A NEW AFRIKAN VISION

"The future OF BLACKS ALL OVER THE WORLD IS INTERCONNECTED. It was so in the past when BLACK CIVILIZATIONS were under serious pressure. A Continental African state is a prerequisite for the SURVIVAL OF BLACK SOCIETIES WHEREVER THEY MIGHT BE. Black communities MUST find a way to articulate their HISTORICAL UNITY. The ties between black Africans and blacks of Asia, Oceania, the Caribbean, South America, and the Unites States MUST BE STRENGTHENED ON A RATIONAL BASIS."

-Cheikh Anta Diop

To those in the "tombs" -- Angola, Marion, Florence, Chochilla, Attica, Pelican Bay, etc. -- and Balc/Afrikan people across the World, those not made alien and apathetic towards our plight and struggle. You, the purveyors of OUR TRUTHS, you, OUR VISIONARIES, you, OF INNNOVATIVE INSIGHTS, you, OF RADICAL PRINCIPLES WHOM HAVE AS YOUR SPECIAL MISSION THE UNSELFISH AIM OF CULTIVATING AND GUIDING OUR BLACK WORLD AND INDEED THAT OF HUMANITY. I call on you, lend your time, energy and expertise towards making a reality the "Black ankh."
I call on you, those of an ILLUMINATING "THIRD-EYE," you, whom are equipped to LEAD OUR WORLD OUT THE TURMOIL, you, who BY OUR WAY, have SHARPENED YOUR SAGACIOUS KNOWLEDGE FOR THE ORGANIZATION AND DELIVERANCE OF AFRIKAN PEOPLE IN DIRE NEED OF DEFEATING, CREATIVELY, THE PATHOLOGIES THAT ARE CONSUMING OUR WORLD.
I call on you, those whom are not wallowers in pessimism and who've not become weighed down by the heavy burden of fatalism, you, whose hearts have not succumb to mediocrity, an inferiority complex which immerse one's mind in the chains of nihilism. Come, come WE URGE YOU, the ROYAL, you of PRECIOUS and ENDURING IDEAS, JOIN OUR URGENT MISSION, OUR JOURNEY OF COLLECTIVE LOVE, WE of DIOPIAN SPIRITS, HARRIET TUBMANIAN DEEP COMMITMENT, you, ENLIST in this MOVEMENT of the GREAT, you, who can DELIVER STRATEGIC DEPTH, LOGISTICAL PROFICIENCY, you, the ASTUTE ADMINISTRATORS, TECHNICAL WIZARDS, INGENIOUS TACTICIANS, WE CALL ON OUR WORLD'S QUEEN MOTHERS, WINNIES, YAYA ASANTEWAS, ASSATA SHAKURS, NZINGAS, your, OUR LUMUMBAS, GARVEYS, NKRUMAHS, BIKOS, MALCOLM Xs, you, of DRAGON BLOOD, you, of KEEN PERCEPTION, METAPHYSICAL FLIGHTS, BRING YOUR RESOURCEFULNESS, ENGINEERING GIFTS, MEDICAL POWERS, SUPREME TALENTS to help us give birth to OUR "BLACK ANKH."
Let US EMBRACE this call to ACTION, you and all qualified and the caring whom are ever prepared and eager to SACRIFICE so that the Afrikan World might SOAR LIKE A FALCON in the Creator's sky, you and all of PRIDE, recognize our ANCESTORS, and like OUR PYRAMIDS and SPHINXS OF REGALITY, again, in COMMUNALISM, [underlined text begins] RISE [underlined text ends]!

"Were the eye not of the Sun, how would we behold the light? If God's might and ours were not one, how could his work enchant our night?"

