“Hide nothing from the masses of our people. Tell no lies. Expose lies whenever they are told. Mask no difficulties, mistakes, failures. Claim no easy victories . . . Our experience has shown us that in the general framework of daily struggle, this battle against ourselves, this struggle against our own weaknesses . . . is the most difficult of all.”—Amilcar Cabral
“Each generation must discover its mission, fulfill it or betray it, in relative opacity.”—Frantz Fanon
Will ‘Americans’ collectively ever become sane? In a word, no—not as long as the corporate-stream media, ‘educational’ institutions, and corporate-government of this nation are allowed to succeed in indoctrinating and controlling the past and present narrative [i.e. stories] of everyday Black, White, Brown, Red, and Yellow people.
This control comes in the form of mythology, distortions, omissions, and outright lies; versus recognizing the utter insanity of supporting prevaricating systemic politicians, perpetual war, and political, economic, and social hypocrisy & injustices at home and abroad.
The American Heritage College Dictionary defines the word sane as being 1) “Of sound mind; mentally healthy.” and 2) “Having or showing sound judgment; reasonable.” On the other hand, the word pathology is defined, in relevant part, as the “anatomic or functioning manifestations of a disease.” Unfortunately, it is the latter definition that demonstratively applies to the body politic, including institutions, of the United States of America. Until this is recognized and changed, this nation will not be collectively sane.
The following words of Frederick Douglass address the ongoing pathological [i.e. sick or diseased] and hypocritical reality which afflicts this nation, when he said, “The American people have this to learn: that where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, whereignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob, and degrade them, neither person nor property is safe.” This nation’s systemic misleaders of all colors [from both major political parties] are a manifestation of pathology.
In this year of 2011, in the 21st century, there is no sane rationale for spending trillions of dollars on corporate giveaways and waging wars abroad, while simultaneously having joblessness, homelessness, home foreclosures, no single-payer (universal health care), and the largest prison incarceration rate in the world. There is no sane rationale for the endless exploitation by the few of the many. There is no sane rationale for government secrecy, corporate hegemony, and the devastation of this planet—Mother Earth. There is however, the ever-present sickness of greed, which is constantly reinforced by a distorted anddisfigured narrative of the everyday people’s past and present history and reality—propagated by this nation’s pathological systemic institutions and corporate-stream media.
The United States, led by its misleaders (instead of by its everyday people) is now, more than ever, steeped in a pathology of mythology and madness which, if not recognized, corrected and reversed; threatens to further environmentally denigrate this planet and ultimately destroy humanity. The time is here for the everyday people to collectively and uncompromisingly say, NO MORE! Not only for our sanity, but also for the sake of our very existence!
For a certainty, this predator drone missile U.S. President Barack Obama (who is currently the black face of U.S. corporate/military hegemony abroad; and secrecy, subterfuge, and de facto political repression at home) will no doubt have made some bogus rhetorical, double-speak media statement pertaining to some kind of withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan (which will of course essentially entail his renaming them and their “mission”), which will be meant to once againbamboozle everyday people—just as he did in the case of the ongoing U.S. occupation of, and fighting in, Iraq. Moreover, just as with the NATO [i.e. U.S.] led war of aggression has devastated the ordinary people of the oil rich African nation of Libya, so it is, that to a lesser but no less obscene degree, the economic life-lines and infrastructure for just plain ordinary, everyday people right here in this nation are being steadily emaciated. To allow this tocontinue at home and abroad would be pathological and the height of insanity.
There comes a time when the everyday Black, White, Brown, Red, and Yellow people of this nation must collectively prescribe a cure for ourselves and break free from this pathology; and that time is NOW. In order to do this, we need encouragement, strength, and determination gleaned from one another collectively. There is no time better than the present, and frankly we do not have much time left if we are to reverse being made extinct by the corporate-induced nuclear, military, and environmental nightmare that surely awaits not only this nation but the entire planet.
These are challenging and perilous times. Time for systemic change! Will we “fulfill our [collective] mission” as humanbeings, or will we “betray it?” Betrayal is unthinkable.
Onward then, my sisters and brothers! Onward!
BlackCommentator.comEditorial Board Member, 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 in opposition to voter suppression, etc., Pinkney was interviewed in 1988 on the nationally televised PBS News Hour, formerly known as The MacNeil / Lehrer News Hour. 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.) Click here to contact Mr. Pinkney.
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Will Americans ever become sane?
