Emeli
Pendo (Love)
Amani (Peace)
Umoja (Unity) Message

Revolutionary Greetings
To All Comrades and Allies of the Struggle
"Shalom Aleyka, Amani, Salaam Alaykum"
Habari Ndugus—Comrades and Allies

I am Komrad Ben Amani Bet, a member of the New Afrikan Black Panther Party (Texas branch) making my presence known as I greet you with a clenched fist salute in Panther Love and Spirit.

It's been well overdue for this message of inspiration and power, to exhort you to continue to struggle on and push forward, and our utmost need to communicate, to educate, to liberate the oppressed and exploited have built with and got embraced via the collective cadre building of Comrades Rashid, Shaka Zulu, T.B.W.W., and many others who have kept me up. I applaud them for their revolutionary work and strides, for we are our own liberators. Justice or else! 10-10-15

I exhort all comrades and allies to put aside petty differences and beefs, and to unite, network, and build, staying abreast of current events and one another so that we can fortify our homes, community, and our society—for we are at war and have to unite against our oppressors to protect and defend our loved ones and leaders. We also must expose and steer clear of reactionaries, agent provocateurs, and parasitic leaders whom only aim to sell us out for personal and political gain. These saboteurs are very detrimental to our struggle for freedom, justice, and equality.

We must knock the brains out of racism in the United States, which is structural. This means racism is a system-wide effort to "divide and conquer" the people. Divide and conquer is a very old tactic which was also used in India and sub-Saharan Africa. It means winning by getting your enemies to fight against each other.

In the US, White supremacists have played a large role in dividing and conquering the working class, which includes the unemployed and underemployed. The first British colonies in North America were set up as corporate-owned trading posts. They bought and sold raw materials and finished goods. At first, labor for the colonies was provided by poor white indentured servants. The servants were forced to work to pay off debts and were set free when the debt was paid. The first Afrikans who came to the colonies were indentured servants, not slaves. Multi-racial servants lived, worked, and socialized together. They generally got along with each other because they bonded over shared conditions as members of the working class.

In 1640, three servants ran away from their master in Virginia. They were John Punch (black), James Gregory (white), and a man named Victor (white). All three men were caught and whipped. The two white men were sentenced to additional four years of servitude. John Punch was ordered to be an indentured servant for the rest of his life. This is the first case known in US history where someone was sentenced to servitude for life. This was a major step towards creating racism and slavery in the United States.

The judges and lawmakers who gave this sentence did not think the black person deserved a harsher sentence than the white people. They gave the black person a harsher sentence on purpose, so that all of the indentured servants would start turning against each other. We oppressed nations became divided against each other by race so it was easier for the landowners to keep us all down. Divide and conquer.

After John Punch's case, lawmakers built up a social system where all white people ranked above all people of color.

[Black-and-white photo of author. It looks like a mugshot and he isn't smiling.]