Preserving cultural identity in the face of institutionalized white supremacy: Another Home-going -- Pt. 1g: A Poem for "Veronica Brown"

(Photo courtesy of Indian Country Today Media Network)

Forget That You Are Native
by Cecelia Rose LaPointe

They want you to forget,

That is their plan,

So look in the mirror,

Your skin,

Your eyes,

Your nose,

Your lips,

Your cheek bones,

Your hair,

Look closely,

In the mirror,

They want you to forget,

And when tears fill up in your hands,

You can wipe them on your jeans,

Get in the car,

Drive 60 in a 45,

Wipe the tears on your car seat,

Your steering wheel,

When the culture says you are homogeneous,

But the land pulses through your being,

Deep rooted in the land,

Waters,

Home,

Homogeneity is destructive to the soul,

Rise up amongst it all,

Gotta climb daily,

Because homogeneity is a sickness,

That can suck you in,

Destructive majority culture sickness,

Native children are hungry,

But you call us "white,"

When inside our homes is a fire,

Ablaze,

And we want to break down the walls,

They want you to forget,

So they don't have to own up to,

The damage they do to you,

Your family,

Your community,

They want you to forget,

So we can "get along,"

So we have "community,"

They want you to forget,

So they don't have to deal,

With the injustices that bury you,

In silence,

Most often when you are alone,

They want you to forget,

Forget that you are Native,

Because they think we are gone,

They want you to forget,

Because it is about a "divine plan,"

It is about "progress,"

For them,

They want you to forget,

Because they walk an easy road,

Their being is not crippled by,

The multiple layers of oppression,

If forgetting means dislocation,

Discombobulation,

Disorientation,

Addiction,

Abuse,

Remembering,

Knowing,

Feeling,

Living,

Breathing,

Walking,

Allowing,

We do not forget,

We can stand proud,

Stand tall,

Be whole,

Healthy,

When we remember who we are.

Cecelia Rose LaPointe is an Anishinaabekwe of mixed heritage residing in Naaminitigong (Manistee, MI) but is a part of Kchiwiikwedong (Keweenaw Bay Indian Community). She is a poet and writer whose blog I've been following for some time precisely because of the beautiful and simply profound truths her words impart.  When I read this morning that Dusten Brown had lost his beautiful daughter to the child traffickers -- yet again -- I was drawn to Cecelia's blog, searching for words to share with Veronica and she did not disappoint.

I'm writing a final post of these recent events as soon as I can get my head together.

Preserving cultural identity in the face of institutionalized white supremacy: Another Home-going -- Pt. 1, Final -- State-sanctioned child-trafficking, "When animals attack"

Preserving cultural identity in the face of institutionalized white supremacy: Another Home-going -- Pt. 1f -- Low people in high places

AP:  South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley and Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin face reelection bids in 2014

I believe BFF governors Mary Fallin and Nikki Haley (Fric-n-Frac respectively) long ago put their, silly little heads together and decided that Fric would -- after what seemed to them a reasonable amount of time to be legitimate -- sign that extradition warrant to send Dusten Brown back to South Carolina to face those trumped up felony custodial interference charges cooked up by Frac, the child traffickers Capobiancos and their cadre of politically connected cohorts.

Despite Fric's assurrances on August 13, that she would "not approve the warrant until Dusten Brown has a chance to fight extradition in court, starting with a hearing Sept. 12 in Sequoyah County" and, the fact her office had 90 days to review the warrant, coupled with her smarmy, "My hope, however, continues to be that sending Mr. Brown to face criminal charges in South Carolina is unnecessary" statement -- she decided, less than 30 days later, that Mr. Brown was "not acting in good faith" when he cut off Veronica's visits after Cherokee marshals alerted him the Mister had allegedly threatened to just take her back to South Carolina, in violation of the Oklahoma Supreme Court order to keep her there until Mr. Brown got his day in court.

You've got to be blind if you believe this wasn't all pre-planned once the battlefield changed to Oklahoma.  Hell, they were so confident in their, "On being white and other lies," privileged nonsense, Frac had already gotten her personal "Bull Connor" to dispatch two deputies and a SLED agent to Oklahoma, to the tune of $9,355.96 of SC taxpayer money on August 12!

