In Honour of the 50th Anniversary of the Revolutionary Black Nationalist and Socialist Black Panther Party for Self-Defense

09 Sun Oct 2016

Posted by ztnh in Anti-Capitalism, Anti-Fascism, Free Speech, History, History of Funk, History of Jazz (Black Classical), History of Rhythm & Blues, Music, Political Science, Racism (phenotype), U.S. History: 20th Century

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Amiri Baraka, Black Panther Party, Bobby Hutton (1950-1968), Bobby Hutton Grove (Oakland CA), Bobby Seale (b. 1936), Chocolate Beats Radio, Digable Planets, Elaine Brown (b. 1943), Gil Scott-Heron, KPFA, Nneka, Oakland Museum, Omi Gallery, Pacifica Radio Network, Tupac Amaru Shakur (1971-1996), Ursula Rucker

bpp_logo LUMPENPROLETARIAT GONZO: It’s hard to imagine it’s been half a century since the Black Panther Party hit the scene in the USA. Soon, it’ll be a century, as grievances fester. For how long? I remember, as a young Chicano, discovering the Black Panther Party through hip hop and other art forms in the 1980s.

The Black Panther Party inspired many of us and educated us, as did Malcolm X, or el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz, which led some of us back to MLK, then to César Chávez and others like Reies Tijeriña and Corky González and Hunter S. Thompson and the Brown Buffalo Oscar Zeta Acosta with his Revolt of the Cockroach People; and others like Howard Zinn; and Noam Chomsky; and Buffy Saint-Marie; and back to others like KRS-One; and dead prez; and Zack de la Rocha; and Run the Jewels.

The Black Panther Party is still incredibly relevant, important, and necessary. Feed the struggle. Feed your community. Defend your community. Feed your soul.

Perhaps, your local community is also honouring the Black Panther Party’s 50th Anniversary, as are observant communities in the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Area and other locales. In the Bay Area, there are many museums and galleries featuring exhibits honouring the BPP50th. Also free speech radio is paying tribute to the BPP50th. Tune in, here, for revolutionary observance before the radio echo fades and vanishes into the historical penumbra. Listen here. [1]

UPDATE—[24 OCT 2016] Hard Knock Radio has provided us with some new coverage of the events and activities commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Black Panther Party, including audio excerpts from the BPP 50TH gala, which featured former political prisoner and Black Panther Party member Eddie Conway as well as keynote speaker Danny Glover. Listen here. [2]

Messina

***

BPP 50TH—[accessed 11 OCT 2016] [statement from ad hoc committee of former members of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense]

Dear Friends and Comrades,

October 2016 marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Black Panther Party. An ad hoc committee of former members of the Party is hosting events commemorating the anniversary from October 20-23rd in Oakland, California.

The theme of our commemoration is “Where Do We Go From Here?” The Black Panther Party is well-known and admired in Oakland and around the world for its stand against police brutality, for its Survival Programs— which included free breakfast for school children and free health clinics—its coalitions with other people of color, and its effort to bring about revolutionary change in America. The anniversary events will explore and celebrate the history and legacy of the Black Panther Party.

We hope you will join us in commemorating this historic 50th anniversary by participating in the various workshops and panels of the conference, enjoying our wonderful dinner and gala, advertising in our souvenir program book and volunteering.

Sincerely yours,

Clark Bailey, Coordinator
Black Panther Party 50th Anniversary Host Committee

Learn more at BPP 50TH.

***

[Notes and transcription by Messina for Lumpenproletariat and Hard Knock Radio]

HARD KNOCK RADIO—[24 OCT 2016] [station identification by Erica Bridgeman(sp?)]

[Opening audio collage] (c. 1:53)

DAVEY D: “What up, everybody? Welcome to another edition of Hard Knock Radio. Davey D, hangin’ out wit’ you this afternoon. On today’s show, we let you hear some of the sounds, that took place over this past weekened, as Black Panthers commemorated their 50-year anniversary. A lot of guests, from Danny Glover on down to former political prisoner Ed Conway. All that and more, coming up after the afternoon headlines.” (c. 2:18)

[News Headlines (read by Gabriela Castelan) omitted by scribe] [3]

[First segment: Black Panther Party 50th Anniversary audio clips, including a Bobby Seale endorsement for Hard Knock Radio, the dedication of Bobby Hutton Grove, and more.]