-J.W. Von Goethe

As I write this piece, my heart is deeply pained, as I've actually cried for our people, who've UNNECESSARILY DIED due to the "Coronavirus" pandemic. If nothing else that this terrible disease should teach Black people/New Afrikans in the United States and indeed across the globe, is that we MUST OWN OUR OWN SPACE to assure the natural resources, raw materials, rare strategic minerals and human labor power, is directed towards our survival and scientific-technological development--WITHOUT APOLOGY.
How many out there remember hearing this particular instructive saying: "WHEN WHITE PEOPLE CATCH A COLD, BLACK PEOPLE CATCH THE FLU!"? Yeah, this very instructive saying has ever proven to be true and must teach US the URGENCY of assuming the DUTY to care for OURSELVES! Yes, we catch "Hell," in especially White dominated contexts, to include Arab-Muslims whom practice racism as well, and as such, it is incumbent upon US to organize our priorities in a manner to whence communal aid is being extended on a coordinated basis across the earth.
If we're living in "reality," we know that inspite of all the multi-million dollar professional Sports Player, Hollywood Actors-Actresses, Singers-Rappers, Preachers, certain Corporate, Industrial and Financial millionaires, etc., etc., that the greater percentage of OUR PEOPLE, are still "catchin' Hell," e.g., residing in deep poverty, unemployment, low-paying jobs, lack of quality healthcare, if at all, The New Jim Crow, evictions, homelessness, shorter life-expectancy, high infant mortality, food-desserts, gang violence, suicides, homicides, a drug epidemic, high rates of illiteracy, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, high blood pressure, strokes, obesity, depression, domestic violence, PTSD, etc., etc.
Whom of us would really be surprised to find that that a similar pattern exists in Afrika, Brazil, Haiti, Colombia, Mexico, Jamaica, India or wherever there are Black people? Another similar pattern that is vital to understand, in terms of the serious implications involved regarding the apt saying: "When white people catch a cold, Black people catch the Flu," is that, Black people in the United States and around the globe STILL SUFFER AND HAVE SUFFERED A PANDEMIC FOR HUNDREDS OF YEARS. The "pandemic" that I speak of are interrelated and interdependent phenomenon: WHITE MALE SUPREMACY and CAPITALISM, i.e., INSTITUTIONALIZED RACISM MANIFESTED VIA IMPERIALIST DOMINATION BY THE WHITE WORLD.
This is simply a basic and irrefutable FACT.
Yes, the global pandemic that the Black or Afrikan World is truly and destructively afflicted by, the greatest and most deadliest disease ever, is that of the "COLONA-VIRUS" or "CORONA-NIZED VIRUS." To be clear, these are simply apt metaphors for these times, apt and appropriate metaphors serving to describe one of the greatest UNNATURAL DISASTERS, besides the Arab-Islamic INVASIONS of the Black World, to hit Afrikan peoples, which is technically defined and referred to as "COLONIALISM" and/or these days that of "NEO-COLONIALISM."
Let us never forget how the Aryans invaded and never left ancient Black Indus-Kush, today's "India." What Black people in Brazil, Haiti, Jamaica, the United States, Colombia, Canada, etc. experienced and continue to endire is that of COLONIAL DOMINATION as well, even as it has been defined and referred to as "SLAVERY." I believe it was Frantz Fanon whom stated that "Colonialism is the absolute reduction of an entire people, to the status of slaves." Yet, if we're wise and perceptive we'd recognize that, at bottom, COLONIALISM, in whichever form, is nothing more than ECONOMIC, SOCIAL, PSYCHO-EMOTIONAL, CULTURAL-RELIGIO, MILITARY and POLITICAL DOMINATION, i.e., oppressive subjugation equals the ENSLAVEMENT of a PEOPLE.
This is a very important point to make since otherwise there will continue to be Black people, as is here in the United States, who think and believe that the ONLY problem in which we are dealing with, is that of the deadly and destructive virus of White racism, which is far from the truth, a truth that we're made the more wiser to "get into our thick heads."

"CORONA-NIZED!"

