Syria, History, and Truth

The action by the Lancaster New Era newspaper is unjustified and unconscionable. The Maafa and slavery are atrocities and abominations. Not only were people kidnapped and brutalized. People experience rape, murder, abuse, other forms of human degradation, and other unspeakable crimes which I can’t even type here. Therefore, the newspaper ought to know better than to compare any modern flight experience to the wicked brutality that black Africans have suffered in slave ships. Too many people want to not only sanitize slavery, but to minimize how evil it was. We also have to know that black people rebelled too. Black people rebelled against the Maafa in Africa, in the slave ships, in the Americas, and in other places of the world. Black people fought back against oppressors constantly. We have to know about this history. We have to know about Charles Deslondes (who lead the 1811 slave rebellion), about Cinque (who was involved in fighting for freedom in Amistad), about Sam Sharpe, about Harriet Tubman, about Celia, about Gaspar Yanga, about Toussaint, and about other heroes. The courage, the strength, the resiliency, and the persistent of our ancestors should never be forgotten. White racism is a true scourge and it must be condemned and any injustice ought to be oppressed concretely. Our struggle for justice and freedom is sacrosanct. We certainly need revolutionary change in order for us to be free. That is monumental truism that I wholeheartedly accept in my mind, body, and spirit as a black man. The mainstream media in the West is controlled heavily by less than 10 media conglomerates. So, the media showing distortion, misinformation, propaganda, etc. about human beings, especially about black people is common knowledge. The mainstream media (which serves the interests of the ruling class. Operation Mockingbird was a CIA PROGRAM whose goal was to allow the CIA to infiltrate the media in general) will not readily show courageous black slavery revolts or many black people making huge accomplishments in society presently. Much of the mainstream media got it wrong on information relating to the 2003 Iraq War. That is why alternative voices and alternative black media are necessary, so our real story, our real history, and our real culture is readily known among our communities worldwide (since we are global people. There are black people living in Brazil, America, Europe, Asia, Africa, etc.).

There has been the talk about ISIS. The House voted to support airstrikes in Syria. ISIS evolved from al-Qaeda and the policies of Western imperialism. The President said that he wants to destroy ISIS completely. He also wants the President Bashar Assad to end his rule of Syria, but many terrorists are fighting Assad too. Many in Congress want to go along with a policy to destroy one state in Syria when the Syrian government is no direct threat to America. ISIS wants a caliphate within the borders of Syria and Iraq. They want to battle America. The White House is trying to build up a new coalition that is willing to fight ISIS. Many of the coalition member nations were co-conspirators with America in giving birth to ISIS either directly or indirectly. ISIS has received a lot of funding from people from Saudi Arabia including Qatar for example. Members of the coalition include Britain, France, other European nations, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, etc. Qatar is out of the coalition, but the West loves its oil resources. Qatar worked with NATO to send funds to bomb Libya, which was no threat to America either. The West sent money, guns, and mercenaries to help the Libyan jihadists to defeat Gaddafi, so a new government can exist. Now, Libya is having a civil war (which is also a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and its friends and Qatar). So, this situation in the Middle East deals with wars within wars and regime changes. Saudi Arabia is not readily backing the Muslim Brotherhood like Qatar has done. ISIS is an Islamic fundamentalist terrorist group. The West wants a regime change in Syria. A raft of prominent liberal Democrats voted “yes,” including Xavier Becerra of California, John Conyers of Michigan, Jan Schakowsky of Illinois, and Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, chairman of the Democratic National Committee. Many ISIS fighters were trained and army by the CIA, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia as a means for them to be allowed to try to overthrow the Assad regime since 2011. The President said that U.S. ground troops will not be in Syria. He wants Iraqi and Kurdish ground forces to do the fighting. Meanwhile, the well-connected Washington Post columnist David Ignatius, a frequent mouthpiece for high-level leaks from the military-intelligence apparatus, wrote a commentary Wednesday under the headline, “U.S. boots are already on the ground against the Islamic State.” He cited Title 50 of the US Code, regulating the activities of the CIA, which allows the president to send US Special Operations forces on military actions under CIA direction, as in the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 “Let’s be honest,” Ignatius wrote. “US boots are already on the ground, and more are coming. The question is whether Obama will decide to say so publicly, or remain in his preferred role as covert commander in chief.” U.S. military operations like bombs around Baghdad continue. The Iraqi ground forces are fighting in Anbar province with U.S. air support. There has been fighting in Ramadi, Fallujah, and Haditha.

This new ebola epidemic is horrible. Before, ebola mostly spread and is contained. This time, the ebola virus is spreading much more quickly into many West African nations. It has killed much more people and it could spread into Europe or America in a serious level. Therefore, I do believe that something must be done. African nations have to collaborate more in developing infrastructure and other services to help our Brothers and our Sisters. Americans can help, but the U.S. should reject imperialistic designs. Folks are right that Africom and other entities have all been about expanding Western hegemony in Africa not liberating African peoples in a revolutionary fashion. That is true. So, the U.S. must be specific that their funding is used to help people (via civilian personnel) not colonize people. What matters is how we treat ourselves and how we understand our own worth and value as black human beings. I believe in the Golden Rule, but I reject self-hatred and discrimination. Only a racist and an ignorant person will ignore the great accomplishments and contributions that black people have made in the four corners of the Earth. I have read stories of many black children with massive IQs, black people working on green solutions, and many black engineers contributing their talents to the betterment of society. I do care about my own people and our people have fought against injustice irrespective of the expectations of white society. My black people fought slavery, unjust labor practices, imperialism, and other evils back then. Black people continue to fight for freedom today as exemplified by the courageousness of the Brothers and Sisters of Ferguson. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was not naive about injustice or racism. Many people want to sanitize Dr. King as an excuse for them to promote post-racial rhetoric. The truth is that Dr. King by the late 1960's was increasingly radical because he saw how the injustice of the war of Vietnam was tied to the plight of black people in America. He understood that black people need economic justice not just laws changed in order for true liberation to occur. Also, I am not ungrateful of the sacrifices of Dr. King and other Brothers plus Sisters who fought the good fight. Erica is not ungrateful of the great sacrifices of our people too. We are both grateful of heroes like Ella Baker, Harriet Tubman, Malcolm X, and others who not only spoke up, but did action in defense of black people.

