By illvox.org

In August and September 2008, the two major parties will hold nomination convergences for their presidential candidates. These celebrations will also draw spirited mass demonstrations against such crass spectacles of greed and militarism. Though some may protest for the thrill of action, or so the mainstream media tells it, the larger context of protests is Republicans’ advocacy of and Democrats’ complicity with war, repression and white supremacy.

The John McCain and Barack Obama camps want to represent their aspirations as ones shared by all races and classes, but conscious people of color know better. From McCain and Obama’s support for neoliberal globalization and a foul foreign policy; to both candidates’ vague and reactionary sloganeering that fails to confront our real problems; to young people who deal with the system’s police on a daily basis, people of color know our real hope lies in seeing this system end.

In that joyful spirit of rambunctious protest and passionate solidarity, we as people of color must connect with our revolutionary sisters and brothers in Denver and St. Paul. Our forces together must actively take up the fight against the distinct approaches to white supremacy from the McCain and Obama wings of vampire capital. It’s on us to build a new world in every way we can.

A few, of many, important reasons for people of color to be protesting the Democratic National Convention in Denver and Republican National Convention in St. Paul.

1.) Undermine the Mainstream Media
Once again, the mainstream media (not the ‘corporate media’ – mainstream Amerika and its culture are racist to the core and allied with the ruling class, as is their media) will do its best to pretend people of color don’t exist — or at least not the disobedient ones. If people of color do get presented on camera, we’re the Empire’s faithful lapdogs, glowing over Barack Obama or John McCain.

Are you really surprised? If people of color aren’t playing minstrels for white supremacy in the mainstream media’s lens, we’re gang members, welfare recipients or ignorant types. That’s not to say those personalities don’t exist in our communities, but rather that the mainstream media fears conscious, empowered, radical people of color and avoids us for fear of giving others anything different than subservience. Thus, when you see protests, the mainstream media has plenty of time to flash images of white hippies protesting (chosen in a way to alienate communities of color from a valid message) and apologists for white supremacy blasting their ideas as ‘throwbacks to the 1960s,’ ‘irrational’ or the always terrifying ‘anarchist.’ White supremacy can’t win on arguing the merits of slavery, but must isolate the rebels in every way, including red-baiting and slurs.

Though certainly failures of the media and our movements may be clear, this experience demonstrates how wily capital is when cornered. In the last generation, neoliberal policies have gained strength and essentially diced up the Third World, and anti-globalization activism has been marginalized by the system and its media to the goal of disempowering people of color. On top of that, plenty of lapdogs use apolitical identity politics to bludgeon radicals of color, and they in turn find plenty of mainstream media outlets available to peddle their message of disinformation. Communities of color remain confused on central issues regarding our lives as a result, and the need for radical people of color to take a stand against the press whitewash is more critical than ever before.

People of color must represent at the DNC/RNC demonstrations to disprove the lie. Thanks to Independent Media Centers and other forms of media, as well as a few friends breaking down those mainstream media monsters from the inside, we have the power to tell our stories and shatter the perception that people of color are passive as McCain and Obama pretend we’re all on the boat as they plot out the new Manifest Destiny agenda. Justice-minded people of color do exist, and we need to be out there in the streets.

2.) Inspire Resistance
Communities of color have not only not been beaten into submission, but continue to swing out in bold resistance to white supremacy in more ways than the system can swarm on. These instances should be a reminder of our communities’ strength. Within our communities, radical factions are always present, though they may not always see their own potential. Despite what you see on TV, skepticism of McCain and Obama is palatable. Consciously radical factions have also been present, and have a considerable legacy, not only around elections time but in redirecting the community’s focus. People of color must represent at the DNC/RNC demonstrations to inspire others who may not be able to attend, but whose desire for change runs as deep as our own.

Conscious people of color were subverting this system along the Middle Passage, when being abused to make Amerikan railroads, as the Spaniards arrived, and long before that. But colonialism has wounded many people of color, and class constraints have gotten many of us so caught up in capitalism’s hamster-wheel mentality that we forget the gravity of freedom. Although we certainly are no more important than anyone else in the ‘hood, consciously radical people of color can’t ignore the fact that, not so long ago (or maybe even very long ago) we too were inspired by something that changed our lives forever. Our opposition to the politics-as-usual of McCain and Obama can be that inspiration for others.

White supremacy, especially in Western societies, is a dirty business. It pits people of color against each other and strangles all our dreams in favor of survival. That’s why someone like Barack Obama has an almost messianic sheen to him: Black people and people of color have few people in such positions who look like us, let alone who ascend to such heights and are still be looked upon as having principles intact. Plus, admit it: for people of color, it’s sort of nice to see a brown face in a place no one ever expected. Yet that doesn’t mean we’ve been fooled.

Radicals of color help encourage conversations about a truer course than electing a browner face for capitalism and imperialism by demonstrating, showing what real liberation looks like, and inspiring other people of color to make change on their own terms. Our organizing, as people of color creates a space that supports people who look like us and want to fight against these coronations to join up. At the same time, local people of color have more at stake when the counterinsurgency is underway, and we need to respect and create support contingencies for such. Regardless, self-determination starts with rising in solidarity with our communities against the capitalist beasts that encage our souls.

3.) Time to Speak On Our Interests
It comes off as almost heretical to say demonstrating against the DNC and RNC provides people of color a chance to talk vision and strategy, but such actions do. Ideas like Zapatismo have flowered anew over the last generation because of the knowledge that new theories and practice needed to spring up from the corpses of Communism and socialism. There are precious few spaces, though, for people of color united to take up questions of white supremacy and oppression, working among ourselves as well as with our compatriots to get to where we need to be. People of color must represent at the DNC/RNC demonstrations to represent our own interests and not expect others to do so for us.

