Black Panthers: As Relevant As Ever

The only culture worth keeping is the revolutionary culture. Black culture must not be something that the enemy enjoys, appreciates or says is attractive. It must be repelling to the slave master. It must smash, shatter and crack his skull, crack his eyeballs open and make water and gold dust run out. (George Mason Murray, Black Panther Minister of Education, 1968)

When we talk about becoming free, we have to talk about power, getting all the goods, services and land, and returning them equally to the oppressed and enslaved Mexicans, Blacks, Indians, Puerto Ricans and poor whites in the U.S. and to the rest of the oppressed and hungry people of the world. (Murray, 1968) 

The racist dog oppressors have no rights which oppressed black people are bound to respect. The oppressor must be harassed until his doom. He must have no peace by day or night. (Bernadine Dohrn, Students for a Democratic Society Secretary)

Does Any of This – Black Lives or Vaccines – Actually Matter?

The job of the writer is to engage people on the horrors of the world even if they don’t care – they do not! – about all of the wrongs because it is how they themselves pretend to be willing to die for truth but actually only care about when their time will come and how their children might cry about that and then carry on and be worse.

So, no, none of it really matters.

DuVernay’s Documentary “13th” Needs To Be Seen

Ava DuVernay’s Academy-nominated documentary 13th exposes the intrinsic flaw of America’s 13th Amendment. DuVernay's Documentary "13th" Needs To Be SeenNeither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

While abolishing slavery is well and good – how did it ever happen in the first place?! – the amendment allows for the practice to continue through the penal system, a system that systematically incarcerates black males in America, a population that, only 4% of the overall population, accounts for 40% of prisoners. Black ManDuVernay outlines America’s dismal history of discrimination and servitude, citing Jim Crow laws as well as the systematic targeting of black leaders such as Angela Davis and Black Panther Fred Hampton.DuVernay's Documentary "13th" Needs To Be SeenPresidents Nixon, Reagan and Clinton are all indicted for the role in the morass as well as So-Called President Trump. Most insidious of all is the monetization of the mass incarcerations – corporations such as WalMart and Time Warner directly profiting from these policies – as well as the understanding that another iteration of the racist laws awaits us all. DuVernay's Documentary "13th" Needs To Be SeenDuVernay’s film needs to be seen. Okay, so what are you doing? Watch it now!Institution is not a building but a method