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Title: Liberation or Gangsterism Author: Russell Maroon Shoatz Date: July 16, 2007 Language: en Topics: liberation, The Utopian, gangs Source: Retrieved on 22nd July 2021 from https://www.utopianmag.com/archives/tag-The%20Utopian%20Vol.%206%20-%202007/liberation-or-gangsterism/ Notes: Published in The Utopian Vol. 6.
Each generation must, out of relative obscurity, discover its
mission-fulfill it or betray it.
Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth
Within two generations the youth of this country have come full circle.
Starting in 1955, youth were driven by two major motivations: one, the
acquiring of enough education or apprenticeships, the use of their
unskilled labor or street smarts to land âgoodâ jobs or establish
hustles, and to make as much money and obtain as many material trappings
as possible. The second was to use the education, apprenticeships,
unskilled labor, street smart jobs, hustles and the material trappings
provided by them to win a measure of respect and dignity from their
peers and society in general. Simultaneously, they were learning to
respect themselves as individuals, and not simply be eating, sleeping,
laboring and sexual animals.
The Civil Rights Movement in the South successfully motivated Black,
Puerto Rican, Euro-Amerikan, Chicano-Mexicano, Indigenous and Asian
youth to use their time, energy, creativity and imagination to discover
their true self-worth and earn the respect of the entire world while
struggling toward even broader goals that were not measured by oneâs
material possessions. And over time each segment cheered on, supported,
worked in solidarity with and/or discovered its own common interests and
closely linked missons connected to broader peopleâs goals.
Thus, Black youth elevated the Civil Rights Movement to the Black Power
and Black Liberation Movements. Puerto Rican yourth energized their
eldersâ ongoing struggle to win independence for their home island.
Euro-Amerikan youth attacked the lies, hypocrisy and oppression that
their parents were training them to uphold in the schools, society and
overseas. Native Amerikan youth were returning to their supressed
ancestral ways and fighting to regain control over some of their land.
Asian youth were struggling to overcome a system and culture that had
always used and abused them.
Indeed all of them came to see clearly that neither education, jobs,
money, hustles or material trappings could, by themselves, win them the
victories they needed, or the new type of dignity and respect they
deserved.
Moreover, from 1955 until circa 1975, these youth joined, formulated,
led and supported struggles worldwide against racial oppression and
bigotry, colonialism, oppression of women and youth. In the process they
were winning themselves the respect, admiration and gratitude of the
worldâs oppressed as well as their peers. Further, in addition to
becoming people that societies must take seriously, these youth were
positive contributors who had much to give and were willing to sacrifice
to achieve their goals. They were youth who were capable of imagining a
better world and fighting to realize it while remaining youthful and
having a good time doing it. All in all, they earned a much-deserved
place in history.
Yet here we are 30 years later and the youth nowadays have been stripped
of that hard-earned freedom, self-respect and dignity. They are being
told-over and over-that the only way to regain them is again to acquire
education, skills, good jobs, or the right hustle(s). This means, once
again, to acquire as much money and material things as one can in order
again to win respect and dignity frome oneâs peers and society-and
thereby begin to start loving oneâs self, and seeing oneâs self as more
than simply an eating, sleeping, working and sexual being.
First off, let me make clear that even with all of the glorious strides
the youth made within the First Wave, they were not the only ones
fighting for radical or revolutionary changes. In fact, more than
anything, they were usually only the tip of the spear. They were the
shock troops of a global struggle, motivated by youthful energy and
impatience, with no time or temperament for elaborate theories, rushing
forward into the fray, ill prepared for the tricks that would eventually
overwhelm them.
So to understand what happened, we must examine some of the main
âtricksâ used to slow down, misdirect, control and defeat them. And
without a point, a spear loses all of its advantages.
Understanding these tricks, their various guises and refinements, is the
key to everything. You will never really understand what happened to get
us to this point, or be able really to move forward, until you recognize
and devise ways to defeat them. They were and remain:
Co-option was used extensively to trick just about all of the First Wave
youth into believing that they had won the war. In particular, to every
segment of youth, from university students to lower class communities,
billions of dollars and resources were made available. This was
supposedly for these youth to determine what should be done to carry out
far-reaching changes, while in reality they were being expertly
monitored and subtly coaxed further and further away from their most
radical and advanced elements. This was done mainly through control of
the largess, which ultimately was part of the ruling classâ foundation,
government and corporate strategy for defeating the youth with
sugar-coated bullets.
In time, consequently, substantial segments of these previously
rebellious youth found themselves fully absorbed and neutralized either
by directly joining or accepting the foundationsâ, sub-groupsâ,
corporationsâ, universitiesâ or âapprovedâ community groupsâ
assistance-or by becoming full-fledged junior partners in the system
after winning control of thousands of previously out-of-reach political
offices.
And, for all intents and purposes, that same trick is still being used
today.
Glamorization of Gangsterism, however, was then and continues to be the
most harmful trick played against the lower class segments. The males,
in particular, were then and continue to be the most susceptible to this
gambit, especially when used opposite to prolonged exposure to raw fear!
Let me illustrate by briefly describing the histories of two groups that
presently enjoy nothing less than âiconâ status amongst just about
everyone aware of them. These two groupsâ âdocumented historiesâ clearly
show how that trick is played, and continues to be played, throughout
this country. The first of these two groups is the original Black
Panther Party, which was bludgeoned and intimidated to the point where
its key leader(s) âconsciouslyâ steered the group into accepting the
Glamorization of Gangsterism. Because this glamorization was less of a
threat to the ruling classesâ interests, it won the Party a temporary
respite from the raw fear the ruling circles were levelling against it.
In the process the organization was totally destroyed. The second of the
two groups was the Nation of Islam âconnectedâ Black Mafia, which had a
different background, but against whom the same tricks were played. It
also left in its wake a sordid tale of young Black men who
wereagain-turned from seeking to be Liberators into being ruthless
oppressors of their own communities. These men never once engaged their
real enemies and oppressors: the ruling class.
Hands down the original Black Panther Party (BPP) won more attention,
acclaim, respect, support and sympathy than any other youth group of its
time. At the same time the BPP provoked more fear and worry in ruling
class circles than any other domestic group since Presidents Roosevelt,
Truman and Eisenhower presided over the neutralization of the working
class and the U.S. wing of the Communist Party. The BPP was even more
feared than the much larger Civil Rights Movement. According to the head
of the FBI, the Panthers were the âgreatest threat to the internal
security of the countryâ. That threat came from the Panthersâ ability to
inspire other youth-in the U.S. and globally-to act in similar
grassroots political revolutionary ways.