At any rate, I think it was from Malcolm X, a fierce and truly sincere and principled guardian of Black folks' interests, unlike so many frauds today, that I first heard the aforementioned saying from, when I was still "wet behind the ears." Yet, as we're obviously witnessing at this moment in human history, sadly and unfortunately, the saying still rings quite true, since, once again, Black folks the World-Over, I'd surmise, are suffering disproportionately or inordinate LOSSES of LIFE due to "CVID-19."
Nothing new or surprising there, huh? It definitely says much when our people automatically assume the worst or don't ever bother to wonder just "who" it might be that are "hit the hardest," in every socio-economic category. We've become so immune by and normalized to these types of problems, that a sense of "paralyzing defeat" has too many extremely pessimistic, as far as our being really able to ever find lasting solutions is concerned. From Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Houston, Texas, Chicago, Illinois, Los Angeles, California, Harlem, New York, South Carolina, Miami, Florida, Detroit, Michigan, etc., etc. the statistics reveal a stark and consistent pattern which involves the so-called "African-Americans"--OUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS--succumbing to and suffering from this virus, even as Black folks only make up 30% or less of these areas, yet we make-up 70% or more of the DEAD-DYING and/or severely sickened.
Then, to top matters off, as usual or can certainly be expected, POLITICAL PIMPS, from the White House or down, and yes, even those of the "Negro House," whom invariably serve, like the puppets that they truly are, as compliant apologists (rationalizers and justifiers), from all veins of this beastful and deceitfully rigged society, in total complacency, are before their monopolized "free" press spitting deeply deceiving MYTHS, like the one that our kind are somehow genuinely "cared for," i.e., the "We're All In This Together," BULLSHIT!
As the saying goes in the "Hoods": "SAVE THE DRAMA FO' YO' MOMMA!" Those of us whom live in reality and hence absolutely have no type of investment this super-exploitative and oppressive WAR-MOTIVATED Capitalist-Imperialist System, don't "buy yo' bullshit!" Of course, as is standard procedure, this feigned "concerned" shall soon fade as the rules of this country--Empire!--get back to "business as usual," i.e., PROFIT ACCUMULATION OVER HUMAN LIFE AND MOTHER-EARTH. That, you can bet your life on...
White racism, as THE only truly functional-institutionalized racism in this society and indeed the World, and this includes Arab-White societies and that of Euro-Semitic Israel, that is a PERMANENT FEATURE of the United States and that of the entire Western-World. To my quite cogent mind, this is THE real DEADLY and most DEVASTATING "VIRUS," as the "PANDEMIC DISEASE" in which it surely IS, for Black folks, which consumes the lives of PEOPLE OF COLOR, even though, the last time I checked, "White," too, is a "color," correct?
On an exceptionally macabre level, we've endured all sorts of "viruses" originating from and thus our being afflicted by the White World: e.g., genocide, constant murderous invasions, enslavement, constant wars, nuclear radiation, ecological and climate devastation, drought induced starvation related to colonial-capitalist operations, mustard gas, agent orange, apartheid, Jim Crow, CIA-FBI assassinations of our most sincere and principled guardians, The New Jim Crow, etc., etc. Now, even as I realize that what I'm about to stress many will surely view as "too harsh," still, I must be honest and say exactly what's in my bruised heart, a heart that cries out in identifying with and being genuinely concerned about OUR PEOPLE, "hit hard" by the CVID-19 Virus.
What I here stress is: BLACK FOLKS "HOPE AND "PRAY," TOO DAMN MUCH! This, even as many of us line up by the droves to attend the Temple, Mosque or Church of Preachers, Rabbis, Imams, Pastors, EVER MEN, whom are obviously PIMPS and PLAYERS, i.e. those whom use religion or faith to exploit and control-direct people, especially those of the LOWER and WORKING CLASSES, and that of the New Afrikan Underclass. It goes without saying, that not all engage in the deceptively harmful games as seen by those whom profess to "heal" people's medical ailments or ailment by simply "touching them or their hand" or on the "forehead" to cause them to "walk" again.
Why we allow "sharks" like this to exploit our people, is beyond my understanding, yet, we do just this! By "hoping" and "praying" too much, I am referring to the naive believe--i.e., DREAM or ILLUSION--that meaningful and lasting CHANGE will come without our getting "DOWN" and "DIRTY" or "OFF OUR BUTTS" to FORCE it to happen. I'm referring to that HARMFUL THINKING or IDEA that somehow these exploitative and oppressive systems, WHITE MALE SUPREMACY + CAPITALISM, will CHANGE to such a degree, that our people, not simply the "chosen few," will be allowed to "jump on the band-wagon" or to "play the game" designed towards pursuing and advancing the material-financial interests or priorities of the White Ruling Class, Republicans-Conservatives, Democrats-Liberals and those in-between.
I'm referring to those of y'all--including the vast majority involved in the "Black Lives Matter" movement--whom refuse to realize the permanently destructive and criminally-rigged nature of this country. Yes, too many of our people "hope" and "pray" that Amerika will miraculously change and even and even believe that it is our responsibility to get Her to recognize Her errors, errors that are actually built-in Her nature. To force Her to accept and value our people's humanity, etc., etc., ever by showing or proving our worth.
This is done via our fighting and dying in White ruling class wars and pillage and domination and being loyal to their exploitative scrips in other areas which serve the interests of those at the apex of this nation. Shame on us all! No, our responsibility must ONLY go towards changing our mere "hopes" and "prayers" into effective and enduring ACTION, since only OUR PEOPLE can and will "SAVE OURSELVES!" So, come our of your Churches, Mosques, Temples or what-have-you, to "Help Us, Help Us!," as the Creator has obviously equipped each of us with the POWERS or ABILITIES to "DO FOR SELF!"--i.e., intellectually, scientifically, medically, economically, militarily, culturally, physically, religiously and politically.