As I look at all the parties involved in this case, I have to conclude that this is one of the most far-reaching, politically well-protected child trafficking rings in the country.  I'm sure you'll agree that -- from the baby-selling adoption agency and their attorney (who is also the Cabobiancos' attorney -- both currently embroiled in yet another kidnapping from Oklahoma to South Carolina); to the Tea Party enthusiasts who formed The Coalition to Protect Indian Tribes and Families (Melanie Duncan Capobianco and their PR guru, Jessica Munday are founding members), to the SC Guardian Ad Litem who lied to an attachment and bonding expert to get a favorable recommendation; to the attorney for the birth mother who is literally in bed with a clerk in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals for SC Justice John Roberts (an adoptive parent himself who should've recused himself when the Supremes ruled on this case) ; to the Family Court judge, a defendant in the Native American Rights Fund civil suit, who ordered the immediate transfer of the child back to the traffickers; to the waffling SC Supreme Court which at first upheld the initial SC Family Court decision to return the child to her father, then flipped and upheld the US Supreme Court's tainted decision; to Melanie Duncan Capobianco's having a "Duncan" in the U.S. House of Representatives; to the BFFs above -- this case is crying out for the Department of Justice investigation this petition demands.  If you care one iota about stopping this madness, please follow the link and add your voice!

To date, Dusten Brown has handled this obvious, "David and Goliath" undertaking to keep his own flesh and blood with a measure of dignity and integrity that I'm certain I would never have been able to muster.  Even after Fric released the hounds with the swipe of her pen, he turned himself in yet again, rather than having his daughter see him arrested -- not what the BFFS or Sequoyah County Sheriff wanted:

With a warrant signed by Oklahoma's governor and Charleston County sheriff's deputies waiting to escort him back to South Carolina, Brown appeared to be running out of options when he surrendered to authorities in Sequoyah County, Okla.

But a short time later, a Sooner State judge granted Brown bail over the protests of the local sheriff, allowing him to remain free until an Oct. 3 hearing decides whether he will be sent to South Carolina to face a custodial-interference charge. He was released on a $10,000 surety bond.

Sequoyah County Sheriff Ron Lockhart said he initially refused to follow Judge Jeff Payton's order because he had never heard of a suspect being released while awaiting extradition on a governor's warrant. “This is the first time in history I have seen that done,” he said.

Lockhart said he called the governor's office and initially was told not to release Brown. The governor's office then called back and told him to follow the court's orders, the sheriff said.

“I lost,” he said. (emphasis mine)

He lost?!  Talk about low people in high places!  They've got operatives every place you turn around!  After the judge let Brown go, who in the hell was the Sheriff to go over his head and call Fric??

Extreme hubris is the natural order of things for the money+things+privilege must = power crowd. Sleeping-her-way--to-the-top attorney, Alvino McGill had the nerve to imply there's some malfeasance going on in Brown's camp with this foolishness from the afore-linked piece:

In a separate statement, Alvino McGill also called into question how Brown was able to post bail Thursday.

“Given that Mr. Brown has miraculously been released on bond yet again in the face of an executed governor's warrant,” she said. “I'd expect the state's lawyers to take a very hard look at what is going on here.”

Meanwhile, Shannon Jones, Brown's attorney in Charleston, called on the governor to retract a statement alleging that her client hadn't agreed to visitation or negotiation.

Last month, Brown had been in tears over thoughts of being apart from his daughter as his attorneys made offers to the Capobiancos, she said. The Capobiancos' attorneys declined those offers, according to Jones.

“We've done everything we could to negotiate,” she said. “But they are confident that they will win this case. They do not believe they need to negotiate.”

Alvino McGill praised the governor's “decisive action” to help end the case.

“Veronica deserves the right to go home now, without yet more court orders or the intervention of law enforcement,” Alvino McGill said. “Brown's continued refusal to abide by the law is hurting everyone involved, especially Veronica.” (emphasis mine)

Really??  After all the behind the scenes machinations in their child-trafficking camp, she could still, as my Grandmother used to say, "fix her mouth to say this??" {smdh}  Of course she praised Fric's action -- she's a part of all of this!  Look Ms. Alvino McGill, Veronica is already home.  She doesn't need any more of you heartless people throwing up more interventions to her living a full and happy life with her father -- something Matt Capobianco will never, ever be to her.  She is neither a "commodity" to be bought and sold, nor one from which you and your friends should profit.  Speaking of profit, what the hayell is this madness!:

Though the idea only came on New Year’s Eve, 2011, the tempest had been brewing in the teapot for quite some time. My friends, Matt and Melanie Capobianco were ordered by a judge in South Carolina to surrender custody of their precious, adopted daughter, Veronica Rose to her biological father, a man whom she’d never met before...