Thus, there were separate BPP-style formations amongst Native Amerikans
(the American Indian Movement); Puerto Ricans (the Young Lords); Chicano
Mexicano Indigenous people (the Brown Berets); Asians (I Wor Kuen);
Euro-Amerikan (the Young Patriot and White Panther Parties); and even
the elderly (the Gray Panthers). Also, there were literally hundreds of
other similar, lesser known groups! Internationally the BPP had an arm
in Algeria that had the only official âEmbassyâ established amongst all
of the other Afrikan, Asian and South Amerikan revolutionary groups
seeking refuge in that then-revolutionary country. Astonishingly, the
BPP even inspired separate Black Panther Parties in India, the Bahamas,
Nova Scotia, Australia and Occupied Palestine/State of Israel!
On the other hand, the Nation of Islam (NOI) had been active since 1930.
Yet it also experienced a huge upsurge in membership in the same period.
This was mainly due to the charismatic personality of Malcolm X and his
aggressive recruitment techniques. Malcolmâs influence carried on after
his assassination, fueled by the overall rebellious spirits of the youth
looking for groups which would lead them to fight against the system.
Therefore, thereâs a mountain of documents which clearly show that the
highest powers in this country classified both groups as Class A Threats
to be neutralized or destroyed. These powers mused that if that goal
could be achieved, they could then use similar methods to defeat the
rest of the youth.
So how did they do it? Against the BPP the powers used a combination of
co-option, glamorization of gangsterism, separation from the most
advanced elements, indoctrination in reliance on passive approaches and
raw fear; that is, every trick in the book.
Thus, fully alarmed at the growth and boldness of the BPP and related
groups as well as their ability to win a level of global support, the
ruling classesâ governmental, intelligence, legal and academic arms
devised a strategy to split the BPP and co-opt its more compliant
elements. At the same time they moved totally to annihilate its more
radical and revolutionary remainders. They knew they had the upper hand
due to the youth and inexperience of the BPP; and they had their own
deep well of resources and experiences in using counter-insurgency
techniques much earlier against:
Socialist bent;
neutralizing of the other Socialists;
Europe;
Central and South Amerika-except for the fledgling guerilla movements;
colonial powers in Africa and Asia.
Still, the BPP had highly motivated cadre, imbued with a fearlessness
little known among domestic groups. The ruling class and its henchmen
were stretched thin, especially since the Vietnamese, Laotians and
Kampucheans were kicking their ass in Southeast Asia. Moreover, the
freedom fighters in Guinea-Bissau and Angola had the U.S.â European
allies-whom the U.S. supplied with the latest military hardware-on the
run.
So although the BPP was inexperienced, the prospect of neutralizing it
was a mixed bag. The members of the BPP still had a fighting chance. The
co-option depended on them neutralizing the BPP co-founder and by-then
icon, Huey P. Newton. Afterward, they used him-along with other
methods-to split the BPP and lead his wing along reformist lines. It was
hoped that this process would force the still-revolutionary wing into an
all-out armed fight before it was ready, either killing, jailing,
exiling or breaking its members will to resist or sending them into
ineffective hiding-out. At this time, even with the BPPâs extraordinary
global stature, no country seemed to want to risk the U.S. wrath by
âopenly â allowing the BPP to train guerilla units, something which,
given more time, could nevertheless have come to pass.
So, surprisingly, Huey was allowed to leave jail with a
still-tobe-tried-murder-of-a-policeman charge pending. Thus, the
government and courts had him on a short leash, and with it they hoped
to control his actions, although probably not through any direct
agreements. Sadly, the still politically naive BPP cadre and the other
youth who looked up to Newton could imagine ânothingâ but that
âtheyâ-the people-had forced his release. Veterans from those times
still insist on clinging to such tripe!
Yet it seems Newton thought otherwise, and since he was not prepared to
go underground and join his fledgling Black Liberation Army (BLA), he
almost immediately began following a reformist script. This was
completely at odds with his own earlier theories and writings, as well
as at odds with basic principles that were being practiced to good
effect by oppressed people throughout the world. Even further, he used
his almost complete control of the BPP Central Committee to expel many,
many veteran and combat-tested BPP cadre in an imitation of the
Stalinist and Euro-gangster posture he would later become famous for.
This included an all-out shooting war to repress any BPP members who
would not accept his independentlyderived-at reformist policies.
At the same time, on a parallel track, U.S. and local police and
intelligence agencies were using their now infamous COINTELPRO
operations to provoke the split between the wing Huey dominated and
other, less compliant BPP members. This finally reached a head in 1971,
after Hueyâs shooting war and purge forced scores of the most loyal,
fearless and dedicated above-ground BPP to go underground and join those
other BPP members who were already functioning there as the offensive
armed wing. Panther Wolves, AfroAmerican Liberation Army and Black
Liberation Army were all names by which these members were known, but
the latter is the only one that would stick. At this time the BLA was a
confederation of clandestine guerilla units composed of mostly Black
Revolutionary Nationalists from a number of different formations.
Nevertheless, they still accepted the BPPâs leadership and Huey Newton
as their Minister of Defense. But obviously Newton didnât see it that
way.
Even more telling, it was later learned that Newtonâs expensive
penthouse apartment-where he and other Central Committee members handled
any number of sensitive BPP issues, was under continuous surveillance by
intelligence agents who had another apartment down the hall. Thus,
Newton and his faction were encapsulated, leaving them unable to follow
anything but government sanctioned scripts; unless he/they went
underground. This only occurred when Newton fled to Cuba after his
gangster antics threatened the revocation of his release on the pending
legal matters which the government held over his head.
Add to that, the glamorization of gangsterism was something that various
ruling class elements had begun to champion and direct toward the Black
lower classes, in particular. This occurred especially after they saw
how much attention the Black Arts Movement was able to generate. Indeed,
these ruling class elements recognized it could be used to misdirect
youthful militancy while still being hugely profitable. They had, in
fact, already misdirected Euro-Amerikan and other youth with the James
Bond-I Spy-Secret Agent Man and other replacements for the âOld
West/Cowboys and Indiansâ racist crap, so why not a âBlackâ counterpart?
Thus was born the enormously successful counter-insurgency genre
collectively known as the Blacksploitation movies: Shaft, Superfly,
Foxxy Brown, Black Caesar and the like, accompanied by wannabe
crossovers like Starsky and Hutch, and the notorious Black snitch Huggie
Bear. Psychological warfare!
Follow the psychology: You can be âBlackâ, cool, rebellious, dangerous,
rich, have respect, women, cars, fine clothes, jewelry, an expensive
home and even stay high; as long as you donât fight the system-or the
cops! But, if you donât go along with that script, then get ready to go
back to the early days-with its shootouts with the cops, graveyard,
prison, on the run and exile! Or you can be cool even as a Huggie
Bear-style snitch, and interestingly, like his buddy, the
post-modern/futuristic rat Cipher of The Matrix, who tried to betray
ZION in return for a fake life as a rich, steak-eating, movie star. And
most important: no more fighting with the Agents! Get it?
