On Correct Terminology

Sanyika Shakur, who was released from Pelican Bay SHU this August, wrote this essay to explain some of the specific spellings and terms used by members of the New Afrikan Independence Movement. It is a good contribution to developing mental and cultural resistance to patriarchal racist imperialist system. It is also posted on the Kersplebedeb website. More about, and by, Sanyika Shakur can be found at http://www.kersplebedeb.com/sanyikashakur.html.

On Correct Terminology and Spellings
En Route to Conscious Development and Socialist Revolution

There has been some dialogue generated recently that has come to focus on the way the New Afrikan Independence Movement (NAIM) uses certain spellings, particular words, phrases and slogans to distinguish, apply energy, weight and clarity to the ongoing and ever-increasing need for sharper, more critical, words of power to describe the socio-economic phenomena of national oppression.

What We’d like to do here is go through a few of these in use now which are generally accepted as a standard for cadres of NAIM, but may not be so obvious to others. And, too, the thing We’d like to do is open up a deeper line of dialogue, in this regard, in hopes of developing a unified field theory of comprehensive terminology to enhance the depth, breadth and momentum of revolutionary consciousness to the flow as We build for Peoples War (Vita Wa Watu [1]).

In our struggle to regain independence as a self-determining people, with dignity and pride, We overstand that We must have a national identity, a name. One that is neither given by our oppressors nor predicated on a racialist color. We must have a nationality, as a pre-requisite, if We are seriously forging the socio-economic constructs of a State in which to govern the nation(ality), i.e. the people/citizens. We necessarily begin at the beginning. We know We are descendants from peoples forcefully removed from the West Coast of the Afrikan continent. We know We haven’t fallen from the sky. We also have sure knowledge of the reasons We were brought here. But, Afrika is a continent of many people, and not a homogenous nation. It isn’t now, nor was it when the predators and destroyers came and probably hadn’t been since the early, early days of life.

On the continent there are nations and nationalities. There are various languages, cultures, politics, religions and customs. So, we know what when the predators and destroyers came they found many different people. We know they made deals with some to work in concert against others. It was a socio-economic arrangement -- a class alliance. Supply and demand. We often heard growing up, by amerikans, who wished to distance themselves from colonialism, that “your own people sold you into slavery.” Well, this is not altogether true, since essentially We’d never really all been one people -- certainly not by the time the predators came. And even among those of the same nation, there were class divisions and other contradictions. What We all were, however, was dark. Darker in complexion by far than the Europeans or the Arabs who came assailing Us. And thus it was this apparent “difference” that theyseized upon to make us “one people” -- black people first, then Afrikan, as a whole. Much like capitalism is now making all Spanish-speaking people into Latinos and/or Hispanics. Or how colonialism made into Indigenous people all “Indians”. But underneath this generalization were Nationalities and Nations. We knew this, certainly. For had you asked a captured woman who she was, say in 1580, she would not have said “I’m black”, nor would she have said “I’m Afrikan”. She’d have said “I am Akan” or “I am Fante”, or Hausa, Ibo, Fulani, Ewe, Yoruba, etc.

It was these various peoples, hailing from numerous nations and nationalities, that were brought together under colonialism and transported to the so-called “New World” to be utilized as a proletariat for the new European nations being built on stolen and occupied lands. By dint of brutal transport and collusion We were brought together under conditions less than human and barely tolerable. By our own internal dynamics and self-motion We essentially combined in these conditions to become a new people. No longer Ibo, Fulani, Ewe, Fante or Yoruba -- but Afrikan still. Our cultures weren’t so much destroyed as they were transformed. We survived and remade Ourselves on the residue of self-consciousness/self-motion. In a 100% hostile environment.

Of this We have sure knowledge. That from Los Angeles to New York and all areas in between, New Afrikans share the same culture Our ancestors forged in the cauldron of old colonialism. You know how the bourgeois media likes to parrot Boy Bush by saying “9-11 changed everything?” Well, in actuality, colonialism is really what changedeverything -- really. For just as We became a New Afrikan nation in North America, Indigenous nations were being decimated and a newEuropean nation-state called america was coming into existence.