...I meditated on it, daydreamed, and it became painfully obvious. A custom perfume. It’s unique, it’s fitting, and it’s something that I have a talent for. I ran the idea past the family, and with their blessing, I started working on her namesake perfume, Veronica Rose.

Using her name, “Rose” as a starting point, this delightful confection of a fragrance honors Veronica’s Aztec/Mexican Heritage with elements of vanilla, and her Native American heritage with sweet grass, cedar, and sage. One of Veronica’s favorite things is cake, so there are elements of birthday cake to this fragrance as well; Tart fruits, complex herbal and botanical bouquets, and a soft downy finish round out this soft, playful, feminine scent. (emphasis mine)

These people have no shame -- none. at. all.

Just when I thought everybody in my hometown was bat-shit crazy, unable to see the absolute wrongness of this continuing saga, I read this wonderfully empathetic and honest piece from the alternative hometown paper -- The Capobiancos should stop fighting for custody of Baby Veronica.  In it, Chris Haire expresses some deep and fundamental truths that only those NOT blinded by "winning at all costs" would recognize:

A short time ago, an Oklahoma judge ordered the Sequoyah County Sheriff's Department to release Brown from jail. As it stands now, Dusten Brown will return to court on Oct. 3 to learn whether he will be sent to South Carolina to be tried for the crime of custodial interference, namely that he had failed to turn over Baby Veronica to the Capobiancos. And if and when he is extradited, it will do nothing to solve the ongoing custody fight over the three-year-old little girl. In fact, it will only make things worse. Much worse. Especially for the Capobiancos.

Although the Capobiancos may not want to hear this, Ronnie Brown will never be their daughter as long as Dusten Brown is alive. Too much time has passed from when they called Baby Veronica their own and when they were forced to give her up. Today, the bond between Ronnie and her father is probably far too great to break, and anyone who believes that bond should be broken should be ashamed of themselves. When it comes down to it, Ronnie Brown is not a cause; Baby Veronica is. The flesh and blood Ronnie Brown is a child, and Dusten Brown is her flesh and blood father — and by all accounts, he loves her.

Forget the Indian Child Welfare Act. Forget that the Capobiancos raised Baby Veronica from birth until she was two. Forget that they tried desperately to have children of their own for years and years and years. Forget that they loved and cared for her as if she was their own child. She's not. She's Dusten Brown's, and for nearly the past two years, she has been under his care. She has spent her days and nights with him and his family. She has called him "daddy" countless times. Regardless of what happens, she will never call Matt Capobianco "daddy" and mean it in the exact same way she does when she refers to Dusten Brown.

Right now, Ronnie Brown is surely aware that her daddy, Dusten Brown, loves her so much he is willing to go to jail to save her. The Capobiancos will never be able to lay claim to such a heroic sacrifice, and because they can't, Ronnie Brown will never be theirs. And as the years go by, Dusten Brown's sacrifice will only grow in importance to little Ronnie Brown, and it will only poison whatever relationship the Capobiancos hope to have with her if she is handed over to them. Their lives will be ruined. But more importantly, so will hers.

So much has gone wrong when it comes to this case. So much has been mishandled. And too many tears have been shed and hearts have been broken. It's finally time for someone to do something right. And for the Capobiancos that means putting an end to this tragedy right here and right now. If they truly wish for the best for Ronnie Brown, they must quit fighting for custody of Baby Veronica. She doesn't exist. Ronnie Brown does, and Dusten Brown is her father. Let him have her. Her future — and theirs — depends on it (all emphasis mine).

I salute Mr. Haire's courage in writing that piece, Family.  Believe me, if you read the comments, you'll see what I mean!

Predictably, the child traffickers paid no attention to Mr. Haire's entreaty.  According to Michael Overall's piece in the Tulsa World this morning, a very haggard Melanie Duncan Capobianco, accompanied by the Mister and a young, vibrant Dusten Brown and his attorney left yet another round of negotiations.  To date, that's seven different courthouses in six different counties -- and counting.