[Music break: “Who’ll Pay Reparations On My Soul” by Gil Scott-Heron]

“Who’ll Pay Reparations On My Soul” by Gil Scott-Heron

[Next segment: audio clips from the Black Panther Party 50th Anniversary gala event of former political prisoner and Black Panther member Eddie Conway and keynote speaker Danny Glover, both of whom are on the editorial board of The Real News.]

“Escape From Babylon” by Paris

(c. 41:00) [snip]

Learn more at HARD KNOCK RADIO.

***

SAN FRANCISCO BAY VIEW—[15 MAY 2016] Wanda’s Picks for May-June 2016 Elaine Brown’s “A Taste of Power,” a memoir which chronicles her leadership of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense when co-founder Huey P. Newton is imprisoned, still resonates with me. The idea that a Black woman is nominated to the leadership position of the most powerful civic organization in the country at that time is still remarkable and speaks to what Kathleen Cleaver calls revolutionary imagination.

Learn more at SAN FRANCISCO BAY VIEW NATIONAL BLACK NEWSPAPER.

***

[Partial transcript of actual radio broadcast by Messina for Lumpenproletariat and Chocolate Beats Radio.]

CHOCOLATE BEATS RADIO—[9 OCT 2016] [SNIP]

“Ain’t No Such Thing As a Superman” (1975) by Gil Scott-Heron

[until we’re free]

“Until We’re Free” (1973) by Elaine Brown [4]

[woman of the ghetto]

“Woman of the Ghetto” by Marlena Shaw

“Who Will Survive America?” by Amiri Baraka

[(c. 18:58) Programme host Idris gives community announcements regarding civil rights and Black Panther Party events “celebrating this year the 50th anniversary [of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense]. And there’s a lot of great exhibitions and events coming up this month in the [SF-Oakland] Bay Area. One event: The Survival Pending Revolution Black Panther Party 50. And that’s a exhibition at the Omi Gallery of Oakland, 2323 Broadway. It’s going on October 7th through January 7th. There’s also an exhibition [inaudible] 2.0 at [] gallery. There’s also an exhibition at the Oakland Museum. So, I can give a list. And we’ll give some more throughout the show. But we’re gonna get into some more music, actually, some poetry from—may he rest in peace—brother Amiri Baraka, who was very instrumental at empowering a soundtrack for the Black Panther movement. So, this is also taken from the Listen Whitey: Sounds of Black Power compilation. And we’ll have more music coming up, inspired by that and the events throughout the [SF-Oakland] Bay Area celebrating the legacy and the strength and the memory of those lost during those epic times. And we’ll just play some music in honour of that, here, on Chocolate Beats Radio.” (c. 21:10)]

[SNIP]

[(c. 47:00) new music from Solange]

“Cranes in the Sky” (2016) by Solange

[(c. 57:30) Gil Scott Heron’s “Winter In America”]

“Winter In America” (1974) by Gil Scott-Heron

[(c. 59:59) KPFA station identification]

[SNIP]

[(c. 1:07:00) “Fake Bonanza” by Mos Def]

[SNIP]

“Walking” by Nneka

[SNIP]

“That’s the Way of the World” by Earth, Wind & Fire

[SNIP]

“C.R.E.A.M.” (2014, cover) by Ensemble Mik Nawooj

[SNIP]

[SNIP] (c. 3:59:28)

Learn/experience more at CHOCOLATE BEATS RADIO.

***

[1] Terrestrial radio transmission, 94.1 FM (KPFA, Berkeley, CA) with online simulcast and digital archiving: Chocolate Beats Radio, this one-hour broadcast hosted by Miss Idris, Sunday, 9 OCT 2016, 01:00 PDT. [Due to copyright restrictions, music programmes are usually removed from public access two weeks after the initial broadcast.]

