“If a white man wants to lynch me, that's his problem. If he's got the power to lynch me, that's my problem. Racism is not a question of attitude; it's a question of power.”
- Kwame Ture
“When you get these jobs that you have been so brilliantly trained for, just remember that your real job is that if you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else.”
- Toni Morrison
Inmates do billions of dollars of work for companies and governments each year.
A landmark trafficking lawsuit alleges many are being kept in prison because the business is just too good. The suit says it seeks “to abolish a modern day form of slavery”
“We can disagree and still love each other unless your disagreement is rooted in my oppression and denial of my humanity and right to exist.”
James Baldwin
“People get used to anything. The less you think about your oppression, the more your tolerance for it grows. After a while, people just think oppression is the normal state of things. But to become free, you have to be acutely aware of being a slave.”
- Assata Shakur
I’m still mad Jay-Z was convincing Black folks to switch to Tidal, then sold his majority stake to Jack Dorsey. Now we got Jack Dorsey saying Elon is the right leader for Twitter and Jay - Z talking about buying an NFL team with Jeff Bezos.
That class solidarity is strong.
Being at a “prestigious” university and graduate program helped me understand why radical change can be so difficult to accomplish. These schools build the gatekeepers of tomorrow.
Martin Luther King Jr. on Capitalism:
“Something is wrong with capitalism. For years I labored with the idea of reforming the existing institutions of society through a little change here and little change there…but now I feel quite differently. 1/2
“Any theory you got, practice it. And when you practice it, you make some mistakes. When you make a mistake, you correct that theory, and then it will be corrected theory...A lot of us read and read and read, but we don't get any practice”
- Fred Hampton
Happy birthday to a true leader and revolutionary.
“Don't be in a hurry to condemn because he doesn't do what you do or think as you think or as fast. There was a time when you didn't know what you know today.”
“You can never make an analysis of the oppressed in any aspect of their lives and leave out the oppressor. If you do so, you'll blame the oppressed for their condition.”
- Kwame Ture
"Racism gets its power from capitalism. Thus, if you're anti-racist, whether you know it or not, you must be anti-capitalist. The power for racism, the power for sexism, comes from capitalism, not an attitude."
- Kwame Ture
You have got to have a reconstruction of the whole society, a revolution of values… We are not interested in being integrated into this value structure. Power must be relocated, a radical redistribution of power must take place.” 2/2
“Oppressed people, whatever their level of formal education, have the ability to understand & interpret the world around them, to see the world for what it is, & move to transform it.”
- Ella Baker
“Oppressed people, whatever their level of formal education, have the ability to understand & interpret the world around them, to see the world for what it is, & move to transform it.”
- Ella Baker
Every radical lives in contradiction. There’s really no way around it. The best ones understand their own contradictions, and do the necessary work to address them.
You can never make an analysis of the oppressed in any aspect of their lives and leave out the oppressor. If you do so, you'll blame the oppressed for their condition.
- Kwame Ture
"You and I can never be satisfied with sitting down before a great human problem and saying nothing can be done. We must do something. That is the reason we are on Earth.”
- W.E.B. Du Bois
Reflecting on this tonight from
@prisonculture
:
"I'm always trying my best to shrink the gap between my values and my actions...If I died tomorrow, I could tell you right now that I did what I wanted to do. And I tried to do it in a way that brought other people along."
Officially done. Got my masters from the
#1
Policy school in the country, but in the spirit of Du Bois “the honor, I assure you, was
@UCBerkeley
@GoldmanSchool
’s.”
Congrats to all my classmates and all the other folks graduating this weekend.
All of
@prisonculture
’s post about libraries inspired me to go get my local library card and get involved.
Was actually pleasantly surprised by the amount of book clubs and social services they provide. Definitely gonna try and get an abolitionist book club going there too. 🤷🏾♂️
First lesson of systems thinking. You can abolish the system, but if the logic/rationality that produced the system still exists, new systems will rise producing the same outcome and will be less susceptible to being abolished again.
"The establishment does everything in its power to ensure that revolutionary rage is redirected into empty outlets which provide pressure releases for desires that could become dangerous if allowed to progress."
- George Jackson, Blood in My Eye
This
#Juneteenth
remember what Du Bois taught us. The abolition of slavery was only partially accomplished because while chattel slavery ended, anti-Black & exploitative thinking continued, leading to new forms of slavery that still exist. The fight to abolish slavery isn’t over.
From California to New York and all across the country, Governors are heavily relying on police, militarization and surveillance. Everyone should be concerned about this trend.
