HANDS UP, DON'T SHOOT!!! THE BLACK MAN CANNOT BREATHE IN AMERICA

HANDS UP, DON'T SHOOT!!! THE BLACK MAN CANNOT BREATHE IN AMERICA

Fahim A. Knight-El


 
 

 

I think everyone that have read my blogs know that I have been on a crusade all of my adult life fighting racism and white supremacy and I will continue until the Creator takes me off this earth. I have marched and protested in my city with whites, blacks, Jews and Latinos against the recent injustice of police brutality that have resulted in the death of Michael Brown, Jr., and Eric Garner—white police law enforcement officers using excessive force against unarmed black men (this much is not new, but what is new, is the level of attention these recent cases are garnering). Many of these young white allies have a moral conscious and they too are starting to see that the police injustice taking place against unarmed black men is wrong and reprehensible. Many of them were born way after the 1960s and 1970s and are not tied to the past segregation history of their parents and grandparents—they see the human race over the racist stereotypes that have been so pervasive throughout America's history and are more concern about fighting injustice, and find it necessary to stand up against imperialism and oppression along side people of color. I as a Pan-Africanist and black nationalist welcomed forging alliances with other progressive people, groups and organizations. I have told many of them to use their white privilege to help us to alter social change in America and bring this issue even more to center stage. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once stated: "we have come to dramatize an appalling condition."       

What you are witnessing in Ferguson and throughout the country is historical—the marches and rallies are a sign of what is to come and it symbolizes the dissatisfaction that exist inside the United States of America (eventually these type rallies and demonstrations will move us closer to the reality of Martial Law). Now, I remember just a few years ago with the 'election' of President Barack Obama, the deceptive talking heads were conversing about how the United States had transitioned into a post-racial era and the past black civil rights leaders and their messages had become obsolete (the minute this Negro was elected president white citizens went on a frenzy buying up weapons and ammunition). I think based on the social climate the last six years historians and social scientist would have to rethink the entire post racial era so-called associated with Obama being the first black man elected to the office of U.S. president and somehow this political phenomenon was suppose to usher in a ‘new America’ free of bigotry, racism, discrimination, racial stereotypes, etc.. Yet, it appears hate crimes and racial tension has heighten since Obama was elected president and I think the Travon Martin case and George Zimmerman being exonerated from murder or any other criminal wrongdoing further heighten the racial divide. 

These two cases (Brown and Garner) and many more like them throughout American history where outright murder had taken place and yet both grand juries found no true bill to indict these Gestapo Nazi mentality police officers because the courts and the prosecutors also do not value black life. The entire criminal justice system when it comes to people of color is a sham and we really should not expect justice from this rogue nation (the criminal justice system is rooted in sustaining the Prison Industrial Complex). How in the hell can these police departments investigate themselves and arrive at impartial findings? I applaud the black people of Ferguson for fighting back by any means necessary and demanding justice for Michael Brown and bringing national and international attention to the overwhelming incidents of black men being killed by white police officers.

Yes, they disrupted the 'normalcy' of Ferguson by taking the fight to the streets and demanding justice and I applaud them for their wiliness to sacrifice their lives for justice and I had to tell one Uncle Tom to get the hell out of my face—desiring to soften the blow of the perpetrators and was really trying to impose his fears on to me by attempting to deducing the rebellion down to looting and rioting. I proceeded to telling him that as an ex-slave in America; he himself and our ancestors were victims of one of the greatest looters and rioters on the planet earth. We did not arrive to these shores on Nina, Pinta nor Santa Maria but in hulls of slave ship piloted by lawless criminals and robber barons. They are not in a moral position to judge my people and lieu of the 310 years of injustice inflicted upon the so-called American Negro. I have no tolerance for Toms.

Blacks in Ferguson relative to our fight for social justice is a new paradigm—they were not interested in listening and taking their marching orders from the traditional Negro leadership and it was evident that the civil rights leaders could not control the level of defiance being embodied by these young warriors (the Sharptons, Jackson, Obama, Farrakhan, Malik Zulu Shabazz, etc.) this new generation perhaps has become a template for resistance movements throughout country—in Berkley, New York, Washington, DC, Oakland, Chicago, Boston in Ferguson were not interested in allowing these old-guard leadership to direct them and control their temperament. These were young people who had reached the stage of what Fannie Lou Hamer talked about, which was being tired of being sick and tired; the white man often tries to co-opt and pacify black rage by sending one and/or a bunch of their control Negro preachers—talking about prayer and watering down the message of black people by soften our dissatisfaction with oppression and the enemy uses them to keep us focus on that mystery God and quick to appeal to our fears.

