An article that had been published last Wednesday by a UK media outlet [1] has reopened the doors for that debate and even more criticism directed towards Black Lives Matter.

The looming question of “What is Black Lives Matter really doing?” has been loudly echoed by quite the unexpected source, former Black Panther Party Chairwoman Elaine Brown and hasn’t been sitting too well with many people.

In the opening of the article, Brown reportedly says the following:

“I don’t know what Black Lives Matter does, so I can’t tell you how it compares to what the Black Panther Party was. I know what the BPP was. I know the lives we lost, the struggle we put into place, the efforts we made, the assaults on us by the police and government – I know all that. I don’t know what Black Lives Matter does. So if you can tell me, I’ll give you my thoughts.”

The author of the article which the site lists as its Deputy Editor, Tom Slate proceeds Brown by “adding gasoline to the fire” calling the Black Lives Matter movement a “nebulous hashtag-come-protest movement,” “agitators and beggars,” and even refers to leaders of the movement as “prolific tweeters.”
After Slate’s barrage of insults, the article continues with more comments reportedly made by Brown that include:
“There is no comparison…The next wave of young people running out here, who are complaining and protesting about the murders of young black men and women by the police all over the country, they will protest, but they will not rise up in an organized fashion, with an agenda, to create revolutionary change… We advocated community self-defense organizations to be formed so that we would not be assaulted by the police, so that we would bear arms and assume our human rights.”
Brown then finishes off Slate’s onslaught with her reported statement:
“This to me is a plantation mentality. It smacks of “master if you would just treat me right.” And it has nothing to do with self-determination, empowerment and a sense of justice, or anything else.”

These statements garnered almost immediate retort from various black-catered media outlets, social media users, and fellow activists.

Just two days after Slate’s alleged interview with Brown, prominent activist and BLM figurehead Shaun King [2] sat down with Amy Goodman of Democracy Now to offer a much more nuanced response in comparison to the vehement backlash directed towards Brown on social media where he says:
“When Elaine got involved in the Black Panther Party, it was about two years old. And that’s where we are in the Black Lives Matter movement, as well. And so, I think some of what she did was she evaluated the totality of the Black Panther Party and all that it accomplished in 10 years, and compared it to where we are right now in year two. And so, it’s an unfair comparison to say where we are in year two compared to where the Black Panther Party was in year two.

Two years in, it literally only had 4,000 or 5,000 people, the Black Panther Party, that were committed to it, to its practices. And it was still trying to determine where it went and what it would do. And so, I think if you look at where we are now versus where the Black Panther Party was at this same time, I think we’re doing well…How we do what we do will be uniquely different. Our time is different.

So, I respect her, revere her and admire her, but I was disappointed to read some of what she said.”

In addition to the article, A video posted yesterday by Twitter user @CharMeLoDi that was recorded at the BPP’s 50th Anniversary Conference & Gala held in Oakland, California on the 22nd, shows both Brown and brother of the late Huey Newton elaborating their thoughts on BLM and the article at question. [3]
Brown, starts off very aware of the backlash that the article had received and claims she didn’t know the poster of the article. Despite, she offers a very similar critique. She confident asserts that “Black Lives Matter has no ideology” and other condemning critiques such as referring to the movement as being full of “armchair activists.”

And though many may say that Brown’s critique reeks of elitism and condescension which is fair, her statements still hold truth, a sort of truth which isn’t always soothing.

The truth of the matter is, the Black Panther Party’s aim as stated in their “10 Point Program” was clear. [4] The 10 Point Program was a declaration that many have voted more actionable and efficient.
To gain a better understanding of today’s Black Liberation climate, we must also acknowledge that there is a faction of Black Lives Matter which is an organization and there is also “Black Lives Matter the movement” which Black Americans and other groups within the African Diaspora individually interpret thus making it hard to have the same concise structure and ideological cohesion.
As for now, this is the focal point of the official Black Lives Matter organization according to the official website:[5]

“Black Lives Matter is a unique contribution that goes beyond extrajudicial killings of Black people by police and vigilantes.

It goes beyond the narrow nationalism that can be prevalent within Black communities, which merely call on Black people to love Black, live Black and buy Black, keeping straight cis Black men in the front of the movement while our sisters, queer, and trans and disabled folk take up roles in the background or not at all.

