The case against Keith Davis Jr. is entangled in Baltimore politics and political allegiances. What has happened in these last five years has been on par with the neoliberal democratic misleadership engulfing the city. Keith Davis Jr. should not have survived on the morning of June 7th, 2015. Assumed to be a hack thief, a case of mistaken identity led four Baltimore police officers to corner Davis Jr. into a dark garage after an on-foot chase in West Baltimore. Those four officers let off up to 44 rounds of bullets in that garage, resulting in Davis Jr. being shot . . .
Theory Corner
ADOS and American Exceptionalism in Africans
It now seems to be a ritual: when a new movie is announced with story, cast, and production crew primarily made up of Africans, a boisterous debate ricochets around the Blackest parts of social media: who made this, who’s in it, and is it for us? For many African people living in the US, the response is always a resounding “I’m rooting for everybody Black.” (Credit to Issa Rae) For as long as we’ve been captives on this territory the majority of our people have expressed some form of intrinsic nationalism – a kind of instinctual proto-African nationalist sentiment. Certainly . . .
Black is Crime: Notes on Blaqillegalism
“As long as I’m alive I’ma live illegal, and once I get on I’ma put on all my people” -Prodigy “The fugitive nature of Blackness, the inherent outlawing of our bodies by the state and our positionality as being already outside of the law, gives rise to a Black illegalism where extralegal activities to further our survival are foregrounded.” – Anarkata: A Statement What a crime it is to be Black. To have the police be called on you for sitting in a restaurant, for grilling at a cookout, selling water, going to the pool, taking a nap, standing on . . .
Climate Change or Climate Control: Understanding Planetary Conditions Under Man
“While the earth is enslaved, none of us is free. While the earth is ‘a nigger,’ … so are we.” Alice Walker, Everything is a Human Being “My turn to state an equation: colonization = ‘thingification.’” Aimé Césaire, Discourse on Colonialism This piece looks at the issue of ‘climate control’ versus ‘climate change’ in the hood. There is separation in our communities around what exactly has caused the rampant, more severe, more frequent superstorms, earthquakes, monsoons, and wildfires we are witnessing across the planet. Some people embrace the idea of climate change, which typically states that levels of wasteful overconsumption . . .
The Communionist Manifesto
“…imperialism negates itself after laying the foundation for communism, and communism will eventually negate itself because of its internal contradictions, and then we will move to an even higher state. So of course there will be contradictions in the future. But some contradictions are antagonistic and some contradictions are not antagonistic.”-Huey P. Newton “First, I rejected their materialistic interpretation of history. Communism, avowedly secularistic and materialistic, has no place for God. Humans are not and have never been one-dimensional, class-based, economic creatures… …What I’m saying to you this morning is communism forgets that life is individual. Capitalism forgets that life . . .
The Importance of Political Education and Class Analysis
What does organizing look like when Black radicals are being pushed out of spaces for ‘progressiveness’ that makes uncontested room for the centrist, right-wing and fascists narratives driving most platforms? When examining the conflicts between those fighting oppression under capitalism and the capitalist state’s ruling class alongside those who subscribe to “success” and riches obtained at the expense of the oppressed, few things strike me as obvious disconnects and contradictions. I am often asked about my relationship with the analytical science of Marxism- Leninism as it pertains to my studies, teachings, and praxis because it’s somehow shocking that a Black . . .
Settler-Colonialism, Nationalism, and Patriarchy
Settler-Colonialism and Neo-Colonialism It is impossible to understand capitalism without first understanding settler-colonialism and neo-colonialism – the dominant forms of colonialism still remaining in the world today. The earth’s most dangerous imperialist power – the United States of America – is itself a former British (but also in some regions such as the southwest and southeast, Spanish and French) settler colony turned independent settler state and it’s constellation of junior imperialist allies – which include Azania (South Africa), Canada, Australia, and the illegal state of Israel – are settler-colonies turned settler states as well. Every imperialist and junior imperialist European . . .
Abolition Beyond The Binary
“The prison, therefore, functions ideologically as an abstract site into which undesirables are deposited, relieving us of the responsibility of thinking about the real issues afflicting those communities from which prisoners are drawn in such disproportionate numbers. This is the ideological work that the prison performs—it relieves us of the responsibility of seriously engaging with the problems of our society, especially those produced by racism and, increasingly, global capitalism.” Angela Y. Davis, Are Prisons Obsolete? According to the Prison Policy Initiative, the American criminal justice system currently holds almost 2.3 million people in 1,719 state prisons, 109 federal prisons, 1,772 . . .