Black Americans CANNOT be Democrat or Republican!

Ronald Reagan

Historically politics has never been kind to Black people. The very nature of politics is rooted in racism. White Europeans claimed complete control of the political process in America at the expense of native americans and especially Blacks.

Strong Black voices that advocate for Black issues are rare in the political realm. This exclusion of voices who advocate for Black issues is a bi-partisan effort. Democrats and Republicans have both benefited from the political silencing of Black Americans.

The current presidential primary campaigns feature a variety of candidates and only one of them offers any agenda for Black issues. Black Americans have a strange loyal historical relationship with Democratic Party. The inner workings of these political parties make it counter productive for Blacks to support either party.

Bill Clinton

Politicians are friendly and associate with each other regardless of their political party alignments. They live in the same neighborhoods, dine together, entertain together and their kids go to the same schools. When they perform theatrics in the media to divide and deceive the country’s working class and poor it is insincere. The party lines are superficial in the past they have actually switched views.

Not one president Democratic or Republican has EVER focused on Black interests at any point in history. Below are four politicians past and present that many black people hold in high regard and consistently support, yet they have been detrimental to Black people’s existence:

Abraham Lincoln

• Alleged to have freed enslaved Africans in america, actually did not free slaves. He did not free slaves in the North but freed slaves in states that had succeeded from the union which he had no jurisdiction over at that time.  Lincoln also attempted to negotiate a deal with confederate to allow them to keep slaves for 40 more years if they would end the succession.  He had no interest in slaves well being.

John F. Kennedy

• When protesters for Civil Rights in Alabama were being brutalized by law enforcement, racists and other white supremacist,  Kennedy claimed he did not have the authority to send troops in to help the Black protestors.
• He then sent troops to Alabama to act as peace makers after the Blacks had demonstrated their ability to defend themselves.

Bill Clinton

• 1994 Omnibus Crime Bill included 3 strikes Policy, children as young as 13 being prosecuted as adults, $9.85 Billion for new prisons, federal guideline sentencing and more negative policies.
• The JPI report reveals that 225,000 more Blacks were incarcerated under Clinton than under President Reagan.
• Charter School boom created under his administration. Charter schools would eventually monetized Black children’s educational failures for private corporation profit.

Hillary Clinton

• Was well aware of the policies that her husband implemented during his presidency and never spoke out against them.
• 5 of her campaign bundlers work for lobbying and law firms that CCA and other private prisons employ.

Barack Obama

• While national unemployment has improved under his presidency black unemployment has remained the same and at times increased under his presidency.
• Since President Obama’s first day in office the CCA and The GEO Group have been awarded $1.7 and 1.8 billion dollars in federal contracts, respectively.
• Poverty level of black people has continued to increase under his presidency.
• On the 40th anniversary of her arrest, the FBI suddenly put Assata Shakur on the Ten Most Wanted Terrorists List. The reward for her capture has been doubled to $2 million.

The Party name is irrelevant they are both the same for Black people

Blacks are in a familiar yet very awkward position.  No matter who they vote for, they will not benefit and likely will suffer.  Kanye West once famously said “George Bush doesn’t care about black people” a more accurate phrase would have been “Politicians who support white supremacy (seems to be 99.9% of all politicians) don’t care about black people”. Republicans continue racist rhetoric in the media while Democrats are worse as the play the role of the fox in sheep’s clothing, deceiving blacks with policies that always have negative long term impact.

Voting as a singular strategy to create economic change is absolutely worthless and voting exclusively democrat is not only worthless but insane. We have had voting rights since 1965, 50 years and our economic and social conditions are no better.

Economic empowerment comes from specific actions. Blacks must engage in these actions:

1. Release any default political affiliations and identify yourselves as independent.
2. Understand that voting is worthless without money and a lobby group who will transfer the money to politicians in exchange for support of the black agenda.
3. Vote as a unified group for an Independent party.

The above action points rely on an agenda to serve as the reason for the action points. The below agenda is one that I would suggest for Black people It does not speak for all Black people but its a good start.

Black American Agenda

1. Negotiate a reparations agreement for Black Americans that involves land, tax breaks, free education, control of certain resources and support for HBCUs as the core of settlement.
2. Abolish 21st Century Slavery with the removal of the 13th Amendment Clause, that allows legal slavery.
3. Enforcing the The Black Freedman Indian Treaty of 1866.
4. Create Affirmative Action-like plan specifically for black people.
5. Reconstruction of Public School Education.
6. Reconstruction of legal and law enforcement system.

This is one part of revolution yet a very necessary part. This process has to be part of the Black movement.

The Political System: Systems of Racism Series 3 of 9 – Defining racism Part 3B:

The political power structure of America was set up by the White European immigrants almost immediately upon arriving on these shores in the early 1600s. Europeans instantly established themselves as the dominant political force in this new colony. Europeans at once began carving out the policies that would govern the new territory and a large part of those policies were targeted at determining the role Blacks would play in the new colony. This naturally excluded Blacks from the political process. Blacks were almost 100% marginalized and unrepresented in the political process from 1619 until the Civil Rights Movement.