Playlist, Chocolate Beats Radio (9 OCT 2016):

“Ain’t No Such Thing As A Superman” by Gil Scott-Heron (taken from Greatest Hits)
“Until We’re Free” by Elaine Brown (taken from Listen Whitey)
“Woman of the Ghetto” by Marlena Shaw (live in Montreal) (taken from Listen Whitey!)
“Who Will Survive America” by Amiri Baraka (taken from Listen Whitey!)
“Brother, Where Are You?” by Oscar Brown, Jr. (taken from )
“Uhuru Sasa” by Gary Bartz (taken from Greatest Hits)
“Red Black and Green” by Roy Ayers
“Our Generation” by John Legend
Jazzmatazz Tribute by Jay Electronica (taken from ROC Nation)
“Cranes in the Sky” by Solange (taken from A Seat at the Table)
“Roll Call” by Cody Chestnut (taken from B-Sides)
“My People” by Jazzy Jeff (with Raheem Divine) (taken from Beat Generation: 10th Anniversary)
“Winter in America” by Gil Scott-Heron (taken from Listen Whitey!)
“For Us” by Solange (taken from A Seat at the Table)
“Fake Bonanza” by Mos Def (taken from True Magic)
(c. 1:10:00) “Inner City Boundaries” by Freestyle Fellowship
(c. 1:14:40) “Rappin’ Black” by Watts Prophets
(c. 1:15:00) “Dial 7” by Digable Planets (taken from Blowout Comb)
(c. 1:19:30) “On the Subway” by The Last Poets
(c. 1:21:00) “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” by Gil Scott-Heron
(c. 1:24:00) “Prophets of Rage” by Public Enemy (taken from Fear of a Black Planet)
(c. 1:27:20) “Walking” by Nneka (with Jay Electronica and Nas)
(c. 1:28:30) “The Rose That Grew From Concrete” by various artists, including Jasmine Guy and Nikki Giovanni (taken from The Rose That Grew From Concrete, 2009)
- (c. 1:35:45) host Idris recaps playlist
(c. 1:38:25) “The Awakening” by 4Hero (with Ursula Rucker)
Donnie Hathaway
“Little Ghetto Boy” by Donnie Hathaway (taken from The Colored Section)
(c. 1:53:30) “Cranes in the Sky” by Solange
- shout out to the people of Haiti from host Miss Idris (Chocolate Beats Radio)
(c. 1:56:40) “Africa” by D’Angelo
- station identification by host Idris
(c. 1:59:40) “Love Don’t Live Here Anymore” by Rose Royce
(c. 2:03:55) “That’s the Way of the World” by Earth, Wind & Fire
(c. 2:09:30) “Happy Feelings” by Maze (taken from The Greatest Hits of Maze)
- host Idris updates the playlist
- (c. 2:17:30) false start: “Isn’t She Lovely” by Stevie Wonder
(c. 2:18:40) “As” by Stevie Wonder (taken from Songs in the Key of Life)
(c. 2:25:50) “For the Love of Money” by The O’Jays
“Lady Marmalade” (1975) interpreted by Labelle
(c. 2:35:39) Easy by The Commodores
(c. 2:40:00) “Searching” by Roy Ayers [sampled in the classic track “Be a Father to Your Child”]
- (c. 2:44:00) host Miss Idris updates playlist
(c. 2:45:25) “After The Dance” by Marvin Gaye
“Get On the Floor” by Michael Jackson (taken from Off the Wall)
(c. 2:54:00) (taken from The Whiz)
- host Miss Idris updates the playlist and identifies the terrestrial radio station transmission
(c. 3:00:00) “No Love” by Little Dragon
“This Ain’t Love” by Joss Stone (taken from Water For Your Soul)
(c. 3:08:30) “The Sweetest Thing” by Lauryn Hill
(c. 3:13:05) “Killing Time” by Destiny’s Child
(c. 3:18:00) “The Teaching” by Meshell Ndegeocello (taken from Money Talks Soundtrack)
(c. 3:25:40) [piano track: unknown] by [artist: Erykah Badu (vocals); Questlove (drums)] (taken from Men In Black Soundtrack)
- (c. 3:26:50) host Miss Idris updates the playlist
(c. 3:29:00) “Fight” by Alicia Keys (taken from Ali Soundtrack)
(c. 3:33:10) “Feel the Music” by Guru (taken from Jazzmatazz, Volume #2: The New Reality)
(c. 3:39:00) [track: Patience] by [artist: Chaos] (taken from Exit)
(c. 3:43:00) “9th Wonder (Blackitolism)” by Digable Planets (taken from Blowout Comb)
(c. 3:47:30) “C.R.E.A.M.” (2014, cover) by Ensemble Mik Nawooj (symphony orchestra with S.F. Bay Area MCs Do-D.A.T. and Sandman) (taken from Ensemble Mik Nawooj: A Hip-Hop Orchestra)
- (c. 3:51:10) Host Miss Idris updates the playlist
(c. 3:53:00) “Eric B For President” by Eric B and Rakim
(c. 3:59:28) [end of terrestrial radio transmission]

