"When Obama was elected many people were very happy because he was a black man; they thought he would be different. To me, he is neither black nor white, he is a capitalist; skin colour has nothing to do with who you are in Cuba ... I'm not disappointed in Obama because I never had any great expectations. The Cuban people now realise Obama is no different to all the others." – Victor Dreke, Cuban internationalist
I guess Obama is “post-racial” after all.
“We always said, ‘All we’ll bring out of Angola is our comrades’ remains. We won’t take any oil, diamonds or anything. Only the remains of our dead comrades.’ ” Jorge Risquet
Last night I saw a wonderful documentary, Cuba: An African Odyssey. It told the story of Cuba’s decades long support for liberation movements in Africa. The story spans some thirty years, from the rise and fall of Patrice Lumumba to the end of South African apartheid.
After watching the film, I had feelings of anger and embarrassment. I always feel this way when I realize the enormity of the lies and propaganda I have been fed my entire life.
Our government and the wealthy and powerful work hand in hand with the corporate media to keep us uninformed. The specter of white supremacy is also a factor in the misleading of people in the telling of history. I was raised to read the paper and/or watch the news every day, but despite all my years of reading newspapers, I did not know that the Cubans were instrumental in freeing Nelson Mandela from imprisonment.
The Cubans agreed to leave Angola if the South Africans agreed to leave Namibia. The Cubans also demanded that Mandela be released. That important fact of history was left out of news reports of the day.
In other words, the New York Times and Washington Post and CBS and CNN lied to the world. Omissions are lies just as much as misstatements of fact are also lies. I was never told that Cubans attempted to continue Lumumba’s revolution in the Congo, or that Che Guevara led a command there, or that the Soviets attempted to dissuade the Cubans from their African involvements.
I suppose it isn’t my fault, but as a writer and a leftist who claims to have knowledge others do not, I still get very angry about the propaganda bombardment I and millions of others have been subjected to.
A luta continua.
"You know you live in a police state when wardens force pregnant women prisoners to deliver their babies while in chains. (Not exactly “the new birth of freedom” of which Abraham Lincoln spoke.)
You know you live in a police state when the president orders the assassination (i.e., murder) of American citizens without bothering to arrest them and bring them to trial."
Answer, hell yes! Read the sad litany of proof here.
Two days ago I had never heard of Tim Thomas. It turns out he is a professional hockey player, a member of the reigning Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins.
When the Bruins were invited to the white house for the standard champion’s photo opportunity with the president, Thomas demurred. He made this statement explaining his decision.
“I believe the Federal government has grown out of control, threatening the Rights, Liberties, and Property of the People. This is being done at the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial level. This is in direct opposition to the Constitution and the Founding Fathers vision for the Federal government. Because I believe this, today I exercised my right as a Free Citizen, and did not visit the White House. This was not about politics or party, as in my opinion both parties are responsible for the situation we are in as a country. This was about a choice I had to make as an INDIVIDUAL.”
Thomas has won few fans outside of his obviously tea partyish world. He has been called selfish, bush league, un-American, spoiled, petty, unpatriotic and a bad example of esprit de corps. My first observation was that Obama lovers had gotten themselves into yet another collective snit because someone doesn’t love their idol. I responded with a shrug of the shoulders and a determination not to be upset about the decision of a NHL goalie who I didn’t know existed until the story broke. I even called him a “loser” on my twitter page.
I now think that Thomas deserves some credit for his decision. Most people may rage against a particular president, threaten to leave the country because of his election and never pass up an opportunity to point out that person’s deficiencies. But if presented with an opportunity to visit the white house, how many would actually turn it down?
My issues with Obama are nothing like Thomas’s, but I would turn down a chance to visit the white house too, unless I had an assurance that I could dispense a piece of my mind. Despite what critics have said, no one has to “respect the president.” I don’t respect anyone who makes it to the oval office for the simple reason that having done so is proof of some serious evil doing.
Thomas made a principled decision based on his political beliefs. He and I probably don’t agree on anything and if I had to go out on a limb, I would say that he probably wouldn’t like me for the simple reason that I’m not white.
Even so, he doesn’t have to like Obama. It is fine if he doesn’t want to meet him. When Obama attacks Iran, no one of conscience should want to meet him either, but somehow I doubt that he will miss any dinner guests. Liberals will still flock to rub elbows with him, despite his war criminal status.
Unless Tim Thomas has sent drones to kill people, invaded countries and bailed out banksters, by comparison he isn’t such a bad guy anyway.
These mourners at the funeral of Iranian scientist Mostafi Ahmadi Roshan know who to blame for his assassination. Israel is probably behind this murder and that of four other nuclear scientists in Iran. The goal is simple. First, those scientists will be too afraid to do their work, secondly, Iran may be goaded into firing the first shot. Israel also gets to yank Obama's chain, something they love doing to American presidents. Not that they have to, the U.S. is on board with their plans, but why not stick in the knife and twist it just to be sure.
