Thursday News

It is obvious that the five second rule in Ferguson is unconstitutional. The POLICE have occupied Ferguson. Many of them have violated the democratic rights of the people of Ferguson and even journalists. The freedom to protest and the freedom to assembly are human rights that ought to be not only honored, but protected. The events of Ferguson further document that enough is enough. Real change must occur to address racism, police terrorism, and other injustices found in the world. The residents of Ferguson have shown excellent courage and a great deal of strength. We ought to be further motivated in executing collective action in solving problems. This is a very interesting, great article (from Sister Jamiliah Lemineux). Raven has the right to define herself. Yet, for me and other people, I define myself as an African. There is nothing wrong with black consciousness. Her right to define herself as she wants to should be honored. Also, those who want to call themselves Black and African Americans (without labeling themselves as colorless) have the right to voice their views too. I call myself Black and African American, which is my right. We don't live in an Utopian society. If we want real change, then we have to confront the injustices that confront us as black people. I am black and I am beautiful. I will never be ashamed of saying that I am black and beautiful either. We can do some other things. We can work with our families and in our communities to help the youth & other human beings. We can mentor and develop our own families. We can work more in our communities in a dedicated fashion. Also, we should organize our economic and political power (in independent, grassroots organizations that can help our people) as Dr. King and Malcolm X said. You will notice that both men before they were assassinated agreed more on various issues. We have to build up our own institutions. We have to see that developing our own Power is not a dirty word. There is nothing wrong with power if it is used correctly (which also respects workers' rights and human rights too. Workers deserve a living wage and for their economic rights to be protected. The reason is that a real revolutionary respects workers, the poor, and the oppressed). Also, to me, it is fine to demand change in society. Societal structures must change. It is not enough to build up our families (though, we should do that). We also should fight injustice and demand change in society. The power structure must not only change, but power must be redistributed fairly since we have record income inequality in the world.


Cornel West has said provocative words before. Many of what he said is true (about Wall Street, about the war on terror, about the prison industrial complex, about poverty, etc.). It is obvious that there are differences between Dr. King, Malcolm X, and President Barack Obama. Malcolm X in early 1965 outright opposed capitalism by comparing it to a vulture. Dr. King not only criticized war and imperialism, but he critiqued capitalism and believed in a radical redistribution of economic plus political power. So, both Dr. King and Malcolm X wanted revolutionary change in society, so black people can achieve justice. I have no issue with legitimate critiques of any administration (as our issues originated long before Obama was elected President). That is fine. Yet, I don’t believe in slandering the President or his family. We know that many reactionary Republican extremists go far beyond legitimate critiques of White House policies. They go into the deep end to outline the most debased, ignorant, and lying slander about the President and his family. That rhetoric ought to be fully repudiated. I don't hate Brother President Barack Obama or his family at all. I agree with him on some issues and I don't on other issues. At the same time, those who express legitimate critiques of the White House should not be unfairly demonized. Freedom of speech, the freedom to dissent, and the right to have independent thinking are sacrosanct values in the world. We should not only expose evil in the political system (which does exist). We have a responsibility also to help our communities, to work in charities, and to be involved in authentic PROGRAMS ourselves that can legitimately help human beings. We have every right to hold politicians accountable and demand change in society. In other words, it is not enough to expose injustice. We have to be involved ourselves in being part of the solution too.


There has to be a balance. There is nothing wrong with individuality, but we can’t be social nihilists. Doing what you want to do at any circumstance is immoral and it is just wrong. It does not solve a thing. Real change comes when the status quo is confronted. It is not done in trying to be like the status quo. Therefore, I don’t know this artist named Lecrae. I have not heard of this man before until recently. I have not heard of his music before. So, I won’t judge his walk with his God, etc. Yet, I will say that he has the right to live his life, but others, who peacefully disagree with him, have the right to their opinions too. It would be revolutionary for people to oppose POLICE terrorism in our communities, to stand up for the poor (which deals with ending racial & class oppression), and to seek an end to the war on terrorism. We have to mobilize and organize in establishing real social change. It is sad that Thomas Eric Duncan passed away. Dr. Sheik Humarr Khan and other people have passed away too. West Africa deserves and needs stronger infrastructure and real resources to help the victims of ebola. Everyone should be educated on the symptoms and the major components of ebola as well. This is a serious illness. This is a fight. We are fighting against ebola. So, the victims need compassion, assistance, and their dignity ought to be respected. Also, in America, there should be more investments that can not only build up our public health services, but investments should come involving medical research too. Medical research is one way where TREATMENTS and cures can develop. We should be careful, but we should not embrace paranoia. We have to live our lives, help our neighbors, and be educated on ebola. Herman Cain has the right to do what he is doing (in using the $9.99 a month). I just wished that Herman Cain would see that we can never be truly liberated unless we confront police suppression (including the militarization of the police), and we need a radical redistribution of political and economic power. I wished that he would support revolutionary solutions beyond just capitalist talking points. We need not only realism, but idealism too since ideals matter. There must be a better society where imperialism is ended, where our environment is IMPROVED, and where social justice is the order of the day. Not to mention that we have to confront poverty. Areas of America (not just in other nations) are treated as domestic colonies not as empowered communities. Therefore, there must be local, state, and national solutions to confront poverty. We are still here. We will always keep on advancing truth, wisdom, and justice. Life is interpersonal and we should treat fellow people as interdependent, because we all share one Earth.