Black Lives Matter affirms the lives of Black queer and trans folks, disabled folks, black-undocumented folks, folks with records, women and all Black lives along the gender spectrum. It centers those that have been marginalized within Black liberation movements. It is a tactic to (re)build the Black liberation movement.”

With this stated, many have theorized that the Black Lives Matter organization is more geared towards alleviating intercommunal homophobia, stigma, and adversities of Black Queer (LGBT) communities by utilizing racial injustices as a vehicle to make a safer space for a marginalized group within another marginalized group, a stark contrast from BPP’s Ten Point Program.
This aim has also gotten a lot of flack as many suggest it is not an aim for black liberation but LGBT rights intersectionality and that the movement would affect more being “race first.” The late activist Darren Seals used social media to express his thoughts on this [6] and because of it, Black Lives Matter has been eerily silent about his murder.
In the 1960’s, the late Fred Hampton, a chairman within the BPP until his assassination, alluded that both capitalism and economics played a huge role in the tribulations of not only black people but all people subjugated within the system of white supremacy. This ideal was manifested through the Black Panther Party’s various programs not only that fed and clothed but provided communities with employment, housing, education, and healthcare. [7] I myself, know elders who gleefully remember BPP’s golden era and militant yet empowering presence within black communities.
The official Black Lives Matter website states the following in regards to its own manifestations in attempts to counter any misconceptions:

“Many believe the Black Lives Matter movement has no agenda — other than yelling and protesting and disrupting the lives of white people. This is also false. Since the earliest days of the movement in Ferguson, groups like the Organization for Black Struggle, the Black Lives Matter Network, and others have made both clear and public a list of demands.

Those demands include swift and transparent legal investigation of all police shootings of black people; official governmental tracking of the number of citizens killed by police, disaggregated by race; the demilitarization of local police forces; and community accountability mechanisms for rogue police officers. Some proposals like the recently launched Campaign Zero by a group of Ferguson activists call for body cameras on every police officer.

But other groups are more reticent about this solution since it would lead to increased surveillance and possible invasions of privacy, not to mention a massive governmental database of information about communities of color that are already heavily under surveillance by government forces.”
This affirmation is highly questionable for some as many activists are accessible on social media. As well complaints from marginalized yet publicized communities such as Ferguson following tensions from the killing of Mike Brown and others that openly express their overall discontent with BLM.
Some are even claiming that despite their presence within these communities when tensions erupted, they’ve just protested, had accumulated photo and press opportunities while leaving the dirty work to residents with little resources left behind and usually have to rebuild on their own.
Longtime Ferguson, Missouri activist Nyota Uhura conspired in this interview that many hierarchal activists were either paid anarchists or “planted” in Ferguson at the height of it’s notoriety.[8] She also says they’ve held many fundraising initiatives in which little to none was invested in efforts to rebuild Ferguson’s infrastructure after riots had taken place in 2014. Ferguson business owners such as Dellena Jones,[9] who have affected and almost put out of business by various protests and riots have had to result to fundraising efforts of her own with no help from Black Lives Matter as stated in this article.[10]

Another activist and founder of Occupy The Hood, Malik Rhasaan, one time had gone on a brief Twitter rant that blankets the Black Lives Matter movement as orchestrated [11] and also sadly apologizes to black youth for being sold out.[12]

Also and oddly enough, According to this article published by Washington Post shortly after tensions had flared in Ferguson, a hashtag #CutTheCheck had gone viral due to activists demanding pay from an organization that had paid some demonstrators as much as $5,000 per month. [13]
But to be fair, Black Lives Matters despite any uncertainty that surrounds the movement, has in fact empowered many black millennials worldwide to be more involved in their communities and develop a greater awareness of skewed race relations between peoples of the African Diaspora and those who have brutalized, exploited us and seek to make us a permanent underclass.

It’s also undeniable that if Black Lives Matter seeks to make a long lasting impact and be a vehicle for change, they must consider centralizing and adopt a more self-determined philosophy which many doubt will happen.
Debates surrounding the Black Panther Party and Black Lives Matter may never end.

Given the rise and fall of Black Liberation movements before Black Lives Matter, I would insert my thesis that things would go much smoothly if both millennials and our elders embrace the idea of intergenerational equity.

Lastly, though Brown has valid assessments her assuming responsibility to better educate the younger activists and gracefully passing the torch would have been more of the upright thing to do.

