Early September 2016 News

I stand by Colin Kaepernick's actions 100 percent. It is very refreshing for anyone to stand on their principles and accurately describe the problems that we face as black people. I disagree with his biological mother too. What he is trying to do is not to slander people or show hatred against every American. He is trying to expose the hypocrisy, the contradictions, and the injustices that are found in America like police brutality. During this generation, young people in many numbers aren't going to acquiesce to racism, classism, and other evils. We will stand up and speak up for what is right. No black person and no one of goodwill period should respect the author of the national anthem. That author owned slaves, called black people inferior, and wanted slavery to continue. During the midst of the War of 1812, he glamorized the evil oppression that our black ancestors have experienced centuries ago. Yet, we (as black people of this generation) will not yield to tyranny. We will speak up and stand up for justice. That means that black people of any background should not be murdered unjustly by the police. That precisely entails that the structures of oppression ought to be extinguished and real investments in health care, education, housing, the environment, etc. ought to be made manifest. The haters of Kaepernick certainly could care less about his courage. They care more for the status quo. They are more offended at a nonviolent protest than the murder of innocent black men, black women, and black children in the streets. They are more offended at one man making a stand than racial injustice and economic injustice. Therefore, we are in unison in supporting Kaepernick's great words, his courage, and his principles. He stood up for the oppressed. In the end, we shall overcome. Black Twitter is very creative with their memes. Colin Kaepernick represents a new day. Many athletes are not following the status quo and just receive a paycheck to show the company line. Colin is going out and speaking up against police brutality and in favor of justice for black people. He also given one million dollars to various charities, which shows his activism in action. I think that he is doing what is necessary in order for real change to come in American society. A judge of character is not during times of comfort, but during times of controversy. During this time, Colin has shown his character as being strong and courageous. The haters don't understand his words or they choose to believe in the myth of American infallibility. I certain respect Kaepernick's actions. Also, it is important to acknowledge Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf's refusal to stand for the national anthem too. Kaepernick has inspired other NFL athletes to refuse to stand for the national anthem too.


I read Ajamu Baraka's articles for years on the Black Agenda Report website. He is a strong scholar and a lover for justice for black people. Capehart is an agent of the corporate media and has shown abhorrence to any independent progressive person (who even outlines legitimate critiques of Hillary Clinton's policies. We know Trump is an extremist and I will never vote for Trump, but Hillary Clinton isn't infallible either). I'm not going to be a hypocrite and say that I never used that phrase about any black person in public or in private. I have used that phrase in public and in private to describe Jesse Lee Peterson, "Pastor" Manning, and Tommy Sotomayor. I will say that this "controversy" is used by some as a means for some to ignore the truth that the President has executed many neoliberal policies including other imperialist policies overseas. That's a fact. Could he or Ajamu use a different phrase? Yes. Has the President done enough to address all of the issues that we, as black Americans, care about? No. The President's greatest strength is his greatest weakness ironically enough. He or the President wants to love everyone and find the middle ground on many issues (especially on issues of race or police brutality). Sometimes, we have to pick a side even if some folks will hate us. History has shown that militancy and a revolutionary ethos will cause comprehensive change.


The WLM is a hate group. One tactic of white supremacists in our time is to say that they just want to mention love for their European heritage. Yet, they omit that Europe today and during ancient times was diverse ethnically. Many black Africans lived in Europe today and back thousands of years ago. Thousands of years ago in Spain, it had Celts, Iberians, Basques, and other diverse peoples. Europe is not a homogeneous totally white continent. Second, the #WhiteLives Matter movement embraces the Confederate flag, which is a hate symbol. That movement also had members who protested a moderate group like the NAACP in Houston when the NAACP promotes peaceful racial harmony. The #WhiteLivesMatter crowd blatantly believe in the myth of white European racial superiority. Rebecca Barnette is one leader of this movement. She is also a vice president of the women’s division of the racist skinhead group Aryan Strikeforce. She believes in the racist lying view that Jewish people and Muslims are conspiring to end the white race. Frankly, white birthrates being lower in many European nations are products of their own volition (not a product of any "conspiracy"). Also, many folks who are alt right and many Hoteps definitely believe in anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. I condemn anti-Semitism and Islamophobia period. In fact, the alt right white supremacists and the Hoteps agree on many issues (relating to feminism, gender, immigration, etc.). White racism is not only demonic and evil. It is anti-black, based on irrational thinking, based on jealously, based on savagery, based upon opposing Nature herself, and based on inhumanity (as black people are the first humans and anyone who hates black people hates humans. We know who has at least 1-4% Neanderthal DNA and it a'int black people. That's another story). A neo-Nazi group, the Texas-based Aryan Renaissance Society (ARS) of which Barnette was once a part, has described itself as “the leading force behind the WLM Movement.” Therefore, that racist movement (which refuses to expose racism, police brutality, xenophobia, sexism, white privilege, classism, and other evils) is a hate group. That movement is blatantly xenophobic. The Black Lives Matter doesn't scapegoat immigrants, doesn't promote unjust violence, and abhors the Confederate flag. Therefore, the Black Lives Matter movement isn't a hate group. They or people in the BLM promote love and respect for black people of every background and nationality. Our eyes are open and we, as black people, will continue to advocate black liberation.