We have to stand up for dissent in America and throughout the world. We have to reject the notion of American exceptionalism or the U.S. behavior nationally or internationally are beyond criticism. We see that dissent and protest is an integral part of American history. We know that it was not the bigots who are the real revolutionaries. The progressives and the revolutionaries were the ones that fought for women’s suffrage, law protecting the environment and consumers, who fought to end lynching, who defended the right of workers to form workers, to establish a progressive income tax, a federal minimum wage, old age insurance, the end of Jim Crow laws, the eight hour workday, and government subsidized health care. We know that the “radical ideas” of one generation have become the common sense of the next. Many Americans legitimately challenged the status quo. There were many people who fought against evils in society like Ella Baker, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Pete Seeger, Jane Addams, A. Philip Randolph, Septima Clark, Fannie Lou Hamer, and so many other human beings. Civil disobedience and fights against injustice has been around in America for centuries. The Civil Rights Movement, the Labor Rights Movement, the Abolitionist Movement, and other social movements involved people protesting, using civil disobedience, and using activism as a means to change the world. We have to deal with controversial truths too. It is true that many factions from Western-backed Sunni monarchies have aided ISIS before. ISIS evolved from the Iraq War, which started in 2003. Western governments have used terrorism and ruthless evils for years including centuries. The West and its royal Arabic allies aided jihadist wars against secular Libya and Syria. This situation is complex, because Turkey is an American ally, but Turkey doesn’t want the Kurds to be too strong as a means for them to threaten their hegemony. The White House wants Assad gone as soon as possible, but if Assad is gone, the militants will control Syria (and Syria could be like Libya with competing terrorists fighting for the control of Libya).


In life, people have to deal with honest. There are many legitimate critiques about the policies of the White House. I make no apologies for the current bad policies existing from the government at all. Certainly, we should be glad that Jim Crow and other injustices are over in America, but we still have a long way to go in realizing true justice in society. Yes, the White House should not be blamed for everything under the sun. Still, fair critique is fine with me. We should not follow the doctrines of the reactionaries who love xenophobia, imperialism, and other race-baiting rhetoric. Also, we should reject the establishment left’s bourgeois’ defense of the status quo either. We have a problem when not only major Wall Street banker has been prosecuted in America. We have a problem with even some so-called “liberals” try to defend the assassination of American citizens overseas without due process of law. Wall Street and corporate criminals have used fraud, deception, and manipulation of the markets in a giant and pervasive scale. Their policies have led millions to lose their jobs, their homes, and a poverty spike. Millions of homes have been foreclosures, because of massive deregulation and financial corruption. Even Holder once was an attorney for the corporate-neoliberal Bill Clinton administration. The establishment will always love a Democrat who is pro-corporate and pro-neoliberal. That is why members of both capitalist powers are in league with pharmaceutical colossus Merck, the NFL, Chiquita Brands International, and the massive Swiss Private Bank UBS. The bourgeois and the reactionaries serve the same interests of the ruling class ideologically. That is why we should punish corruption, so we won’t live in a more overt New Gilded Age of shocking inequality. We are still fighting for racial and economic justice. The post-racial lie (accepted by many in white society) believes that racism no longer provides a serious obstacle to black advancement and racial equality in America. The truth is that we need to address both racism and classism if we want to be totally free. Even some Democrats want to blame the poor and working class black people not institutional and societal racism for the oppression in communities nationwide. When people fight for freedom, they are not having “ghetto pity parties” as Al Sharpton has said. They are advocating revolutionary change in society.


By Timothy