Some of our so-called black leaders have been on the FBI payroll for a very long time and have been working as agent provocateurs inside top level civil rights organizations (it was government agents that led to the assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Mark Clarke, Fred Hampton, Alprentice Bunchy Carter, John Huggins and led to long term incarcerations of militant black activist in which many still remain in U.S. prisons since the early 1970s as political prisoners. Mumia Abu Jamal, a former Philadelphia Chapter Black Panther member has been on death row for over two decades ("Live From Death Row") and Assata Shakur has lived in exile in Cuba for over three decades—black activist who were targets of the United States Government under J. Edgar Hoover former F.B.I director the mastermind of Cointelpro (counter intelligence program) had a plan to disrupt and neutralize black leaders and black organizations in order to prevent the rise of a black Messiah. 

The likes of Al Sharpton (FBI snitch) and Jesse Jackson use these high profile issues and cases to promote their own agenda. I was recently talking to a brother about the Eric Garner and the Michael Brown cases and he said something very interesting to me, which was, why would our aggrieved black defendants keep on hiring Attorney Benjamin Crump as your defense attorney and he has not successfully defended any of the high profile police brutality cases (he said this defies legal logic)? However, Crump is Reverend Al Sharpton go to guy—civil rights business partner and they use our suffering and pain to generate business in the name of fighting and defending our civil rights. These race hustlers are very proficient at given grandeur speeches and doing nothing to truly organize black people. They leave these various cities on to the next high profile incident to get another pay check or lump sum of money that is generated as love offerings (http://nypost.com/2015/01/04/how-sharpton-gets-paid-to-not-cry-racism-at-corporations/).  

Then as we proceeded in the conversation, I do not know if he clearly understood that there were different levels of hustlers and bottom feeders who masquerade themselves around as the black problem solvers and even white folk start referring to them as 'leader' and 'spokespersons' over so-called black America. But they also know that these type leaders are under their influence and control because of their love for money, upscale automobiles, fine clothes, jewelry, flying in private jets or commercial first class, partaking in gourmet cuisines, lodging in five star hotels, etc. and earning six figure incomes (this is provided to them in order to keep them serving two masters and keep them enticed to a false elitist status and petti-Bourgeoisie status). They are not really concern about solving the problem because these social issues keep them out front of the cameras and it ultimately enhance their status (and it promotes their brand) and they use the black masses into believing that they are fighting for our collective justice when in fact these cats are about getting paid. They conveniently use the image and likeness of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and even promote themselves as heir apparent to this great Civil Rights icon. Trust me King probably is turn over in his grave. Let me be clear, I do not pray to the same God or Jesus they pray to because I will never compromise our struggle by siding with the enemy; they have always used the Negro preacher and the Black Bourgeoisie against the legitimate aspirations of black people (Minister Malcolm X called them House Negroes). I have always been more interested in what the field Negro has to say.

Both cases had clear evidence that there were some wrongdoing on the side of the police and yet no formal charges were brought against either officer. And in New York the prosecutors had already struck a deal with the other officers involved in Garners' death which was to grant them immunity for their testimonies—all prison and jail time were taking off the table (an indication that Justice is not blind). Perhaps many of you also do not know that local police departments since 9-11 have become tactical militarized units and have a mindset to always think deadly force first. The United States Government has allowed for them to acquire some of the same military equipment and technology they use in Iraq and Afghanistan to be brought to use in urban America.

Thus, after witnessing the chokehold and strangulation of Eric Garner and his plea with officers that he could not breathe (thirteen times stating that he could not breathe) and this was captured on video, and they desire to tell us that we did not see what we thought we saw because Garner was resistance arrest. Really!!!!!! Then our Uncle Tom Negro president immediately started advocating the need to arm U.S. police departments with body cameras (my mind shifted to what big defense or technology company that he is trying to secure these contracts and what would be his financial cut upon leaving office; surely he is positioning himself more than likely for the future to make millions of dollars as a consultant). There was a camera that caught clear footage of police murdering an innocent black man (but as of this writing it has served to no avail). But they use the controlled pawn talking heads to create doubt and even try to convince us that we did not see what we thought we saw (the power and influence of the propaganda machines). This same tactic was used in the early 1990s when the Los Angles Police Department savagely beat Rodney King and yet tried to convince us that King was resisting arrest. If there is no justice then there should be no peace and we have a duty to disrupt the political, economic and social systems through civil disobedience and demand justice.

