My people? Who are they? My people are Black, Brown, and Red folks, along with any and all of those who are of good will in the U.S. and throughout the world. Yes, these are my people. Those who are trodden upon and despised. Those upon whose backs are borne the riches of this planet. Those for whom the sun has neither set but has not yet risen. These are my people.

My people are those that are hungering and thirsting for economic, social, and political justice. My people are those that are wallowing in the American gulags called prisons. My people are the millions of youngsters who have never been taught of the greatness, of the accomplishments, and of the sense of justice and fair play of their ancestors. My people are those masses in this nation, and throughout the globe, whom America has wantonly discarded, all in the very name of some fake “change” and false prosperity.

My people are those saying an unequivocal no to the false promises of this manipulative, cynically racist, capitalist system, which is built upon continuing hypocrisy, greed, and massive economic disparity and disenfranchisement. Nevertheless, my people are those who yearn to be the recipients of real freedom, real justice, and real equality. These are my people.

It is for the love of my people that I am somehow able to carry on yet another day, another month, or another year. It is for the love of my people, our people, that we must make a pact with ourselves and each other not to be duped and fooled again by the rhetoric of any person or people whose actual economic and social interests and objectives are not our own.

There is nothing more beautiful, more imbued with strength, wisdom, and courage than my people. There is nothing more precious.

I once wrote, “Beyond mere color, being Black is first and foremost a conscious political, social, and economic commitment to the struggle for the collective betterment of the descendants of the Black slavery holocaust in what has now become the United States of America, in conjunction with other people of color and humanity as a whole.” It is now the 2008, and more than ever before this is applicable.

Despite the machinations on the part of the present day snakes and bandits masquerading as humans, who would subvert our cherished hopes and rob us of our collective dreams; we possess a vision and depth that we have yet to truly call upon. Ours is so much more than a mere “hope” for some kind of fake “change.” Ours is the ability and commitment to discern that it is only we ourselves together who can and will unleash our collective human potential, ushering in that which will make our ancestors smile and our progeny proud. It is then that our sun will truly rise.

Ah yes, this is why we must all love our people. It is for the love of my / our people that we keep putting one foot forward every single day. It is for the love of our people that we must carry on in this struggle - which is, after all, our sacred calling.

BlackCommentator.com Editorial Board member, 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. For more about Larry Pinkney see the book, Saying No to Power: Autobiography of a 20th Century Activist and Thinker, by William Mandel [Introduction by Howard Zinn]. (Click here to read excerpts from the book) Click here to contact Mr. Pinkney.