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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
â..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...â
She explains how the establishment turned took the politics out of activism, neutralizing and de-politicizing young political activists by turning them into âcommunity organizers."
In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book. This weekâs featured authors are Maya Schenwar and Kim Wilson.
While genocide is a clear cause of the democrats' defeat, economic issues are usually mentioned. What lingers behind the significance of the âitâs the economyâ narrative?
Tricontinentalism is the lens through which we should analyze the anti-imperialist movement, not only to understand the past but to build the movement against imperialist domination today. of theâŚ
In Africa, the leading forces of capitalism have ruthlessly wielded a neoliberal conception of corruption to undermine statesâ sovereignty and open the continent to plunder at the hands of WesternâŚ
The United States has escalated its proxy war in Syria with the help of jihadist allies and continues destabilizing the entire West Asia region.
