Disruption Over Victory

I was assisted in writing this post by a bottle of Piccini Sasso al Poggio Toscana 2018 Red Blend (Central Italy). A high-scoring drinkable for under $20.00. A deft blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Sangiovese. Bold. Strong structure. Balanced dryness. Moderate tannins and acidity. Leading with oak, vanilla, and dark chocolate notes. A sustain of black cherries, ripe plums, and smoke. Ending in leather, elderberries, and dry vanilla. Long – plush – luscious finish.

“Salvation for a race, nation or class must come from within. Freedom is never granted; it is won. Justice is never given; it is exacted.”

A. Philip Randolph

Family – we have to get to the point real quick that we can afford each other.

The Reparations train is rolling powerfully and quickly in the wrong direction. We are at the switch, but we are too busy bickering over indigenousness, indian-ness, and other nonsense to notice that switch needs to be pulled. Right now, the Pan Africans, the Government, the expatriated African Diaspora, the white liberals, the domestic and international white media, and Black conservatives have checked out our internal disunity. Our lack of political astuteness. Our Freedman to Freedman pettiness. Our lack of understanding the need for non-Freedman allies in certain places. If we don’t wake up we will lose this fight.

I

Understand Family. The game that The NAARC/N’COBRA Axis is playing on us is not “Divide and Conquer” – nope not that. The effective game is “Divide and Dissipate” – a different game altogether. During the time that the old-timers in the movement were still operating under the ADOS hashtag, and in the early months of the “Freedman Divestiture” from ADOS – there was too much focus, energy, and activism directed towards the federal Government and the inadequacy of HR40.

Something needed to be done to break that focus up. So if you are playing political chess, especially against a group that is not especially studied-up on political strategy – you come up with something shiny and positive-looking like “Local Reparations.” Run around the country with this. Encourage white legislators and communities with a way out to assuage their guilt. Present Black legislators with a life preserver to assist them in covering up their underperformance in serving their constituents. Provide governors and mayors with a great public relations tool to keep their present positions and/or move on to higher office. At our expense.

Every state, county, and municipal Reparations commission or task force (except California) that formulates across this country is a polite form of political arson. The NAARC/N’COBRA Axis has been duly assigned by the Democratic Party to do the long-term project management of slowly destroying Reparations. The Axis is being substantially funded by certain wealthy white individuals and white-liberal run foundations to disrupt the developing demand for Reparations. To confuse the issue. To finesse the definition. Having us running here. Then running there.

Then running off a cliff. Just Evil.

But we cannot allow open evil to evoke open emotionality from us. Family! This is a game. Family! And we have to PLAY to win. Family! We are in the FINALS of a series that started in 1619. Family! As we head into these FINALS – I want all of us to be clear on what we are up against. Because we have to shut down the fires in order to get to reparational clarity. Understand. There are three base reasons why a “local or institutional reparations” program is created. And they are these:

These Number One: Any “local reparations” program that is created by The NAARC/N’COBRA Axis is directly for the purposes of advocacy dissipation and the disruption of focus towards a properly rendered federal reparations bill. This was mandated by the Democratic Party and financed by outside but associated institutions and individuals that are set against Reparations being accomplished.

Wake up your discerning mind and really look at how HR40 is worded. If that dirty rag ever became law, it would be begging for the Supreme Court to kill it. And that is precisely what The NAARC/N’COBRA Axis wants to happen Family. To destroy Reparations. Full Stop. I cannot say this any louder. The real money is made on the continuance of the issue. Not on the accomplishment of Reparations. And with those Reparations – if accomplished – potentially being received, managed, and distributed from within the safe federal confines of a “Freedmen’s Bureau?”

OH NO! Can’t have that.

These Number Two: Cities and certain slavery-built institutions that understand their historic and very expensive culpability in the slavery enterprise and/or their participation in post-slavery deprivative practices see the Reparations train coming. And they know they are on or will be put on the to-do-list. What these lawyered-up motherfuckers are doing is getting ahead of the full potential liability through some fractional “acknowledgements” – “handshakes” – “scholarships” – “set-asides” – “plaques” – “and other bullshit.” (!!!) Thereby containing the possibility of any potentially large payouts. Because if these settlements were done properly, with the correct force behind the demand, and IN ORDER, many of those entities would be paying out billions rather than a few million bucks and a “friendship breakfast.”

More Coffee?

They want to be able to show the government on paper: “Hey look, we’ve already settled with those Niggers.” And because of us in our blinding hunger and political silly-mindedness, the enemy will be able to show on signed papers that we are accepting this nonsense. Lawyers from those entities will happily show and explain the signed paperwork when the forensic accountants from the Freedmen’s Bureau come knocking. (!) And here we are – Accepting “getting off cheap” type Millions instead of Demanding “pay me what you owe me motherfucker” type Billions.