Posted on June 28, 2011 by Larry Pinkney
“Hide nothing from the masses of our people. Tell no lies. Expose lies whenever they are told. Mask no difficulties, mistakes, failures. Claim no easy victories . . . Our experience has shown us that in the general framework of daily struggle, this battle against ourselves, this struggle against our own weaknesses . . . is the most difficult of all.”—Amilcar Cabral
“Each generation must discover its mission, fulfill it or betray it, in relative opacity.”—Frantz Fanon
Will ‘Americans’ collectively ever become sane? In a word, no—not as long as the corporate-stream media, ‘educational’ institutions, and corporate-government of this nation are allowed to succeed in indoctrinating and controlling the past and present narrative [i.e. stories] of everyday Black, White, Brown, Red, and Yellow people.
This control comes in the form of mythology, distortions, omissions, and outright lies; versus recognizing the utter insanity of supporting prevaricating systemic politicians, perpetual war, and political, economic, and social hypocrisy & injustices at home and abroad.
The American Heritage College Dictionary defines the word sane as being 1) “Of sound mind; mentally healthy.” and 2) “Having or showing sound judgment; reasonable.” On the other hand, the word pathology is defined, in relevant part, as the “anatomic or functioning manifestations of a disease.” Unfortunately, it is the latter definition that demonstratively applies to the body politic, including institutions, of the United States of America. Until this is recognized and changed, this nation will not be collectively sane.
The following words of Frederick Douglass address the ongoing pathological [i.e. sick or diseased] and hypocritical reality which afflicts this nation, when he said, “The American people have this to learn: that where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob, and degrade them, neither person nor property is safe.” This nation’s systemic misleaders of all colors [from both major political parties] are a manifestation of pathology.
In this year of 2011, in the 21st century, there is no sane rationale for spending trillions of dollars on corporate giveaways and waging wars abroad, while simultaneously having joblessness, homelessness, home foreclosures, no single-payer (universal health care), and the largest prison incarceration rate in the world. There is no sane rationale for the endless exploitation by the few of the many. There is no sane rationale for government secrecy, corporate hegemony, and the devastation of this planet—Mother Earth. There is however, the ever-present sickness of greed, which is constantly reinforced by a distorted and disfigured narrative of the everyday people’s past and present history and reality—propagated by this nation’s pathological systemic institutions and corporate-stream media.
The United States, led by its misleaders (instead of by its everyday people) is now, more than ever, steeped in a pathology of mythology and madness which, if not recognized, corrected and reversed; threatens to further environmentally denigrate this planet and ultimately destroy humanity. The time is here for the everyday people to collectively and uncompromisingly say, NO MORE! Not only for our sanity, but also for the sake of our very existence!
For a certainty, this predator drone missile U.S. President Barack Obama (who is currently the black face of U.S. corporate/military hegemony abroad; and secrecy, subterfuge, and de facto political repression at home) will no doubt have made some bogus rhetorical, double-speak media statement pertaining to some kind of withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan (which will of course essentially entail his renaming them and their “mission”), which will be meant to once again bamboozle everyday people—just as he did in the case of the ongoing U.S. occupation of, and fighting in, Iraq. Moreover, just as with the NATO [i.e. U.S.] led war of aggression has devastated the ordinary people of the oil rich African nation of Libya, so it is, that to a lesser but no less obscene degree, the economic life-lines and infrastructure for just plain ordinary, everyday people right here in this nation are being steadily emaciated. To allow this to continue at home and abroad would be pathological and the height of insanity.
There comes a time when the everyday Black, White, Brown, Red, and Yellow people of this nation must collectively prescribe a cure for ourselves and break free from this pathology; and that time is NOW. In order to do this, we need encouragement, strength, and determination gleaned from one another collectively. There is no time better than the present, and frankly we do not have much time left if we are to reverse being made extinct by the corporate-induced nuclear, military, and environmental nightmare that surely awaits not only this nation but the entire planet.
These are challenging and perilous times. Time for systemic change! Will we “fulfill our [collective] mission” as human beings, or will we “betray it?” Betrayal is unthinkable.
Onward then, my sisters and brothers! Onward!
BlackCommentator.com Editorial Board Member, 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 in opposition to voter suppression, etc., Pinkney was interviewed in 1988 on the nationally televised PBS News Hour, formerly known as The MacNeil / Lehrer News Hour. 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.) Click here to contact Mr. Pinkney.