All we can do now is wait and see what the October 3 extradition hearing in Sequoyah County will bring for this young, determined, grown-assed man.  I'm sending my prayers out to Spirit, for his and Veronica's sake, hoping it will help sound the death knell to these human and sovereign rights atrocities being perpetrated by these low people in high places.

Continued: Preserving cultural identity in the face of institutionalized white supremacy: Another Home-going -- Pt. 1g: A Poem for "Veronica Brown"

Related:
- Okla. custody dispute compared to SC couple’s case
- United Nations Demands Respect for Baby Veronica's Human Rights
- Baby Veronica: How Dusten Brown could prevail in battle over his daughter
- Veronica Rose Perfume Fundraiser Day 2

Punked by Putin -- and rightfully so

(Updated below)
Russian president Vladimir Putin not only called the Obama Administration's bluff  by offering to intervene in Syria, he made the Changeling look like the warmongering, Murderer-in-Chief that he is -- to the entire world.  Большое спасибо, президент Путин!

(Photo courtesy of Leon Kuhn)

In his September 11 op-ed, Putin said to America -- what I'm sure -- plenty other countries are feeling.  He took the Changeling to the wood shed (with a few licks to Shrub for good measure), by using his own "rule of law" rhetoric to slap him in the face.  Who woulda thunk it?  The ex(?)-KGB guy comes out smellin' like a rose as he artfully lays bare all the crimes against humanity the U.S. government has committed over the last 12 years.  Priceless!

I'm sure the Zionist AIPACers, as well as the New World Order PNACers (now the FDDers) are mad as hell right now that their little chicken hawk (emphasis on chicken for so-o-o-o many reasons) mucked up their plans to steamroll the Middle East.  Good!  I'm sick of all of them any-damned-way.

John Pilger speaks to how their "absolute power corrupts absolutely" here:

Under the "weak" Obama, militarism has risen perhaps as never before. With not a single tank on the White House lawn, a military coup has taken place in Washington. In 2008, while his liberal devotees dried their eyes, Obama accepted the entire Pentagon of his predecessor, George Bush: its wars and war crimes. As the constitution is replaced by an emerging police state, those who destroyed Iraq with shock and awe, and piled up the rubble in Afghanistan and reduced Libya to a Hobbesian nightmare, are ascendant across the US administration. Behind their beribboned façade, more former US soldiers are killing themselves than are dying on battlefields. Last year, 6,500 veterans took their own lives. Put out more flags.

The historian Norman Pollack calls this "liberal fascism". "For goose-steppers," he wrote, "substitute the seemingly more innocuous militarisation of the total culture. And for the bombastic leader, we have the reformer manqué, blithely at work, planning and executing assassination, smiling all the while." Every Tuesday, the "humanitarian" Obama personally oversees a worldwide terror network of drones that "bugsplat" people, their rescuers and mourners. In the west's comfort zones, the first black leader of the land of slavery still feels good, as if his very existence represents a social advance, regardless of his trail of blood. This obeisance to a symbol has all but destroyed the US anti-war movement: Obama's singular achievement. (all emphasis mine)

Read that last line again -- especially all you Black, "symbolism" folk (Soror Norton, are you listening?).  Quite frankly, I could give two shits about a little boy touching the Changeling's hair in the Oval Office -- we're talking about the MURDER of non-white peoples in which he's voluntarily complicit on a huge scale!  How's that for "symbolism?"  Wake the hell up, people (trust me, critical thinking is your friend)!   This is not about Republicans versus Democrats, Family.  That's some manufactured shit, specifically designed to delude.  They're all really the same -- none of whom is "us."

And wonder of wonders, Putin's gambit worked:

The just announced U.S.-Russia agreement in Geneva on a "joint determination to ensure the destruction of the Syrian chemical weapons (CW) program in the soonest and safest manner" sounds the death knell to an attempt by Israel, Turkey and Saudi Arabia to get the U.S. into the war in Syria.

For now, the Changeling's marching orders have changed (cuz he ain't runnin' Jack!).  But don't hold your breath.  As history dictates -- he'll get new ones :



***UPDATE:  Well, it didn't take long for the Changeling to get those new "marching orders"--  Obama to host Benjamin Netanyahu at White House:

Netanyahu said earlier Tuesday that Iran would be at the top of his agenda.

“I intend to focus on the question of stopping Iran's nuclear program, an actual halt to the nuclear program," the Israeli leader said. "And until this is achieved, the pressure on Iran should be intensified and not eased."

