VOICES OF THE VILLAGE
By Lissa Jones
“You’re not supposed to be so blind with patriotism that you can’t face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who says it.” — Malcolm X
For 394 years (1617 to present), the American endeavor for democracy has demanded our blind patriotism. First, “democracy” stole our names. Then it replaced our beautiful dialects with the “King’s English.” If that weren’t enough, “democracy” forbade the practice of our customs. Our history (before slavery) was erased.
Erased.
July 4, 1861: President Abraham Lincoln makes a speech to Congress stating that the Civil War is “a People’s contest…a struggle for maintaining in the world, that form and substance of government, whose leading object is, to elevate the condition of men.” Congress authorized a call for 500,000 men. Mind you, not Black men. (National archives)
Only our men didn’t know that. So when “free” Black men first responded to the call, they were turned away because a Federal law dating from 1792 barred Negroes from bearing arms for the U.S. army (although they had served in the American Revolution and in the War of 1812). (ushistory.org)
The Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 declared the end of slavery (really?!), so Black men could then fight in a country where they were still not free. Again, “democracy” demanded our blind patriotism.
Mind you, the very same year that the war was “won” in 1865, Mississippi became the first of the former Confederate states to enact laws (Black Codes) severely limiting the rights and liberties of Blacks. Other Southern states followed with similar legislation. (ushistory.org)
Our ancestors, Black people, fought the Civil War under the false pretense of ending slavery and gaining our rightful citizenship. The same year we learned we were “free” (two years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation!), Mississippi passed the Black Codes. Blind patriotism.
Fast-forward 100 years to the wisdom of Malcolm X: The problem is still here. “A White man named Lincoln supposedly fought the Civil War to solve the race problem, and the problem is still here. Another White man named Lincoln, again the White same man, issued the Emancipation Proclamation to solve the race problem and the problem is still here.
“Some other White liberals came along with the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments, which were supposed to solve the race problem, and the problem is still here. Nine years ago, nine more White liberals, so called, came up with what they called a Supreme Court desegregation decision and the problem is still here.
“Then another White man named Kennedy came along running for President and told Negroes all that he was going to do for them if they voted for him, and they voted for him, eighty percent… He’s been in office now for three years, and the problem is still here.”
In other words, no demand for change = Blind Patriotism.
On Monday, May 16, 2011, the village said, “No more!” The numbers now tell us that 750 Blacks showed up on the Hill, at our State Capitol, the people’s house! The African American Lobby Day on the Hill was electric with the beauty of our Blackness.
In defiance of the lies of supremacy, denying Willie Lynch the right to live in us, the village came together — light and dark, young and old, male and female — to demand that the Minnesota Legislature see us. In spite of the myths, we vote!
That’s not all Malcolm had for us.
In his speech now known as “The Ballot or the Bullet,” he tells us that “22 million Black victims of Americanism are waking up and they’re gaining a new political consciousness, becoming politically mature; and as they become more developed in this political maturity, they’re able to see these recent trends in these political elections.
“They see that White people are so evenly divided that every time they vote the race is so close they have to go back and count the votes all over again. Which means that any block, any minority that has a block of votes, that sticks together is in a strategic position.
“You’re in a position to decide who goes to the White House, and who goes to the doghouse. You’re the one who has that power… You’re the one who put the Democratic administration in place. The Negro vote is the key factor.
“Despite the fact that you are the deciding factor, what did you get out of it? You put them first, and they put you last… Because you’re a chump!!! A political chump. Anytime you throw your weight behind a political party that controls two-thirds of the government, and that party can’t keep the promises it made to you during election time, and you’re dumb enough to walk around continuing to identify yourself with that party, you’re not only a chump, you’re a traitor to your race!!!”
Beautiful Malcolm, thank you for our liberation. Minnesota said goodbye to the political chump on May 16, 2011! Tell me, village, can you dig it?
Lissa Jones welcomes reader responses to ljones@spokesman-recorder.com.
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