This is how nations are really formed -- how nationalities come to be. They don’t mysteriously fall, ready-made, from the sky. It is human nature to bring into existence new unities (nations/nationalities) based on need or greed. So, while We may have come here as Fulani, Ewe, Ibo, etc., this is not who We are today. While simultaneously the Fulani, Ewe and Ibo people still exist in Afrika. The reality is, however,We can’t go back to the past. We’d be insincere running around Oakland or Brooklyn talking about “I’m Yoruba”, “I’m Hausa” -- cause We are not. Not anymore. We have Our own customs now. Our own culture, too. And even though We are saddled with the colonial language, We have Our own ways of using it to suit our needs. We now have Our own set of contradictions that are unique to Our particular social development here. And yet We are still Afrikan. Though We’ve come to overstand that being Afrikan wasn’t enough to describe Our particular experience and social development here. Nor was it sufficient to point Us in the direction of where We need to go -- that is, when and where We enter -- again -- onto the world stage of nations.

We keep emphasizing nationality and nation here because if you think about it -- meditate on it -- We can’t enter the world community of nations as “minorities”, as “blacks” or as “African Americans”. This would be absurd. Why, it’s akin to Us going out reppin’ amerika, the u.s. government, capitalism/imperialism and all that this entails. We’d be bourgeois amerikan nationalists. And don’t fool yourself, you’d stillbe a nationalist -- you’d just be a bourgeois nationalist. That is a representative of the new unity that amerika is under its ruling class. And, again, with all that this entails. So, We emphasize nationality and nation in order to bring the reality out that it is a choice one has on whether to side with the colonizer, or to struggle with the oppressed, which is essentially a struggle against oppression. Against u.s. capitalism/imperialism. Against being colonized and prevented from being yourself.

We have chosen New Afrikan as our Nationality because it adequately defines our experience. It brings the reality of Our transformation and new unity right down from and where it needs to be. It also affords Us an identity of our own, out and away from that given to us by our oppressors:

“‘New Afrikan’ reflects our identity as a nation and a people -- a nation and a people desiring self-determination. New Afrikans have been called ‘colored Americans’, ‘American Negroes’, ‘Black Americans’ and ‘Afro-Americans’.
“‘New Afrikan’ reflects our purpose as We desire freedom, self-determination and independence. By stating We are New Afrikans, We clarify We want to be independent from the amerikkkan empire. We want Land and National Liberation. We no longer want the ruling class of the amerikkkan empire to determine Our political, economic, socio-cultural affairs”.[2]

We also have the New Afrikan Declaration of Independence, the New Afrikan Creed and the Code of Umoja written and ratified in 1968, with a subsequent review completed by the People Center Council, on November 3, 2007. These lofty documents point to the reality of our national existence.

Comrad-Brotha Owusu Yaki Yakubu has pointed out on many occasions that: “The Nation exists both in potentiality and actuality - it’s just not free.” [3]

The reason We need to get past the usage of labels like “black” and “African American” is because they only serve to distort Our reality. These labels confuse and misdirect the colonialism of the u.s. into an “Everything’s better now” fog of narcolepsy. One way this is done is by calling our experience here, from 1619 to 1865, mere “slavery”. When, of course, it was much worse, more complex and binding that any slavery ever could be.

By saying our condition was mere “slavery” is an easy way out; it is to say “slavery was abolished in 1865 with the ratification of the 13th amendment”. Which then leads to the 14th amendment to make New Afrikans “citizens” -- thereby violating Our human right to self-determination, but also liquidating the reality of our nation by incorporating Us into the Empire as “minority citizens” -- as “Negroes”, “blacks”, “colored”, “African Americans”. As those who cannot govern themselves -- whose productive forces are harnessed by the empire for its own interests. What they never want Us to overstand is that We are a nation inside the belly of the beast.  No, this reality must always be distorted, disguised, laughed at, slapped away or crushed.

