By Larry Pinkney

“…the two parties have combined against us to nullify our power by a ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ of non-recognition, no matter how we vote…May God write us down as asses if ever again we are found putting our trust in either the Republican or the Democratic parties.”
–W.E.B. Du Bois

“Perhaps people will stop repeating the human-made catastrophes of the past when we cease being ahistorical and truly learn from history’s lessons.”
–Larry Pinkney, The Boston Globe, April 27, 2006

The great potential of the indomitable human condition is its ability to grasp and learn from past mistakes and failures. Why then, do so many continue to repeat the catastrophes of the distant and not so distant past? Are we simply hapless idiots – or have we allowed ourselves to be the perpetual pawns of an invariable elite few amongst us – who distort and control the past and contemporary narrative of everyday ordinary people’s history to suit their own ends?

The answer is two-fold and uncomplicated.

Everyday ordinary Black, White, Brown, Red, and Yellow people are certainly not idiots, hapless or otherwise. However, far too many of us are unaware of our collective histories and therefore remain trapped in the spiral of repeating the same historical mistakes and failures — due primarily to that ignorance. Invariably there are those few blood suckers and opportunists who deliberately keep everyday ordinary people distracted, uninformed, misinformed, and of course deplorably ignorant. Thus, like a caged hamster, so many of us run endlessly on the spinning wheel – repeating and succumbing to virtually the same traps and mistakes of the past — that lead to “human-made catastrophes” which could have been avoided.

Who Are the Blood Suckers and Opportunists?

In today’s society and world the blood suckers are the national and global corporate / military power elite. They are the ones who make enormous financial profit from the suffering and misery of everyday ordinary people. Whether they are waging bloody wars abroad or economically blood sucking everyday people here at home – these blood suckers are the bane of humanity. They thrive on propagating misinformation, disinformation, and the concomitant misery and desperation of everyday people. They control what I refer to as the “corporate-stream media,” and in so doing, in large measure, control the twisted and distorted narrative that is incessantly presented to ordinary people. Euphemistically speaking, they are the 21st century economic, political, and social vampires of this nation and world.

These blood suckers are aided and abetted by systemic opportunists of various types.

Some systemic opportunists masquerade as supporters of everyday ordinary people but are in fact covert operatives of and for the corporate-owned Democrat and Republican parties. Other systemic opportunists claim to have a deep love and respect for certain persons of certain colors while simultaneously serving up a poisonous dish of hatred and hysteria against persons who happen to be of another color / pigmentation. They are very dangerous ‘pretenders,’ and indeed all of these above-described assorted actors, are in fact opportunists (who in the final analysis) are serving the interests of the corporate / military power elite – whose corrupt system thrives upon keeping people divided and in a de facto state of political paralysis and powerlessness. They are both insidious and deadly to the over-all common interests, needs, and aspirations of everyday ordinary Black, White, Brown, Red, and Yellow people!

The corporate / military power elite of the U.S. (along with its corporate-stream media) keeps everyday people in this nation in a state of fear, disarray, and of course perpetual war. It almost goes without saying that the mainstay of the U.S. Empire’s elite are deceit, hypocrisy, and endless wars.

The phony left / right paradigm perpetuated and embodied by the Democrats and their so-called ‘progressive’ allies – and the Republicans and their so-called ‘conservative’ allies – is what keeps fear, hatred, division, and effective non-communication intact; thus, ensuring that people are kept on the artificial plantations of ignorance and manipulation. Meanwhile, the opportunist politicians and their many minions of the so-called ‘left’ and ‘right’ engage in endless fake and hypocritical polemical skirmishes while in fact simultaneously maintaining the blood sucking status quo on behalf of the national and global corporate / military power elite – always at the expense of everyday ordinary people of all colors in this nation and throughout Mother Earth. Such is the manipulated insanity of the United States.

And of course Barack Obama’s “hope and change” was never anything more, nor was it meant to be anything more, than yet another rope and chain for the everyday struggling people of this nation and world to be ensnared in. Obama and his cohorts have ushered in a police / surveillance state complete with unjust ‘laws’ of indefinite detention – more terrible and far-reaching than anything this nation (and world) have yet beheld. To believe otherwise is to succumb to dangerous, delusional, and unadulterated fantasy.

The hatred and division at home, and the perpetual U.S. wars abroad are symptomatic of an enslaved society that has yet to fully awaken to its own political, economic, and social enslavement. In the poignant and very relevant words of Harriet Tubman: “I freed a thousand slaves – I could have freed a thousand more if only they knew they were slaves.” The time is upon the millions of everyday people of all colors in this nation to recognize our enslaved condition and act to free ourselves TOGETHER.

It is no longer a question of if the everyday ordinary people of this nation will untangle and throw off our chains. Rather, it is a matter of when and how this will be done by the people from the bottom up. Some people are increasingly beginning to seriously awaken – but awakening – while absolutely necessary, is simply not enough. Perhaps the real question is, when will the people of this nation decide that enough is enough – and what will they do about it? It is time for uncompromising systemic change.

When will we ever learn? The fact is that we are learning. And with our understanding comes an urgency and a responsibility to ourselves, each other, this nation, and the peoples of Mother Earth. Be creative – be determined – and remember Joe Hill’s words: “Don’t Mourn. ORGANIZE!” We must escape from the Democrat and Republican party plantations, strategically submerge our respective differences for the common good of everyday people, and set about creatively and collectively building a more just and humane society and world. We can do this because we must do this!

Each one, reach one. Each one, teach one. Onward, then, my sisters and brothers. Onward…!

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Published in Issue 526 of The Black Commentator

BlackCommentator.com Editorial Board member and Columnist, Larry Pinkney is a veteran of the Black Panther Party, the former Minister of Interior of the Republic of New Africa, a former political prisoner and the only American to have successfully self-authored his civil / political rights case to the United Nations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. In connection with his political organizing activities, Pinkney was interviewed in 1988 on the nationally televised PBS News Hour, formerly known as The MacNeil / Lehrer News Hour. Pinkney is a former university instructor of political science and international relations, and his writings have been published in various places, including The Boston Globe, the San Francisco BayView newspaper, the Black Commentator, Global Research (Canada), LINKE ZEITUNG (Germany), and Mayihlome News (Azania/South Africa). For more about Larry Pinkney see the book, Saying No to Power: Autobiography of a 20th Century Activist and Thinker, by William Mandel [Introduction by Howard Zinn]. (Click here to read excerpts from the book.)