It is repugnant yet simultaneously sad and
horribly fascinating to observe so many black political
pundits either minimizing or outright ignoring
the egregious impact of U.S. President Barack Obama's
bloody military intervention in Libya, North Africa,
etc. and subsequently his recent signing into
law the so-called National Defense Authorization Act
(NDAA) which, among other things, provides for the indefinite
detention of U.S. citizens inside the United States
without even the due process of being charged with
an offense, having a trial, a jury, or even the right
to a legal defense, etc.
Apparently one needs only to a be part of
the proportionally small black elite in this nation to
be granted immunity from being held accountable for collective
outrages against the ordinary everyday Black, White,
Brown, Red, and Yellow people of his country and the world
at large. The horribly fascinating thing about this is
the utter hypocrisy on the part of so many black
'intellectuals' and political pundits of the U.S. black
elite. Where is their actualized concern and legitimate
outrage at this president's demonstrated disregard
for the U.S. Constitution and the ordinary people of this
land? Where is their concern about the de facto police-state
that Barack Obama's presidential signature of the NDAA
has now legalized in the United States? What happened
to their ability to critically think and analyze, or did
novocaine-Obama simply dull their
senses and sensibilities and replace them with hypocrisy?
This president has not once demonstrated the
least bit of concern for the political prisoners confined
in the prison gulags of this nation, or for that
matter, for the burgeoning U.S. prison population in
general, and the inhumane and deplorable conditions
thereto. This president sang Al Green to his audience
at a recent fund raiser even as the masses of Black and
other poor people of all colors sing the
daily blues over the ongoing and increasing
systemic economic, social, and political injustices which
they/we endure. This president is pimping the emotions
and pain of the people - not serving them!
And this is truly no joke.
While this president is overwhelmingly
shielded (by the corporate elite whom he serves and
by their corporate-stream media) for his actions, reality
awaits him and his systemically symbiotic Democrat
and Republican cohorts. It is a reality, emboldened by
and embodied in, the growing pain of everyday people.
No amount of lies, omissions, or distractions can forever
thwart the dreams of everyday people for genuine systemic
change. As the late great Langston Hughes wrote, 'What
happens to a dream deferred?' Barack Obama or no Barack
Obama, the will and needs of the people collectively cannot
forever be deferred. Ultimately, they will, in the
words of Langston Hughes, 'explode.' Think about
it. Where do you stand? With the everyday people
or with those, in the further words of Malcolm X, "who
want to continue the system of exploitation?"
Those, irrespective of color, who support
Barack Obama or anyone else, predicated upon
color do a horrendous disservice to themselves,
this nation, and the world. Moreover, such actions are
in direct contravention of the paraphrased words of Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr., when he spoke of his vision that
humans be judged on "the content of their character
not the color of their skin." Sadly,
in the case of Barack Obama, much of Black America has
done and is doing precisely the opposite. It is
also noteworthy that Dr. King opposed war mongering and
wars, and unequivocally referred to the U.S. government
as the "greatest purveyor of violence in the world,"
which it remains today under the
'leadership' and direction of Barack Obama. History will
ultimately hold the final accounting as to what we
did or did not do in these perilous and extremely
challenging times today. Will it be infamy, or shall we
fulfill our destinies as politically conscious human beings?
It's time to get rid of the terrible
political novocaine injection under which many
persons in this nation still lethargically function, thanks
to the machinations of the corporate elite and the corporate-stream
media. It is time for fundamental and total systemic
change. This change can and will be brought
about only by the collective actions of everyday
ordinary Black, White, Brown, Red, and Yellow people.
The rallying cry remains: 'All Power To The
People!' Not the corporations. Not the corporate
elite. Not the politicians of the Democrat and
Republican [Republicrat] parties. The everyday people!
This is a long and protracted struggle but an
absolutely necessary one.
Onward, then, 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.