"SOME OF US ARE HIDING BEHIND RELIGION TO AVOID OUR RESPONSIBILITES."

-John H. Clarke

Indeed! Even the ancestor-guardian Frantz Fanon, in his deeply illuminating book "Wretched of the Earth," speaks to and provides evidence of many amongst us who are doing everything possible "TO AVOID OUR RESPONSIBILITIES," as for instance looking for "God" or "Allah," to save us from the oppression and white domination, engaging in "tribalism" or violent-motivated ethnic conflicts and doing so, while ignoring and refusing to confront those of the white-world whom exploit and subjugate our people, etc., etc.
In the United States, we see or experience this strong and dangerous level of AVOIDANCE as far as GANG BANGING, PIMPING, PLAYERS, HOUSE NEGROES, PASTORS, IMAMS, RABBIS, PREACHERS, PRIESTS, BLACK POLICE, SHERIFFS, STATE TROOPERS, FBI AGENTS, DEA, ATF, JUDGES, DISTRICT ATTORNEYS-PROSECUTORS, THOSE IN THE U.S. MILITARY, NATIONAL GUARD, COAST GUARD, PROFESSIONAL SPORTS, RAPPERS-SINGERS, HOLLYWOOD ACTORS/ACTRESSES, CORPORATE, FINANCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL AMERIKA, PRISON GUARDS, ETC., ETC. Logically, the question to be answered and deeply explored or pondered is: WHAT ARE OUR SELF-MOTIVATORS OR INTERESTS, OF COURSE, IN WHICH THE ANCESTORS HAVE IN MIND AND WHY DO SOME OF US AVOID THESE RESPONSIBILITIES?
I'd have to say that one of the MAIN and PREVAILING "responsibilities" that some of us AVOID, actually I believe it is really the great majority of us, although by degrees, is the TRUTH!, i.e., our fundamental reality in Amerika and indeed the world, for all Black folks. The TRUTH or REALITY in which I'm referring to, is the fact of our people being or remaining "CORONA-NIZED" by the deadly virus that is COLONIALISM/NEO-COLONIALISM and CAPITALISM, and for Blacks in Afrika, that of IMPERIALISM, which is nothing more than WHITE SUPREMACY IN CAPITALISM AS FAR AS WHITE MEN CONTROLLING THE AFRIKAN WORLD'S RESOURCES, RAW MATERIALS, LABOR-POWER AND KEEPING AFRIKAN GOVERNMENTS IN DEEP AND SUSTAINED HUGE DEBT.
It is these "Global Pandemics," that too many of our people "break their necks" trying, futilely, to AVOID RESPONSIBILITY of grasping so as to pursue and apply the necessary remedial measures towards liberating ourselves and improving our desperate and ruinous plight on this earth. I see the inordinate and frustrating level of AVOIDANCE here in the PRISON SYSTEM--i.e., "The New Jim Crow"-- where but a SMALL HANDFUL OF BLACK MEN, those whom come from some of the worst socio-economic circumstances and thus whom you'd think would be motivated to or have a deep interest in helping to create REAL CHANGE for self, family, and community--as a good-percentage "RUN TO" Arab-Islam and Euro-Christianity, totally ignoring or rejecting groups like the Nation of Islam and those rooted in the Black Panther Party's/New Afrikan's ideology-philosophy, whom at least have PROVEN of themselves to SERVE OUR PEOPLE.
Last time I checked, there aren't Arab-Muslims and nor White-Christians whom are in the "hoods" serving our people, and if they are, it's certainly only a miniscule of these groups, even as that isn't the major point I am here making. No, the main point that I am emphasizing is that, it is our responsibility to "Help Us, Help Us!," just as did/does the Nation of Islam and the various Black Panther Party formations and New Afrikan organizations which are "ACTIVE" today!
You see, this is the SAFER PATH, in their self-motivated, MOST CERTAINLY are ONLY WORRYING ABOUT THEIRSELF, even while DIVIDING OR SEPARATING THEMSELVES from other Black groups, religious or otherwise, to take as they certainly calculated that they MUST AVOID being perceived and thought of as being "POLITICIAL," so they "talk" and "walk" an extremely careful line to appease and prove to the proper authorities that "they're not a threat," i.e., that they've changed or have gotten the message of "BOWING DOWN!," to the expectations and programs of White Supremacist Amerika, although, of course, they'd be quite reluctant to accept this valid observation or would refuse to see things in this way, but, hey, that's life!
