birthright.



I am glad that more stories about Afro-Brazilian people exist. The issues in Brazil deal with both race and class. There is racism and class oppression there, which has caused many Afro-Brazilian peoples to suffer injustices. "Black in Latin America" DVD have documented how many black Brazilians have been stigmatized in an evil fashion by the corporate elite including societal structures in Brazil. There are many Black Brazilians producers (including filmmakers like Eliciana Nascimento and Viviane Ferreira), business people, and civil rights activists existing now in Brazil. Benedita da Silva has fought for the rights of black people in Brazil for decades. I do find that many black Americans are treated with a certain level of token "respect" in Brazil including other foreign nations (because of economic reasons not because these authorities actually respect black Americans as equal human beings) while other black people living in those countries experience massive oppression. I have no problem with the growth of black institutions in Brazil, but Afro-Brazilians have the right to fight indignities (plus call for social, political, and economic revolutionary changes in Brazil. Many Brazil leaders are wrong to aid the UN/Western occupation of Haiti). The deal is that we are still fighting the system of oppression (self-hatred in Latin America ought to be combated too) plaguing throughout the Americas. There should be structural changes in Brazil as a means to address not only economic inequality, but police brutality including access to services too. There is still a strong MNU movement in Brazil. "Race, Class and the World Cup in Brazil" is a great article written by Mike LaSusa that talks about this issue and more too. Forever, I am in solidarity with the Afro-Brazilian peoples. RIP Abdias do Nascimento.


If black people have said some of the comments the Tea Party members and white reactionary extremists say in public, then black people would be investigated by intelligence agencies, jailed, imprisoned, fired from their jobs, etc. That is just being real. Scholars have documented white privilege in society. The video is interesting and should cause discussion and debate. The truth is that many white people have conversations like this all of the time. So, this is not surprising. Also, we ought to know another lesson. Black people have diverse interests. Just because a black person have diverse interests or have eclectic tastes doesn't mean that this black person is acting "white" or wants to be "white." People should be judged on the content of their character not on their accent or their legitimate interests. A black person can still love black people, defend black people, work with black people, and still have a myriad of interests at the same time (black people have every right to hike, to camp, to listen to music, to build, to engineer, to discuss about shows, etc.). Not to mention that black people have the right to express natural hair, to honor our heroes, to respect black culture, to express our creativity without apology, and to love Africa. We as a people should learn diverse topics, so we can further grow our social potential as human beings. People should discuss about these matters, so we can make solutions. It is very important for us to not only defend voting rights, to defend human rights, and to fight for civil liberties. We must continue to oppose U.S. military interventions in Africa. We see how imperialism from the West has harmed Iraq, Libya, and Syria. Since 9/11, Western forces have continued to expand their economic and political power. For over 522 years, the Western powers have used mass slaughter, rape, torture, pillage, perpetual war, cultural degradation, social divisions, psychological manipulation, etc. against humanity. That is a historical fact. We see that the war crimes, the cluster bombs, etc. never represent true egalitarian democracy. These actions represent the need of the oligarchy to dominate human beings based on economic, energy, and political reason. Millions of lives have been killed by the war on terror alone. Even drone attacks killing civilians have occurred under the current administration. We know that NATO aided terrorists, who killed innocent black Libyans. We know that the West has aided some al-Qaeda affiliated terrorists in Syria when these terrorists have killed many innocents. We know that white supremacist capitalist power has aided reactionary regimes in the four corners of the Earth including Africa. Even the U.S. aided Portuguese forces via NATO fight against the courageous African freedom fighters in Angola and Mozambique. Many faux liberals have even collaborated with imperialists and their agenda under the guise of “humanitarianism.” We should talk about these issues and ally with independent political movements that are anti-imperialists as well. We have to be in solidarity with the African peoples desiring liberation.



