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Mae Jackson is a New York City based writer, poet, dreamer and doer whose record of activism on behalf of her people stretches back to SNCC. A founder of Art Without Walls, an art program for the children of imprisoned women, she is well acquainted with the difference between surface change, and fundamental, revolutionary change.
Here are a few minutes of her address to the crowd at May 31, 2009 event memorializing the early 20th century Harlem activist Hubert Harrison, in which she lays out a clear understanding of whose lips move when our First Black President speaks. Referring to some of Barack Obama's widely acclaimed orations at the Democratic convention, atop Lincoln's tomb, and other places, she tells us
“..those wonderful speeches made by the young man from Chicago were actually crafted, that's written, by three young white men 25, 26 and 31 years old. We got the unfortunate opportunity once again to see the world through their eyes. Obama was the spokesperson. Same as when you buy a painting, that doesn't make you the painter...”
She explains how the establishment turned took the politics out of activism, neutralizing and de-politicizing young political activists by turning them into “community organizers."
"Kid growing up under growing fascism" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence.
Israel has been singled out for immunity rather than accountability, exposing the "rules-based order" as a farce.
Caribbean governments are betraying Cuba through silence and compliance with U.S. empire. The only way to challenge this failure of leadership is for the people to build an anti-imperialist movement.
Cuba has provided Guyana with doctors, scholarships, and healthcare for nearly five decades. In return, Guyana's government has turned its back at the moment of Cuba's greatest need.
Jesse Jackson's legacy is complicated and sometimes contradictory, as he engaged in both radicalism and in political expediency.