In addition, the ruling classes bolstered the governmentâs assault by
flooding our neighborhoods with heroin, cocaine, marijuana and âmethâ.
In the process they saddled the oppressed with a Trojan Horse which
would strategically handicap them for decades to come. All of those
drugs had earlier been introduced to these areas by organized
criminalsunder local police and political protection. But now the
intelligence agencies were using them with the same intentions that
alcohol had long ago been introduced to the Native Amerikans and opium
had been trafficked by the ruling classes of Europe and this country: to
counter the propensities of oppressed people to rebel against outside
control while profiting off their misery.
Against this background Newton began to indulge in drugs to try to
relieve the stress of all that he was facing. He became a drug addict,
plain and simple. That, however, didnât upset the newly-constructed
gangster/cool that Hollywood, the ruling class and the government were
pushing. Although many BPP cadre and other outsiders were very nervous
about it, Newtonâs control was by then too firmly fixed for anyone to
challenge-except for the BLA, whose members were by then in full blown
urban guerilla war with the government.
At the same time, the reformist wing of the BPP did manage to make some
noteworthy strides under its only female head, Elaine Brown. Newtonâs
drug addiction/gangster-lifestyle-provoked exile caused him to
âappointâ-on his own and without any consultation with the body-Elaine
to head the Party in his absence. An exceptionally gifted woman, she
relied on an inner circle of female BPP cadre, backed up by male
enforcers, to introduce some clear and consistent projects that helped
the BPP to become a real power locally. It was a reformist paradigm,
though, that could not hope to achieve any of the radical/revolutionary
changes called for earlier. On the contrary, Newton in his earlier
writings had put the cadre on notice of a point when, in order to keep
moving forward, the aboveground would have to be supported by an
underground. Yet it was Newton who completely rejected that paradigm
upon being released from jail, although he still organized and
controlled a heavily armed extortion group called âThe Squadâ, which
consisted of BPP cadre who terrorized Oaklandâs underworld with a
belt-operated machine gun mounted on a truck bed and accompanied by
cadre who were ready for war! In classic Eurogangster fashion, Newton
had turned to preying on segments of the community that he had earlier
vowed to liberate. But, of course, the police and government were safe
from his forces. With no connection to a true undergound-the BLA-there
was no rational way to ratchet up the pressure on the police, government
and the still fully operational system of ruling class control and
oppression. Newton and his followers had been reduced to completely
sanctioned methods.
Consequently we can see all of the governmentâs tricks bearing fruit. In
a seemingly curious combination of Co-option, Indoctrination in Reliance
on Passive Approaches (that is, passive toward the status quo), and
Glamorization of Gangsterism, Newtonâs faction of the BPP had limited
itself both to legal and underworld-sanctioned methods. They also fell
for the trick of Separation from the Most Advanced Elements by severing
all relations with their armed underground,the BLA, whose members would
lead the BPP if the Party got to the next level of struggle-open armed
resistance to the oppressors. Finally, Newton, his faction and activists
from all of the other Amerikan radical and revolutionary groups
succumbed to the terror and Raw Fear that was being levelled on them.
The exception was those who waged armed struggle, who themselves were
killed, jailed, exiled, forced into deep hiding or into continuing their
activism under the radar.
Elaine Brown both guided Newtonâs and her faction to support Newton and
his family in exile while orchestrating the building up of enough
political muscle in Oakland to assure his return on favorable terms.
Thus, Newton did return and eventually the charges were dropped.
Nevertheless, Newton continued to use his iconic stature and renewed
direct control of his faction again to play the cool-political-gangster
role; and like any drug addict who refuses to reform, he kept sliding
downhill, even turning on old comrades and his main champion, Elaine
Brown, who had to flee in fear.
Sadly, for all practical purposes, that was the end of the original
Black Panther Party.
Check-mate!
Later, as is well-known, Newtonâs continued drug addiction cost him his
life, a sorry ending for a once great man.
âWhen you grow up in situations like me and Cliff...there is a lot of
respect for brothers like [drug lord] Alpo and Nicky Barnes, those major
hustler-player cats. Cause they made it. They made it against societyâs
laws. They were the Kings of their own domainâ. (Cliff Evans, âThe Ivy
League Counterfeiterâ, Rolling Stone, 2000; in Toure, Never Drank the
Kool-Aid, Picador, New York, 2006)
Albeit a touchy matter to many, itâs an irrefutable fact that the
original Black Mafia (BM) was first established in Philadelphia, Pa., in
the late 1960âs, and has seen its cancerous ideas duplicated, imitated
and lionized by Black youth ever since.
Moreover, although itâs unclear how much the national Nation of Islam
(NOI) leadership knew or learned about the BM, thereâs no question of
the local NOIâs eventual absorption of the BM-under Minister Jeremiah X.
Pugh. In fact, although the BM was originally just local âstick-up kidsâ
culled from neighborhood gangs, their being swallowed by the NOI would
eventually turn them into a truly powerful and terrifyuing criminal
enterprise-completely divorced from everything that the NOI had stood
for since its founding in 1930.
Sadly, most of the high level tricks which the government employed
against the BPP were also used against the BM/NOI; namely, Co-option,
Glamorization of Gangsterism, Separation from the Most Advenced Elements
and Raw Fear.
Thus, it must be understood that although the NOI and BPP had different
ideologies and styles, to most Black youth, both held out the promise of
helping them to obtain what they most desired: self-respect, dignity and
freedom.
Interestingly, the puritanical NOIâs dealings with the founders of the
BM were similar to that of the Catholic Churchâs historical relationship
with the Italian Mafia. That is, the BM members who attended NOI
religious services did so strictly on that basiswhile still coming to
the attention of the local NOI leadership as unusually good financial
contributors. And within the lower class Black community being served,
everybody knew that meant that they were hustlers, stick-up kids, or
both. So the same way that the Italian Mafia would contribute huge sums
to the Catholic Church, the BM would do with Phillyâs Temple No. 12.
The national NOI, however, had been under close scrutiny and
surveillance by intelligence agencies for decades. In fact, by the time
of this death, the NOIâs founder, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, had in
excess of one million pages of files in the archives of the FBI alone!
(Anyone who still believes that the assassination of Malcolm X did not
have a hidden U.S. government hand behind it, has no clear idea of the
threat that the NOI was perceived to be at that time). As a result of
their surveillance, the intelligence agencies knew who were the BMâs
financial contributors to the NOI.
Overshadowing this, of course, were the bloody assaults that the FBI and
local police were levelling against other Black radical and
revolutionary groups, like the local and national BPP branches, the
Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM) and scores of smaller formations.
