The People’s Struggle Vs Reform: Time for Systemic Change

With this in mind, it was a welcome breath of fresh air, when representing BlackCommentator.com, I found myself among a core group of critically thinking Black folks attending a panel discussion at the June, 2008, National Conference On Media Reform. This particular panel consisted of a number of sisters and brothers. It was exhilarating to be present with various other persons from throughout the nation attending that panel, who are not collaborators with the Empire and who have not drunk from what I refer to as the 21st Century Jim Jones – Obama Kool Aid of unprincipled politics, denial, political opportunism, and Black American self-erasure / annihilation. It was uplifting to witness the outpouring of approval from the panel audience each time the current U.S. Presidential candidacy of the courageous former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney’s “Power To The People” campaign was mentioned. Clearly, the aforementioned panel and ensuing discussion was, in the opinion of this writer, the most relevant and important portion of a conference which otherwise, and for the most part, fundamentally ignored the pressing systemic issues and concerns of Black, Brown, and Red peoples regarding the media of disinformation and consolidation in this nation.

Cynthia McKinney, in her Statement as the “Power To The People” Candidate for U.S. President “on the nomination of Barack Obama as the Democratic Party’s Presidential Candidate in 2008,” was correct and quite clear that the specific “10-Point Draft Manifesto of the Reconstruction Movement” is something that Candidate Barack Obama needs to immediately “embrace” and act upon if he is serious about real change in this nation. Moreover, Cynthia McKinney is absolutely on point in her assertion that, “The people deserve an open and honest debate on these issues and more.” Indeed!