Wednesday News

Here are my views. All humans have choices. No word should cause any person to strike another human being. Unprovoked, unjust assault is never right. Not to mention that some people will just assault women randomly, so Stephen A. Smith’s argument falls apart, because the issue is that any domestic violence is evil period. It does not matter if someone is provoking a person or not. That person should have the sense enough to not use violence against another human for an unjust reason. This is a real problem for a lot of men, because most domestic violence victims in America are women. A real man can leave the area if someone is disrespecting him. It is not that complicated. No human should experience unjust violence. Most people who conduct domestic violence are men, so men mostly should be reminded about not only the immorality of domestic violence, but rational conduct. Any human being (both males and females) should have their dignity honored and we should have rational discussions about this issue. In that way, society can be improved. We need to do more than that. We need laws to be vigorously and justly enforced. It is easy to witness that Ray Rice received a slap on the wrist. Our community has to do better to not only condemn domestic violence, but to condemn unjust verbal abuse and any injustice.

As compared to the other reactionary Republicans, Rand Paul is actively communicating with some black people. Black people should always embrace our political independence. I will not be a Republican or a Democrat, but we should never forsake our political convictions as a means to seek token “respectability.” Rand Paul is right that the War on Drugs & the criminal justice system is racist. Mandatory minimum sentences should be abolished. Still, human beings deserve a living wage (not starvation wages), people want imperialist policies to end, people want the environment protected, and people want workers’ rights. Rand Paul is right on some issues (like felons having the right to vote after they paid their debt to society) and wrong on others in my view. So, the point is that we can unite with people to fight for legitimate causes, but we should never make a permanent alliance with extremists or people who want to cause turmoil in our community. In her post, Regina V. Ross Roundtree told the truth about the existence of white privilege. There is white privilege in the world. I am not surprised by the action of the campaign. Too many Republicans ignore that racism is still in existence in society and that racism is still found in the system (as documented by studies, scholars, Ph.Ds. black people, and tons of other credible sources). Roundtree’s comments were not vindictive at all. People have the right to discuss about race in a progressive fashion. This situation proves that both of the major parties play political games with black people all of the time. I wish the best for Regina V. Ross Roundtree. Also, I will forever believe in human civil liberties, protection for the environment, anti-imperialism, economic justice, and justice for humanity.

There should be more great African leaders, but the question is what type of leaders should they be? They should not be bourgeois puppets of Western imperialism. They should not bow down before AFRICOM interests or the IMF (which loves parasitic capitalism). The evil White House backed, NATO war crimes in Libya (when terrorists killed black Libyan Brothers and Sisters) show me how the Western political elite view Africa. So, Africans or any rational human being should never ally with the agenda of imperialism. Real leaders ought to have that revolutionary spirit like our ancestors had centuries ago. Historically, the revolutionary African leaders decades ago fought European colonialism to gain their independence. Even the Freedom Charter called for the fair redistribution of the wealth to help the poor and the working class. A real leader would defend the aspirations and the rights of the poor, the workers, and the oppressed without equivocation. Nelson Mandela was a freedom fighter. He was jailed for his beliefs like Hano, Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe, and Steve Biko. Real African leaders must also condemn neoliberalism & neocolonialism since those evil philosophies are oppressive including exploitative. Therefore, real leaders (who are Brothers & Sisters) must have the support of the masses of the people. Obviously, ebola is a deadly, painful disease. Its first outbreak came about in 1976. This problem exists in multiple nations, so African nations internationally should work together in containing the crisis. Also, lax resources, lax infrastructure, and other issues are real in some parts of Africa. The government of Liberia is dealing with a health emergency and that nation is doing what it has to do in order for Liberia to protect lives basically. Therefore, mass poverty being fought, the development of infrastructure, and the growth of medical treatment services can contain the spread of the ebola crisis. I send my Kudos to Sheik Humarr Khan and other leaders fighting back against the disease. Also, I will not back down from exposing imperialism in the Middle East. It is wrong for innocent Israelis to die. It is wrong for innocent Palestinians to die too. The events in Gaza are terrible and seeing hospitals, schools, etc. being destroyed is a total tragedy. Seeing apartheid in Israel, checkpoints, occupation, and other bad policies have no justification at all. Racism against black Israelis has no justification at all. I will never support policies of apartheid in Israel or militarism against Gaza at all. The Most High wants justice not bigotry against Arabic or bigotry against Jewish people period. A real political solution is necessary to solve this crisis among all sides.


