Wednesday, December 16, 2015

The Last Republican Debate of 2015

The December Republican debate in Las Vegas is the last Republican debate of 2015. The whole debate dealt with militarism and fear mongering. All of the candidates on stage agreed with either war or other extremist policies. It was like an infomercial for war and dictatorship. CNN sponsored the debate and the host of it was CNN moderator Wolf Blitzer. Blitzer wanted to promote the idea of “how to keep America safe” from terrorism. Many CNN anchors are just praising Trump in an obsessive way. Terrorism is not omnipresent, but the candidates act like it is almost is. Many reactionary proposals came from all of the candidates from increased spying on the American people to the saturation bombing of much of Syria and Iraq. The debate was a combination of agreements and conflicts among the candidates. There was the debate among Bush and Trump about temperament. Also, Cruz and Rubio debated each other about immigration and the surveillance program. Christie was an extremist who wanted to shoot down a Russian aircraft when even Rand Paul said that would possibly cause World War III, because Russia has a stronger air force, army, and navy than Iran. Plus, Russia has nuclear weapons. Christie is an extremist. We live just days after the evil killing of 14 people in San Bernardino, California on December 3 by alleged ISIS followers. Trump wants to ban all Muslims from entering America. America is allied with the monarch of Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and other Persian Gulf oil states to promote the war on terror. John Kasich of Kasich wants a dispatch of American troops like the first Persian Gulf War. The GOP candidates agree with banning all Syrian war refugees from entering the United States. Rubio supports spying by the FBI, the NSA, and other intelligence agencies. They claim that Obama is soft on the war on terrorism, which is false. The White House has authorized hundreds of assassinations by drone fired missiles, carried on wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and Syria, whitewashed CIA tortured, defended NSA spying etc. Carson made the mistake of saying that if he, as a retired neurosurgeon who had saved many children’s lives, could give orders as commander-in-chief that would mean the death of “hundreds, even thousands of innocent children.” Carson proudly declared that he could, and the audience applauded loudly. That is wrong and sick. At one point, Senator Rand Paul objected to Trump’s calls to censor the Internet and to target the families of ISIS leaders, pointing out that this would require abolishing the First Amendment and repudiating the Geneva Conventions. Neither Trump nor any of the other candidates bothered to respond, effectively saying, “So what?” Both parties want Congress to authorize policies to expand the war on terror. There is domestic austerity and war mongering policies overseas.

Certainly, many people oppose the extremism of Donald Trump. He lies and tries to equate tolerance, egalitarianism, and the promotion of real justice to "political correctness." His statements on black people (like about the Central Park Five), Muslims (when Muslims are experiencing an increase of hate crimes including the vandalism of mosques nationwide in America), women, immigrants, and other human beings are just plain wrong and evil. People of many backgrounds aren't going to tolerate his nefarious agenda. We aren't backing down either. We believe in health care for Americans, we believe in living wages, and we believe in ending police terrorism plus we want an end to environmental degradation in our communities. We seek revolutionary change. The abolitionist movement was one of the most important parts of the black liberation struggle. The Underground Railroad involved thousands of brave human beings who desired to end the evil slavery system in the Americas. Their stories should be honored and remembered. Hundreds of slave revolts came about in the 19th century too. Abolitionists included not just strong, well known people like Frederick Douglas, Harriet Tubman, Henry Highland Garnet, Garrison, John Brown etc. It also included unsung heroes like Quobna Ottobah Cugoano, the Grimké sisters--Angelina and Sarah, J. W. C. Pennington, William Still (whose daughter Caroline V. Still Anderson was a great black physician), and other human beings opposed oppression. So, their stories of bravery and sacrifice inspire us today. We live in a world where economic inequality and police terror are abundant, but we carry onward because truth will prevail. Our ancestors defeated the Confederacy and we will defeat the New Jim Crow in the future. It may not be easy, but we will prevail in the end. The antebellum period is an emotional time period for us as black people. Subconsciously and consciously, we feel emotional about that time period, because it was so brutal and so harsh. We will wait and see what this miniseries will entail. One important thing is that we should research this time period and understand that we should be inspired by our black ancestors to continue on the work that they have laid for us. We are inspired by our black ancestors and we will never forget their courage and their passion for justice.


Serena Williams is a legend and she is the greatest tennis player in history. Her activism in real life is inspiring. She is not silent. She is out there speaking out in favor of the BLM movement, in favor of fighting sexism including racism in the world, and she loves what she is doing. She has broken down barriers and she has shown the truth is that femininity never consists of some monolithic image. Femininity is diverse and athletic black women have every right to shine their talents, their beauty, and their humanity irrespective of what anyone has to say. That truism must be embraced completely. Her accomplishments in the tennis court in 2015 alone are incredible. She has won Olympic Gold medals, Grand Slams, and other accolades. Also, she loves her family a great deal. Her parents, her Sister Venus, and her other relatives have loved her too. Serena Williams comes from Compton and great people are from Compton. She is a very beautiful black woman, she's an inspiration, and she's a Queen. Therefore, I wish the best for her like always.

I was tempted to make a lot of controversial comments, but I won't go there. Sam’s Club CEO Rosalind Brewer has spoken accurate statements. The white men who criticized her refused to see that we live in a society filled with discrimination, sexism, xenophobia, and other injustices. She just wanted the goal of a diverse, qualified, and strong workforce in the company. Her words were not racist or offensive. It is a tactic of white racists to lie and falsely juxtaposed diversity with racism. Fundamentally, we, as black people want a society much better than the current society that we live in today. History has taught us clearly that change never comes by respectability politics, being race neutral, and ignoring real inequalities in our world. Changes come by struggle and by confronting and fighting the current power structure. This is how change comes about. With the recent epidemic of vandalism and attacks on Muslim mosques by bigots, the "complaints" of these white people are just smoke and mirrors. The oligarchy in the Western world is controlled mostly by white males. We want an overthrow of the system of injustice, so a better system can come about. We are tired. We are tired of some people discounting the reality of police brutality and racial injustice. We are tried of gender discrimination and Islamphobia. We are tired of hearing anti-black propaganda from people who don't know a single thing about Africa or black people. So, we will never be silent. Those white males (who have insecurities as white men should never be viewed as gods) are just wrong. I am outraged at Tamir Rice's death, at Rekia Boyd's death, and at the oppression that black people go through instead of the truthful comments made by one black woman (she made great accomplishments too). There is nothing wrong with what she has said. This is why we need to set up our infrastructure. This is our land too. Our ancestors worked in this land and we are entitled to justice by birthright and without delay.


This is a fight for liberation. Liberation deals with love, mental freedom, and an appreciation of Blackness in full. So, the solution will involve many things not just one thing. Black youth should be educated by parents, teachers, clergy people, community, leaders, etc. that all of our hues from light to dark is beautiful (and that any black person should be treated fairly irrespective of our hues). That truth must be told to the youth constantly. Also, we have to confront those who have colorist views. Some black folks (even grown adults) have evil, vicious, and colorist views. They must be confronted and exposed. This process will take a long time and colorism will probably not be eliminated in our generation. Yet, we will fight to make sure that colorism will be defeated in the future. That is the goal. We have to both work among ourselves and confront the instruments of oppression that promote colorism too. Colorism is not just an individual problem. It's a structural problem as found in whitewashing our image and in discriminatory policies among numerous occupations. So, we have to promote self-love, treat our people fairly, work in our community to root out colorism, and fight back against the forces (which include many corporations, etc.) that unfortunately benefit from evil of colorism. A multifaceted approach is needed.


By Timothy

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