The other day I was driving and when I got to my destination and parked, the radio host of a KPFA (SF Bay Area) program I was listening to put on a speech by Malcom X. Once I heard the first few words uttered by him, I knew I wasn't going to get out of the car until he finished. It was spellbinding. There were many harsh words said, but if one puts it into historical context, it is not hard to understand his righteous indignation. He was coming from the perspective of Black Power, of the evilness of the "white man," and the timidity, acquiescence, and outright complicity of what I'll term here the "house slave."
Again, if one hears his speech within the context of his times (the 60's), the brutal oppression against African-Americans, and the never-ending deception the population is being constantly subjected to, his anger and his militancy make all the sense in the word.
But what struck me is how much of what he said is relevant to this day.
...It's like when you go to the dentist, and the man's going to take your tooth. You're going to fight him when he starts pulling. So he squirts some stuff in your jaw called novocaine, to make you think they're not doing anything to you. So you sit there and 'cause you've got all of that novocaine in your jaw, you suffer peacefully. Blood running all down your jaw, and you don't know what's happening. 'Cause someone has taught you to suffer -- peacefully...
The emphasis is mine
And again, in his anger, in his explaining to the grassroots the true nature of the oppressor, he (Malcom X) does it from the lens of his religion:
There's nothing in our book, the Quran -- you call it "Ko-ran" -- that teaches us to suffer peacefully. Our religion teaches us to be intelligent. Be peaceful, be courteous, obey the law, respect everyone; but if someone puts his hand on you, send him to the cemetery. That's a good religion. In fact, that's that old-time religion. That's the one that Ma and Pa used to talk about: an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth, and a head for a head, and a life for a life: That's a good religion. And doesn't nobody resent that kind of religion being taught but a wolf, who intends to make you his meal.
The emphasis is mine
To hear this man in his own voice saying these words gave me goosebumps. It was truly electrifying.
At this point in order to try to keep the focus on what really matters, I would set aside three issues which I think are not relevant when it comes to my main point: the black power narrative, overt racism, religion, and violent resistance.
It is not that there could be some relevancy regarding these issues in today's struggle; it's that what I'd like to focus on is broader than any of those issues. What I'm focusing is on what I perceive to be an eerie passivity exhibited by a very large percentage of the population in the face of what are truly astonishing levels of high crimes committed by the powerful with what appears to be total impunity, and increasing levels of outright brutality by the security apparatus.
When I refer to "passivity," what I mean is that there are many among us who reflexively back the status quo, the authorities, an increasingly brutal militarized police, and the sycophantic politicians who are helping bring about what can be safely described as proto-fascism.
You see, every week now we hear about the latest outrageous incidence of massive fraud which goes unpunished, as well as police brutality (which also goes unpunished). We hear about cases of people being raped by the police for failing to fully stop at a stop sign. We hear about psychologically-unstable nut-jobs with a badge shooting at an innocent child in Santa Rosa, all of it happening with increased frequency.
You have to understand, the rampant criminality at the top leads to the increased levels of police brutality and oppression at the bottom. What's happening is that as the sick sadistic characters that make up much of the wealthy elite has captured the levers of power, they have been able to use their ability to buy off the politicians and the heads of important institutions, thus propagating a certain ethos. It is an ethos of selfishness, unquenchable greed, and the type of sense of entitlement, of superiority that leads to narcissism and sadism.
Some readers may not agree with that assertion, and I understand, but I want to make clear that I'm not being (purposely) hyperbolic when I describe the fast-entrenching ruling class as such... I've heard them say the most despicable things with my own ears. One day I was walking with a top corporate executive of a financial institution in San Francisco and I could not believe they way he was talking about the homeless, as we walked by on Market Street. Another time, while also interacting with a member of the .01% I heard this person rail against public sector pensioners with unusual vitriol.
And for those who are not swayed by anecdotes, there is also this: Higher social class predicts increased unethical behavior
Seven studies using experimental and naturalistic methods reveal that upper-class individuals behave more unethically than lower-class individuals. In studies 1 and 2, upper-class individuals were more likely to break the law while driving, relative to lower-class individuals. In follow-up laboratory studies, upper-class individuals were more likely to exhibit unethical decision-making tendencies (study3), take valued goods from others (study4), lie in a negotiation (study 5), cheat to increase their chances of winning a prize (study6), and endorse unethical behavior at work (study 7) than were lower-class individuals. Mediator and moderator data demonstrated that upper-class individuals’ unethical tendencies are accounted for, in part, by their more favorable attitudes toward greed.
What I'm trying to emphasize here is that the system has been captured by these folks, and that because of their depravity, they have turned it predatory. And because thus far they have been able to heap abuses after abuses on the population with what seems to be total impunity, the injustices, the oppression, the exploitation will not only continue, but get worse and worse and worse, until we decide we are not going to take it anymore.
If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning.
They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what a people will submit to, and you have found out the exact amount of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them; and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both.
The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress. Men may not get all they pay for in this world; but they must pay for all they get. If we ever get free from all the oppressions and wrongs heaped upon us, we must pay for their removal. We must do this by labor, by suffering, by sacrifice, and, if needs be, by our lives, and the lives of others.
- Frederick Douglass
The emphasis is mine
And also, the point I'm trying to make is that yes, there are many brave souls standing up against the predations of the system, as exemplified by the 19 Young Activists Changing America...
A vibrant grass-roots progressive movement is winning victories, raising awareness and changing lives in every part of the country, but you might not know that if your main source of information is mainstream media. In the midst of a widening economic divide, a corporate assault on working families’ living standards and the right-wing tea party grip on the Republican Party, millions of Americans are fighting back in their neighborhoods, workplaces and voting booths to challenge the plutocracy and restore democracy.
But unfortunately, just like in every era of social justice struggle, their jobs are made much more harder by those who are not only apologists of a depraved and predatory system, but go out of their way to protect it, either because of selfishness, or cowardice.
And I think that in that Malcom X speech I referred to above, he was lashing out against the system apologists, and those who so easily acquiesced to suffering quietly, in his time.
My take? The tipping point is near, mainly because people are not buying the lies any longer. People are organizing and rising up against the predatory corporate state.
There are those who in every era of tyranny and oppression never fail to
stand up against it. And unfortunately, there are those who try to put every possible obstacle in their way. Perhaps they should start thinking about the adage:
Lead, follow, or get out of the way!
This is happening! Expect it!
Media Photos: March Against Mainstream Media Facebook Page
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