Recently, I sat and found myself entranced by the lyrics of the song entitled, Black Is, as sung by the rich, searingly-powerful, soulful voice of jazz singer extraordinaire Debbie Duncan. "...Black is sky--so stars can shine/Tiger stripes and butterflies/Black is brushed on sparrows wings/Black is many things...." Indeed.

The depth of Blackness is mirrored by a very real, active, political and social consciousness, reflecting what it actually means to be Black, especially in America. In other words, we Black people have an obligation not only to ourselves to be consciously and actively Black, but also to our own political and social struggle in which all of humanity is a part. It is this that is the very essence of Black consciousness and political struggle in America. The stakes for Black people, other people of color, and humanity as a whole are incredibly high; and nothing short of an active reawakening of our political and social consciousness will do, in this time in which we live.

In this vein, let us briefly consider some intensely relevant areas of concern and importance to Black people that this column will be addressing in the future, with a view towards active involvement in humanity's struggle, which is in fact, our own. For the sake of our Blackness, thought and action are required. To some, this call for thought and action might seem a bit disquieting and even uncomfortable, but we must not be deterred, for comfortable people do not make change. It is real systemic change that is necessary for the collective survival and betterment of Black people and this planet.

Included in the varied topics to be addressed in the future by this column:

We shall study Berrien County, specifically the de facto apartheid-like town of Benton Harbor, Michigan, where on a daily basis the myth of democracy in America is being played out in the form of voter intimidation, suppression of Black voting rights, and the wrongful and ruthless prosecution by racist authorities of Black voting rights activist Reverend Edward Pinkney. In Reverend Pinkney's own chillingly descriptive words, "All world citizens should know how corrupt Berrien County's legal system is. It is a danger to every traveler, visitor and guest worker, and to anyone who takes the risky step of entering Berrien County territory." The human rights of Black, Brown, and poor peoples, in the corporate-owned town of Benton Harbor, (Berrien County), Michigan, are akin to the fake rights and democracy being accorded to the people of Iraq and Palestine, etc., by the US.

We shall also address details of the increasing incarceration rate of poor people in America, with a particular emphasis upon Black, Brown, and Red people in the US, as big corporations continue to suck the life blood out of families and communities throughout this nation.

Additionally, we shall make the connections as to why, for example, currently in the case of the San Francisco 8 (San Francisco, California), the US authorities engaged in outright physical torture to extract confessions, and continue to utilize psychological torture and malicious prosecution of former members of the Black Panther Party, for their alleged involvement in the murder of a police officer 36 years ago. Yet, these same Department of 'Justice,' US authorities have not, to this day, charged, prosecuted, or convicted anyone for the overwhelming amount of brutal murders of scores (some reports have indicated hundreds) of Black people whose tortured and dismembered bodies were ingloriously dredged up from the southern Mississippi River in the 1960s.

Further, the enormous significance and negative impact upon Black people in America, at the hypocritical recent release on bail by US authorities of self-confessed terrorist Luis Posada Carriles, whose extradition has been unsuccessfully sought by the nations of Cuba and Venezuela, and who is known to be directly and inextricably linked to a number of bloody terrorist attacks--including the bombing of a Cuban civilian airliner--killing all 73 passengers on board. Black, Brown, and Red peoples know only too well that certain kinds of terrorism which serve the corporate interests of the US are, and have repeatedly been, quite acceptable to America.

Finally, this column will look at and link the various insidious forms of genocide being perpetrated upon Black people and other people of color inside America and around the world--from white racist gentrification in many US cities, to the many other kinds of extinction--as calculatedly and callously being carried out under neocolonialism, in many parts of the world.

It is my sustained hope that this column will serve to inform, challenge, and inspire.

The time really is upon us to be actively conscious, and in so doing, reclaim our Blackness as an integral part in and of humanity's ongoing, uncompromising struggle for justice. To be sure, the stakes are very, very high. Yet, the consequences of not doing so are unimaginable to us as Black people and to humanity as a whole.

BC Columnist Larry Pinkney is a veteran of the Black Panther Party, the former Minister of Interior of the Republic of New Africa, a former political prisoner and the only American to have successfully self-authored his civil/political rights case to the United Nations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Click here to contact Mr. Pinkney.