Whether
in the streets of Cairo, Egypt; Port-au-Prince, Haiti;
or Madison & Milwaukee
(Wisconsin), USA,
everyday Black, White, Brown, Red, and Yellow people yearn
for political, economic, judicial, and environmental justice.
Laws
must be made subservient to justice, not
the other way around.
Justice
is not a commodity. It cannot be traded, bartered,
or auctioned off to the highest bidder. Justice is that
which serves the collective good of humankind,
and the protracted struggle to attain it is often
fraught with enormous hardship and risks. Yet, to shirk
in the principled struggle for political, economic, judicial,
and environmental justice would be akin to forfeiting
the individual and collective responsibility to ourselves
and humanity itself.
It
has been purported that William Gladstone correctly stated:
“Justice delayed, is justice denied.” Indeed,
in these anxious times in which we live, everyday people
globally are rejecting the unjust status
quo and demanding and organizing for an end to systemic
injustice. This struggle crosses all color, gender,
and national boundaries. This is an international
people’s struggle for the common good of humanity as a
whole, and that of the entire planet. It is a struggle
which exists in diametrical opposition to corporate
greed and military adventurism. No amount of
disingenuous, articulate political rhetoric or
corporate-stream media obfuscation can avert the
yearning on the part of everyday people for the real
change that only fundamental / systemic transformation
will bring about. Any other kind of so-called “change”
is, in essence, no change at all.
Every
day, ordinary Black, White, Brown, Red, and Yellow people
nationally and internationally are beginning to fulfill
the words of Malcolm X, when he said, “I believe that
there will ultimately be a clash between the oppressed
and those who do the oppressing. I believe that there
will be a clash between those who want freedom, justice,
and equality for everyone and those who want to
continue the system of exploitation. I believe
that there will be that kind of clash, but I don’t
think it will be based on the color of the skin...”
The mendacity of those who oppress us, no matter their
color or gender, must no longer be abided.
Let
us be careful not to confuse the proclamations of law
with the attainment of
justice, for laws, if they are to serve the people,
must be rooted firmly in foundation of justice.
When justice is brought to fruition, the law will follow
suit. Rise up you mighty peoples of the world! Awaken
from the disempowering slumber of oppression! Justice
must no longer be “delayed” or “denied!”
We
must cease allowing those who exploit and oppress us to
divide, confuse, and dominate us. It is we ourselves
who hold the keys to justice and human rights in this
nation, in harmony with the legitimate yearnings of people
around the world.
There
is so much work to be done. Organize, educate,
and agitate; and then organize some more! 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 News Hour, formerly known as The
MacNeil / Lehrer News Hour. 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.