In a way, our finding and usage of the correct terminology to facilitate an overstanding of colonialism, comes as a means to combat the enemy’s mass distortions of our reality. Yes, this is true. You see, the conscious instinctively go East when the enemy insists the right way is West. We refuse to move along its path; We stop, stand Our ground and struggle against the stream because We know Our truths. Our interests stand in stark contrast to the enemy’s. So, We dig in search of the tools We’ll need to end its life. And isn’t that what it does in order to oppress Us? We’re in the same war -- We're just on different sides.

Just as We are not black, Negro, or African African, Our condition was not “slavery”. Which is not to say Our condition didn’t have the outward appearance of slavery. Nor are We trying to take anything away from the awful conditions which Our ancestors endured. We are saying that “slavery”, like those “minority” labels, is a distortion of facts and in order to fully apprehend the reality, We cannot use the deliberately faulty tools given Us by Our enemies. When using their analyses of Our condition We’ll get their results -- which favor their distortions and continuing oppression of Us as “minorities” or “disenfranchised second class citizens”. How can anyone be dis-enfranchised when they’ve never been en-franchised?! Oh, but We were en-franchised, as a colony - like, individuals can own a McDonald’s, but have to go to Ronald McDonald’s College in order to learn how to run the business in accordance with the overall standards of established order of the corporation. But the same food, same colors, same uniforms, same culture of the corporation permeates all. But now check this out, in real dis-enfranchisement wouldn’t that mean to leave the corporate orbit -- to get free of it? That’s what We should be struggling for: disenfranchisement, no? We’re looking for correct terminology. For ways out. We’re not struggling to be en-franchised. But We want true disfranchisement and not some fake, paperweight, Banff Funston, flag freedom.

We’ve been told that being born here makes us americans. We reject that foolishness. We are more apt to ride with the sobering words of Malcolm X: “Being born here doesn’t make you an american. Why, that’s like saying if a cat has kittens in the oven that makes them biscuits.” You might want to read that one again.

Having made the points We have We’ll move this along. Though not without a quote from Comrad-Brotha Owusu Yaki Yakubu:

“The ‘Native’, the ‘Negro’, the ‘colored’, the ‘black’ and the ‘African-American’, have no identity apart from that given them by the colonizer -- that is, not unless they RESIST colonialism, which entails: (1) their maintenance of an identity that is separate and distinct from that of the colonized and from that given them by the colonizer; (2) they begin to develop a NEW identity, through the process of “de-colonization” -- though having remained separate and distinct, colonized people aren’t who they were prior to colonization, and they can’t return to the past. Colonization has arrested their independent development, distorted who they are, and now they must become (a) NEW people during the process by which they regain their independence.” [4]

The NEW people need a new, more critical (and radical) set of words, of terminology, to bring the “arrested development” of our independence into sharper focus. A focus so clear as to give us the ability to read the earth signs and guideposts towards national independence and socialism. The struggle, lest We forget, is not justagainst capitalism/imperialism, but also for socialism. We are not trying to get a seat at the table, or an office in the Whitest House. That’s called reform. That’s called collusion, collaboration and neocolonialism. That’s not our bag. We suggest strongly that all New Afrikans seek to obtain, study and meditate on the following documents:

• the New Afrikan Declaration of Independence
• the New Afrikan Creed
• the Code of Umoja (Republic of New Afrika’s National Constitution)

These, of course, are the general laws, ethics and obligations of New Afrikan nationals. Individual collectives and orgs in the NAIM will necessarily have their own particular bylaws, codes of ethics and points of authority to frame their practice vis-à-vis the masses and other collectives orgs. Nonetheless, We all function under the general/objective laws established by the Provisional Government.

What tends to bother us is when comrades from other movements and nationalities, who’ve struggled with Us in various capabilities, do interviews or in their writings, refer to us as “African Americans” or “blacks”. And We’re not talking about the average comrades on the street who have no real clue about Our ideology -- No, We mean comrades who, in some instances, were captured with some of Our nationals. It’s not cool to do that. We feel that if you want to be “politically correct”, then side with the revolutionaries and not with the distortionists. We are New Afrikans. In 1968, over 500 New Afrikan nationalists signed the New Afrikan Declaration of Independence and named Our nation the Republic of New Afrika. We feel when Comrades do that they are going along with Our oppression. At least some form of it. They are conscious, they know better. And, too, we have to step up Our ideological struggle to deepen the correct usage of Our national identity. Even in low tides we must stand firm push forward.