Georgetown and many universities were complicit in the slave trade. Many people don't know that. Many people already know that and still want to promote the myth that any form of reparations is equivalent to an unjust handout. The reality is that for centuries, many white Americans have received Homesteads, free credit, privileges, and other benefits without massive outcry from most people. Our black ancestors were the victims of slavery for centuries where we have been given no pay, many of our ancestors were raped and abused. We have never received true compensation after slavery in the Americas. Yet, when Georgetown gives a change in admission policy to descendants of African American slaves, then the far right acts like it is equivalent to WWIII. Their outcry is ridiculous since we don't live in a total egalitarian meritocracy. There are many people in society who work very hard and have great skills, but have difficulty getting ahead because of economic inequality and other structural injustices. Therefore, to end injustices, there must be policies to end oppression, and discrimination. Also, creating a memorial to remember the pain of slaves is not the same of condemning every white person in the world. We have to remember the past in order to make a better future. Unfortunately, some people want to ignore the past as a way for them to promote the myth that we live in a colorblind, post racial society. Georgetown is especially desiring to give compensation to the descendants of slaves directly affected by the slavery done by the university. For some to even equate that moderate measure to an unjust handout shows how many people love delusion than truth. Reparations are sent to Native Americans, Jewish people, and Japanese people. No one complains in a great degree about these forms of reparations. When black people even speak about reparations, then people complain in a harsh, disingenuous way. Black people are tired of the double standards. There is nothing wrong with legitimate reparations for black people. We want justice.


An injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. Some locations in France are violating the human rights of Muslim women. During this summer, 30 French coastal cities (like the tourist locations of Cannes and Nice) have banned the burkini swimwear. That swimwear is readily used by Muslim women in France. The people who promote such an evil policy are advancing Islamophobia, racism, and sexism. The lie is that a woman wearing a burkini is a hazard to French society. The burkini looks like a wet suit and is made of similar material, with a knee-length drape over it. When worn with a headscarf, it shares the basic features of a Catholic nun's habit or the modest style of swimwear worn by Orthodox Jewish women--both of which remain welcome at beaches throughout France. The inventor of the burkini is the Lebanese-Australian designer Aheda Zanetti. The good news is that many people in France are opposing this blatant example of Isalamophobia. Zanetti has said that 40 percent of her customers are non-Muslims, including Jews, Mormons, Christians and non-religious women seeking comfortable and modest swimwear that also protects skin from the sun. But these other customers can rest assured that they are racially protected as long as they are not found "swimming while Muslim" in France. During the summer, armed French police has harassed women with that clothing. They target Muslims too. Some people have faced fines up to 38 euros for wearing a burkini, which is about 42 U.S. dollars. Some Muslim women have been expelled from beaches with a criminal record. Dozens of Muslim women have had their human rights violated. It all started in Cannes, where center-right Mayor David Lisnard signed the first burkini ban on August 11, claiming that the swimsuit is a "symbol of Islamist extremism" and must therefore somehow be tied to the horrific Bastille Day attack in Nice that killed 85 people on July 14. Although more than a third of the victims in Nice on Bastille Day were Muslim, the mayor of Cannes stood firm in his conviction that burkinis had played a role. There was a ban in Villeneuve-Loubet where the conservative Mayor Lionnel Luca signed a law that “is respectful to morality and secular principles, and in compliance with hygiene and safety rules" would be allowed on local beaches, invoking multiple openly racist caricatures of Muslim culture. Socialist Party Mayor Ange-Pierre Vivoni signed the third ban in Sisco, a town on the island of Corsica. He vaguely claimed that the ban was necessary to "protect the population" after a recent series of attacks against Muslims on the island. The latest occurred when a group of white teenage tourists took a photo of a Muslim woman picnicking with a group of three families. Her husband objected, and a brawl ensued. Police were called in to protect the Muslim families as bottles were thrown and cars set on fire. There is no evidence that any Muslim women wore a burkini.

The next day, an angry mob of 200 whites gathered in a nearby town chanting, "This is our home," to march on a housing estate populated mainly by North Africans. Riot police prevented them from entering the estate. Despite the fact that the confrontations in Corsica appeared to include racists attacking the local Muslim population, the burkini inexplicably bore the blame. This is an example of how white racism is an international evil. Even some socialists oppose the burkini for secular reasons. Yet, the ban violates women’s right to wear whatever clothing that they want. The burkini is about freedom not harming rights. Muslims are scapegoated in France. On August 25, the New Anti-capitalist Party (NPA) brought out 350 activists to protest against the ban on a beach in Leucate, chanting: "It's up to women to decide: too covered or not enough!" and carrying signs reading "Non à Islamophobie!" That same day, a throng of activists held a #WearWhatYouWant rally outside the French embassy in London. On August 26, France's highest court overturned the burkini ban in Villeneuve-Loubet, setting a legal precedent overturning all the bans. But some mayors have vowed to defy the court. Vivoni, for example, refused to remove the ban in Sisco, stating, "Here the tension is very, very, very strong, and I won't withdraw it." We want women to wear the burkini if they want to. There should be no ban. Many girls and women have been violated of their rights for wearing a hijab. In Chicago on July 4, 2015, for example, Chicago police arrested Saudi student Angel Al Matar who was wearing a hijab at a subway stop. The police verbally abused her and then forced her to strip down to her underwear while handcuffed. After spending a night in jail, she faced charges of resisting arrest and reckless misconduct. But she was found not guilty, and she is currently suing the Chicago Police Department for misconduct. Muslim women experiencing discrimination is global. All women have the right to wear what they desire. Their human rights must be promoted. All women should be liberated.

By Timothy