I did my research. Rangel has praised the Dominican Republic's apartheid anti-Haitian court decision. That is very disappointing. In the final analysis, the voters must decide who will represent their district. I see that Espaillat has opposed the decision (yet, he has supported the new 2014 Dominican immigration policy law). Sometimes, you have to allow new blood to represent the people. Regardless, I hope the best for the district and for all NYers in general. Black people in the Americas have experienced the worst human rights atrocities in world history, which were the Maafa & slavery in the Americas (including colonialism in the Motherland). He is right to make that point. He is right to mention that the Maafa, slavery, Jim Crow, etc. have harmed a lot of black people psychologically, emotionally, and socially (even in our time emotionally). Now, we are not genetically predisposed to degeneracy collectively, but our ancestors have suffered a lot. Many of the struggles of our ancestors are struggles that we still suffer today. There are many legacies of slavery that still exist today from unwarranted & abusive spanking, disrespect to black people, the soul food, the divide & conquer strategies, and other evils. Our DNA is from Africa, so our original DNA has nothing to do totally with the Maafa. The legacy of the Maafa and slavery just harms us to this day though. Many illnesses and troubling behaviors are passed down from generation to generation (still, these things exist from the context of white supremacist oppression not our original state). Not to mention that true black culture is not equated to savagery. Black culture in human history has been related to governmental growth, honor, family development, communal organization, etc. It is just that the white supremacist culture has brainwashed some black people to act in contrary to their natural essence. Our natural essence is about civilization building, love of family, and a fight for justice. That is why when our people established Black Wall Street, white racists attacked it unjustly. So, we need not only to wake up, but we need to protect ourselves and to grow our Power. Sister Trojan Pam has written a lot about this issue in her books. Scandal and other shows stereotype black people in sexualized terms. Many black women are objectified in society as shown by the Olivia Pope character (which is a throwback to how our Sisters were raped, mistreated, and exploited by white racists. Scandal is about the events of a black female victim who suffers at the hands of a powerful white President). Also, black men have been objectified too in sexual terms by white racists too. I read about how black men are sexually exploited in the Caribbean and in Africa by numerous white women. This oppression occurs among both genders of black people. The stereotypes among both genders ought to be fought against.




Fundamentally, we can’t be liberated unless we have the KNOWLEDGE OF SELF. We have to know who we are if we want to be fully free. Also, many of our people need therapy as a means to experience healing and renewal. The truth is that black women collectively should not be scapegoated for all ills in the black community. Black women are not responsible for the War on Drugs, for the Maafa, for massive discrimination, for imperialism, for high black unemployment, for many other issues in our community. The reason for these things deals with the racist white supremacist power structure including economic oppression. It is better for a person to advocate building up black women, encouraging black women, and giving real advice to black women instead of denigrating black women. No one is perfect. We can honestly talk about our issues without harming each other. Males and females have similarities and differences. The more we respect our similarities and differences, the better off we will be as members of the human family. A black man has to respect a black woman and a black woman has to respect a black man. Not to mention that society has bashed black men and a black man’s dignity should be honored. A black man should never be ashamed of his masculine essence. Some in our community do have issues and that can be solved via programs, therapy, and other solutions not scapegoating. Numerous people are correct to expose people like Tommy Sotomayor (he is a reactionary and he is allied with the white racist talk show entities) who disrespect black women. He exposed the hypocrisy of the anti-black women bashers. The bashers claim to adhere to the vanguard of revolutionary thinking, but they readily refuse to criticize the white racist power structure in a real way (while bashing black women in a vulgar fashion). A Black woman is the first woman on Earth. In African culture, women are heavily praised and respected. It is found in white supremacist culture that bashes women in general or relegates them into a second class status. Religious and spiritual traditions (from black people and humans of color) have always respected the feminine archetype. Any black man disrespecting black women in an offensive way is wrong period. That is like disrespecting a person’s mother. Black women should be respected. So, many people have connected many dots on why things are in the first place. Even through all of the turmoil our people suffered, there are still strong, upright black men and black women fighting the good fight. A man has every right to express strength and to follow the truth. A woman has every right to show strength and to follow the truth as well. So, we should learn about our culture, our history, and continue to build in society.



By Timothy

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