Sources:

1. http://www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/black-lives-matter-has-a-plantation-mentality-elaine-brown-black-panthers/18888
2. http://www.democracynow.org/2016/10/21/shaun_king_black_lives_matter_is
3. https://twitter.com/CharMeLoDi/status/790002877821358081
4. https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/workers/black-panthers/1966/10/15.htm
5. http://blacklivesmatter.com/about/
6. http://hotepnation.com/black-lives-matter-killed-darren-seals/
7. http://atlantablackstar.com/2015/03/26/8-black-panther-party-programs-that-were-more-empowering-than-federal-government-programs/
8. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcGby7xvoZg
9. http://www.stltoday.com/dellena-jones/image_f7fa56c8-d77a-52c5-95fd-fcf04146833d.html
10. http://dailysignal.com/2015/08/11/with-the-help-of-a-tea-party-group-this-ferguson-woman-is-rebuilding-her-shop-one-year-later-it-was-robbed-after-new-protests/
11. https://twitter.com/OccupyTheHood/status/771389375917727745
12. https://twitter.com/OccupyTheHood/status/609703175528972288
13. http://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/may/19/hired-black-lives-matter-protesters-start-cutthech/
14. https://twitter.com/Inthe9thHouse
15. https://www.facebook.com/therealfeescott
Author Credits:

Feathers Scott Twitter/IG: @inthe9thhouse | Facebook: Feathers Scott | Inthe9thhouse.com

The latest code of the white supremacists is to use the Black Lives Matter movement as a code word for all Black people. Black Lives Matter is not a real “organization” in the traditional sense. It is basically a hashtag. And publicity for this movement and hashtag was funded by white philanthropists like George Soros. So the white supremacists will arbitrarily label any Black person a member of “BLM” so they can disguise their racist view behind a perceived political criticism.

But the fact that the white supremacists can randomly associate any Black person with Black Lives Matter show the “I’m white and I say so” policy that is the very foundation and driving force for white supremacist injustice.

Now there are several white supremacists using the BLM code word to label all Black people terrorists. And when white supremacists start labeling marginalized groups as terrorists, they use this to justify violent, nazi-esque solutions.

For example, this week, suspected white supremacist Jim Stachowiak posted a video online of him urging other “patriots” (another code word for white supremacists) to openly shoot “Black Lives Matter Members” (i.e.. Black citizens). Here is the video below.

This wasn’t the first time Jim Stachowiak has made terroristic threats against Black citizens. He made headlines this past June encouraging people to openly fire on Black people at Donald trump rallies. And he tried to use the same coded “Black lives Matter” language to disguise the racist motivations.

Last year a similar suspected white supremacist named Nathan Ener made similar terroristic threats towards Black people using the Black Lives Matter code word.

Suspected White Supremacist Nathan Ener

It’s not surprising that law enforcement allows violent white supremacists like Stachowiak, Ener, and many others to openly and repeatedly make terrorist threats online while brandishing weapons. Yet Black people are immediately arrested if the even hint at making a threat online.

“The willful and deliberate elimination of one or more Racists (White Supremacists), through death, and, the willful and deliberate elimination of self, through death, by a Victim of Racism [non-white person], acting alone, according to a detailed plan, and acting only after he or she has judged that he or she is no longer able to effectively promote justice except by eliminating one or more Racists, as well as eliminating him or herself, as a subject of the Racists.” 

Johnson carried out this attack as a result of the legalized executions of two Black men- one  in Louisiana and one in Minnesota. Johnson was subsequently killed after the attack.

One of the five officers who died as a result of Johnson’s ambush was an officer named Lorne Ahrens. According to information on Ahren’s social media pages, there is evidence to believe that he was an open white nationalist.

In some of his Facebook photos, he has images and symbols associated with white extremist groups. There are also photos of him with Neo-Nazi style tattoos.

Nazi Tattoos on arm

White supremacist Nazi symbol tattoo on finger

In addition to the white supremacist symbols and tattoos, Lorne Ahrens Facebook page shows that many of his “likes” are far-right, suspected white supremacist Facebook pages, that are known for posting anti-Black propaganda.

A few times during this speech, Trump was interrupted by protesters. Video footage from the crowd captured another moment that is now typical of these KKK-styled Trump rallies. A white Trump supporter assaulted an African American protester by hitting and grabbing his face several times. Even though the innocent African American protester did not retaliate or fight back, law enforcement still came over to escort him away- yet they did nothing to the white male who committed the crime of assault.

