A version of this talk was
presented to a Scientific Soul
Sessions/Urban Art Beat/Next Youth Coalition New Black Arts Movement
teach-in
on January 18, 2015. The theme of the day was “Know Your Rights;
Know Your
Roots,” and this was the featured culminating presentation. For
more
information, contact: http://www.xspiritmental.com/,
and http://www.scientificsoulsessions.com/.
Remember Malcolm, who told us that
“America”
means “prison!”
Then
remember Martin, perhaps the
most famous person in the history of the USA, someone who is now
beloved by the
establishment, or at least apparently so, because of nonviolence,
integration,
Montgomery and Selma—though I would say that it’s a very
selective love,
because they choose not to mention the things they dislike so strongly
about
Martin: his book Why We Can’t Wait, his
opposition to the Vietnam war, his militant resistance to racism,
classism, and
militarism in general. Here, after all, is a leader who was constantly
in
prison, and ultimately assassinated, because of his political
activities and beliefs.
So when we talk about
political
prisoners in the USA,
remember Malcolm: a social prisoner who became politicized (as so many
others have);
our own Black shining prince. And remember Martin: at many points in
his life a
US
political prisoner in the more traditional sense, a resister of empire,
a
prisoner of empire.
And
then we need to remember
ourselves: building a stiff, new resistance movement, a new Black arts
movement—which learns from the past as we build for our own
unique moment in history.
Shortly before his
assassination,
Martin Luther King—who was no fuzzy-headed dreamer –had
these often-overlooked
words to say about the USA,
its “justice” system, economic injustices, and race:
“It’s something
like keeping a man
in prison for many, many years, and suddenly discovering that he is not
guilty
for the crime which he was imprisoned. And then you just go up to him
and say, ‘Now
you’re free.’ But you don’t give him any bus fare to
get to town. You don’t
give him any money to get some clothes to put on his back. You
don’t give him
anything to get started in life again. . .
“This
is what American did to the
Black man . . . at [the] very moment [when] America,
through an act of Congress, was giving away millions of acres of land
in the
West and the Mid-West, willing to undergird its white peasants from Europe with a walk through the economic
floor.”
One thing we must learn is
that,
as 21st century revolutionaries standing on the shoulders of past
movements, we
have inherited the right—indeed the responsibility and the
necessity—to reject any
pressure that we must choose between Martin and Malcolm. This is a
false
dichotomy which some would love to maintain, as if there really were
exclusive
alternatives such as violence versus nonviolence, integration versus
separatism, domestic civil rights versus international human rights.
No, that
kind of counter-position must end now. 21st century revolutionary
thought needs
to start by refusing to choose between Martin and Malcolm. We must work
pro-actively to incorporate the ideas and ideals of both giants into
our daily
practice: Malcolm and Martin, with a healthy dose of Ella Baker and
untold
others too.
What is this moment in history?
First,
we must recognize that the USA is at an
end of empire moment, watching as the beast thrashes about, discovering
that it
can no longer control the economic and political subjects it has
accumulated
over the centuries, people and places it is used to ruling both
ideologically
and militarily.
Second,
it’s a confusing and scary
moment, as that thrashing of the imperialist beast means increased
prison
repression, increased police violence, increased patriarchal
expressions,
increased privatization and commodification of everything, increased
war,
increased poverty, increased injustice.
And
then it’s a glorious,
self-determination moment, what we who have read Black Panther
political
prisoner Russell Maroon Shoatz’s book
Maroon the Implacable like to call a “Maroon moment,”
as the crisis gives
birth to an opportunity—our opportunity—to build something
new, something
renewed, something which not only successfully escapes the confines of
empire
and injustice, but resists, challenges, and defies all of the multiple
systems
which generate that injustice.
We are
Maroons because we dare to
resist, dare to imagine something new, outside the confines of old
empires,
patriarchies, even outside the old left-wing rhetoric, to face a new
reality of
science, eco-socialism, soul, matriarchy, culture, a new reality of
love and a
respect for indigenous ways of living.
Let us look at this
moment in history:
In
2014, the US
ranked in
the lowest 30 percent of the world’s nations in terms of income
inequality,
with the top 1% of the richest Americans owning and controlling close
to 50% of
the world’s wealth and resources.
Despite
the increased use of
drones throughout 2014, the US
military continues to be stretched to the breaking point. It has over
150,000
troops stationed in approximately 150 countries across the globe, and
suicide
is the leading cause of death among members of the US Armed Forces.
Many
powerful critics, decrying
supposedly-failing US
education and health systems, pose themselves as “the new civil
rights
reformers.” They spend billions of dollars to “fix”
these problems by derailing
community-based institutions, substituting privatized schools,
hospitals and
clinics. Despite strong evidence that these so-called reforms will do
nothing
except line the pockets of investors, and despite outcries from the top
professionals in these fields, the push for privatization continues as
the
school-to-prison pipeline takes hold of more and more of our youth.
Indeed, prisons
have become the top US
industry, benefiting almost every major US-based corporation with
extremely
cheap and highly controlled labor.
Should
it be a surprise, then,
that 2014 saw an unprecedented number of young men of African descent
murdered at
the hands of those dedicated “to serve and protect” the
current unjust order?
Should we be surprised that an increasing percentage of “men of
color” are
“becoming” (being turned into) criminals? Over the past ten
years, in fact,
more US citizens
have lost
their lives at the hands of a militarized domestic police force than
were
killed in combat in Iraq.