Obviously, the War on Drugs and the prison industrial complex are racist and have been tools of oppression against the black community (for long decades). A lot of research, stories, and tons of other evidence have documented this truism. That is not a debate anymore. Even reactionaries understand this fact. Personally, I don’t agree with the War on Drugs and it ought to be abolished (and replaced with alternatives like treating drug addiction like a health care issue not as a totally criminal situation). The reality is that we have to use the right alternatives that can both protect the human rights of black people (and all Americans) while ending the evil system of the prison industrial complex. The issue in Colorado is that many in Colorado are making huge corporate profits (i.e. select corporate interests will reap massive profits) at the expense of people jailed for nonviolent marijuana possession. Those in prisons with nonviolent marijuana possession now are not receiving a total pardon and there is no national ban on national mandatory minimum sentences at all. Many felons are deprived of their right to vote in various states even after they paid their debts to society. The system has given some token measures not real, revolutionary change that can radically improve our communities. In Colorado, marijuana is legalized to a certain extent, but the total War on Drugs or the prison industrial complex is not totally ended. That is the point. That policy is like a mend it not end it type of philosophy. The poor, the working, and all of our people regardless of class deserve economic justice, jobs, and real opportunities. We don’t need a zero tolerance policy for the youth, but real tolerance for social justice. I do believe that the CBC should be inspired to talk about this issue in a more revolutionary fashion, but the responsibility is not totally theirs alone. We have a responsibility too. We have the responsibility to fight unjust laws, to work in our communities, to speak truth to power, and to make sure that government officials are held accountable for their political positions and their votes. So, everybody has to do their part in essence.


In life, we have to deal with realism. Many images have a huge impact on some people’s perceptions about us. For example, many non-Americans view African Americans in such false terms from the Western negative depictions (from movies, TV shows, etc.) of black people. We do realize that there is a double standard on beauty as it deals with black women and other women of different colors. Many people view whiteness as the standard of beauty (which is false and many white women express themselves in numerous ways) while black women (regardless if she is wearing conservative clothing or not) have been stereotyped and demonized in the most vulgar way possible by many factions of Western society. Therefore, we should find that balance. The balance deals with us respecting sincere, authentic human self-expression while we should at the same time defend the cultural dignity of black people. In other words, there is nothing wrong with art, but we as black people are not caricatures. We are living, breathing human beings and our humanity ought to be respected. Corporations readily exploit our people and exploit the great beauty of black women for profit. If we want to find the truth, we should see that white male supremacist forces use double standards and economic exploitation as a means for them to promote the deception of beauty being limited in scope. The truth is that beauty and human creativity are not monolithic. They are diverse. When we appreciate the skin that we are in, express our total being without fear, and establish justice for black people, then we can truly witness the beloved community. Sister Tiffanie Drayton wrote a great article about racism recently. The comments in her article are interesting and excellent too. This issue is important and she has provoked great discussions (It is cool that she is engaging people in the comment section too). I understand where Tiffanie Drayton is coming from. Many black people want to focus solely on individual achievement instead of realizing that we need massive structural change in the world as a means for us as a people to have true justice. Collective power must be organized among our communities as a means for us to witness real change. Real change can never be done by the blaming the victim card, the bootstraps philosophy (when some of our people lack boots to begin with), and other post racial ideologies. The reactionary dogma of white supremacist patriarchy ought to be condemned and I like how Tiffanie Drayton mentioned the need for more younger leaders in our black community too. It is important to note that many in the young generation do have progressive insights about race, class, gender, etc. There is the Freedom Side organization and other Brothers & Sisters (who are young) who get the picture. As for the prison industrial complex controversy, we should oppose the prison industrial complex and I don't believe that she wanted black women to be forced (against their will) to go out with abusive, character lacking black men (who just came from prison). Black women have every right to express their own dating choices freely & independently. She just believes that black people should fight against the racist system of mass incarceration (which has harmed the lives of black women and black men). Many Brothers & Sisters in prisons are innocent. I think that another point to make is that issues in the 21st century are complex. We deal with racism, economic injustice, threats to net neutrality, and other matters that are important. We are a gifted and diverse people, so we have to allow black people to fight in a myriad of ways. Some of our people express their talents as teachers, political organizers, writers, journalists, lawyers, musicians, etc. These people should be allowed to fight in their own special ways without ignoring the overall situation that we face. We have to be informed and strengthen.

By Timothy