Netanyahu also pressed for the United States to strike Syria after an August chemical weapons attack attributed to strongman Bashar Assad’s regime. (emphasis mine)

Um, Bibi?  Stop lying, mkay?  The IAEA has confirmed, time and again, that Iran's "nuclear" program is currently only being used for civilian energy and medicine.  It has no weapons-grade nuclear program unlike Israel's stockpile (thanks to Dr. Vanunu, we all know unequivocally -- you do have a stockpile!).  That said, I see no reason why this sovereign nation shouldn't develop a weapons-grade nuclear program to defend themselves against the likes of those Hitler, Jr. Zionists who are already oppressing their brethren in Palestine.

And of course, Israel's little puppet fell right in line with this little veiled threat, revealing how little he really cares about those children allegedly gassed by Assad and how much he really cares about Israel:

However, Obama recently warned that Iran should not be emboldened by his decision to call off a strike on Syria.

“What the Iranians understand is that the nuclear issue is a far larger issue for us than the chemical weapons issue,” Obama said during an interview this week with ABC. “The threat against Iran — against Israel — that a nuclear Iran poses, is much closer to our core interests. A nuclear arms race in the region is something that would be profoundly destabilizing.” (emphasis mine)

Was that a Freudian slip exposing Israel in his second sentence?  Nah, he doesn't have the guts to do anything like that.  He'd rather be led around by the nose into a war for which he will be eternally blamed -- way to literally "go down" in history, Mr. First Black President.  {smdh}

Related:
- The Honey Obadger: He Don’t Give a Shit
- Taking Exception to Exceptionalism
- Continuity of Military Agenda: Syria Catastrophe Engineered Under Bush, Executed Verbatim Under Obama
- Empire, Hypocrisy and Deflection
- Assad tells Obama to stop arming rebels, or no deal
- US Grandstands on Chemical Weapons Treaty While Violating It
- Syria Distraction Gone, What Will Obama Use to Cover Passage of TPP or a Comparable Sneak Attack on the Middle Class?
- Background and Articles relating to Project for a New American Century

Another Black tool lies us into war, only this one is a Nobel Peace Prize winning warmonger

Seems the American public hasn't learned a damned thing about being lied into war.  Remember when white supremacy put a Black face on that one too -- props and all?

Margaret Kimberley's Colin Powell Busted post over at Freedom Rider a couple days ago included a photo of a bust of Powell holding up that vial at the U.N. as he lied us into Iraq.  Stunning likeness, no?

(Photo courtesy Merrily Kerr, New York Art Tours)

I swear, tools will do anything to be in the spotlight.  Powell's lies, immortalized in bronze and concrete, will  forever be a reminder  of what falling for anything will do to you.  Not only will the Murder-in-Chief's homage be way grander than a bust once they're finished with him (Impeachment?  International War Crimes Tribunal? -- one can only hope),  it'll be fodder for "stupid Black people in power" jokes -- for years to come.

I've been sitting here shaking my head incredulously as I keep reading the same kind of bullshit the tools in the White House and the mainstream media served up to "we the people" in the run-up to the Iraq war.  This level of hubris is just unconscionable.  Do they think all of us are stupid enough to believe them -- again?  Or do they just not give a damn?  Don't bother answering, both questions were rhetorical.

I didn't believe them from the beginning and I sure don't believe them now.  Given the recently released declassified CIA documents showing how dirty their hands were during their "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" shenanigans during the Iraq/Iran War, coupled with the facts in this unsettling information, there's certainly no reason for anybody else to believe them either.

If there were chemical weapons used (and that's a huge "if"), I believe the West and Israel are involved in providing them to the rebels.  Why?  For one, this is what ole Pinnocchio said today:

“First of all, I didn’t set a red line. The world set a red line,” Obama said, despite his statement a year ago that President Bashar Assad would cross a “red line” with him if chemical weapons were deployed in Syria’s civil war.

