From The Ramparts

Consciousness As The Roots of Power

Consciousness As The Roots of Power

“The European is largely our creation. When we look at our behavior, we still see that to a good extent it is our behavior, our values, our consciousness, the kind of personalities we have established on ourselves- our tastes, our desires and needs- that maintain the European in his position. Let’s examine the Civil Rights Movement and the apartheid system of the South. When blacks decided just to get off the buses and walk, the system changed. When they just stopped sitting behind the white driver, just changing that relationship changed the nature of power in tat sytem. When they decided to walk side by side, when hey decided to walk abreast and ally themselves collectively, the relationship changed. They had not aligned that way before. When they kept their monies in their pockets, sat on those stools and blocked the other people from them and changed the nature of the interaction between themselves and whites, the nature of hte system changed. Therefore, we have tremendous power. It depends upon how we align ourselves as a people and how we decide to relater to other people in the world. They cannot have what they have unless we are what we are.” Amos N Wilson Afrikan Centered Consciousness Versus The New World Order p 89-09

During the late 1960's Africans in AmeriKKKa shocked the world by shouting and demanding Black Power. This cry emerged following major success in dismantling the psychologically smothering system of apartheid in the South. Emboldened by our brothers and sisters successes against virulent racists and mounting court reversals to the long standing legalized racial caste in the South the movement gathered momentum and spread throughout the country. Based upon the victories of King and the SNCC the movement spread to the urban centers that were experiencing their own versions of racist oppression and marginalization. Africans long subjected to the vilest forms of dehumanization and abuse began to rise up and demand their human rights. Long bottled up frustrations exploded in cities like Newark New Jersey, the Watts section of LA and Detroit, forcing the ruling elites and their surrogates to scramble to put a band-aid on deeply rooted spreading cancer. The cry Black Power sent shivers of fear up and down the spines of most white folks in AmeriKKKa. In their demented and fear ridden psyches they envisioned hordes of blacks exacting vengeance and reparations on their sorry behinds. So appealing to their fears the ruling elites used code words and phrases to let them know counter insurgency measures were coming. People like J Edgar Hoover, George Wallace, Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew openly called for Law and Order which was their promise to repress the surging black empowerment movements. Even while they were passing Civil Rights legislation, open housing acts, equal opportunity banking, voter rights and such, they were ratcheting up COINTELPRO, militarizing local police departments and unleashing the power of the state to undermine, sabotage and ultimately destroy any vestiges of unity, leadership and organization within our communities. Intimidation, murder, frame ups, kangaroo courts and incarceration were used to rid our communities of effective leadership and resistance to the racist status quo. Meanwhile they made cosmetic and superficial changes to lower some barriers and open society a bit to make it appear AmeriKKKa had evolved and transformed itself into a truly equalitarian society. The media made it taboo to discuss race or show the real deal. But as we look around we can see the real deal. Hurricane Katrina ripped the blinders off. We see the rampant police brutality and abuses just like during the ‘50's and ‘60's, we see the joblessness, homelessness and discrimination, we see incarceration rates higher and more draconian now than during the prison and convict leasing programs following the Civil War! The cries for Black Power have been muffled, the white ruling elites have manipulated the media and foisted controlled “leaders” on our community to make sure any such cries are quickly muted or co-opted to cries for “green power”, “people power” or some other nonsense.
Contrary to the media mind control apparatus propaganda, we are not powerless, we can fight City Hall, Wall Street and Washington. Human beings are sentient and powerful beings. We are not idle spectators in our experiences. We have a say in the quality of our lives even if it means risking a beat down for protesting or demanding our human rights. If we take a page from the Civil Rights era, say the Montgomery bus boycott, we can still use those tactics to achieve cohesion and empowerment. Just using what the old folks called GP (general principle) we should not spend one dime in a store or retail chain that disrespects us! For example I have not purchased gasoline from Texaco since it was revealed how their executives treated black workers and the racial epithets they called them were documented by tapes back in the ‘90's. That’s just one example. The white man gets away with what he does because we have internalized the psychopathic notions of his divinity and invincibility, despite ample evidence to the contrary. With all his super weaponry and his willingness to use them on humanity, we have seen him get his butt kicked and chased out of Vietnam, Somalia and its only a matter of time before his is run out of Iraq. Are the Iraqis, Somalis and Vietnamese smarter than we are? Are they more courageous or more determined to be free? The rest of the world uses what we did in the ‘50' and ‘60's as their blueprint for social change. King used Thoreau and Ghandi’s ideas and tactics of passive resistance, civil disobedience and boycott to bring down racial cast in Montgomery Alabama. Adam Clayton Powell Sr and Leon Sullivan used economic boycotts effectively to force social change. These will still work today but we must have a consciousness of empowerment, a consciousness of a Marcus Mosiah Garvey “Up you mighty race you can accomplish what you will” and the dogged determination of a Fanny Lou Hamer “I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired” to make it work. Marcus Garvey was an unabashedly proud African who dared to dream of redemption for Africa and Africans world wide. What type of dreams do you have for yourself and our people? Why has the word struggle disappeared from our vocabulary? Why have psychopaths, madmen and devils set the moral agenda for not only their people but for us? This is totally unacceptable. We can do better. If the world is to survive and prosper, we must do better. It is clear we cannot depend upon our oppressors for relief and justice because they are totally incapable of it. If it is to be, it is up to us! We have to develop a consciousness of possibilities, the ability to dream, imagine, visualize and forge a new world order based on our African traditions. Not the NWO of the Iluminati, David Rockefeller or the Bu$h crime family but using the Akan concept of Sankofa looking back to fashion a new world based upon the ancient concept of Ma’at (Divine Order, Harmony, Equilibrium, Truth, Justice, Righteousness and Reciprocity). It begins in and with each of us and radiates outward in all we do, in our daily activities, in our business transactions, our motivations and goals. It means we cannot acquiesce to a fascist regime hell bent on an empire. Our consciousness and actions must reflect our commitment to Ma’at. It is doable. Anything less means we allow the planet to be plunged into an abyss of Eurocentric degradation, perversion perpetual war, privation and rapine.

-30-.

posted by Junious Ricardo Stanton @ 9:39 AM