[2] Terrestrial radio transmission, 94.1 FM (KPFA, Berkeley, CA) with online simulcast and digital archiving: Hard Knock Radio, this one-hour broadcast hosted by Davey D, Monday, 24 OCT 2016, 16:00 PDT. [For some unfortunate reason, perhaps due to an inability to edit out music with copyright restrictions from audio archives after they’ve been broadcast, Hard Knock Radio archives are usually removed from public access two weeks after the initial broadcast.]

[3] KPFA News Headlines (read by Gabriela Castelan), summary:

First news headline was what we understand through our critical media literacy studies as junkfood news or news abuse. The first headline is about the personality of Donald Trump and the meme about Trump’s response in the final debate about possibly complaining about the 2016 presidential election outcome, if he suspects electoral fraud. Nothing new is revealed, but the corporate news memes of superficial differences between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are perpetuated, as the real issues and substance of their political records are obfuscated, not to mention alternative political candidates are censored, underreported, and marginalised.
Dakota Access Pipeline resistance update: police pepper spray people resisting the pipeline construction.
Tom Hayden died yesterday.

[4] University of California Television (UCTV), posted to YouTube 3 NOV 2008, Series: Voices [5/2001] [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 5720]

“Activist and author Elaine Brown, the first and only woman to lead the Black Panther Party speaks on issues of race with reference to her new book New Age Racism. She discusses the Black experience throughout American history and the issue of reparations for all descendants of slaves.”

cf. https://youtu.be/8oYtzBf3z6g

***

[11 OCT 2016]

[Last modified on 01 JAN 2020 at 06:58 PST]

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UCTV | Elaine Brown: New Age Racism

03 Mon Nov 2008

Posted by ztnh in Anti-Capitalism, Anti-Fascism, Anti-Racism, Civic Engagement (Activism)

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basic income guarantee, David Gilbert, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (b. Michael King Jr. 1929–1968), Elaine Brown (b. 1943), Mothers Advocating Juvenile Justice, Mumia Abu Jamal (b. 1954), reparations, Romaine "Chip" Fitzgerald, UC Television, UCTV, unconditional basic income (UBI), universal basic income (UBI), World Bank

LUMPENPROLETARIAT—America needs more sincere, honest, plain-speaking people, like Elaine Brown, to end the gaslighting in our society. Don’t we? And Elaine Brown is funny as hell, too, especially when she drops acid remarks upon her predominantly white, liberal audience. Occasional images of white ladies, aghast, are hilarious, no offense. I love all people, including white people. But the points Elaine Brown makes are so matter-of-fact, that she seems like a relic from another era, before people lost the courage to speak freely. She’s like an outspoken free-thinking person from the 20th century speaking to domesticated, defanged, and complacent 21st century liberals. I might be wrong. That’s just my reading of the room.