I don't know what to say about the upcoming war. I don't say that casually, the thought brings me to tears. But it is clear that no one is going to stop the U.S., Israel and perhaps Britain, as they work together to attack Iran. Our only hope, and by us I mean all of humanity, is for Iran to be able to fight back. Hopefully it is the can of whoop ass that I hope it is, and Russia will not take kindly to its neighbor being attacked. If Americans have to pay more for gasoline they may even protest a little bit too.
Who am I kidding? Sorry, I couldn't help but fantasize.
Here is a photo of the evil doers. See my post from two days ago.
“Sharpton is shuckin' and jivin' with the enemy – and presumably, getting paid.” – Glen Ford, Black Agenda Report
Two years ago, Al Sharpton, unofficial spokesperson of the Obama administration, went on an anti teacher union, pro charter school speaking tour with Newt Gingrich and Arne Duncan. Sharpton is now trying to live it all down, but the history can’t be forgotten.
Sharpton is the biggest scoundrel in the country, and that is saying quite a lot. When he ran for president in 2004 his campaign was taken over by the infamous GOP dirty trickster Roger Stone, who gave him hundreds of thousands of dollars and the marching orders that always go along with patronage. He also gave Sharpton direction, and assisted in the destruction of then democratic front runner Howard Dean.
When Obama became president, Sharpton knew a good thing, that is to say a meal ticket, when he saw it. He latched on to the president and became his defender on those rare occasions when black people asked a tough questions or two.
Sharpton always follows the money, and Barack Obama and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg know it. Sharpton can be counted on to defend them and get paid in the process. Sharpton has said nothing about Bloomberg’s horrific stop and frisk police state program. Why would he when he is on the payroll?”
So when Gingrich calls Obama the “food stamp president” or says that black children don’t see anyone who works and may as well be school janitors, remember that Sharpton and Obama have allied themselves with this man when they think it benefits them.
In my most recent column in Black Agenda Report, I wrote about the New York City police department’s use of “stop and frisk” to harass black and latino New Yorkers. Approximately 700,000 people, few of them white, will be stopped and searched by the police this year, and for no lawful reason. I was going to say no good reason, but as my colleague Glen Ford points out, the reason is good in Mayor Bloomberg’s eyes. Black people will get out of the city altogether if they are harassed enough.
In today’s New York Times, I read that 1,600 people were actually arrested last year for putting their feet on a subway seat. They are arrested, not just summonsed, and they spend hours or perhaps days in jail. One man, Abdi Omar, was sent for psychiatric evaluation when he refused to be finger printed without proof of the warrant that police claimed he had. As I read this story I wondered if I was living in 21st century New York or Mississippi fifty years ago.
As I pointed out in my column on stop and frisk policies, the only solution to this outrage is a political change. None of the candidates for mayor should get black votes without a promise to end police state tactics. It will be a very difficult fight, but this is a bright line issue, and no amount of pleading for democratic party unity or putting a black person in office should keep this issue off the table. No justice, no votes!
Here we go again. The New York Times has a story today about rape in war torn Somalia.
It is difficult to critique this sort of journalism without seeming to be blasé about sexual assault. I am not at all uncaring about rape survivors here or abroad, but I am very wary of the media showing interest in women of color only when they are rape victims and the circumstances permit wholesale finger pointing at all black people. The Times has never given its readers a true history of the Somalia conflict, which is a direct result of American intervention.
The al-Shabab are not some crazed group of so-called Islamists. They are the resistance fighting against the U.S. instigated Ethiopian incursion into their country. Somalia has been destroyed by the United States and that destruction has gone largely unreported. All of that country’s terrors, from rape to starvation, can be laid at Uncle Sam’s door step.
I wrote about this phenomenon of phony concern for black women in my column last year.
“Nothing excites the imaginations of Americans like lurid tales of sexual perversion among black people. The corporate media leap upon any and every report of sexual assault committed among black people with a peculiar delight. The scene of the crime may be Darfur, the Congo or Haiti, but the stories always create a narrative of animalistic Africans and give the impression that entire groups of people should not be considered human beings.”
The comments from Times readers were true to form, calling Somali men animals, blaming Islam, and of course advocating for more U.S. terror under the guise of humanitarian intervention.
If New York Times reporters want to write about sexual assault, they don’t have to go all the way to Somalia. They might talk to police in any American jurisdiction or go to one of the 70 prisons located in the state of New York and talk to victims of rapes carried out by other prisoners or prison personnel.
Of course, writing about rape in America’s prisons would open a can of worms which most people would rather not see. It is far easier to point the finger at a faraway land populated by black people.
Anyone horrified by the stories of these crimes does not have to write a check to an NGO. A better course of action is demanding that the U.S. leave Somalia alone. Talk about a can of worms, we might actually have to make demands of the president and congress. Wringing our hands about a newspaper article is a lot easier.
Black people are at the bottom of the heap. The median income of Americans is only $50,000 per year, but a mere $32,000 for African Americans.
The wealth gap is even worse. White median net worth is $113,000 but it is only $6,325 for latinos and $5,677 for blacks.
I had more to say in my column in Black Agenda Report today. Common Dreams linked to it too. Thanks for the shout out!