Some Terms/Spellings

* We, as a rule, capitalize the “W” in we to emphasize the collective/mass importance of the people. We overstand that capitalism and the degenerate culture that inherently flows from it, incites, facilitates and rewards rank individualism. It fosters the “me, me, me”, “look out for number 1” and “I am more important than all of you” mentality.

In amerika, for example, one individual can own 10 (or 100) supermarkets and feel or have no obligation to feed one hungry person. In fact, owners have had poor people prosecuted to the full extent of bourgeois law, for taking food; or homeless people for panhandling on his/her premises. Individualism, gluttonous consumerism and naked greed are the inherent hallmarks of capitalism. We necessarily reflect this and thus capitalize Our W’s and simultaneously de-capitalize (cut the head off) the “I” , when it’s used in a “normative case singular of the first person pronoun” or as“the word used by a speaker or written in mentioning [herself]/himself.” [5] We feel that doing so not only keeps Us focused but is also instructive to our readers. Some Comrads have decapped their whole names to further illustrate their submergence in the people. [6]

* We spell Africa with a “K”, as opposed to a “C” because as Comrad-Brotha Sundiata pointed out:

 “… the New Afrikan Independent Movement spells Afrikan with a ‘K’ as an indicator of our cultural identification with the Afrikan continent and because Afrikan linguists originally used ‘K’ to indicate the ‘C’ sound in the English language.” [7]

We also use the “K” in our national identity to illustrate our break and necessary distinction with Our colonizers. The “K” represents resistance, rebellion and our need for critical distance from normative constraints of colonialism.

* We, by and large, de-cap the “A” in amerika for several reasons. Principal among these, however, is the fact that the colonial state is an illegal settler government/empire fastened, my dint of genocide and colonialism (colonial violence), onto the backs of indigenous nations/land and other internal colonies. We overstand the u.s. as a virtual -- nay, as an actual -- prisonhouse of nations which are culturally and economically held in check by a complicit garrison population of citizens who believe in amerikan exceptionalism, manifest destiny and the inherent inferiority of everyone but themselves. These amerikans are fortified ideological shocktroops holding the genocidal quilt of u.s. imperialism together with boundless acts of blind-ass patriotism and loyalty. We reject that and refuse to give this (or any) empire any acknowledgment as a place of peace, liberty and democracy. Amerika is not so much a place, deserving a capital letter at its helm, as it is an experience, like a wild and horrifying ride at an amusement park -- only this ride is more lethal, a thousand times more harmful and totally mind-warping. “The ride of a lifetime,” where whole nations are strapped in for the violent twists and turns of Empire. The more we try to get off, the faster it goes, the higher it climbs, the deeper it plunges -- Welcome to the Terror Dome!!! We are not in the habit of giving respect to those who don’t respect us. Decap the “A”.

* We use a “K” (or three “K”’s) in amerika -- as We do in the word “kountry” when referring to amerika and its capitalist allies -- to emphasize Our awareness that it is the prototype, the archetype, of the Ku Klux Klan. Its overall reactionary, racialist, and theological schematic is Klannish! And just because the state employs functionaries from its colonies means nothing. The ruling class is a seething cauldron of alabaster menace. Sitting, as it does, atop the planet, in a predator’s pose, ready to pounce on the next crime to make a profit; the pathological bourgeoisie is the brain trust of every two-bit supremacist on the planet. The Klan foremost among them. We think it was the Amazon Butch Lee who said “amerika is what nazi germany wanted to be.” We agree and would go on to add that the ruling class is who the Klan aspires to be like and keep in power. So, We necessarily associate the two in our writings because it keeps Us focused on the fundamental contradiction in Our way. Would you want to integrate into a Klan society?

