Violence, both physical and emotional, is
an integral part of the United States. It is deliberately
propagated and perpetuated by the U.S. government, the
corporate-stream media, Hollywood movies, television programs,
and Internet games. It is a major symptom of this corporate
controlled society and hypocritical political system.
The violent and cold-blooded publicized murders
of people of all ages and colors in this nation,
including those of Amadou Diallo, Oscar Grant, and most
recently Trayvon Martin are but the tip of the insane
iceberg of violence nationwide. The violence that permeates
this nation is akin to this government's violence in Afghanistan,
Iraq, Pakistan, and Libya, etc. These aforementioned
organized acts of U.S. government violence in other
lands are conveniently and hypocritically referred to
as "police actions" abroad. Yet, there is a
direct link between the violence that U.S. citizens
carry out against one another within this nation and the
violence that citizens of this nation are directed
to carry out against citizens of other nations. This
violence is also akin to the daily so-called "justifiable"
police brutality and violence perpetrated against everyday
Black, White, Brown, Red, and Yellow people throughout
this nation.
Part of the terrible tragedy of Trayvon Martin's
case is another indication of how people have been so
thoroughly brainwashed to act as judge, jury, and executioner
for whatever demented rationale that can be manufactured
to supposedly make it "justifiable." The root
cause of this is systemic, and goes far
beyond color or ethnic considerations.
Some of the most despicable displays of hypocrisy
and disingenuousness are being made by the ever eager
systemic gate-keepers and opportunists who invariably
turn up in front of news cameras, etc. for photo-ops to
decry such horrible instances of violence, but who refuse
to decry the systemic violence practiced by the
corporate politicians whom they support. These politicians
and their supporters must not be allowed to have it both
ways. Their objective is to confuse everyday people and
play upon their legitimate pain to further their own
systemic political objectives.
Then of course there are those political pimps,
hustlers, and parasites who use the terrible pain of cases
such as that of Trayvon Martin to incite color and
ethnic hatred, and grab their despicable moment in
the limelight. This also serves the cyclical perpetuation
of this violent system itself, in that it keeps
everyday people in fear of one another and divided on
the basis of color and ethnicity.
Now, more than ever, is the time to understand how this
violent system perpetuates itself at the expense
and terrible pain of everyday people. It is time to collectively
change the system, not reform it. Systemic reform
perpetuates this hypocritical, violent system.
How does one reform a rotten and putrid pie? One doesn't.
One gets rid of the putrid pie, and creates a different
one!
The everyday people of this nation and world
need and deserve so much better. But it is only
the everyday people themselves/ourselves who can and
will bring about this much-needed systemic change.
Let's get busy and stay busy, collectively
pushing for real systemic change!
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.