Deep denial, just as is clearly implied and indicated by the fact of so many of us AVOIDING our responsibilities by HIDING BEHIND religion, gangs, etc., etc. Yep, for the majority it's the "old game" of STAYING CLEAN IN HERE, JUST TO GET BACK OUT TO CONTINUE DOIN' DIRT TO THE BLACK COMMUNITY. In the nearly 40 YEARS I've been in Prison, I've seen Black men, some of whom I actually wishes were sincere, NOT "saints," as none of us are on this earth, as they had real potential and much to offer of themselves, return, again and again, upon being caught pushing POISON to Black folks or engaged in the "game," i.e., White Amerika's TRAPS!
Now, please don't get me wrong, I do believe in a "Creator," and believe that when correctly understood and practiced, that is, on a scientific-level; religion can definitely function as a positive force or asset in our communities or among our people. Yet, the idea and understanding of "God," which I maintain and practice is one that DEMANDS of its followers to ever live as productive and competent factors bowing to none and neither accepting any people to deny one the right of freedom from exploitation and oppression, which is naturally that of all human beings.
Indeed, if, as is often said, "God" would want an oppressed people or person to "live in the love of God," via valuing the privilege that is the journey of life, by not allowing others to take it away or to exploit or oppress them for their own evil-motives or gains--e.g., slavery racism, colonialism, capitalism, sexism, imperialism, etc.--would it not also DEMAND of that people or person to FIGHT FOR WHAT IT DESIRES FOR THEIR FAVOR? I've actually encountered Black Christians and brothers whom adhere to Arab-Islam that actually believe or think political groups like that of, for example, the Black Panther Party of Dr. Huey P. Newton and Katheleen Cleaver, were "racist," i.e., practiced "Black racism" for raising the slogan "Black Power," etc.
Wow! If this isn't strong proof of how effective our folks have been brainwashed, as far as their minds being twisted with lies regarding an organization like the BPP, which were literally the brave and deeply principled "guardians" of the Black community, I don't know what is? Most don't even realize that the BPP was a "Revolutionary Nationalist" organization which thoroughly opposed ANY form of racism and actually aided in and encouraged Euro-Amerikans to start the "White Panther Party," still alive or active in 2020.
The enemy is deviously good! There are so many Black men in Jails-Prisons whom are deeply FEARFUL of being seen as one whom is "POLITICAL," that they REFUSE to read certain materials-books dealing with and nor will display artwork symbolizing Black culture, history and leaders like Malcolm X, Assata Shakur, George Jackson, etc., even as they WILL and DO display symbols associated with Euro-Christianity and Arab-Islam. They're even "spooked" to possess and read certain political pieces that folks like me share, but work hard to persuade brothers to study the "Bible-Quran" and to attend Church or Juma.

"SOME OF US ARE HIDING BEHIND RELIGION TO AVOID OUR RESPONSIBILITIES"

"Moreover, ... the new abolitionists have got an extremely useful point: WHITNESS HAS BEEN MANIFEST IN OUR NATION IN HEGEMONIC, DESTRUCTIVE, AT TIMES EVIL WAYS, although MANY WHITES ARE LOATH TO ADMIT IT, WHITENESS IN ITS SUPREMACIST MODE, WHICH HAS BEEN ITS DOMINANT MODE, HAS POLLUTED OUR MORAL ECOLOGY THROUGH SLAVERY, COLONIALISM, IMPERIALISM, AND GENOCIDE."

-Michael Eric Dyson
(The michael eric dyson READER, P.127)

To be continued...

By: Joe L. (A'Jene) Valentine,
C 47779
Centinela State Prison
P.O. Box 921 (A3-224)
Imperial, CA 92251