“Abolition is not some disstant future but something we create in every moment when we say no to the traps of empire and yes to the nourishing possibilities dreamed of and practiced by our ancestors and friends. 1/3
How Amílcar Cabral shaped Paulo Freire’s pedagogy : New Frame
Frantz Fanon’s influence on Paulo Freire’s thought is well known, but the Brazilian educator also drew considerably from Amílcar Cabral, the revolutionary intellectual from Guinea-Bissau.
“I believe that there will be a clash between those who want freedom, justice, and equality for everyone and those who want to continue the systems of exploitation.”
- Malcolm X
Deion Sanders leaving has me reflecting on Du Bois’s blue print for developing our communities through cooperatives & collectivist values, not individual gain. We need folks focused on using their gifts for the LONG-TERM development of self-determined communities & institutions.
Marce shared his work in the green onion harvest in Avenal CA. He tells us each 60 pound sack pays $2 and holds 4 buckets of green onions. One row yields approximately 50 sacks. These farm workers labor by flashlight to avoid the extreme heat this area is known for.
#WeFeedYou
As Audre Lorde said, there is no thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives.
Climate disaster, colonialism, capitalism, copy city, intra-communal violence, patriarchy and all the other issues are interconnected and impacting our lives.
“We in here talking about changing attitudes. I mean, listen, we're talking about changing attitudes, not claiming power, not freeing our people, not taking the means of production, we talking about attitudes”
"...should we go the way of capitalism and try to become individually rich...or should we go the way of cooperatives and economic cooperation where we and our whole community could be rich together?"
— W.E.B. Du Bois
Walter Rodney is helping me understand that the process of racialization existed before the construction of whiteness and white supremacy. There was a time when Europeans oppressed and exploited other Europeans or folks closer to them. BUT...1/3
“There’s a man in our community called a ‘Capitalist.’
Sometimes he's Black & sometimes he's white, but that man has to be driven OUT...
Anybody who comes into the community to make profit off the people by exploiting them can be defined as a Capitalist.”
– Fred Hampton (1969)
“Capitalism was built on the exploitation of black slaves and continues to thrive on the exploitation of the poor, both black and white, both here and abroad.”
Martin Luther King Jr.,
The Three Evils speech, 1967
“Too many so-called leaders of the movement have been made into celebrities…The task is to transform society; only the people can do that – not heroes, not celebrities, not stars. A star’s place is in Hollywood; the revolutionary’s place is in the community with the people.”
“The paradox of education is precisely this — that as one begins to become conscious one begins to examine the society in which he is being educated." — James Baldwin
We’re extremely unwell as a society. Every time I see these YouTubers/podcasters share their terrible perspectives, yet have millions of supporters/views, it reminds me of how irrational capitalism and it’s dogmas have made people.
Kwame Ture on the Pitfalls of Liberalism:
“Is it not violent for a child to go to bed hungry in the richest country in the world? I think that is violent. But that type of violence is so institutionalized that it becomes a part of our way of life.“
I spend so much time with people who are engaging in radical imagination, that it’s sometimes difficult to be in space with folks who are restricted by a narrow definition of pragmatism and what’s feasible.
Ella Baker:
“…learn to think in radical terms. I use the term radical in its original meaning—getting down to and understanding the root cause. It means facing a system that does not lend itself to your needs and devising means by which you change that system.”
“The goal is not to take black children out of the black community and expose them to white middle-class values; the goal is to build and strengthen the black community.”
- Kwame Ture
Your reminder that cops lie, and we shouldn’t rely on their data.
"Research shows deaths involving police have been substantially undercounted by 55.5% between 1980-2018 and found that Black people die in such contacts at 3.5x the rate of white people."
“Shaming is one of the deepest tools of imperialist, white supremacist, capitalist patriarchy because shame produces trauma and trauma often produces paralysis.”
- bell hooks
It’s straight up cruel, and is happening in San Diego, San Francisco, Oakland, LA and other cities in this so-called progressive state.
There is nothing progressive about giving endless resources to law enforcement and criminalizing folks who need support.
“Mass capitalistic control of books and periodicals, news gathering and distribution, radio, cinema, and television has made the throttling of democracy possible and the distortion of education and failure of justice widespread.”
- W.E.B. Du Bois
Elon Musk bought a seat on the Twitter board, Jeff Bezos owns the Washington Post, Bill Gates has given over $300 million to media outlets. Actual free speech and democracy are not compatible with this level of wealth.
Adulthood has really just been constant confirmation that our systems are trash. Housing, healthcare, the economy, government, education and of course, this whole punishment apparatus.
“We should not be waiting for singular charismatic leaders to tell us what direction to go, but instead be like midwives, supporting the birth of movements that are already emerging.”
- Grace Lee Boggs
Democracy is about more than elections every four years. It’s about more than voting.
If the goal is to “strengthen democracy”, we need to build a democratic culture & more opportunities for democratic participation in schools, workplaces, local government & everywhere else.