The FBI first tried to recruit Minister Pugh as a snitch against the
local BPP by telling him that the BPP was out to get him and supplant
the local NOI for Black youthâs loyalties. Pugh, to his credit, didnât
take the bait and also avoided getting his Temple No. 12 involved in a
war with the BPP, although he had to suspect that his taking of blood
money from the BM had also come to the attention of the FBI, thus making
him vulnerable. Yet miraculously about the same time Pughâs name was
removed from the FBIâs Security Index, which contained all of what that
agency considered to be the countryâs top-level threats. After Pughâs
having been on the list for years, and right after its agents filed a
report of his refusal to be a snitch, why would the Bureau nevertheless
relax the pressure? How did J. Edgar Hoover & Co. think things would
unfold? By giving Pugh and his Temple, and their BM followers, enough
rope to hang themselves, or to become addicted to a game that was
ultimately controlled by their professed enemies-the U.S. government and
its underlings. Thus, this would turn the tables on Pugh and force him
to become less radical, more compliant, and no longer a threat on the
level of the BPP, RAM and other revolutionaries.
For the BM members, the glamorization of gangsterism fit right in. After
all, why would a group of Black stick-up kids and gang members call the
mselves The Black Mafia? This was in the era of Black is beautiful, when
millions of Blacks began wearing Afros/Bushes and African clothing and
adopting African names-completely at odds with aping Italians! Why not
name themselves the zulus, Watusis or the Mau Mau-like even younger
street gangs were doing? No, Hollywoodâs projection of gangsterism was
getting through.
Consequently, within a couple of years the BM would uniformly be
recognized as expensively dressed, big hat-wearing, Cadillac-driving
imitations of the Italian Mafia. And sadly, they turned countless
numbers of street gang members, former RAM cadre and militants from
dozens of other Philly groups, who were fighting oppression, into pawns
who were used to further destroy their own communities.
The third trick, that is, of separating the youth from the more advanced
elements, operated under cover of Pugh and other insiders continuing to
preach Black Nationalist doctrines amongst the youth in the street gangs
and within the prisons, never missing an opportunity to hold out the
illusion that they could gain pride and respect. As a result, many youth
believed they were joining a rebel group that was only awaiting the
right time to throw their lot in with the masses of Blacks who were
waging battles from coast to coast and on the African continent.
In reality Pugh & Co. were tricking the youth into diverting their
energies into gangsterism, thereby separating them from the more
advanced elements. Many, if not most, bought into the rationale that
their extortion and drug dealing were a tax that would be used to build
The Nation. A few years later that would be dubbed drinking the
Kool-Aid, after Jim Jones and his CIA handlers tricked and forced
hundreds of other Blacks to âdrinkâ their death. And undoubtedly, Huey
had also tricked his people with a similar game, which decades later was
shown to be completely false! Yes, that ill-gotten money did build
and/or buy some expensive homes, cars, clothing, women and drugs as well
as a few schools and businesses. But to fight oppression? Please!
Finally, the raw fear being levelled on the entire society had a
devastating effect on the BM, also. Otherwise how can one account for
the hundreds, if not thousands, of BM street soldiers, who were fearless
enough to cow Phillyâs long-established Italian Mafia and most of its
warring street gangs; or the BM headhunters, who terrorized the city
with decapitations, nevertheless producing a distinctly lackluster
showing when confronting anyone in uniform?
Iâll tell you how: their leadership had completely disarmed their
membersâ fighting spirits by alsways telling them not to resist the
police until the leadership gave the order-which never came. Comically,
after the police and FBI had succeeded in suppressing, jailing, exiling
and co-opting most of the BPP, BLA, RAM and others, they then discovered
the BM and attacked it with a vengeance. As might be expected, none of
the BM put up anything resembling real resistance except to go on the
lam. Minister Jeremiah himself made a 180-degree turn by becoming a
snitch after getting caught in a drug sting.
Thus, the legacy of the BM is one of a ruthless group of Black thugs who
have spawned similarly ruthless crews-notably Phillyâs Junior Black
Mafia (JBM) and the latest clone, Atlantaâs Black Mafia Family. But
their most harmful effect comes from their deeds and mystiques that has
returned a huge segment of Black youth to believing that the only way to
gain any respect and dignity is through being the best and most
heartless hustler around: that is, full circle back to 1955.
Finally, I used the BPP/BLA and NOI/BM as examples because they are the
most well documented. Although both are surrounded by so much mythology,
a true rawanalysis is almost never attempted except by the government
and intelligence agencies. The latter use their findings to refine and
revise older tricks in order to continue checking and controlling this
countryâs rebellious youth while simultaneously persisting in oppressing
the communities they occupy-in line with the ruling classesâ agenda.
As to the middle and upper class idealistic youth from all segments of
the First Wave, with few exceptions they allowed themselves willy-nilly
to be co-opted fully as the new managers of the system they had vowed
radically to change. Moreover, they became the champions of and made a
doctrine out of the necessity of always using and relying on passive and
legal methods, epitomized by their new saint, Martin Luther King,
Junior.
Thus, by 1980, for all practical purposes, the youth from the First Wave
had been defeated. Following this they collectively descended into a
debilitating, agonizing, escapist long period characterized by partying.
I am not discounting the fringe elements who had been so adversely
affected that they had their hands full trying to rebuild their sanity
or families, or to go back to school or simply survive in prison or
exile while everybody else seemed to be dancing on the ceiling. This was
similar to the shell shocked vets of WWI and WWII and the post-tramatic
stress syndrome sufferers of the Vietnam war.
The most misunderstood victims, however, were the First Waveâs children,
who themselves became the Second Wave from 1980 to 2005. Those are the
years when the latter either reached puberty or became young adults who,
paradoxically, were left in the dark about most of what had occurred
before. Instead they were left to the tender mercies of the reformed but
still rotten-to-the-core and ruling class-dominated schools, social
institutions and propaganda machinery.
Thus, amongst all the lower and working class segments of the youth,
Coolioâs Gangsterâs Paradise fits the bill. These youth were raised by
the state, either in uncaring schools, juvenile detention centers or
homes; in front of TV sets, movies, video arcades, or in the streets.
Within the greatly expanded middle classes-most notably amongst the
people of color-the youth were back to the gospel of getting a good
education and job as their highest calling. This was mixed with an
originally more conscous element which tackled plitics and academia as a
continuation of the First Waveâs struggle. The upper class youth,
however, were doomed to follow in the footsteps of their ruling class
parents, since the radical and revolutionary changes they sought failed
to alter the country much.