* Some of us younger comrades will use a capital “O” on Our or “U” on Us when referring to New Afrikan people. This is but a particular style used by those of us in the trenches doing ideological combat on a daily basis. It is a good concept to promote the unitarian ideal, however, it often brutalizes the written text by detracting from the smooth flow of a sentence. Not to mention being a virtual nightmare for some of our comrades who help in transcribing our work. And, too, We’ll often use these caps this way to stand to the left of those who’ve come before Us. However, all ideas are not of equal value and any theory which cannot stand up to objective reality is dead. While We don’t think the concept dead, We do, however feel it’s not practical. For as long as we wrap up the “W” and cut the head off of that big-ass “I” We’ll be fine.

* As revolutionary nationalists We are, without question, anti-racists. We work diligently to exclude all language (and practice) that promotes or perpetuates the false social construct of “race”. We first of all get past this by overstanding who concocted this foolishness. Oh yeah … it was the same class of predators who constantly told us to go west -- “it’s the right way. The only way out.” No bet. Trust and believe when they say go west -- your surest path is in any otherdirection. Let’s check in with the wise counsel of Comrad-Brotha Owusu Yaki Yakubu:

“Racism is used to justify and facilitate the exploitation of peoples, and it’s based on the false belief that humanity is divided into a plurality of ‘races’ that stand in relation to each other as ‘inferiors’ or ‘superiors’ based on physical and/or cultural differences. There are no ‘races’ -- only people(s) and groups of people(s), united and distinguished by common history (social development), habits, interests, etc. -- sometimes We call all of this ‘nationality’ or ideology. To be ‘anti-racist’ is, first of all, not to hold the false belief in an alleged plurality of ‘races’, to be ‘against racism’ is to combat all beliefs and practices that facilitate the exploitation of peoples, particularly when such explication is supposed by the social construction of ‘race’.” [8]

What We do is stop calling ourselves “black”. This goes along with the false construct and perpetrates the erroneous belief. Not to mention the colonial relationship of oppressed and oppressor. Saying “black” is to promote the “plurality of race”; the “black race”, “white race”, etc. People have national identities. We are not racists, so why promote racist beliefs? Now, We are not naïve, either. We know that while the science behind the division of humanity into races is, without question, junk science and crackpot engineering, We also overstand the average folks ain’t got that memo. The masses of all colonies inside the beast still function under this guise. And so while Weoverstand it’s not real, people are still quite willing to kill and die for it. But We have to lead the way of “de-colonizing”, “dis-enfranchising” and de-programming them. So, “race” is both false and to an extent “real”.

Let’s go over to the dictionary and see what it says about the two words in question. We’re using a 2006, Webster’s Integrated Dictionary and Thesaurus:

Black: adj. of the darkest color, like coal or soot; having dark-colored skin and hair, especially Negro; without light; dirty; evil; wicked; sad, dismal; sullen...

We could go on with the description, but it only gets worse. Let’s flip over to the word “white” (same source) and see what We find:

White: adj. of the color of milk or pure salt; stainless; pure; bright; light-colored, as of caucasoid skin; color of anything white, innocent…

Well, We know these are wholly inadequate terms to use in referring to people, any people. And We overstand, too, that “black” was sort of necessary in the 1960s to distinguish the revolutionaries from the neo-colonialist Negroes. However, we now know that it was insufficient and should now be rested. Along with white. We are more concerned with one’s politics than We are with anyone’s complexion. We unite with those whose practice and sincerity bears them out to be worthy. We are birthed into this world with no control over Our complexions (pigmentation) -- Our nationality and Our politics, however, we can choose. That’s the basis of the get down. The content of character, practice and the company one keeps are always the surest indicators of who’s who.

In our writings, speaking and organizing We make that National distinction between Us and amerikans based not on “race” -- “black” or “white” -- as if We were all “Americans” with just different complexions, who suffer or prosper as a result of a few bad men/women in office. No, We clarify the reality based on oppressor and oppressed nations. On capitalism versus socialism. On national independence versus colonialism. As soon as We fall into the trap of “race”, we lose momentum -- We stop pushing Our line and start pushing the colonizers’ line. We heighten awareness by exposing the falsehoods. The contradictions are plentiful and there are no shortage of angles for us to attack. The fundamental contradiction is not “race”, but National oppression, with fat-ass u.s. imperialism sitting on Our back preventing Us from moving in our own national interests. The struggle is to destroy this overbearing bully, get free and in the process rebuild ourselves into productive people who are about world revolution and socialism.