“So when I said that my calculus would be altered by chemical weapons, which the overall consensus of humanity says is wrong — that’s not something I just made up. I didn’t pick it out of thin air,” Obama said. “My credibility is not on the line. The international community’s credibility is on the line, and America and Congress’s credibility’s on the line.” (emphasis mine)

If that's not Zionist-speak, harkening back to the days of the Jewish Holocaust when the world, the international community sat back and watched Hitler's massacre in Germany, I don't know what is (like the Zionists care more about the lives of those oft-labeled, "sand niggers" in Syria than they do their capitalist plundering of their land and resources -- What?  You know as well as I do that's what those of a decidedly alabaster hue call them, so quit playing).  I swear, Shirley Chisholm must be rolling over in her grave too as it is so very apparent this man is, unlike her -- definitely both "Bought" and "Bossed."  {smdh}

Anyway, there are a number of answers to that, "Why?" and greater minds than mine do a way better job of articulating the myriad of reasons than I ever possibly could.  So, here's Pepe Escobar, my favorite "roving correspondent" for Asia Times,  laying out some very compelling points on GRTV:



And here, he not only reiterates them, he shares his take on the Changeling's ass-backward foreign policy, with a few observations from Stephen Schlesinger on RT News:



Family, please stop letting the Changeling bamboozle you, sullying Dr. King's memory with the implication that he's some representation of anything for which he stood.  The only thing Dr. King had to say that even remotely describes this White Supremacist Capitalist Patriarchy's trojan horse is -- that he represents "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world."

Make no mistake people, Obama is no King (though in a weird, either Freudian-slip or just plain ignorant way, he's better described as the white folk's, "Joshua") -- as evidenced by the extremely huge chasm between his words and motivations for a strike on Syria, and these shared by Dr. King in his "Beyond Vietnam:  A Time to Break Silence" speech (posted in the sidebar -- if for nothing else but nostalgia's sake, do take the time to listen to it):

Now, it should be incandescently clear that no one who has any concern for the integrity and life of America today can ignore the present war. If America's soul becomes totally poisoned, part of the autopsy must read Vietnam. It can never be saved so long as it destroys the deepest hopes of men the world over. So it is that those of us who are yet determined that America will be are led down the path of protest and dissent, working for the health of our land.

As if the weight of such a commitment to the life and health of America were not enough, another burden of responsibility was placed upon me in 1964; and I cannot forget that the Nobel Prize for Peace was also a commission -- a commission to work harder than I had ever worked before for "the brotherhood of man." This is a calling that takes me beyond national allegiances, but even if it were not present I would yet have to live with the meaning of my commitment to the ministry of Jesus Christ. To me the relationship of this ministry to the making of peace is so obvious that I sometimes marvel at those who ask me why I am speaking against the war. Could it be that they do not know that the good news was meant for all men -- for Communist and capitalist, for their children and ours, for black and for white, for revolutionary and conservative? Have they forgotten that my ministry is in obedience to the one who loved his enemies so fully that he died for them? What then can I say to the "Vietcong" or to Castro or to Mao as a faithful minister of this one? Can I threaten them with death or must I not share with them my life? (emphasis mine)

Bet the Nobel Peace Prize Committee's feeling pre-t-t-t-y damned foolish right about now.  If they're not, they sure as hell should be!  Seems they not only erroneously thought all Black folks looked alike -- but thought alike as well. {smdh}

Related:
- Prince Bandar and Zionist lobby partnering to force Obama into prolonged war with Syria
- The World Has Condemned Bashar al-Assad For Firing Chemical Weapons — But Did He Actually Do it?
- U.S. About to Act with Impunity and Attack Syria
- The Drums of War are Beating: Killing Civilians to Protect Civilians in Syria
- Syria regime vows to defend itself
- The Prince: Meet the Man Who Co-Opted Democracy in the Middle East

Hoodwinked and bamboozled -- 50th Anniversary weekend rally and march nothin' but a "NAN" thing

 Left, March on Washington on Aug. 28, 1963; right, 50th anniversary of the 1963 march on Saturday, Aug. 24, 2013, in Washington (AP Photo/File)

Well, the prosperity preacher and opportunist extraordinaire, finally came up with a way to try and steal some of Dr. King's thunder for himself last weekend.

Never having risen to King's level of leadership or inspirational prominence during his life or death, the Right Reverend Al, in cooperation with Martin Luther King III, leap-frogged all the other organizations with whom Dr. King collaborated in 1963 --  to be the first out of the gate with his, "Okay y'all, look at me now," rolling National Action Network (NAN) advertisement on Saturday.