Like Fred Hampton, who organized the original Rainbow Coalition, to organize working class black, brown, and white people against the evils of capitalism in a “proletarian revolution”, Elaine Brown is also speaking to everyone, including expressing solidarity with all oppressed peoples, from Native Americans onward.

Their struggle is our struggle. And what about the Chicanos in the fields of California? Our friend, Cesar Chavez, who was a very close friend of the Black Panther Party, and all the others, that we knew that were in the barrios of Los Angeles. How can we talk about our freedom, if we aren’t talking about the freedom of the Chicano people?
Elaine Brown (c. 59:30)

Elaine Brown challenges our conventional notions of American history and so-called "race" relations. Dr. King's legacy has been carelessly, if not maliciously, watered down over the decades. We have to admit our school books have never thought it was age-appropriate, evidently, for the youth to learn the truth about Dr. King, beyond an abstract, toothless Dream. Dr. King's actual analysis and conclusions are too often obfuscated, snuffed out. If we can't even talk about the things Dr. King talked about toward the end of his life, than not only have we not advanced since the time of Martin and Malcom, but we may have even regressed. For example, Elaine Brown reminds us that Dr. Martin Luther King's 1963 Dream was not just an affective abstraction, but a very real call for truth and reconciliation, which could most powerfully be symbolized by material testimony, legislation, and financial reparations. The entire question of reparations, of a guaranteed income for all Americans, was buried, along with Dr. King's abused corpse. Elaine Brown points out that Dr. King always called for reparations for blacks, especially by 1968, which is what the Poor People's Campaign was all about.Elaine Brown challenges our conventional notions of American history and so-called “race” relations. Dr. King’s legacy has been carelessly, if not maliciously, watered down over the decades. We have to admit our school books have never thought it was age-appropriate, evidently, for the youth to learn the truth about Dr. King, beyond an abstract, toothless Dream. Dr. King’s actual analysis and conclusions are too often obfuscated, snuffed out. If we can’t even talk about the things Dr. King talked about toward the end of his life, than not only have we not advanced since the time of Martin and Malcom, but we may have even regressed. For example, Elaine Brown reminds us that Dr. Martin Luther King’s 1963 Dream was not just an affective abstraction, but a very real call for truth and reconciliation, which could most powerfully be symbolized by material testimony, legislation, and financial reparations. The entire question of reparations, of a guaranteed income for all Americans, was buried, along with Dr. King’s abused corpse. Elaine Brown points out that Dr. King always called for reparations for blacks, especially by 1968, which is what the Poor People’s Campaign was all about.

Messina

***

UCTV—[3 NOV 2008] Activist and author Elaine Brown, the first and only woman to lead the Black Panther Party speaks on issues of race with reference to her new book New Age Racism. She discusses the Black experience throughout American history and the issue of reparations for all descendants of slaves.

Series: Voices [5/2001] [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 5720]

“Elaine Brown: New Age Racism” by UC Television (YouTube)

Learn more at UCTV.

***

[Notes and transcription by Messina for Lumpenproletariat, UCTV, and Elaine Brown]

(c. 59:35) “Their struggle is our struggle. And what about the Chicanos in the fields of California? Our friend, Cesar Chavez, who was a very close friend of the Black Panther Party, and all the others, that we knew who were in the barrios of Los Angeles. How can we talk about our freedom, if we’re not talking about the freedom of the Chicano people? (Who used to call themselves Spanish, until they decided to go ahead and come on home, like black people did. You know? It used to be ‘negroes’; it became black. It used to be Spanish. ‘No, I’m a Mexican, a Chicano. I’m proud of that.’ And we helped to form the coalition that helped to initiate the Brown Berets in Southern California.

(c. 1:00:12) “And how can we be free, if the Puerto Ricans are languishing in the sweatshops of New York? And, so, we organized with the Young Lords and said, ‘Their freedom is our freedom.’

(c. 1:00:24) “And how can we be free, if the Chinese people, driven to the west coast like dogs, are not free in America? We can’t be. So, we formed a coalition with the Red Guard.