Many defenders of Ray Rice’s sick actions say that he was wrong, BUT. The problem with that erroneous thinking is that there should be no BUT in the conversation. The conversation should be that Ray Rice was wrong PERIOD. Also, Ray Rice is a trained boxer as well, so he knows how to inflict pain to human beings in a specifically brutal fashion. His fiancée was unconscious by his punch, which is totally unjustifiable. The NFL has dropped the ball in this situation. This situation not just involves the NFL and the rest of the sports world. Domestic violence is an epidemic among all corridors of society. The NFL seems to express reaction to these terrible events by public pressure instead of reacting out of true sincerity. Any form of domestic violence is antithetical to true humane TREATMENT. The culture of violence has existed in America from the events of Columbus’ travels, the Maafa and to domestic violence. One of the greatest points from one article from another site is how racism and misogyny are linked. You can easily witness how the vicious racists are misogynists and how black women suffer both misogyny and racism. As Sister Trojan Pam has written, it is not about being anti-men, but it is about being pro-justice. In order for us to be truly free, we have to not only defeat racism, but misogyny as well. We have to discuss issues honestly and form strategies. Adrian Peterson’s actions are wrong. The mistreatment of a black child via a tree branch (causing blood, bleeding, bruising, cuts, etc.) in that fashion is a throwback to how our black ancestors were whipped by racist whites in America centuries ago. The brutal mistreatment of children has no place in any society. Now, children should have discipline. Children need it, especially in our generation. We just don’t need abuse. We have to treat Brothers and Sisters as human beings not as adversities. We have to be more wise, control our anger (in the sense of not SHOWING anger at each other in an evil fashion, but be inspired to make a difference in the world. We should express indignant anger at oppression), and use constructive solutions. Physical, sexual, emotional, and other forms of abuse against people should be called out, exposed, and opposed without question. Adrian Peterson and Ray Rice must be held accountable for their actions. It is a total shame that Judge Mark Fuller (who is a white man) could have his record cleaned after he has committed domestic violence against a woman. He should not be a judge at all. Not to mention that those in Hollywood, those in the government, those in the corporate world, etc. have a long history of abuse against innocent human beings as well. For example, the Tuskegee Experiment, Operation Phoenix, extrajudicial killings of black people, etc. are all examples of this horrendous wicked abuse committed by the system of white supremacy. Racists will exploit the injustices of abuse and domestic violence as a means for them to scapegoat all black people. The death of the unarmed Brother Michael Brown involved him being shot by at least six bullets was wrong. It is an example of abuse plus murder by a police officer. At the final ANALYSIS, we should not only fight white racism, but we have to improve our own communities too. Domestic violence (no matter who does it) is wrong.

The PBS documentary series entitled, “The Roosevelts: An Intimate History” chronicles the lives of Theodore Roosevelt, his niece Eleanor, and her husband and distant cousin Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The truth is known about Theodore Roosevelt. Many people call him a progressive, but he was not progressive in terms of foreign policy or on racial matters. He said that nine out of ten Native Americans must be good when they are dead. Real American history must be discussed. Part of real American history is about how the descendants of the Mayflower were involved in the genocide of indigenous peoples of North Americans. Many of the earliest American Presidents like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison earned their wealth via slaveholding. Other Presidents submitted to slave holding interests or protected them. The Roosevelt family had a long history. Theodore Roosevelt’s mother was pro-confederate. Her father sold slaves in order to pay for her wedding to Theodore Roosevelt Sr. She actively campaigned against her husband’s plan to enlist in the Union army while smuggling aid to confederate soldiers’ relatives. We see that Theodore Roosevelt was involved in the Span-American war, which was an effort to end the Spanish Empire in Cuba, but it caused Cuba to be once a vassal of the United States. Also, the U.S. forced the Philippines and Puerto Rico to be American territories.  In fact, from 1901 to 1911, the United States killed more than 250,000 people in the Philippines. The Philippines became independent by a huge amount of resistance to Western occupation. Panama was a Colombian territory until President Roosevelt encouraged a revolt. Later, Panama became a new, independent nation and the construction of the Panama Canal came about more swiftly. First as Assistant Secretary of the Navy in 1898 and then as vice president and president, Roosevelt made clear that he lusted for death on a mass scale. “I should welcome almost any war, for I think this country needs one,” Roosevelt opined. He said that war stimulated “spiritual renewal” and [emphasis mine] “the clear instinct for racial selfishness.” He defended the imperial project in the Philippines by declaring Filipinos “Chinese half-b___s” and surmised that the bloodshed was “the most glorious war in our nation’s history.” Theodore Roosevelt also said that he wanted white people to make more babies, so that they could conquer the people of color in the world. We know how George Washington took teeth form other human beings (or black slaves, who suffered excruciating experiences). We don’t need hero worship of white supremacists, slave traders, and imperialists at all.

By Timothy