Like a recurring nightmare, the Second Wave also fell victim to
co-option, glamorization of gangsterism, separation from the most
advanced elements, reliance on passive methods and raw fear of an
upgraded police state. Left to their own devices, the lower class youth
began a search for respect and dignity by devising their own
institutions and culture, which came to be dominated by gangs and Hip
Hop. These, on their own, could be either used for good or bad. But
lacking any knowledge of the First Waveâs experiences, they were tricked
like their parents.
Gangs are working and lower class phenomena which date from the early
beginnings of this country, having also been in evidence overseas. In
fact, many of those who joined the First Wave were themselves gang
members, most notably Alprentice âBunchyâ Carter, head of the notorious
Slausons (the forerunners of todayâs Crips), and the martyred founder of
the Los Angeles Panthers. As little as itâs understood, the gangs are in
fact the lower class counterparts of the middle and upper classesâ youth
clubs, associations, Boy/Girl Scouts, and fraternities and sororities.
The key difference is the level of positive adult input in the middle
and upper class groups.
Hip Hop is just the latest manifestation of artistic genius bursting
forth from these lower class youth-seeking respect and dignity.
Orthodox hip hoppers speak of a holy trinity of hip hop fathers: Herc,
Afrika Bambaata, and Grandmaster Flash. But like moisture in the air
before it rains, the conditions were ripe for hip hop before the holy
trinity began spinning. Hip Hopâs prefathers or grandfathers are James
Brown, Huey Newton, Muhammad Ali, Richard Pryor, Malcolm X, Bob Marley,
Bruce Lee, certain celebrity drug dealers and pimps whose names wonât be
mentioned here... (Toure, Never Drank the Kool-Aid, op. cit.)
Alas, Hip Hop culture is daily being co-opted in ways so obvious that it
needs no explanation. But woe be to us if we donât come to grips with
how the Second Waveâs gangs have been coopted. It is a continuing
tragedy, moreover, which if not turned around will ultimately make the
shortcomings of the First Wave pale in comparison!
Ronald Reagan and crack were hip hopâs â80âs anti-fathers: both helped
foster the intense poverty and the teenage drug-dealing millionaires as
well as the urge to rebel against the system that appeared to be moving
in for the kill, to finally crush Black America. (Toure, Never Drank the
Kool-Aid, op. cit.)
Certainly the gangs have comprised a subculture that has historically
been a thorn in the culing classâ side. It either had to be controlled
and used, or eradicated. Usually that was accomplished by co-option and
attrition, with older elements moving on, or being jailed long enough to
destroy the group. Our First Wave, as noted, was able-somewhat-to
outflank the ruling class by absorbing some key gang members of that
time. This added to the First Waveâs prestige in the community and its
acceptance of radical and revolutionary ideas. (Also, as noted, these
ideas were pimped by BM-style groups).
Itâs fascinatingly simple to follow how the Second Wave has been tricked
to destroy itself. Just about all the pillars upholding this giant con
game are familiar to everyone in the form of movies, TV, street culture,
cops, courts, jails, prisons, death, and our own familiesâ and friendsâ
experiences with them.
All of the above, more than anything, crave respect and dignity! Forget
all of the unformed ideas about the homies wanting the families, fathers
and love that they never had. That plays a part, but if you think that
the homies only need some more hugs, then youâve drunk the kool-aid!
Actually, even if you did have a good father and a loving
family/extended family, if everything in society is geared toward
lessening your self-worth because of your youth, race, tastes in dress,
music, speech, lack of material trappings, etc., they you will still
hunger for some respect, which if it came, would lead you to knowing
dignity within yourself. Even suburban, middle and upper-class youth
confront this-to a lesser degree.
All of the beefinâ, flossinâ, frontinâ, set-trippinâ, violence and
bodies piling up comes from the pursuit of respect and dignity. This is
how 50 Cent put it:
Niggas out there sellinâ drugs is after what I got from rappinâ...When
you walk into a club and the bouncers stop doinâ whatever the fuck they
doing to let you in and say everybody else wait. He special. Thatâs the
same shit they do when you start killinâ niggas in you hood. This is
what we been after the whole time. Just the wrong route. (âLife of a
Hunted Manâ, posted on Rolling Stone website, April 3, 2003; in Never
Drank the Kool-Aid, op. cit.)
Admittedly, at times that simple, but raw truth is so intertwined with
so many other things that itâs hard to grasp. Namely, nowadays, the drug
game, other git-money games, and most sets do provide a sort of
alternative family. They also provide a strong cohesion that is
mistakenly called love. Hence, to cut through the distractions, Iâll
illustrate my point as follows:
When the Second Wave was left hanging by the defeated and demoralized
First Wave, its members unknowingly reverted to methods of seeking
dignity and respect that the First Wave had elevated themselves above
during their struggle for radical and revolutionary change. This was a
period during which gang wars and gang banging were anathema! The
revolutionary psychiatrist Frantz Fanon in The Wretched of the Earth
notes that the colonized and oppressed are quick to grab their knife
against a neighbor or stranger, thereby in a subconscious way ducking
their fear of directing their pent up rage at those responsible for
their suffering: their colonial oppressors.
The notable early sets-like the Bloods, Crips and Gangster
Disciples-primary activity was banging, or gang warring over âturf â:
neighborhoods, schools, etc., as well as over real or imagined slights.
But the real underlying motivation was of all of the partiesâ desires to
build their reputations and earn stripes, meaning to gain prestige in
the eyes of fellow bangers. This translated into respect amongst their
peers. It also caused these youth to bond with each other like soldiers
do in combat; a bonding like a family-even more so. Not surprisingly,
many outsiders decreed that this bonding was love. Some youth also
thought that. However, to exchange love, you first have to love
yourself, and the gang banger by definition has no love for his or her
self. They in fact are desperately seeking respect, without which love
is impossible.
Example: If you respect your body, you can also love your body, and you
would not dare destroy it with drugs or alcohol. But if you donât
respect your body and you go on to destroy it in that fashion, then it
follows that you have no love for it either.
The banginâ raged on for years, piling up as many deaths and injuries as
the U.S. suffered during the Vietnam War. Each incident elevated either
the attackerâs or victimâs stature in the eyes of his or her peers. As
might be expected during those years, the overseers of the oppressive
system bemoaned the carnage while locking up untold numbers of bangers
for a few years; but overall, they did absolutely nothing to try to
arrest the problem.
Now hereâs where it really gets interesting. Drugs, as noted, had been
flooding into these same communities since the 1960âs. Back then,
however, it was mainly heroin, with marijuana and meth playing
relatively minor roles. Remember the movies Serpico and The French
Connection exposing that? But the early gangs, to their credit, never
got deeply involved in that. They saw dope fiends as weak and, although
those early gangs would blow some sherm or chronic, it was just a
pass-time activity for them. They were serious about banginâ!