Like many others, I mistakenly thought the Changeling would be speaking at the weekend event and despite the fact that I think he is the antithesis of everything for which Dr. King stood, and as much as hearing him speak feels like fingernails on a chalkboard for me (particularly when he tries to channel MLK in talking to Black folk), I spent an inordinate amount of time watching so I could hear the lies he would undoubtedly tell in order to honestly critique them (which now, doesn't seem that important).

Instead, in what I can only describe as a poorly prepared, "speed-dating" event, person after person came to the dais with only two minutes to speak, the majority of whom were cut-off by a band before they were finished -- played off the stage á la the Sandman at Showtime at the Apollo.  This was nothing more than a sideshow.

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose...

Top, March on Washington on Aug. 28, 1963; bottom, 50th anniversary of the 1963 march on Saturday, Aug. 24, 2013, in Washington (AP Photo/File)

Yes, the more things change, the more they stay the same.  The 1963 crowd in the top photo and the 2013 crowd in the bottom, certainly bear that out.   Even though 50 years of "change" have occurred, the faces of the marchers, as well as the issues for which they marched -- remain the same, or worse.

Those who convened this event surely took their eyes off the prize a long time ago.  By embracing this "thing-oriented society" against which Dr. King railed (that corporate-sponsored statue of him being a case in point) and particularly, having the warmongering, Murderer-in-Chief participate as if he's some realization of "The Dream" -- makes that fact abundantly clear.

I dreaded the fact he'd be there.  I knew they'd invite him though.  They had to.  Why?  Because to the "faithful," symbolism  trumps jobs, homes, a living wage, food and even humanity  -- all so they can lay claim to the first, Black president.  The crowd, bathed in Obamalove, presented the perfect opportunity to distract from the issues, those who need to be paying attention to them the most.  And it worked like a charm.  As with the dedication of the statue, the "faithful" yet again, allowed themselves to be hoodwinked by an empty "commemoration" in service to white supremacy.

In his, President Obama should not be welcomed at March on Washington commemoration, Ajamu Baraka succinctly hit the many problems that made my jaw tight about his participation.  Here are a few:

The fact that Barack Obama will be standing in the shadow of Dr. King, his presence conveying the impression that he somehow represents the values and self-sacrificing lives of Dr. King, A. Philip Randolph, Bayard Rustin, Ella Baker, Rosa Parks and many of the thousands gathered that afternoon on the national mall, should be taken as an insult by everyone who has struggled and continues to struggle for human rights, peace and social justice. (emphasis mine)

I don't know about you, but I'm sure insulted. Everybody always gets heir panties in a knot when folk like me say he hijacked the Black struggle for his own political expediency. Get over it, he did.

Surrendering to Barack Obama the podium that King stood before allows the State to close the circle of meaning on an important chapter of the African American story, and what is possible in that story.  Linking the demands and aspirations of African Americans in 1963 to the ascendency of Barack Obama as President of the United States within the still-dominant white supremacist structure, affirms a limitation that reflects the oppressive reality of African American life. It brings a clear message, even though it is not acknowledged on a conscious level, that the highest aspiration and possible achievement for an African American is to be able to serve white power – to be a servant. That is the “positive” role model for the new black leadership class. (emphasis mine)

Read that whole thing again, especially those of you who have problems with movies like The Help or The Butler and their portrayals of hard-working, honest Black folk with no choice in, nor necessarily, love for, the kind of work they had to do -- unlike the Changeling.

What those so-called Black leaders and even many progressives and radicals don’t understand is that, in ongoing ideological and cultural battles in which capitalism and its minions are systematically engaging to maintain their dominance, symbols have meaning. When Barack Obama delivers his speech that day, he will complete the process, starting with the King national holiday, of symbolically merging the civil rights struggle with the interests of the U.S. State and the capitalist order. The political and ideological consequence of this is that it effectively eliminates any substantive critique of the links between white supremacist, capitalist patriarchy and continued African American oppression, and reduces the range of acceptable discourse related to the plight of African Americans to reforms within the existing order.

But even more damning for the development of an oppositional consciousness and a movement of resistance among African Americans and progressive politics in the U.S. is the fact that Obama is the living negation of everything, from his domestic to foreign policy, that Dr. King and the movement stood for in 1963. (emphasis mine)

For those of you who count the "symbolism" of the little boy touching the Changeling's hair as something fantastically meaningful, kindly consider the "symbolism" about which Mr. Baraka spoke above and tell me which matters most for a people still struggling to realize even a small part of the "dream."  To my mind, they are mutually exclusive -- and intentionally engineered to be so.  The White Supremacist Capitalist Patriarchy's (WSCP) keeping the meaningfulness of the former in the forefront of the minds and souls of Black folk, makes the latter unrecognizable.  It is distraction pure and simple.