This same pattern of white supremacy keeps being caught on video at these Trump rallies. A suspected white supremacist (or several of them) will physically assault Black protestors directly in front of security and law enforcement. And law enforcement will simply allow the constitutional rights of these African American citizens to be explicitly violated, by turning a blind eye to the white criminals committing these violent assaults. Watch the video below.

This is one of the reasons why Melanoid people should start filing constitutional rights violations lawsuits against these so-called law enforcement agencies that  allow white supremacists violence like we see in the video. Because this is the reason why so many Black people are in prisons. Black people are severely punished for even the most minor infractions. Yet suspected white supremacists are allowed to commit crimes with impunity.

Manhattan Judge Edward McLaughlin took it upon himself to generalize and stereotype random Black people who had nothing to do with a case he was presiding  over this week. A Harlem man named Tareek Arnold was convicted of attempted murder. And during the sentencing, for a trial that had absolutely nothing to do with race whatsoever, the Judge took it upon himself to racialize the case by stating  “black lives don’t matter to black people with guns” before sentencing him in prison for 24 to 26 years.

For McLaughlin to lump all Black people -particularly Black gun owners- together and tie them into this random unrelated case, this is the epitome of systematic white supremacy.

Throughout the history of this country, the white supremacists have always used random crimes of certain Black people to justify harming and mistreating  all Black citizens as a group.

There are thousands of Black gun owners who are not criminals. The majority of mass shootings are done by white perpetrators, yet white people are never marginalized in the media or in the courtrooms.

In true white supremacist fashion, the white supremacist media did their part to assist in the racializing of this case. The New York Post ran a story about the case using the standard racist codewords utilized by many media outlets when reporting on cases involving Black people. The New York Post’s story was entitled “Judge Rips Thug”.

If all Black people are going to be marginalized and held accountable for the actions of random Black people who happen to be criminals, then all white people should be held accountable for the actions of millions of white supremacists who have practiced the crime of racism for the last 500 years.

The social media giant, which found itself in hot water after it was revealed that its employees were crossing out “Black Lives Matter” (and replacing the term with “All Lives Matter”) on the headquarters’ signature wall, has been a hot button issue as of late.

Facebook Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg stepped forward to order his employees not to make such changes to the signature wall, citing the following statement which was included in a company announcement letter:

“I was already very disappointed by this disrespectful behavior before, but after my communication, I now consider this malicious as well”

For more on Zuckerberg’s written statement regarding his employees’ anti-Black gestures, please view the following photo.

As expected, the controversy surrounding this issue prompted many to take yet another look at the minuscule amount of Black employees who work for Facebook. This is perhaps one more case of the systematic exclusion of Black tech professionals from Silicon Valley. As seen in this story’s featured image, Facebook has changed its sign to be decorated with a traditional African tribal-themed print.

To get a glimpse of how the regular Facebook greeting sign looks, view the image below.

In spite of Zuckerberg’s attempt–albeit a contrived one–to smooth over his company’s image (as it pertains to Black people), many are not convinced. In recent months, it has been shown that many Melanoid people with a large Facebook following have witnessed their accounts be suspended when using their accounts to address specific Black issues, which is a stark contrast to the countless white supremacists who have used their Facebook pages to spread and cosign anti-Black–and often violent–rhetoric, which often goes unpunished.

In order for Black Society’s social media experience to remain fair and enjoyable, a solution has presented itself, which will prove to ensure just that…a fair and enjoyable social media experience; free of harassment and trolling by white supremacists.

For more on this solution, please follow this link.

B. Clark

Below is a video that was posted online a few days before the terrorist attack in Minneapolis, of two armed white supremacist planning a terrorist attack against Black protesters in Minnesota.

Police have arrested one of the three white men who allegedly fired into a crowd near the Black Lives Matter encampment Monday night.

Minneapolis police did not release the name of the  23-year-old suspect they arrested  in Bloomington at 11:20 a.m. Tuesday. Police are still searching for the other two suspects.

Authorities are weighing whether to treat the shooting of five people protesting near the Minneapolis Police Department’s 4th Precinct Monday night as a hate crime, sources familiar with the investigation said Tuesday morning.

The victims, all black men — ages 19 through 43 — were taken to hospitals with noncritical injuries, according to police.

The mainstream media has been very quiet about this terrorist attack on American soil. There are endless stories in the mainstream media about ISIS, Boko Haram, Syrian Refugee terrorists,etc. But the same attention should be given to these white supremacist terrorists who are carrying out attempted murder plots against Black citizens.

