“Armageddon deals with the final battle between God and the Devil. The Third World War is referred to as Armageddon by many white statesmen. There won't be any more war after then because there won't be any more warmongers. I don't know when Armageddon, whatever form it takes, is supposed to be. But I know the time is near when the white man will be finished.” This statement comes from Malcolm X in an interview with Playboy in May of 1963. Read the quote again. Now take it in for a third time. If you still find yourself arguing against, or trying to assuage your cognitive dissonance, know that it is okay and natural, but at the same time it is imperative for those looking to gain any form of insight from this piece that we do not necessarily fight the content of this quote psychologically. Donald Trump, the 44th President of the United States of America, finds himself at a point in time where all of the history of the United States, from the moment that white English settlers set foot in Jamestown in 1607 to now has converged on his oval office. The ambitions and frustrations of the Ancestors of Enslaved African peoples measuring over 460 years of occupation, the disillusionment of a white working class which has been manipulated and coerced by the wealth owning elite, the righteous indignation of Native peoples in America who’s people have been subjected genocide as well as the loss of the destruction of their ancestral land and the international reputation for suffocating imperialism have all converged on one Donald Trump, a tidal wave from the annals of time. How exactly has this happened, and more so, why should you believe from my mouth that history has come to have its final word as to the story of the United States of AmeriKKKa? Why would change be upon us now, and not in the 60s, not during the depression, nor the civil war, or any other monumental time in United States history? What does any of this have to do with the quote I have provided for you from our Brother Malcolm – may he rest in power. Well, let’s dig in. The story of the United States is one that is particularly unique in the legacy of world history, because it is one of few, if any, whose national identity and foundation is one of total war. As a lover and enthusiast of world history, the story of most if not all major world powers and civilizations is founded in the growth of the essential building blocks of societies; the development of agriculture and religion, the growth of culture in the arts, sciences, and language, the development of both domestic and foreign trade and then finally the development of a security force which guarantees the long term prosperity of the way of life that has been and continues to be created. The AmeriKKKan story does not follow this trajectory. The foundations of American institutions are genocide and war itself. This land is not one that was cultivated over generations and generations of its native inhabitants, or even nomads. Those people who did have that connection to this land were utterly destroyed – through war, through rape, through disease and deceit – and the victors left to lay their own (unrighteous) stake to the land as their property. The development of domestic and foreign trade was not one that was propelled by the natural culture of the society in which goods which were produced inherently from the land and the way of life (as silk with China, spices from India, gold and ivory in Africa; these are but a few of an infinite array of examples,) but was built on the theft of Black bodies from West and North Africa and their stolen labor. Their foreign influence has not and never was built on the pervasiveness of certain aspects of the culture as was for advanced cultures before, where the religious, ideological, scientific and academic values produced a genuine influence throughout the world; rather American foreign influence is based completely on the legacy of military domination and economic coercion. This is not to say that military conquest did not exist as a means of extending or protecting influence, rather that it was not the life blood of the society itself. Look at America today and it becomes clear: the Natives are all but gone, the Black people are all but mentally and spiritually dead (unable to provide for themselves basic human needs such as housing, education and health), animosity continues to grow between the populist which KNOWS that the rich continue to get richer as their opportunity for prosperity dims, and the rest of the world seems to be at war with or against America OR its allies – which if we were to dig deeper we would find are in one way or another tied at the bosom to American and Western interests, but that is a blog post for another day. Malcolm said that Armageddon is the FINAL battle between God and the Devil. This implies that the two entities have BEEN at war. It is clear, to me, that the story of AmeriKKKa has been a constant battle between the dominating force which seeks to destroy, and those trying desperately to escape their destruction. The struggle for Native American autonomy has not stopped; modern Sioux warriors recently lost a bloody battle to protect their sacred burial grounds at standing in opposition to the proposed Dakota Access Pipeline which will line the pockets of corporate interests. Black people are STILL not only subject to rampant state sanctioned violence, just recently resulting in urban uprisings in Ferguson, Baltimore, New York, Chicago, Oakland, Minneapolis and more BUT ALSO; Flint still has no water; schools are more segregated today than when the 1955 Brown v. Board of Education decision overturning school segregation was made, economic opportunities continue to be scarce especially in urban communities (where we have been historically redlined) but also new forces of racism such as gentrification continue to create themselves in an attempt to continue a tradition of profiting from the suffering of Black people. Budget preparations for the Trump tax bill has resulted in proposed cuts of $6 Billion from Department for Housing and Urban Development in public housing allocations, over $2.25 Billion from the Department of Education, and a $500 Billion cut to Medicare over the next ten years sits in the Senate tentatively as we speak. This is not to mention proposed cuts to Social Security and Welfare programs as well which are harder to pin down. These cuts undermine the ability for all poor, working, and middle class people to control their own destiny within the society without having to go to the owners of capital for