People of color have an opportunity to speak on our collective experience and help shape a healthier discourse between protesters and communities of color. In that sense, the discussion about the presence of people of color in actions, long a topic of debate, should really be about needs. Conscious people of color often know that other people of color don’t trust demonstrators because they seldom face the forces we do and, even in the worst cases, can still go home to safety where we can’t. We can also impress upon others compassionately and personally that one cannot generalize about the views of people of color and instead must do our best to build our relationships.

Finally, we must be involved to say that communities of color suffer from poverty and miseducation to such an extent that mutiny generally doesn’t even seem worth it until we find situations where a real chance of winning seems possible. The youth in our communities know authorities’ force is simply a matter of fear of people of color. Our activism reminds local people of color that, no matter how the misleaders try to spin things, demonstrators and the community share a common enemy who attacks and fears us all for the threat its goons think we are to its power.

People of color heading to the DNC and RNC demonstration have a golden opportunity to put white supremacy as a central issue. We furthermore get the chance to be honest that such exposure isn’t about arguing about who is responsible or blaming others, but rather about identifying oppression.

Those in the majority may not always notice this white supremacist culture. White supremacy is not just hate speech and the Ku Klux Klan, but the centering of white as ‘right’ in Western society, while people of color are ‘the other’ and, at worst, aberrations. Federal and local police are dumping millions of dollars into suppressing our voices — not just at the DNC and RNC, but for hundreds of years — and the specter of criminalization that haunts communities of color impacts us profoundly. However, together, let us not be intimidated by police or dissuaded by intense struggle with our comrades. People of color must stand united and still be out in the streets as if our lives depended on it, because they do.

4.) Honor Our History
It is often said by the old school that we young ‘uns don’t know our history and that’s probably true. That does not mean we can’t learn it though. People of color must represent at the DNC/RNC demonstrations to honor such history.

Active in Chicago, the Black Panther Party was relentless in fighting the parties who lined up against the interests of oppressed people, be they cops, politicians or ‘pork-chop nationalists.’ Come the conventions, the Panthers were outspoken about the war (in Vietnam), Black liberation and self-defense against an ever-repressive police force. Sound familiar? In addition, Julian Bond, Angela Davis, Dick Gregory and Ralph Abernathy’s Poor People’s Campaign were active in protesting the parties.

Just as today, back then radical street activism and community-based efforts helped define the experiences of people of color. The Panthers were complimented by groups like the Brown Berets, the Young Lords, the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee and others. Though the more militant groups and individuals did not receive the schoolbook accolades of some groups, their activism undoubtedly helped define a movement and certainly the politics of the country.

Speaking at the 1968 DNC protests, Panther leader Bobby Seale said people had a right to defend themselves by any means if they were attacked by the police. The Panthers and insurrectionary soldiers within Students for a Democratic Society had the right direct and indirect objective: if freedom’s enemies seek to crush or marginalize revolutionaries, they should not try to do it without a fight and at an economic and political cost. For such fearlessness, Seale faced down a judge, who ordered him chained and gagged for the Chicago trial. The people eventually ensured Bobby Seale was freed, and the struggle of communities of color inspired by the Panthers (contrast with today’s mainstream media fearmongering over Black-Brown hatred) is seldom acknowledged.

Still, honoring our history should not be merely a jump in the wayback machine nor some stab at causing drama for drama’s sake. As Cindy Milstein says, the state flourishes on spectacle after spectacle. Playing their game is something we need to be aware of. In addition, people of color should recognize the success of our fellow radicals of color of the past, and do right by our history, while creating something new.

5.) Show Community Power
Values of communities of color have gained tremendous and credible support among a wide range of people, though they may not grasp how our communities have helped shaped organizing. People of color have long practiced direct democracy, inclusive and community-based decision making and idealism for equality, while rejecting the Communism and socialism ossified oh so many years ago. Institutions like the church showed people of color that the people’s revolutionary spirits can’t be held by or mediated by organizations presuming to lead.

Not everyone fully understands these lessons, and it is essential that people of color be present in these struggles to help our sisters and brothers along the road we have experienced throughout history. Even when hearts are in the right places, sometimes our friends may not see hidden hierarchies or power dynamics that could express privilege. Even within political movements there exists white supremacy and covert themes of white bigotry that must be challenged. We are all unlearning the bitter teachings of this system, so this effort can’t be engaged in lightly. Exchanges of criticism must be constructive, as we strive toward growth and freedom. Unprincipled name-calling and warring with one another takes away from our energy and attention, allowing pigs, rightists and centrists in communities of color to define us and our politics. Obviously, people of color should not ignore tensions that exist, but instead work proactively rather than reactively to strengthen our movements.

That unity right now is a major issue, since those in the Democrats’ camp in particular will seek to make support of their candidate a dividing issue for people of color and those who hate George W. Bush. All of us are very likely to face all manner of extreme denunciation for not drinking the presidential politics Kool-Aid. We need to be ready for it.

On top of this nonsense, Republicans and Democrats are already waging a media blitz geared at blunting our dissent, not unlike tactics used before. When demonstrators hit the streets in Miami against the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas talks in 2003, police, lapdogs and their bosses, in a calculated campaign, spread the rumor that activists were paid to rally. This effort is squarely aimed at making demonstrators out to be self-interested moneygrubbers, rather than allies in the struggles of communities of color, and such ruling class initiatives won’t be the last. With cops already breathing down our necks, we need all the allies we can muster.

It is important to say that conscious people of color should stand in solidarity with progressive and radical movements speaking out with us for freedom and self-determination. The true revolutionary elements in these movements, and among our own, which see clearly and challenge how this white supremacist power structure openly says the lives of people of color do not matter. While differences exist, unified, we have fought many struggles for justice.

See you in Denver and St. Paul!

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