Scott Lattin, a white man in Whitney, Texas, told police that Black people vandalized his truck by spray painting “Black Lives Matter” over the top of his truck’s previously decorated messages that showed support of police. Lattin contacted the police on September 8th.

Whitney Police Chief Chris Bentley describes the incident as “very disturbing”, and also left this statement:

We had initial video when the officers took the report and then when we saw your story on Channel 4. When we looked at those two videos, there were some differences in those and that led us to take the investigation into a different direction

Lattin denied that he vandalized his own truck, but according to the arrest warrant, Lattin did indeed vandalized his truck for insurance reasons.

Here’s the link to the story.

Here is a video clip of the news story as well.

B. Clark

In the video Nathan Ener is seemingly trying to use a recent shooting of a white officer by a mentally ill Black suspect,as justification to express the racist views he appears to already harbor for Black people. In his rant,he tries to blame others in Black society for the lone wolf shooting of white deputy officer Darren Goforth that happened in Texas recently.

In the video,he encourages white people to assault and ambush Black people,and later in the video,he holds up a shotgun,and vows to “take care” of Black people who he promises to “hunt down”.

In the video,he tries to use different code words for Black people,such as “Black thugs”,Black Panthers,Black Lives Matter,NOI,etc. But as he goes on,he stops using code words and says what he really means,by referring to African Americans as “Black bastards”.

And just when you thought this race soldier’s rant couldn’t stoop any lower,he refers to Sandra Bland (a Black woman who was unjustly pulled over by a cop in Texas,and later found hanging dead in a jail cell) as a “thug”.

Many people are wondering how is it possible that a person can get on Facebook and make blatant terroristic threats upon a certain race of people and the mainstream media is quiet about it?

Watch the video below.

Coupled with the lingering effects of racism/white supremacy introduced to us in countless ways during the Maafa, our people’s spirit, bodies, and culture were broken and/or destroyed as a means of forcing us to submit to the oppressive nature of the strange new land we now commonly know as the United States. Although our original African ancestors might have suffered all of these unfortunate acts of oppression, one class of individuals in Black Society seemed to shine brightly in the face of racism/white supremacy: the Black Intellectual.

From inspired poets such as Phyllis Wheatley in the 1700s, to Michael Eric Dyson in 2015 and the multitude of Black Thinkers who have made their mark in between the previously mentioned eras, it’s clear that our race creates bright men and women whose mind is just as sharp–and in numerous cases sharper–than their counterparts in the dominant society. However, like many other signs of progress made in the Civil Rights Era of the 1960s, Black Society’s path seemed to take a left turn. Over the past several decades, there was an underlying train of though among our people (particularly among our youth) that the aspiration to be intelligent was no longer “cool”, and that we would suffer ridicule from our fellow Melanoid Brothers and Sisters for letting our respective brilliant lights shine too brightly. In contrast to this way of thinking, there seems to be a celebration of the Black Intellectual that our people have not witnessed since perhaps the glorious days of the Harlem Renaissance. From Dr. Kaba Kamene, to Dr. Joy DeGruy, the contemporary Black Intellectual has seemingly elevated the awareness of Black Society single handedly by blessing us with a wealth of invaluable information which we are now responsible for implementing into our lives in order to improve our current standing as a race.

Many of us can vividly recall a time within the past 20 years alone when we saw our youth aspire to be athletes and entertainers in overwhelming numbers because they felt that doing so were the only ways to immediate success. In 2015, that particular playing field of our youths’ heroes is slowly but surely leveling in favor of the Black Intellectual. In many ways, Dr. Frances Cress Welsing has become the Queen Mother of current day Black Intellectuals. Dr. Umar Johnson consistently speaks to venues filled with large crowds of Black folks who often exceed capacity in cities all over the world. Dr. Neil Degrasse Tyson is a living example of proving how being smart can be “cool” all by himself. To further state the validity of the Black Intellectual’s rise in the 21st century, a segment of Black Society has been formed in which the Brothers and Sisters refer to themselves as “Blerds“, or “Black nerds”.

When it comes to Black Society’s current resurgence, it is agreed that the builders will be the ones propel us into the future, but the thinkers in Black Society will be the ones who plant the seeds of ingenuity, inspiration, and empowerment into the minds of our builders. The days of celebrating ignorance and bufoonery are going the way of the dinosaur. Being smart is cool.

by B. Clark