Family! Any offers made. Any apologies proffered before Federal Reparations is accomplished; and before a Freedmen’s Bureau is established, are nothing but pennies on the dollar attempts to circumvent the trillions off the table that really need to be put on the table. Those trillions would count as “satisfaction.” What is being offered – proposed – or “task-forced” (except California) is not satisfaction.

A Pure Reparations is not something that can ever be done provisionally. A Pure Reparations can only be done going directly to actuality. And “to actuality” means Reparations expended “in its entirety” when done. Ahh… When Done?

“When Done” means at the Federal level. 400 years of Slavery was not done on a piecemeal basis. Enslavement in most cases shackled an entire human being for a whole life. When a whole slave was whipped, he or she absorbed the infliction of the entire whip. Entirely. After all that: A scholarship, A breakfast, and cab fare?

Really Family?

These Number Three: Sincere legislators, institutions, and organizations that feel that they “should do something,” but don’t realize that their good intentions are motivating them to do the devil’s work. Because no matter how good the intent – the same destructive result is the same. You see a hungry kid on the block. You fix him a lunch consisting of a glass of milk and a peanut butter sandwich. At the same time not knowing that the child has an intense allergy (that is potentially lethal) to peanuts. That child is too young to understand or articulate his allergy. He is just “getting what he can get” because he’s hungry. See? We are so blinded by our own hunger for capital, resources, and policies, that we are putting ourselves in this bad expedient mode of “getting what we can get.” And not even getting that Family.

The end result is Death.

Family! It is Supremely important for everybody in this Reparations building to understand the hardball game being played here. It is possible to persuade somebody to shoot themselves in the foot and make them believe it is the right thing to do. That’s what is happening with the good folks that are setting up those “local reparations” structures. They don’t understand what the game is. And their energies are being horribly self-misdirected. We must not only be unified on the overall goal – but we must also be unified on how this issue should ultimately resolve. Thus – unifying on the proper and precise path to get to that resolution.

Otherwise – We Will Fail.

II

Family! The messiness. The bickering. The unstudied new ideas. The overriding intrigues – both real and manufactured. The et cetera. We are undermining our own movement. If there are several things positive that I can say about our enemy – The NAARC/N’COBRA Axis: They are focused. They are organized. They have a hierarchy. They hold to their mission. They (mostly) don’t allow inner dissentions to be aired publicly. They don’t argue with outsiders. And they solidly concentrate on marketing their retrograde Pan African propaganda. They are simultaneously tightening up and expanding their organizational structures and systems.

Pay Attention Family:

They are setting up political sub-structures and mission agreements with other organizations so that we cannot in certainty track what they are doing. They are picking up more non-Black allies. While we in strategic ignorance, flame the non-Black allies that want to help us. That’s why (in a sense) they’re winning. Even though their aims are nefarious and ultimately destructive to Pure Reparations.

There is a lot of stuff that the serious lineage-based Reparationists will have to ignore. There are several simple things that we must focus on and execute. We need actual unity, organization, and focus even more than money Family. It is time…

III

Below is an excerpt from a book called “The Gosho” (Japanese: “honorable writings”). The book is a compilation of letters, commentaries, and treatises written by Nichiren (b. February 16, 1222 – d. October 13, 1282). He was a Japanese Buddhist priest and philosopher of the Kamakura Period in 13th Century Japan. Nichiren was a prolific writer and his biography, temperament, and the evolution of his beliefs has been gleaned primarily from his own wisdom-filled writings.

What is excerpted is from the letter titled “On Itai Doshin” (Japanese: “many in body, one in mind”). This to me is one of the best writings on the necessity of unity to accomplish our goals. Please read, absorb, and think about what this philosopher had to say. The message is timeless and appropriate to our movement:

“If Itai Doshin (many in body, one in mind) prevails among the people, they will achieve all their goals, whereas in Dotai Ishin (one in body, different in mind), they can achieve nothing remarkable. The more than three thousand volumes of Confucianism and Taoist literature are filled with examples. King Chou of Yin led 700,000 soldiers into battle against King Wu of Chou and his 800 men.

Yet King Chou’s army lost because of disunity while King Wu’s men defeated him because of perfect unity. Even an individual at cross purposes with himself is certain to end in failure. Yet a hundred or even a thousand people can definitely attain their goal if they are of one mind. Though numerous, the Japanese will find it difficult to accomplish anything, because they are divided in spirit. On the contrary, I believe that although Nichiren and his followers are few in number, because they act in Itai Doshin, they will accomplish their great mission… Many raging fires are quenched by a single shower of rain, and many evil forces are vanquished by a single great truth…”

Nichiren succinctly spells out and examples a beautiful formula for victory. It takes strong organization, focus, and perfect unity to get what we need to take Family.

Family! Our individual power is very small. However, when people who have different talents or characters move together with one mind toward achieving a single goal, they are able to produce tremendous power, and any goal can be accomplished. We cannot fail this project Family. That’s non-negotiable.

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