Governments cause revolutions, but it is the people who wage them.

The United States of America, has, since its inception, engaged in a never ending “race war.” The genocide of the indigenous peoples, the wholesale thievery of Mexican territory, and the slavery, enslavement, lynchings, and ongoing 21st century de facto Jim Crow against Black people represent the reality of this nation.

The installment of Barack Obama, as the face of the U.S. corporate / military empire, symbolizes the calculated, cynical, and cruel escalation by the institutions of this nation, in this centuries-long ‘race war.’ It was well known to the U.S. corporate power elite of ‘America,’ that Barack Obama, would provide the perfect cover for escalating the war against people of color and all poor and disenfranchised people (irrespective of color). This White power corporate elite calculated correctly that an Obama presidency, combined with general White paranoia, would, in fact, strengthen, not dismantle, its strangle hold on the peoples of this nation; and most especially on people of color. Thus, the majority of Whites could, and do, persist in the denial of their privilege and of their role in the deepening economic and political disenfranchisement of people of color; even as everyday Black folks are rendered essentially null and void by being told (directly or indirectly) by White liberals and so-called ‘progressives’ that there is now a biological half black man as U.S. president - and so we should just shut up and go away. The calculated cynicism and cruelty of this is self-evident.

Notwithstanding the shameful complicity on the part of the relatively small Black elite and much of the Black intelligentsia in perpetuating this ‘race war’ to the promotion of their own monetary ends, the deteriorating economic and social conditions for the burgeoning Black underclass and poor folks in general have, and are, reaching epidemic proportions. And daily, both subtle and overt racism, is now at an all-time high. This is not coincidental. It is quite deliberate. It has been well thought out.

Obama: The Cruel Hoax

It has been said that “the pen is mightier than the sword;” but this can only be the case when addressing a literate, informed, and politically conscious populace. Unfortunately, an enormous percentage of people in this nation are basically functionally illiterate and anything but well informed and politically conscious and it is the insidious role of the “news” media to keep them that way. Therefore, it did not take much for the corporate media to pimp the emotions of the people and thereby usher in the articulate and insipid hypocrite, Barack Obama. This was, and continues to be, a cruel hoax put upon the peoples of this nation (and planet), carried out by the corporate and military power elite.

Malcolm X warned about and correctly compared the corporate / military elite to “scientists in a lab” who are constantly engaged in developing the ways and means to manipulate and debilitate particularly Black people, and indeed the pliable and disenfranchised people of all colors.

Recent events regarding non-white immigrants and racial profiling in the U.S. State of Arizona are not at all unique throughout this nation. Racial profiling, regardless to its guise, is integral to the continuation of ‘America’s’ very real and ongoing ‘race war’ against people of color. Nevertheless, it is the policies of the U.S. government itself that, in reality, nurture, foster, and promote these components of ‘America’s’ ongoing ‘race war.’ The massive incarceration rate of especially Black and Brown people in this nation is another component of this ongoing and intensifying ‘race war.’ Deliberate gentrification [i.e. genteel ethnic cleansing and economic apartheid] has pushed, and is pushing Black people out of our communities in every major city in this nation, and it is gleefully carried out by corporations, liberals and so-called ‘progressives,’ even as they hypocritically decry racism. This, too, is yet another component of the ongoing ‘race war’ in this nation.

Another major component of this ongoing ‘race war’ is the intentional role of the media and other institutions in fostering the myth of White superiority. This is done, for example, by teaching that indigenous peoples on this continent were the “first Americans,” which is obviously inaccurate and utterly ridiculous, as they (the indigenous peoples) were present and thriving on this continent long before the inception of the United States of America, and the concomitant genocide of millions of these people. This “first American” myth, slyly fosters the lie that the indigenous peoples did not have their own systems of government, economics, and spirituality / religion, long prior to contact with Europeans, and before there was any such political entity known as the United States of America. It is a racist, arrogant, and totally inaccurate historical assertion and depiction, but in so doing it does support the fallacious notion of White superiority. There are many, many other examples of how the myth of White superiority continues to be reinforced by the institutions, government, and media of this nation.

In order to perpetuate this ‘race war’ successfully, the myth of White superiority must be maintained.

What About Poor Whites?

It is a fact that a growing number of White people are, and have been, economically disenfranchised and oppressed.

However, the role of poor and disenfranchised Whites in the ‘race war’ in this nation has long been, and continues to be, that of being psychological and political cannon fodder. In other words, as long as this U.S. system nurtures (covertly and/or overtly) the false notion of White superiority, Whites can generally be counted upon to maintain a position of support for this exploitative system. This notion of superiority is a sickness, a pathological lightning rod that has been, and is still being, systemically and systematically, ingrained into the very being of Whites in this nation. This, despite the fact that this notion of superiority is utterly fallacious. Moreover, a key element in maintaining this fallacious notion of superiority is denial. One cannot address or change that which one refuses to acknowledge exists. Thus, the cycle continues unabated.

Enter now, the cruel hoax of Barack Obama and ilk, saying it’s “all in the past.” Obama’s systemic role is to substantively dismiss the increasing reality and importance of racism, and thereby intensify White denial; and in so doing, he intensifies and strengthens it. He is playing his role well, even as he serves his corporate / military masters by destroying the people and environment of and on this planet.

Had most Whites not been so thoroughly and systematically indoctrinated by this system of exploitation and color privilege, they might have broken out from the cycle; but then, for that matter, perhaps the majority of Blacks and other people of color might have too. Nevertheless, we must deal with what is, not what might have been.

The bitter irony of this is, of course, that the real policies of Barack Obama, actually are diametrically opposed to the needs and human rights of everyday people of all colors.

Does There Have To Be ‘Race War?’

Does there have to be ‘race war?’ In a word, no. Furthermore, there don’t have to be U.S. wars raging in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan either. Nor does there have to be massive environmental degradation, mass incarceration, home foreclosures, no single-payer universal health care, joblessness, privatization of education, union busting, police terror & violence, and so on.

Integral to the ongoing ‘race war’ in this nation, just as with the additional points listed above, is economic exploitation. Simply stated, economic exploitation exists to suck the life blood from everyday people, while simultaneously ensuring that the filthy rich corporate elite get richer as the poor fight among themselves.

Like it or not, there is an ongoing and intensifying ‘race war’ in this nation, and its foundation is the economic exploitation of everyday people.

This race or color war must be forthrightly addressed for what it really is. It must be stopped and reversed. There does not have to be an ongoing race war in ‘America,’ but the responsibility and future rests squarely with all of us in determining which direction this nation will go.

Times are critical. Onward my sisters and brothers! Onward!

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. In connection with his political organizing activities in opposition to voter suppression, etc., Pinkney was interviewed in 1988 on the nationally televised PBS NewsHour, formerly known as The MacNeil/LehrerNewsHour. 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.