The bangers were in fact all co-opted, wedded as they were to their form
of fratricidal gangsterism and totally separated from the remnants of
the First Wave, about whom they knew next to nothing. Meanwhile, the
âgood kidsâ were being indoctrinated in passive, legal,
get-a-good-education approaches. And both groups were scared to death of
the police! For despite the bangersâ hate and contempt, any two cops
could lay out a dozen of them on all fours-at will. Hence, Tupacâs later
iconic stature amongst them, since he could walk his talk:
...the fact that while everyone else talks about it, Tupac is the only
known rapper who has actually shot a police officer; the walking away
from being shot five times with no permanent damage and walking away
from the hospital the next day and the rolling into court for a brief
but dramatic wheelchair-bound courtroom appearance-itâs been dangerously
compelling and ecstatically brilliant. (âTupacâ, The Village Voice,
1995, in never Drank the Kool-Aid; op. cit.)
At that time this madness was contained in lower class communities since
the ruling class believed that technology had made what it dubbed the
underclass obsolete anyway. To do this the ruling classesâ henchmen made
sure that their Gestapo-like police were heavily armed and fully
supported. I urge people to see Sean Penn and Robert Duvalâs movie,
Colors.
But something was on the horizon that was about to cause a seismic shift
in this already sorry state of affairs. It was to alter things in ways
that most still cannot or will not believe.
South Amerikan cocaine replaced French Connection and CIAcontrolled
Southeast Asian/Golden Triangle-grown heroin as the drug of choice in
the early 1980âs. Remember Miami Vice? Well, as might be expected, this
countryâs government, intelligence agencies and large banks immediately
began a struggle to control this new trade. Remember: control-not get
rid of-in complete contrast to their lying propaganda projects like the
War on Drugs! Thus, they were in fact dealing with-not fighting-the
South Amerikan governments, militaries and large landowners who
controlled the raising, processing and shipping of the cocaine. (For a
few years, however, the latter themselves had to battle a few
independent drug lords, most notably Pablo Escobar Ochoa and his
Medellin Cartel).
In this country at that time the youth gangs had next to nothing to do
with the cocaine trade, which was then primarily servicing a middle and
upper class-and white-clientele. The traffic employed a few old-school
big time hustlers along with some Spanish-speaking wholesalers, who also
had their own crews to handle matters. Although after the fact, the Hip
hop cult movie favorites Scarface and New Jack City are good
descriptions of that period, albeit they both-purposely-left out the
dominant role that the U.S. government and intelligence agencies played
in controlling things.
All right, I know youâre down with all of that-and love it! So letâs
move on.
In the middle 1980âs the U.S. began backing a secret war designed to
overthrow the revolutionary Sandinista government that had fought a long
and bloody civil war to rid Nicaragua of its U.S.-sponsored dictator
(Somoza) in 1979. But after being exposed to the world, the U.S.
Congress forbade then-president Reagan from continuing this secret war.
Like a lot of U.S. presidents, however, he just ignored Congress and had
the CIA raise the money, recruit the mercenaries and buy or steal the
military equipment to continue the war.
Consequently, thatâs how and why crack and the mayhem itâs caused came
upon us. Here, however, you wonât see Hollywood and TV giving up the
raw. With few exceptions like Black director Bill Dukesâ Deep Cover,
starring Laurence Fishburn, and Above the Law with Steven Segal, you
have to search hard to see it portrayed so clearly. Later Iâll explain
why.
Anyway, most people have heard that crack was dumped into South Central
Los Angeles in the mid-â80âs-along with an arsenal of military-style
assault rifles that would make a First Wave BPP member ashamed of how
poorly equipped s/he was. Needless to say, the huge profits from the
crack sales, coupled with everyone being financially strapped, magnified
the body count! And, since crack was also so easy to manufacture locally
and so dirt cheap, just about anybody in the hood could get into the
business. Gone were the old days of a few big-time hustlers, except on
the wholesale level.
But, make no mistake about it, the wholesale cocaine sold for the
production of crack was fully controlled and distributed by selected
CIA-controlled operatives.
So, to all of you dawgs who have been bragging about how big you
are/were, a top-to-bottom organization chart would in fact look
something like this:
At the top would be the president: Ronald Reagan; then former CIA
director George Bush, Sr.; the National Security Advisor; Secretary of
State; major banking executives; Colonel Oliver North; General Secord;
arms dealers; mercenary pilots; South and Central Amerikan government
and military leaders, including Escobar and the Medellin Cartel
originally; U.S. Navy, Coast Guard, Customs and Border Patrol officers;
state and local police, and county sheriffs and their deputies, and
their successors in office; and at the bottom of the barrel: YOU DAWG!
Now I know that you already knew in your hearts that there were some big
dawgs over you, but I bet you never imagined the game came straight out
of the White House, or that you were straight up pawns on the board. If
that sounds too wild, then tell me why itâs harder to find any
government, CIA, military or bankers, like George Bush, Sr., and his
crew, in prison, than it is to win the lottery? Yeah, they
double-crossed Noriega, Escobar and the Medellin Cartel, and made Oliver
North do some community service, but thatâs all. The real crime
lords-the government, military, CIA and banking dons-all got away.
Finally, and only after Congresswoman Maxine Waters made a stink about
it, was the CIA forced to do two investigations and post on its official
website their findings together with an admission of being a drug
dealer.
Thatâs what happened to you O.G.âs from the â80âs. But as Morpheus said
in The Matrix, let me âshow you how deep the rabbit hole goesâ.
Gradually the U.S. government was forced to crack down on the cocaine
coming through Florida, but by then the South Amerikan cartels and their
government and military allies had found new routes through Mexico. At
first the the members of the Mexican underworld were just middlemen; but
quickly recognizing a golden opportunity, they essentially seized
control of most of the trade between South Amerika and the U.S.They
forced the South Amerikans into becoming junior partners who were
responsible only for growing and processing, the cheaper the better. The
Mexicans now purchased mountains of cocaine for transshipment and
smuggling into the U.S. wholesale market, resulting in oil and
automotive industry-type profits.
One might wonder why the South Amerikans-powerful playerswould go for a
deal like that. As ever the answers can found in the Machiavellian and
serpentine maneuverings of the United States government and its poor
Mexican counterpart. You see, in the 1980âs the Mexican government was
overseeing an economy that was so bad, that for all practical purposes,
it was bankrupt. Indeed, the U.S. and and its underlings in the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB) were forced
periodically to give the Mexican government millions upon millions in
loans, in return for unfair trading concessions, in order to prop it up
with the economy. The U.S. was then and is now extremely vulnerable to
conditions in Mexico because common sense and past experience has told
its rulers that the worse things became in Mexico, the more conditions
would force its already dirt poor majority to find a way to enter the
U.S. to find a means to feed themselves and their families. And the U.S.
could not keep prevailing upon the IMF and WB to lend Mexico more
money-especially since the U.S. ruling classes saw another way
temporarily to plug up the hole in their control of matters in the
international financial world.
