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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."
In 1922 legal scholar Pierre Hudicourt argued that the US military occupation of Haiti was illegal. As Haiti enters the 20th year of another illegal occupation, Hudicourt’s analysis resonates…
Arun Kundnani details the histories of liberal and radical anti-racism and argues that anti-racism ultimately means anti-capitalism.
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The impending occupation of Haiti by Kenya is supported by the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) with direct assistance in the mission coming from CARICOM states. The question is, why?
The Uhuru 3 were recently indicted by the federal government, continuing a historical pattern of connecting revolutionary Black organizations and movements to an outside malign state actor to destroy…
