We as a people have fought many battles. We have fought to raise empires. We have fought for the rightful recognition of those empires. We have fought to end human bondage. We have fought to ensure civil rights and to end the degredation of a system of peonage that robbed us of our humanity at every turn. (Some might even say that we are still fighting those battles in this day and age)

What we must now fight is a system that is so insidious that it even dictates HOW we fight it. This system has acculturated its foes into believing that “fighting” means putting on your best shoes and marching in the rain. It means holding a sign and screaming at a brick wall shielding a building that you are not allowed to enter. It means convincing you that you should vote certain, usually, white men out of office to be replaced by other, usually, white men, supposedly with your interest at heart. It means withholding your pennies to billionaires in hopes that they will miss them. It means believing with all your heart that the optics of your protests will sway the opinions and actions of individuals who have no idea whatsoever the WHY of what they do.

Like a good friend of mine said the other day “people underestimate and fail to understand what we are really at war with.” We say “the white man” or “white folks” or even “white society.” That misunderstanding is the main reason why white supremacy has been the most successful social construct in the history of the world. I would go a step further and say that the reason why we are so impotent in our struggle is that we fail to understand that pale skin dominance of this world has its foundations in capitalism. Capitalism is the underpinning of every instance of misery in this world. Yes, some folks are just evil. Some folks use the system to inflict needless pain on everyone around them that they deem “lesser than.” What we find though when we look deeper is a system that was around long before that particular evil was born and unless we get a grip on the REAL enemy, will be here long after he (or she) is dust in a coffin.

We have been led to believe that we live in a meritocracy. We believe that if you are talented enough or insistent enough that you will succeed in this world. That is true but only on an individual basis. As an individual, you can horde vast amounts of cash. You can build a fortune that will keep you safe from most of societies ills for the rest of your life and your children’s lives. What you can’t do is amass wealth, wealth meaning capital. Capital is the root word of Capitalism. With capital comes power, that’s the true strength of capitalism. Let me give you an example, take some of the richest black men in this world. If the top ten richest (notice I didn’t say wealthiest) black men in this world come together and pool their fortunes, the would have 25 to 50 billion dollars US. With that amount of money they should be able to do whatever they’d like. They should be able to buy up all of Detroit, including Flint, with all of its factories and create a beacon for our people to come and live in peace and safety. A base like Detroit would enable us to create a means of production that will provide jobs and economic stability for all. Why can’t that be done? It can’t be done because Capitalism is designed to limit who participates in the absolute top. Take for example Michael Jordan. He has a “fortune” estimated at over 1 bn dollars US. That makes him depending on the Stock Market at any given time appoximately the 1740th richest man on this planet. In any event, that means that there are over 1700 people on the planet richer than him, most you have never heard of. It makes me think of something J. Paul Getty said back in the 20th century. If you can count your money, you are not rich. Maybe that was Howard Hughes. The point is, the Forbes list is only those who choose to make public their holdings. There are folks who are far, far wealthier that you don’t even know exist.

Capitalism exists to serve THEIR purpose. They control the levers of power, they call the shots. They decide who gets to do what IN THE WORLD. If you have any doubt about the intricate web of “money,” just think about it for a second. Even in so-called “communist” and “socialist” countries, nothing is free. Even in North Korea, you can’t just walk into a shop and pick up a free loaf of bread. You have to have whatever “fiat” currency that country uses. And what is that country’s currency valued against .

. . the capitalist dollar. No matter where you go in this world, nothing is free. Whether the government is a elected body or a iron fist dictator, EVERYTHING costs SOMETHING; and the profit from that transaction will meander its way back to the real controllers of society. Imagine a world where nothing costs anything. Every man, woman and child on this planet and most of the comparable size animals, could fit inside a land mass the size of Texas. So the problem that we face as a species is not overpopulation. Its misuse of resources for the benefit of a astonishly small amount of people. Do we even realize what “the 1%” means? If there are 7bn people on this planet, that means that less than 3.5 million folks, give or take are included in the 1%. Of that 1% about 90 people control more wealth than 3.5 BILLION people. How is that fair? How about the fact that not a ONE of them is of color. How about that none of them are women? Everything you do, every job you have ever had or ever will have, every home you’ve ever made a payment on, or car you have ever bought, every ramen noodle soup you have ever eaten benefits them. Its not even a class struggle, class has no meaning at that level, they are outside of the class. It is about changing the WORLD where no one wants for anything, and as such, everyone has everything. Think about how we can remake this planet. Think about how a cure for cancer is either unobtainable, or suppressed, because it costs money to research or will reduce someone’s fortune if found. Think about the elimination of violence because there would be nothing to fight about (and if you don’t think wars are fought because of economics “you have something I want and don’t have, then you don’t know what war is). Think about how most poor folks are dying of conditions that are directly related to poor diet because “healthy” food is beyond their means to financially procure. Think of how green technology is stalled because it can’t compete economically with “cheaper” fossil fuels. Think of how we have the technology to live many, many more years than we do but the science is stifled due to lack of funding. Think about the fact that if we found out that a 20 mile long asteroid was going to strike Earth in 5 years, the FIRST thing “experts” would say is “we have the technology to get off this world to save our species but it will cost money to get it done.” No one man/woman on this planet, or group of humans, even if we all stood shoulder to shoulder in the same space, can be seen from space. There is not one single man-made structure that can be seen from space with the naked eye.

Thats how insignificant we are. Why we allow this I will probably go to my grave wondering about.

I say all that to say this. That racist that calls you an epiteth, or gives you an exorbiant sentence for a minor crime, or denies your loan or poisons your water is just as much a cog in the machine as you are.

He is somewhere grooming his children to take his place as the maintenance man who oversees the machine. The faster we realize this, the faster we will stop wearing out good shoes and wasting cardboard for signs. The faster we will stop wasting our breath screaming at the top of our lungs to the “system to change,” when we don’t even recognize the REAL system.

Drops mic and walks from stage drippin Blackness . . .