Malcolm X stated: "You don't have a peaceful revolution. You don't have a turn-the-other-cheek revolution. There's no such thing as a nonviolent revolution. The only kind of revolution that's nonviolent is the Negro revolution. The only revolution based on loving your enemy is the Negro revolution. ... Revolution is bloody, revolution is hostile, revolution knows no compromise, revolution overturns and destroys everything that gets in its way. And you, sitting around here like a knot on the wall, saying, "I'm going to love these folks no matter how much they hate me." No, you need a revolution. Whoever heard of a revolution where they lock arms, singing "We Shall Overcome"? You don't do that in a revolution. You don't do any singing, you're too busy swinging. It's based on land. A revolutionary wants land so he can set up his own nation, an independent nation. These Negroes aren't asking for any nation—they're trying to crawl back on the plantation.”

The U.S. judicial system and the criminal justice system are corrupt to the core. I refuse to use the term riot in particular in describing what my people did in Ferguson, Missouri—described as looting and rioting. H. Rap Brown (Imam Jamil Abdullah El-Amin) who is presently serving a life sentence in federal prison for allegedly murdering a police officer in Atlanta, Georgia, but his conviction was a mere extension of Cointelpro. The FBI and the CIA continued to monitor black nationalist revolutionaries long after the 1960s and 1970s because their mindset posed and eminent danger to the status quo—thus, government surveillance and monitoring have always been ongoing. Rap Brown described our people protest of the 1960s not as the "1967 Riots" but called our resistance to police brutality and American injustice as an outright rebellion (Nat Turner, David Walker, Harriet Tubman, Toussaint L Overture, etc., created rebellions).

I am questioning who is behind the recent killings and violence so-called aimed at law enforcement since these recent high profile cases of Michael Brown and Eric Garner because I do not trust the government. This could be a police orchestrated diversionary tactic to shift and change the momentum of the movement and weaken the people's cries for justice and move the focus off thousands of black men who have been killed and injured by racist police officers and use propaganda to shift the sympathy towards the perpetrators. This is not to suggest that I am not sympathetic to the families of the fallen officers in New York and other cities where police has been attacked in discriminately. However, it is not beyond the police department to use various tactics and strategies to alter the mood and direction of progressive movements—they were masters of such political and social manipulation during the 1960s and 1970s in particular, when Black Power was peaking and the likes of Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale of the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army and when Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee was radicalized under Stokley Carmichael (Kwame Ture) and H. Rap Brown (Imam Jamil Abdullah El-Amin) were coming of age.

Hoover and the United States Government used a gamut of dirty tricks to incite and disrupt the movement. They used agents and paid informants to disrupt the positive internal workings of black organizations. Minister Malcolm X (El-Hajj Malik Shabazz) in a speech titled, "Message to the Grassroots" stated, What you and I need to do is learn to forget our differences. When we come together, we don't come together as Baptists or Methodists. You don't catch hell because you're a Baptist, and you don't catch hell because you're a Methodist. You don't catch hell 'cause you're a Methodist or Baptist. You don't catch hell because you're a Democrat or a Republican. You don't catch hell because you're a Mason or an Elk, and you sure don't catch hell because you're an American; because if you were an American, you wouldn't catch hell. You catch hell because you're a Black man. You catch hell, all of us catch hell, for the same reason. " 

No justice, No peace and the movement has to eventually lead to economic boycotts, and as one of the biggest consumer demographics in the United States—we have tremendous power. But you have not heard Sharpton or Jackson talk about boycott and using our massive spending and purchasing power to alter the economic system; I wonder why?. We can march and protest all day, but until we impact America's economic system, we are really just spinning our wheels. The powers-that-be and the status quo only respects those who have the power to affect their bottom line. The mass mobilizations have to transition into discussions about leveraging our money and winning civil rights and justice on the economic playing field.  

Fahim A. Knight-El Chief Researcher for KEEPING IT REAL THINK TANK located in Durham, NC; our mission is to inform African Americans and all people of goodwill, of the pending dangers that lie ahead; as well as decode the symbolism and reinterpreted the hidden meanings behind those who operate as invisible forces, but covertly rules the world. We are of the belief that an enlightened world will be better prepared to throw off the shackles of ignorance and not be willing participants for the slaughter. Our MOTTO is speaking truth to power. Fahim A. Knight-EL can be reached at fahimknight@ yahoo.com.  

 

Stay Awake Until We Meet Again,

Fahim A. Knight-El