Racism in Politics – voter supression[/caption]

There was a small period of Black political progress during Reconstruction.  The 14th (1868) and 15th (1869) Amendments were passed, the 15th Amendment gave Blacks the right to vote. This allowed blacks to become involved in the political arena from   approximately  1865 – 1877. The progress of Blacks under Reconstruction was met simultaneously  with creation of the KKK, Black Codes  and Jim Crow . These three factors quickly reversed  blacks political gains. Prior to Jim Crow become fully indoctrinated in society which made voting illegal on a state level, the KKK intimidated blacks from voting as well as removed black government officials and government officials who supported black progress through coups.

Jim Crow was the primary means of ensuring black voter suppression from 1877 unit 1865.  Here are a few of the state and federally supported polices that were used to exclude Blacks from the political machine. (For more details on this process list click on this link)

1. Poll taxes during Jim Crow created a financial barrier to vote in North and South. 
2. Literacy tests during Jim Crow created an education barrier to vote in the North and South.  
3. Caging lists  unlawfully challenging the registration status of voters. 
4. KKK/White Supremacy Coups 
5. Felon Disenfranchisement, denying convicted felons the right to vote, yet criminalizing ordinary black life which make them into felons. 

These tactics and many more created a hostile political environment for black people until the Civil Rights Movement when multiple laws were passed to give some semblance of rights to blacks. From 1619 until 1965 Blacks had approximately 12 years of limited political involvement out of 320+ years in this country and even that period was erased shortly after it started.

Politics of Racism was nationwide[/caption]

Even with our gained voter rights in 1965 we still struggle today to maintain our ability to vote. We also have yet to develop any politicians, Black or White, who have been unapologetically committed to the Black agenda and willing to speak authoritatively about the issues that affect Black people. The racism in politics is extremely nuanced yet very real, the exclusion of blacks from politics was systematic and based on race. The impact has been crippling and continues to be felt by Black people today.

The issues Blacks face today in police brutality, injustices in the legal system and lack of economic development in black communities to name a few, all can be related to Blacks exclusion from the political system. No national politicians are interested in the black agenda. You can see with the current cast of presidential candidates the black agenda is completely ignored. Not one of the candidates even mentions any resemblance of a black agenda unless they are forced to,  as Bernie Sanders was by the two #BlackLivesMatter protesters in Seattle. Sanders quickly crafted an incomplete agenda loosely geared towards black people.

The means to change the litany of issues in the Black community is partially through politics. On a nationally level the system is still much to racist for blacks to participate and create the change that will impact the lives of everyday black people. President Obama exemplifies this quite clearly. Local politics in majority black population cities is where change can and will occur and that is where we as Black people need to focus in order to create the changes that we need.

Obama & Politicians say they care about ending Mass Incarceration…Prove it.

It was great to hear President Obama speak to the issue of Mass Incarceration, Federal Sentencing Guidelines and Mandatory Minimum prison sentences. This speech was an important message and stepping stone towards solving one of America’s oldest and most racists practices, that of excessive penalties for black crimes. It was also very encouraging to hear that ending mass Incarceration has bi-partisan support.

The speech and political rhetoric are important but definitely not the end game. If the president and members of Congress are serious about this issue it will take bold actions. Old policies/laws/amendments will need to be changed. New polices/practices,  laws and amendments will need to be created. New methods of policing will have to be employed. All law enforcement is in need of new approach to policing and new training to carry out policing. This would be a huge reversal of  ideology in the legal system and law enforcement.

If,  and this is a HUGE “IF”, President Obama and the other politicians are series about ending mass Incarceration then there are specific changes and new implementations that they can create. The bullet items below are items that would directly lead to ending Mass Incarceration. And cresting equality

– Correct the 13th Amendment to abolish ALL slavery, even the prison industrial complex. Make all private prisons illegal. Private prisons encourage illegal policing practices.

– Eliminate all mandatory minimum sentences for non violent offenses or make all non-violent mandatory minimum equal to each other. Drug possession for first second and third offense should be the same as a DUI offenses.

– Creation of a police review boards that consists of citizens with power to review cases such as the ones that have received mass media attention over the past 2 years and make recommendations.

– Legalizing drugs to some degree and in legalizing drugs current illegal drug distributers who are black and brown should not be omitted from these opportunities.

–  Citizens need to have a systematic ability to request Department of Justice involvement when local and/or state investigations of law enforcement appears to be suspicious.

– Federal regulations that prevent states and local municipalities from creating racists laws and policies.

– SCOTUS review and all racial policies on record for any racial biases and correct them.

I am extremely skeptical about President Obama and any politicians commitment to end Mass Incarceration. This country has spent its entire existence trying to put black people in some form of bondage and it has been immensely profitable. I doubt their sincerity yet i will keep an open mind when I hear the rhetoric on this topic but I will be looking for facts. In the meantime blacks need to focus on creating  communities that can provide shelter against many of these injustices waged against black people.