“And how can we be free, if poor whites are living in Appalachia and never got the drill that we were never their enemy. We can’t be. So, we formed a coalition with the white Patriot Party—not to be confused with the SDS intellectuals on the campus. The white Patriot Party armed young whites, talkin’ about the same agenda, that we had, revolutionary change in America.

(c. 1:00:52) “How can we be free, if women in this country were living like dogs and less than human beings? So, we said that the direction of women’s liberation was our liberation.

“How can we be free, when gay people are oppressed in this country. We say gay liberation is our liberation.

“And we set the agenda and the goal and vision, that was truly inclusive. It wasn’t multicultural. It was truly inclusive because we understood that our liberation had to come with the iteration of all human beings, who are oppressed and alienated and otherwise ostracized from this society.

“But the society would have to change. You know? Capitalism really has to go. We can’t have one guy owning as much as a hundred million people. We really know one human being is really not worth a hundred million people. We want to change the paradigm, and very much like Dr. King did, because many people said that Dr. King, at the end of his life, started talking like a Black Panther. And he was.

— snip —

(c. 1:02:54) “Even though he said himself in 1967, after the Detroit uprising and so many others before, he said: Look, how can I tell these young blacks and urban Americans to stop throwing Molotov cocktails in this country out of rage? How can I talk to them about the nonviolent resolution of conflict when their very country will send them to resolve conflict with violence? With some innocent people in Vietnam? Only to come home and be oppressed in their own country? No. I cannot. And I will not.

“He says that. But we erased that from the books.

“But, in 1968, what was Dr. King doing? He was organizing the Poor People’s Campaign. This was not about the Memphis Garbage Strike. This was about the Poor People’s Campaign. And what was the Poor People’s Campaign about?

“The Poor People’s Campaign was he tells us in words, in written words, on film, everywhere, he says: Look, in ’63 we talked about the check hadn’t been cashed. And in ’68, we gon’ cash the check. We goin’ to Washington to cash the check. And we’re not leaving until it’s cashed.

“Now, what does that mean? It means we’re talking about reparations for blacks. We’re talking about guaranteed income for all people in this country. We’re talkin’ about universal healthcare for everyone.

“These were the words, that he said. This wasn’t some [abstract] dream or fantasy. They were very concrete issues. And, worse, redistribution of wealth. They forgot that stuff—maybe ‘cos it’s been written out.

(c. 1:04:17) “So, that vision of his, of ours, was lost, especially when that bullet entered his brain and took his life because that left a gaping hole not only in the blacks in this country, but also the entire country. So, we slid. And we’ve been backsliding quite a bit since then.

“And we are right back where we started. Why are blacks poor? What’s the problem? The problem is a failure of will. And a failure of commitment to really talk about a country, and to make the commitment, that Thomas Jefferson gave lip service to. And that, of course, being life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and those kinds of ideals.

“So, what the Black Panther Party attempted to do—and what that history [shows]—what that history gives us is an opportunity to look back at a vision and what happened to it. And where do we want to go in this country? Do we really want to be so divided along these lines? And, more importantly, do we black people and other poor people want to be equal?

“Or do we want to have the right to beat up Rodney King? Or do we want to be Colin Powell, killing 400,000 people in Iraq in the name of oil interests and, specifically, George Bush’s oil interests?

“Is that who we really want to be?

“Do we want to have the World Bank own the entire continent of Africa?

— snip —

“Do we really want to oppress the entire world?

— snip —

(c. 1:06:19) “And, so, we have to get back to a vision of who we really are. And that, I think, is in memory of what Black History Month ought to do for us—and not let us get side-tracked onto these special cases of these entertaining negroes, which is what I call them, because they really don’t have any other role to play. The same role, that slaves had many, many years ago, which was to entertain.”