opportunities, effectively putting our lives in the hands of the elite. We must ask why these budget cuts didn’t come from the military’s $700 Billion ANNUAL budget. The answer is that AmeriKKKa is currently fighting a war – rather through proxy or occupation – in North and West Africa as well as the Middle East against governments with valuable resources and wish to use those resources to improve the livelihood of their people rather than line AmeriKKKan multinational corporate interests, or whose people have taken up a general ideology of liberation, whether it be through the Islamic faith or other ideologies of TRUE freedom and self-determination. In short, the current state of AmeriKKKa is one in which it ONLY survives if it is able to continue to dominate people’s livelihoods. One need only look at Donald Trump’s campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again,” to understand that the assumption of his base and of much of the dominant political faction in this country, which happens to be the GOP, that AmeriKKKa is on the decline, or that at least the principles on which it has built itself on are eroding. It is no accident that this new wave of political thought and action comes directly after the first and only Black man to lead the “Free World.” It was in fact, no accident that President Obama served as a lame duck president for nearly two and a half years, with no ability or willingness from his congress to enact any real change to the country: they couldn’t afford to legitimize common sense and decency through policy. It is no accident that the FIRST action of Donald Trump was to undo the one policy victory for President Obama that represented a move towards a more just system of governance, the Affordable Care Act, effectively ripping away health care from millions of Americans. It is no accident that the FBI has targeted “Black Identity Extremists” as a major threat to the security of the Nation (as we are). It is no accident that Trump’s Federal Communications Commission repealed Net Neutrality law (also established under Obama) which will seriously restrict the general population’s ability to have free and fair access to information and light speeds. And it is no accident that days after the Net Neutrality decision Trump’s Center for Disease Control has banned language such as “vulnerable”, “diversity”, “entitlement”, “transgender”, “Science-based”, and “Evidence-based” in an attempt to restrict policy preference to people who are, well, vulnerable. This is all indicative of a power which is reacting, not being proactive. This is the strategy of retreat, not growth. In other words, the powers of white supremacy and global domination are at serious risk, so much so that they have to cut your internet off from you, track down people who are seeking justice while poisoning and restricting healthcare from people who are susceptible to rising up and overthrowing the status quo. AmeriKKKa is not a power anymore; it is a coward looking for a reason to believe it can still win the fight. What then, will it be that launches us into Armegeddon, or Ameriggedon? Is there an issue where all these – the theft of land, racism, capitalism, and militarism – will intersect? On December 6th of this year Donald Trump announced that the United States will officially be recognizing Jerusalem as the true capital of the Israeli state, undoing decades of precedence and giving a blatant middle finger to the Palestinian state which has claimed East Jerusalem to be its capital in the peace talks which were currently the only international hope for a peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The United States has for decades served as the arms supplier and political backbone in favor of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land, a land which belonged to Black and Brown Arab people and was annexed during the Zionist movement by European Jews because of its fertile farmlands, abundant natural resources, and of course it’s strategic location at the heart of the Muslim/Middle Eastern world, which America is currently at war with. How fitting for Jerusalem, perhaps the holiest and most valuable city on earth in terms of historical significance, for the possible final straw to be dropped on. In the days following the announcement Palestinians and all others who support the cause for Palestinian self-determination called for a “Day of Rage” in protest of the Trump administration’s decision. The UN General Assembly voted 14-1 to oppose and overturn the decision which blatantly violates years of an agonizing peace and cease fire process. That one vote was given by the United States, which, because of the terms of the Security Council, vetoes the other 14 votes. In other words, the entire world hates this decision, except the United States (of course). As the days, weeks and months follow expect only further agitation within the region; as Black refugees fleeing persecution in West and Central Africa (which the United State also proxies) flee up and into the middle east, Western sentiments towards the region are also bound to grow more resentful. It is of my personal opinion that this, given the current state of the region, will result in us being at war by July 1st in the region with one government(s) or the other, or perhaps against another vague and faceless enemy such as when we went to war against terror itself in 2001. The questions we must ask are; can we afford a war? If we can afford a war, where is that money coming from? If not, where will the missing resources come from? How will the public perceive this war, and what will be their reaction? What of the other domestic issues yet to come even close to being resolved in the United States? Can the United States survive another double war, one abroad in a military sense, and a political one on its own domestic front? Is the United States even capable in a military sense along with Israel of drawing a clear military victory against a coalition of Middle Eastern, North and West African countries? Will the international community allow the United States to create turmoil for the entire world without imposing sanctions and other diplomatic deterrence’s? Will this put American lives at risk and if so, what will be the political cost? These are all questions we must ask ourselves, for I suspect the answers will come sooner rather than later. Peace. -515
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Author22 Years Old. Writer. Artist. Sigma Man. Muslim. Revolutionary. Lover of all things Beautiful, I am the Eccentric Black Boy. ArchivesCategories |