* We are anti-patriarchal -- which entails us being against all forms of male supremacy and suppression of women. Women hold up half the sky -- and in most oppressed nations, it’s more like three quarters. This is especially true in New Afrika. We necessarily combat any and all forms of gender oppression; while we’d like to say this is a result of capitalist economics, that would unfortunately not be true. We believe and have sure knowledge that men turned women and children into the first oppressed populations on the planet, long before capitalism appeared on the scene. Patriarchy is a backwards, oppressive and exploitative form of social (and personal) relations that infects and warps the activity of otherwise progressive or potentially revolutionary women and young girls. So, what We do is be pro-actively corrective in not only Our practice, but also in Our writings and Our speeches.

Male-centered language runs rampant through most cultures as does practice. Have you ever stopped to ponder any of the words we think are “normal”

Words like:

manpower
man-hours
manhole
mankind etc. etc.

And these are but a couple of the more flagrant ones. But think about organized religion too. What effect does it have on women and young girls, on boys and men for that matter, who feel an inherent sense of entitlement, due to its unflinching patriarchy? For in every one of the major religions God supposedly only picked men (in one his son) to be prophets or saviors. The last person god spoke with or communicated to, or called upon to lead, was a man. One major religion takes the mother totally out of the equation making for only the father, the son and the “holy spirit”. Some others offer “virgins” as rewards for martyrdom -- owned and possessed even in paradise. The major organized religions are in fact good ol’ boys networks that relegate women and children to near chattel status as submissives and victims of men. It is as if in order to get into “heaven”, “paradise” or whatever land of pleasure and ease one believes in, women and children must have been good submissives and supporters, mere bit-players, to their husbands, brothers and fathers. Or loyal to their priest, imam or rabbi. Well, We reject that. We refuse to see women as inferiors, or objects and needing and having to have the guards, protection or sympathy of men in order to “get along” -- or to some far-off paradise. Fuck that!

We believe and have sure knowledge that women possess the very same potential, like any man, to change the world. Perhaps even more so. We know women can (and have) govern, guide, lead, fight, struggle, conspire, shoot, theorize and everything else any man can do. And yet women have been so oppressed by men that they are very distrustful and suspicious and We say rightfully so. But We overstand that unity of purpose, of need and necessity grows out of steadfast practice and righteousness. Simultaneously We overstand that women and children need and must have a military strategy of their own. Must always stand ready. We recognize this. Revolutions, too, can and have turned into good ol’ boy networks. To be cautious is to be aware of all this. Be mindful of social relations that do harm to the unintended, to those We must unite with; to those who are the most oppressed. It is about being accountable and responsible.That’s revolutionary!

What We do is change words like “mankind”, to humankind. “History” to social development, or Ourstory. Or to emphasize that it is a lie told by our colonizers, We’ll spell it as His-story (as in male-centered and just “his” version).

Women in the collectives, orgs and movement will use Her-story. Which is perfectly natural, really, given how much of the social development of women -- especially Amazons -- has beenmanhandled, buried, distorted or lied about. We encourage women to do the damn thing! Right on! When We write We need to be mindful that the Nation ain’t “he”, or “him”. Not made up of just males. Use the slash mark to always include both genders. And these are but the rudiments of this -- mere seeds beneath the snow. We’ll necessarily build on these as we grow and develop -- and as women/Amazons push out front and exert themselves so their own reality is widely representative of the whole. Learn how they wish to be related to by them.

* We are against homophobia. But deeper still, we are about combating heterosexism. See, homophobia -- the irrational fear of someone because of their sexual orientation -- is but one side of the equation. One can be “in fear” and use this to run away, or avoid the natural in order to make themselves feel better, but this will only give rise to homophobia’s evil twin -- heterosexism. Which is not just fear of, but oppression and exploitation of someone based on their sexual orientation. It points to a degenerative set of politics. See, it always comes back to Our politics. Our politics are revolutionary, naturally against oppression and yet here We are oppressing someone based on their natural self. If We kept our politics in command We’d know better. We’d do better.