Do read Mr. Baraka's entire piece.  I'm sure you'll find much there with which to agree if you believe in truth, instead of the smoke and mirrors that is the Changeling. His point about the way in which substantive critique of the WSCP is eliminated in conjunction with a reduction of acceptable discourse related to the plight of Blacks, is beautifully made by Mychal Denzel Smith in his March on Washington at 50: Commemoration vs. Movement over at The Nation:

I had little interest in the March on Washington fiftieth-anniversary festivities. I have no problem with taking time out to honor those who came before us and struggled and fought for what gains we have made in terms of racial and economic justice. I’m all for it. But I also believe that the greatest way to honor those folks is by continuing the work to ensure that future generations will have the privilege of looking back into history in horror and not seeing any parallels to their present. However, after Saturday’s events, it was hard not to feel, as Brittney Cooper of Salon put it, that what took place was “eulogy for a bygone era, [rather] than a call to action.”

That feeling of ambivalence and mourning was only furthered yesterday, on the official anniversary of the march, when word came down that Philip Agnew of the Dream Defenders and Sofia Campos of United We Dream had been cut from the roster of speakers. The young people, my generation, were shut out.

The speeches that were given were generally fine speeches, as far as speeches go, but none came close to capturing the spirit of the times in which we live or setting a vision for where we need to go. That’s the purpose of youth voices and that’s what was lacking once Agnew and Campos were told there wouldn’t be enough time for their two-minute speeches. But it also made all the more clear what yesterday was and was not.

Yesterday was not about indicting America. It was a celebration. It was about paying lip service to the myriad forms of oppression that plague this country, without any specific agenda for how to eradicate them. Yesterday was about America patting itself on the back for finding one speech given by one black man to be important to its history. It was not about what brought more than 200,000 people to Washington, DC, that day, or the actual content of that speech, which was a radical call for justice, equality and freedom. Yesterday was not about updating the dream. It was about finding complacency in our progress. (emphasis mine)

This young brother hit the nail on its proverbial head and I agree with him 200 per cent!  Sharpton's NAN-a-thon wasn't about to let anybody get up there and tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.  Not only would it have spoiled his day in the sun in continued service to white supremacy, it may have even jeopardized his MSNBC hustle (and you know he wasn't having that!).

I even found myself talking back at the TV screen when John Lewis rose for his two minutes.  While he seemed energized as Tom Joyner introduced him, I could not stomach the hypocrisy of all his years spent in Congress against the backdrop of an unemployment rate for his state ranking 48 out of 51 (which includes the District of Columbia)  in August.  He was certainly not the John Lewis Julian Bond wrote about in that last "related" piece below but, it was obvious by his comments, he missed that guy.

I neither listened to, nor read the Changeling's speech and I refuse to be complicit in his hanging onto Dr. King by posting it here.  Instead, I think Philip Agnew's "Two Minutes" below should be shared with pride and respect for those younguns who are truly committed to the issues for which Dr. King lived and died:



I can't help but believe that A. Philip Randolph, Bayard Rustin, Ella Baker, Fannie Lou Hamer and Dr. King would have been extremely proud of this young man.  It is obvious he understands what Mr. Randolph meant when he said:

"Justice is never given; it is exacted and the struggle must be continuous for freedom is never a final fact, but a continuing evolving process to higher and higher levels of human, social, economic, political and religious relationship."

Thank you my young brother -- very well done.  This old head totally believes you are ready!  I hope to see, and hear more from all of you Dream Defenders in the very near future.

Related:
- The Rev King didn't dream of better people; he dreamed of a better system
- Dr. King Was A Man, “The Dreamer” Is A Zombie
- March on Washington Anniversary: Great Reads on Racial Justice
- Marches won’t cut it anymore: Why this week’s feels like a funeral
- Remembering my time at the 1963 March on Washington
- Seeing 'New Jim Crow' Placards Seized by Police & More From the March on Washington
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. v. Barack Obama
- This is the Day: The 1963 March on Washington by Julian Bond