Thus, another unholy alliance was formed. This one was between the U.S.
government, CIA, State Department, banks, and the other usual suspects
on one side; and their Mexican counterparts-including their first
fledgling cartels-on the other, with the South Amerikans now in a junior
partnership role. However, I donât want to give the impression that it
was arranged diplomatically, all neat and tidy. Far from that!
No, it evolved through visionaries amongst the usual suspects, putting
their ideas before other select insiders and working to craft an
unwritten consensus. It was the same way that theyalong with Cuban
exiles in Florida-had used the earlier cocaine trade to fuel the growth
around Miami. Only this time it would be Mexico, a much more pressing
and unstable situation.
It was recognized by all parties that Mexicoâs underworld would
eventually land in the driverâs seat due to its ability to take the kind
of risks called for, its geographical proximity to the U.S. border and,
most important, its strong desire to avoid confronting the U.S. and
Mexican governments as Pablo Escobar had done. Thus, the members of the
Mexican underworld were more than willing to guarantee that most of
their drug profits would be pumped back into the moribund Mexican
economy through large building projects, upgrading the tourist industry,
big-time farming and other clearly national ventures. And, on the messy
side, their gunmen were becoming experts at making reluctant parties
fall into line by offering them a stark choice between gold or lead.
Nevertheless, avoid thinking that the Mexican and South Amerikan
underworld ever became anything but hired hands of the big dawgs in the
United States government and their partners in the banking industry, who
always remained in a position to destroy their underlingsâ smuggling and
money laundering operations through tighter control of U.S. borders
and/or by making it extremely difficult to launder the mountains of
small-denomination bills which the traffickers had to deal with. In
fact, thatâs what happened when then-president George Bush, Sr., ordered
the invasion of Panama, which was/is a major offshore money laundering
hub, after hired hand Gen. Manuel Noriega had become unruly in 1989.
Plus, these hired hands would insure that their chosen corrupt
politicians would always win in Mexicoâs elections by distributing the
planeloads of money that the South Amerikan gangsters and
government/military partners would make available as overhead. But more
important for the United States, a major part of the proceeds would be
pumped into the Mexican economy in order to forestall the looming
bankruptcy.
Consequently by the middle 1990âs the Mexican underworld had established
the superpowerful Gulf, Juarez, Guadalajara, Sinaloa and Tijuana
cartels. Moreover, the underworld had consolidated its power by not only
controlling who all were elected to key political posts in Mexico, but
had also perfected the art of bribing key local, state and regional
police heads as well as strategic generals in Mexicoâs armed forces.
Check out the movies Traffic, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, and Antonio
Banderas/Selma Hayekâs Desperado. Once again, after the fact, youâll see
Hollywood making money by spilling the beans. But you should not let the
stunt work lull you into thinking thereâs no substance to the plots!
Remember: Mexicoâs cartels wouldnât be able to function without the
collaboration and protection from the highest levels within the U.S.
establishment. Just as the CIA has openly admitted it was a drug
merchant during an earlier period, you can believe nothing has
changed-except partners!
The hilarious part is that none of the wannabe real gangstas in the U.S.
know that in reality theyâre low-paid, low level CIA flunkies without
pensions or benefits; or they canât wait until they get out of prison to
become undercover government agents-slinginâ crack.
Alas, most people think itâs crazy to believe that the government of the
U.S. would allow its cities and small towns to be flooded with cocaine
from South Amerika. Even the wannabe gangstas donât really believe that.
They prefer to think that such ideas are good for conspiracy junkies and
cling to the illusion that they are more than just pawns on the
chessboard.
Further, if one does not get beyond the idea that this whole thing was
just a plot to destroy the Black and Brown peoples-a favorite, though
shortsighted theory-thereâs no way to see just how deep the drug game
really is. I repeat: the main objective was to pump billions of dollars
into the Mexican economy in oder to avoid a complete meltdown and the
subsequent fleeing to the U.S. of sixty or more million Mexicans out of
its ninetyplus million inhabitants. This would have been a crisis that
would have dwarfed the numbers who are just beginning to make their
presence known!
Actually, the big dawgs in the U.S. probably didnât know just how they
were gonna control the fallout that would inevitably accompany their
cocaine/crack tax. They routinely tax alcohol, gambling (from the
lotteries to the casinos), and even prostitution in certain areas, donât
they? So yeah, it was a clandestine operation to use cocaine to rescue
Mexico and stave off an economically induced invasion of the U.S. by its
destitute populace. The Mexican people, especially its Indigenous
population, were made poverty-stricken by 500 years of colonialism,
slavery, peonage, neo-colonialism and the theft of one-third of their
country by the United States in the 19^(th) century.
Sadly, though, our First Waveâs degeneration into the glamorization of
gangsterism, the Second Waveâs hunger for respect and recognition that
was fueling the senseless gang carnage, the Hip Hop generationâs ability
to provide the youth with vicarious fantasies to indulge their senses
with the hypnotic allure of the temporary power that the drug game could
bring them-led the youth in the United States back to emulating the
First Waveâs Superfly and Scarface days. Others also see that:
My theory is that nine times out of ten, if thereâs a depression, more a
social depression than anything, it brings out the best art in Black
people. The best example is Reagan and Bush gave us the best years of
hip hop...Hip hop is created thanks to the conditions that crack set:
easy money but a lot of work, the violence involved, the stories it
produced-crack helped birth hip hop. Now, Iâm part conspiracy theorist
because you canât develop something that dangerous and it not be
planned. I donât think crack happened by accident...Crack offered a lot
of money to the inner city youth who didnât have to go to college. Which
enabled them to become businessmen. It also turned us into marksmen. It
also turned us comatose. (Ahmir Thompson, aka Quest Love, âThe
Believerâ, in Never Drank the Kool-Aid, op. cit.; also, âThe
Believer-Interview with Ahmir Thompsonâ at
www.believermag.com/isues/200308/?read+interview_thompson)
With the deft moves of a conjurer, the big dawgs in the U.S. seized upon
all of this and began to nudge these elements around on the
international chess board-within their giant con game. Moreover, these
big dawgs in the United States had very little choice where to start
their triage in order to gain some relief from their manufactured
domestic crisis. Iâll tell you why.
Cocaine in its powder and crack forms is so addictive that the cultures
that use them regularly-the rich and famous, the Hollywood Set,
corporate executives, lawyers, doctors, weekenders, entertainers,
athletes, college kids, suburbanites, hoodrats, hustlers, pipers,
etc.-bring a guaranteed demand!