We need to be clear and focused here cause people will try to get by on this and if We are going to be the message We bring We have to stand firm on Our politics. People, collectives and orgs will profess that they are not homophobic -- have no fear of gays, lesbians, bisexuals or transgendered people -- and yet go right on to practice staunch  heterosexism by having not one post in their orgs held by gays, lesbians, bisexuals or transgender people. All those in position of any power are so-called “straight” people. To Us, any org claiming to be revolutionary or representative of the people, that doesn’t actively recruit, promote and cultivate gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people/cadres, is not really pushing a revolutionary line for change and freedom -- let alone socialism. They are perpetuating the backwardness of the bourgeoisie -- hell, We can hardly say thatanymore since even reactionaries have repealed their heterosexist policies.

We are concerned about a person’s character, politics, practice and the company they keep. Not of their complexion, gender or sexual orientation. The question is -- and should always be -- are they down for revolution? Are they with Us or against Us? Do they overstand that We are about armed struggle? We are not those to sit-in, love-in, cry-in or hold hands and sing “We shall overcome”. That’s not Us. We are about armed struggle.

So, in our writings We don’t just condemn homophobia -- We also shine the light on heterosexism. On so-called “straight” domination of things as if being hetero is any indication of being always right or somehow real. Give Us a break! What’s going to guide Us is revolutionary consciousness, informed by our political line. And the fact of the matter is if you’re not ready to let consciousness guide you -- truly, you’re not ready for revolution. Complete change.

* We recognize koncentration kamps (“prisons”) in the u.s. as tools of colonial violence used to further arrest the development of national independence. Koncentration kamps, like the kourts, the bourgeois law and the political police are all tied into the matrix of imperialism. For settlers these places are prisons. For colonial subjects, citizens of the internal nations, these are koncentration kamps -- intentional, political, containing and genocidal. In a monopoly capitalist society with a deeply entrenched ruling class, such as exists here in amerika, no facet of its system is beyond the pale of economic pressure and control. That is, all parts, importantly related to the whole for oppression are subject to the scrutiny of the ruling class. In other words, they serve the needs of the beast. Profit and disposal. Everything worthwhile is tied, in some way, to the profit motive/margin of monopoly capitalism. Koncentration kamps in this regard are major holdings for the bourgeoisie because they serve two purposes: they pen up potential “social dynamite” -- or those most likely to resist and rebel and revolt. And then they also exploit this same legion as industrial laborers in the kamps. But deeper still, this system also gives jobs to settlers who work in those kamps as guards, managers, nurses, doctors, counselors, etc. We spell koncentration kamps with a “K” for the same reasons We use the K’s in amerika, kourt andkountry. It’s all Klannish.

And so it is that We’ve come to the end of these notes. We hope to have brought some light and reason to some of the things We are about, that We struggle around and that We tend to bring to completion. We are under no illusions -- have no thoughts of anything being easy or quick. We are committed for the duration, come what may. We shall enter with Our heads up, backs straight, focused and conscious. We urge you to join the revolution and get down for the freedom you so richly deserve. We have nothing to lose but our chains

Re-build!

Notes

[1] Notes - Vita Wa Watu: Swahili meaning People's war. [return to text]

[2] From the New Afrikan Peoples Organization’s  newspaper By Any Means Necessary. [return to text]

[3] Meditation On Frantz Fanon’s Wretched of the Earth, Owusu Yaki Yakubu (Kersplebedeb, 2010). [return to text]

[4] Meditations… Owusu Yaki Yakubu. [return to text]

[5] Webster's Integrated Dictionary and Thesaurus. [return to text]

[6] asha bandele, of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, dream hampton and the late General geronimo ji jaga. [return to text]

[7] Updated History of the New Afrikan Prison Struggle - Sundiata Acoli, BLA-POW. [return to text]

[8] Meditations… Owusu Yaki Yakubu. [return to text]