REPUBLICAN WIPEOUT:
REVOLUTIONARY CAUTIONMumia Abu Jamal, political prisoner, revolutionary journalist, and author always states political issues best. In Live from Death Row , in an essay entitled “Clinton Guillotines Guinier”, Mumia wrote:
“To appease a right wing that had never supported him, Clinton gave the ax to Professor Guinier...President Clinton sacrificed his friend of half his life to the wolves and in an act as startling as it was unprecedented, withdrew his nomination while denigrating her scholarship, thereby denying her the opportunity to appear before the Senate to state her case...Whenever Clinton slips in the polls, his quick fix has consisted of a subtle but unmistakable appeal to the lowest common denominator in American politics--race... When then candidate Clinton was embroiled in the Gennifer Flowers controversy his response was a mid campaign flight to Little Rock, Arkansas, to oversee the execution of Ricky Ray Rector, a brain-damaged black man on death row. When he began to sink in the polls, his political instincts led him to denounce Sistah Souljah...a New Democrat is no different from an Old Republican...(June 1993).” Perhaps if Mumia were to amend the above to include Clinton’s most recent racist antics, he might detail Clinton’s bombing of alleged Bin Laden camps in Afghanistan, dropped to distract from the saga of his vulgar affairs with Monica Lewinsky. He might even detail how Clinton’s most recent spin doctoring, combined with nationwide disgust with rabid Republikkkan neocons, has led to legendary Democratic victories at the polls.
Cheerleading to Black voters paid off, in a positive decrease in the apathy that made racist politicians the overconfident monsters which they are today. I welcome this company at the polls. There is power in numbers. We have proven that we can make a difference.
Beware: Revolution is a constant struggle. No changes linger without vigilant challenge. In our euphoria about our wake-up call to Republikkkans, we must not slumber on the reality of millions of Democrats. Democrats may be our new allies, but they are definitely not always our friends. Many Democratic politicos are racist, elitist, sexist, anti-poor and anti-gay. The only difference between many Republicans and Democrats is a party label. Party affiliation is no indicator of missions or morals.
We must not forget the millions of Democrats who support the destruction of affirmative action. Nor those who do nothing to admonish CIA crack dealers. Nor those who embrace the racist inequities of crack versus cocaine laws. Nor those who profit from the prison industrial complex. Nor those who encourage the slavery of workfare. Nor those who support ruthless corporations who wage war upon workers via the exploitative and elitist NAFTA etc.....
Just as we voted, we must now run for offices. Just as we reward those politicians who regard us, we must disempower those who disregard us. Just as we have sabotaged a resilient neocon agenda, we must salvage this perpetually oppressive and stolen America.
Rest assured, as we cheer this temporary victory, our enemies still seek to fashion permanent political destruction. Neocon efforts will now be unleashed to reverse our apparent change in voting practices. Our enemies will seek to make more of us felons so that we may join millions of African-Americans who are already legally banned from voting. They will rush to enforce racist Supreme Court rulings which empower white voting districts as they eradicate black ones.
As we celebrate what we have done, let us remember all that we must yet do...