Should
we be surprised that 2014
saw continued degradation of the earth, as fossil fuels and fracking do
their
part to destroy our planet? The US
government spends close to 19 billion dollars to subsidize this
destruction, at
the same time that it cannot find money to assist in the health,
education,
housing, or the well-being of its own citizens.
But let us also
remember:
- 2014 saw
the largest global demonstration against the climate crisis in history,
right here in New York City.
- 2014 saw
a tremendous resurgence world-wide in massive radical campaigns,
demonstrations, uprisings, and popular revolutions—with a common
grassroots commitment to the idea that the current order must give way
to something new and better. “Black Lives Matter” was
transformed into “All Lives Matter” as inter-generational,
multi-racial, multi-tendency mobilizations sprang up across the US,
continuing and even overshadowing the “Occupy” momentum of
several years back.
- 2014 also
saw to the release of no fewer than 19 US political prisoners,
those symbols of resistance past and present who give all the hours and
days of their lives in a steadfast commitment to the better world we
need to build.
Let us look at the
why and the who of it:
When
movements rise up to call for
and make revolution the system tries to shut them up and shut us down.
Murder
is the easiest form: that’s why Malcolm and Martin were killed,
why the US
Federal Bureau of Investigation vowed to never let another “Black
Messiah” rise
up to lead the masses to new revolutionary peaks, why the Back Panther
Party
had to be destroyed, why illegal counter-intelligence programs have
been
strengthened—even if the exact structure originally called
“COINTELPRO” no
longer formally or officially still exists.
And
it’s also why those who
couldn’t be killed—or drugged into submission, or paid off
by jobs which tied
them into the system’s survival, or made crazy by the madness of
everything that
surrounds us—are still held as political prisoners today. These
are leaders and
activists from past movement uprisings and revolutionary
moments—kept in prison
as a warning to others, in an attempt to send the message that
resistance is
futile.
For
every hour, every day that
these revolutionary fighters remain in jail, that today’s
movements forget to
make our imprisoned and exiled leaders a priority, we subconsciously
help the
system to reinforce that message.
But:
Russell Maroon Shoatz proves
to us that resistance is not futile!
After
over 20 years in torturous
solitary confinement, we helped free him from 23-hour-a-day,
7-day-a-week
shackles in 2014. We also helped bring forth and spread his thunderous
voice,
proclaiming that the movements of today and tomorrow will surely learn
from
yesterday’s mistakes. Maroon’s analysis of his own time and
ours rings with a
sharp clarity, with the message that we can build a resistance that
defies the
confines of brittle prison bars and narrow, sectarian thinking.
Lynne
Stewart proves to us that
resistance is not futile!
This
people’s lawyer, this
militant grandmother jailed because she refused to buckle under
the
pressure of a post-9/11 “consensus” by disrespecting
Muslims and distancing herself
from her own client, kept in jail despite a deadly cancer diagnosis
until her
supporters said “No More!” Lynne walked out of prison in January 2014, and—in between cancer
treatments—continues to speak out,
demonstrate, and defy all aspects of capitalist, racist, patriarchy.
Sekou
Odinga proves to us that
resistance is not futile!
This
militant member of the Black
Panthers, soldier of the Black Liberation Army, father and grandfather
who
withstood 33 years behind bars, 33 years behind enemy lines in the true
belly
of the beast, walked free just weeks ago—spirit undeterred,
political focus
undiminished, militancy undiluted.
As we
work to free them all, we understand that we are also
working to further
the end of empire, and to free ourselves from this rotten system which
oppresses us all!
2015 must be a year
to rebuild!
We
must ready ourselves for the
release of Sundiata Acoli, Panther icon and revolutionary leader who
has spent
an impossible 44 years in jail! As a leading mathematician, and early
computer-scientist/astronomer,
Sundiata should be preparing to retire with a comfortable pension,
perhaps
receiving a “Presidential Medal of Freedom” from some
New-African President of
a State of Justice.
From these not-so United
States, however, he receives no
honors, is
barely able to make the preparations necessary for his release from
prison. We
must make sure that 2015 is the year of his release, into an ocean of
love and
support, of respect and solidarity, befitting someone who has very
literally
given his whole life to the people, for the power of the people, for us.
We must ready ourselves for
the
release of Oscar Lopez Rivera, last of the Puerto Rican freedom
fighters jailed
for the thought crime of “seditious conspiracy.” The US
denies that it holds any colonies—just as it denies that it has
political
prisoners or that racism is still a problem in Obama’s America.
And yet Oscar still
languishes simply because he refused to leave his fellow
independentista
prisoners behind. After over 30 years, now is the time to make sure the
call
for his release resonates here on US soil—as it is already echoed
by every
sector and every ideological grouping on the island of Puerto Rico,
from left
to right, from anarcho-communist to Catholic Archbishop. Join us in Manhattan on May 30th to tell the world that all
of New York
agrees: It’s time to bring Oscar home!
We
must ready ourselves to bring
Maroon home too, as well as Mumia, and all the rest. At the same time
we must
ready ourselves to become more effective Maroons: to overcome our past
mistakes
and sectarian over-simplifications; to overcome ego and our striving
not only
to be the best, but to be praised for being the best; to fuse our
passion and
our pain, our energy and our experience, our culture and our
criticisms—into a
soulful new formation, filled with new leaders, yet without the
pitfalls of
cultism.
We
must make 2015 a year to
rebuild, as our new movements become the rallying space for people to
unite.
Because
we, the people are ready
to be free; because we understand that: When
we free political prisoners, we free ourselves!