(c. 1:06:40) “And, so, in closing, I will say this

— snip —

(c. 1:07:42) Q&A

A young white guy asked about an education reform issue. Elaine Brown reminded the young man that the American educational system was never designed for liberal education, but simply to train workers, to teach them how to more effectively recognize the 8 o’clock bell and the 5 o’clock bell. Admittedly, she ran roughshod all over his question, bringing up everyone from Che Guevara to the Battle of Seattle to Rodney King. The young man followed along patiently. Then, she did come back round to his question, in earnest, but tried to convey the complexity of the question.

“Yes, education should be free.” If only Elaine Brown knew about MMT.

“All teachers should have starting salary of $100,000 right now.” Audience applauded.

Then, Elaine Brown cited Jonathan Kozol, a “personal friend” of hers with a healthy critique of liberal illusions and divisive politics, which turn blacks against Hispanics. She cited the they’re-taking-our-jobs trope parroted by some blacks, when we haven’t had any jobs in the black community since 1973, she quipped.

“So, I don’t have the answer. But I’m telling you that your commitment will deliver the answer to you.”

The young white guy felt unsatisfied, so he proceeded to ask another question about higher education. Elaine Brown interjected that early childhood education and elementary education was more important a priority because poor children are being woefully deprived. She said it’s all about funding. “I don’t know where you’re gonna get the money,” she lamented. Again, if only she and the young white man and Jonathan Kozol, while we’re at it, if only more people knew about MMT. We wouldn’t be asking the question about where do we get the money. Of course, if we’re not careful, without a strong political base ready to mobilize on the unraveling of the MMT secret, the state will simply appropriate the reality of MMT for its own unaccountable agenda to the detriment of the people.

(c. 1:15:42) The next interlocutor, a black guy with dreads asked about reparations, but expressed skepticism about the possibility of reparations in America. Brown agreed that reparations will never come from the benevolence of white America, but insisted they’re required. In passing, Brown sharply condemned the South African Truth & Reconciliation hearings in South Africa, rebuking them for putting Winnie Mandela on trial. “They should have been ashamed.”

But the U.S. hasn’t even had any Truth and Reconciliation hearings at all. “The Germans, at least, acknowledged a crime existed.”

— snip —

“There’s plenty of money for reparations.”

— snip —

“But I think black people have to force this issue.”

— snip —

Elaine Brown comes to the same conclusion as Malcom X, Frantz Fanon, et al. and other survivors of narcissistic abuse: You don’t turn to your abuser for understanding, sympathy, or justice. You carefully and safely, walk away and leave. But when it’s in your own home, in your own country, in your own nation. The abused must seek legal justice from an outside, neutral third-party, i.e., an international court of justice.

(c. 1:20:59) “Why we are still looking for justice in the courts of America is always shocking to me. It’s like: Is there any clue here that the courts are not operating in your favor. They’ve dismantled every single thing, that served our interest. It’s so dire.

— snip —

(c. 1:24:35) Next question from the audience, a young white woman, who was shown in the audience during the talk, looking overwhelmed. She asked, how do we deal with all of the divergent single-issue movements and identity politics without diluting our own cause? Elaine Brown’s answer is honest. It takes a lot of hard work, finding like-minded individuals, and then building an organization. It’s not fun. And it often has few rewards. But it’s how the Black Panther Party was started, by just a handful of individuals.

Elaine Brown went on to remind the audience about the political prisoners, still languishing in jail today, such as Mumia Abu Jamal and Romaine “Chip” Fitzgerald. I would also add David Gilbert among many others. These upright Americans are languishing in prison simply for engaging in activism, like we teach our kids to do in civics class, like the young white woman in the audience was asking for advice to do, to follow in the footsteps of the many upright Americans of the 1960s and ’70s, perhaps.

— snip —

[end of notes/transcription; see video link above for the full remarks by Elaine Brown on UCTV…]

***

[1 JAN 2020]

[Last modified on 1 JAN 2020 at 11:03 PST]

Lumpenproletariat

~ free speech

Tag Archives: Elaine Brown (b. 1943)

In Honour of the 50th Anniversary of the Revolutionary Black Nationalist and Socialist Black Panther Party for Self-Defense

UCTV | Elaine Brown: New Age Racism

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