In most ways, it could be argued, the effect has been the same as with
alcohol and tobacco, which have never been successfully suppressed in
the U.S.
It follows then that despite all of their propaganda about Just Say No
and the bogus War on Drugs, the big dawgs never had any intention of
even trying to eradicate the use of cocaine. In fact, crack had turned
their lower class neighborhoods into lucrative mainstays of the big
dawgsâ alternative taxing scheme At the same time, however, the Black
and Brown communities were becoming major headaches that if left
unchecked could eventually evolve into a real strategic threat! In
contrast to the realtively tranquil non-Black/Brown communities, which
used more, mostly powder, cocaine, the trade in the Black and Brown
hoods and barrios was accompainied by an expontial increase of
drug-related violence especially after the gangs got seriously involved.
Now, as Iâve pointed out, the gangs were mainly just pursuing respect
prior to getting involved with hustling drugs. And the carnage connected
to that was not a real concern to the big dawgs. But the crack/cocaine
trade was different from the earlier dumping of heroin in those
communities which was accompanied by the comparatively isolated violence
of the Black Mafia-style groups. That violence, though terrifying, was
also more selective. The more widespread availability of crack and
assault weapons led the big dawgs to understand that if they didnât
aggressively deal with the ultra-violent inner city drug gangs, the
latter would eventually move to consolidate their gains by forming South
Amerikan and Mexican-style cartels. Afterward, they, like their Mexican
forerunners, could gradually take over inner city politics for
themselves once they realized that the money and power would not of
themselves provide them with the kind of respect and dignity they
sought. To understand why not, just observe the rich and famous hip hop
artists who continue to wild-out because they sitll lack the respect and
dignity that comes with struggling for something other than money or
power: in short, some type of (political or higher) cause.
Anyway, the hip hop generational favorite TV drama The Wire lays out the
entire phenomenon pretty much as it had earlier played itself out in
Baltimore and other urban areas. In fact, the fictional TV series
derives its realness from an earlier long-running expose featured in a
Baltimore newspaper (another after the fact but still useful piece of
work to study). Indeed, the parts of that show which depict earlier
years of the Black gangs getting deep into the crack trade clearly
illustrate my points about the gangs evolving into proto-cartels-and
then being triaged before maturing into real strategic threats, thereby
leaving the crack trade intact.
Thatâs why âThe Prison Industrial Complexâ was formed! It was set up as
a tool to neutralize the Second Wave before its members woke up to the
fact that, despite their money and power they were being used: played
like suckers, a rub that the more astute big dawgs feared that money
would not soothe. Thus, all of your draconian gun-related and mandatory
sentencing laws were first formulated on the federal level, where most
of the big dawgs have their power, and then forced upon most of the
states. This was to insure that the Second Wave would never be able to
consolidate any real power. Precisely because the latter were proving
themselves to be such ruthless gangstas, in imitation of their Hollywood
idols, coupled with the power they derived from their share of the
undercover tax being extracted from their communities, the ruling
classes took the position that they should be triaged before they got
too big, a period which averaged from one to three years in a run, and
that everything they acquired should be taken. The martyred hip hop icon
The Notorious B.I.G. put it all together in his classic song, rightly
titled Respect:
Put the drugs on the shelf/ Nah, I couldnât see it/ Scarface, King of
New York/ I wanna be it...Until I got incarcerated/ kinda scary...Not
able to move hehind thesteel gate/ Time to contemplate/ Damn, where did
I fail?/ All the money I stacked was all the money for bail. (âBiggie
Smallsâ, The New York Times, 1994, in Never Drank the Kool-Aid, op.
cit.)
Letâs get another thing straight!-like the angle that continues to have
shortsighted individuals chasing ghosts about why powder cocaine and
crack are treated so differently. In the big dawgsâ calculations, there
is no reason to punish harshly the powder cocaine dealers and users in
the same manner as the crack crowd.. Racism has not been the driving
motive; rather it was the armed threat posed by these proto-cartels! The
big dawgs witnessed a clear example of what might come by way of the
Jamaican Posses that cropped up in the Black communities. These young
men from the Jamaican and Caribbean diaspora were also a consequensce of
the degeneration of those regionsâ lower classesâ attempts to throw off
the economic and social effects of their former slavery and colonial
oppression. Led by the socialist Michael Manley and inspired by the
revolutionary music of Bob Nesta Marley (which can be glimpsed in the
later movies, Marked for Death with Steven Segal, and Belly with DMX and
Nas), the Jamaican Posses were the Black Mafia on steroids! Moreover,
despite their quasi-religious nationalism and their ability to operate
with heavily armed soldiers in the U.S. and the Caribbean, their ten
thousand or so members were nothing compared to the hundreds of
thousands in the wings of the Black and Brown communities!
The cry from the big dawgsâ mouthpieces in Congress was about the
gunplay, not so much the drugs. What was not said, however, was the big
dawgsâ anxieties about stopping these gunslingers before they got over
their mental blocks about using their weapons against the police-or the
system. Stop them while theyâre hung up on imitating their Hollywood and
Euro-Mafia icons who made a mantra out of not using their weapons
against the police. Indeed, with a few exceptions, the Second Wave
allowed itself to be disarmed and carted off to prison like pussycats!
In addition, to appease some of the conservative segments in the U.S.
which were upset about capitalismâs globalization drive, the big dawgs
dangled the prospect of thousands of new jobs for the rural communitires
which were being destroyed by it (hence, the Prison Industrial Complex
and its neo-slavery).
Therefore, we must struggle against the shortsighted idea that racism
alone is the driving motive which has fueled the construction of the
Prison Industrial Complex.
Instead, if you do a follow-up and add your own research, youâll be able
to document the who, when, where and how the big dawgs set everything in
motion; as well as how they continue to use us as pawns in their giant
international con game.
Ask yourself the following questions:
Second Waves allowed their search for respect and dignity to degenerate
into gangsterism?
behind the drug trade?
suffer?
families, and communities?
those harmed by the government-imposed undercover drug tax?
finally abolish legal slavery in the U.S.?
Once you answer those questions and begin to move to materialize your
conclusions, then you will have made the choice between Liberation or
Gangsterism: Freedom or Slavery.
what the oppressed must do in order to gain true respect and dignity)
and G. Katsificas, eds.
Black Mafia
gangster into liberator)
the U.S.)
and cocaine)
(the U.S. and Mexican governmentsâ partnership with the drug cartels)
Illegal Drug Trade, posted on the CIAâs official website (the U.S.
governmentâs admissions about its dealing drugs)
Durand and Nolan J. Malone (how the Mexican economy collapsed while the
Drug Enforcement Administration admitted that 85% of the drugs shipped
from Mexico got across the U.S. border-with no action taken)