“Hence I have no mercy or compassion in me for a society that will crush people, and then penalize them for not being able to stand up under the weight.”
- Malcolm X
"When I read Malcolm X with careful attention, I found a man much closer to the complexities of real change than anything I had read before. Much of what I say here tonight was born from his words."
“In struggle one not only fights against something--injustice, oppression--but one must struggle for something equally real but positive. That's the other part of the equation.”
- Kwame Ture
Oppressed people are asked to be tender when dealing with harmful people and civil when dealing with oppressive systems. It's tiring.
It's important to reject the idea that civility and tenderness are the only appropriate responses, especially when it's coming from elites.
The fact that I’m supposed to hear whether I got into Berkeley or not this week or next is making life relatively difficult right now. Everyone email I receive is making me anxious.
“Black people in America have no time to play nice, polite parlor games—especially when the lives of their children are at stake.”
- Kwame Ture, Black Power: Politics of Liberation
Woah. I can’t believe bell hooks has passed. Her books played in pivotal role in my life, and I’ll forever be grateful. I’m happy to hear she was surrounded by her loved ones.
Rest in power.
“the black elite, particularly the middle-class black elite, is very prone to compromise and forging alliances with the powers that be. King warned of the road where middle-class black comfort smothers concern for justice.”
@Mpiloe_Cabeka
@marclamonthill
When I first saw the video, I cried w/ my brother & thought I felt dead inside.
Now I realize this pain/anger, these tears & this love is what makes me human. It’s those who disregard life & pretend these things don’t matter who are dead inside.
#AhmaudArbery
#BlackLivesMatter
Paulo Feire on how freedom for all, feels like oppression for those who have oppressed because they have become conditioned to a certain lifestyle. A lifestyle that was only possible through the exploitation of others. He’s spot on.
Important to note that all across the country, state bills are not only being introduced to ban books by Black authors & Black history. Legislation is also being advanced to allow more exploitation of labor. This is racial capitalism & we must always have a race & class analysis.
A secretive group backed by right-wing billionaires is behind the push to roll back child-labor laws.
The group, the Foundation for Government Accountability, is lobbying to reduce government accountability & oversight & let children do dangerous jobs.
Some news for my people! I’m going to be Executive Director for the
@AllianceforBMOC
!
I’m extremely excited for the opportunity and am thankful for all the support so far. We’re excited for the next phase of our work & committed to abolishing oppressive systems & conditions.
We are thrilled to have Eric as our next Executive Director. As we transition into this next phase as an organization and network, Eric's leadership will be a monumental part of our work here at ABMoC. Let's all give
@EricAngelo_MS
a warm welcome in his new role.
Ella Baker w/ SNCC in 63:
“there's a lot of difference between the development of single individuals as leaders and the development of leadership, with leadership concepts, leadership goals, leadership methods that people can follow after we have moved"
SNCC’s development of independent political parties mirrored the philosophy that nonhierarchical organizations were necessary to counter the growth of cults of personality and self-reinforcing leadership.
I knew Biden prioritizing domestic terrorism was going to impact leftist orgs because I read & track people’s politics.
I took Malcolm’s words seriously when he said we have to become politically mature so we don’t run away from the scary wolf & into the jaws of the smiling fox.
I feel similarly about Dave Chappelle, as I do Jay-Z and most celebrities. At the end of the day, class solidarity is their priority. And for the folks who still don’t understand, that doesn’t include most of us.
BREAKING: Dave Chappelle's final show in a two-night stop in the Bay Area ended with boos from the audience after he invited Elon Musk out on stage.
Read more here:
My Dads parole officer needing a letter or email to confirm I’m graduating from Berkeley as proof so he can attend my graduation is definitely the type of thing to set me off. The games are never ending.
Abolition is about breaking down things that oppress and building up things that nourish. Abolition is the practice of transformation in the here and now and the ever after.”
― Eric A. Stanley, Captive Genders: Trans Embodiment and the Prison Industrial Complex 3/3
Black billionaires too.
“There’s a man in our community called a Capitalist. Sometimes he's Black & sometimes he's white, but that man has to be driven OUT...Anybody who comes into the community to make profit off the people by exploiting them can be defined as a Capitalist.”
Love when they say the quiet part out loud. He’s basically saying that the ruling class and corporations must create economic insecurity, poverty and unemployment as a way to make workers obedient and less arrogant.
We’re seeing a surge in worker power globally, but that upsets some people.
This businessman, speaking at a “property summit,” is going viral for saying:
“We need to see pain in the economy. We need to remind people that they work for the employer, not the other way around.”
"The establishment does everything in its power to ensure that revolutionary rage is redirected into empty outlets which provide pressure releases for desires that could become dangerous if allowed to progress."
- George Jackson, Blood in My Eye