Is Opposing Obama’s ‘Kill List’ & Drone Missile Murders Being Anti-Black?

Published in Issue 500 of The Black Commentator on January 17, 2013
Republished in thepeoplesvoice.org on January 26, 2013
By Larry Pinkney

“You’re not supposed to be so blind with patriotism that you can’t face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who does it or says it.”

-Malcolm X [el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz]

“Sometimes people hold a core belief that is very strong. When they are presented with evidence that works against that belief, the new evidence cannot be accepted. It would create a feeling that is extremely uncomfortable, called cognitive dissonance. And because it is so important to protect the core belief, they will rationalize, ignore and even deny anything that doesn’t fit in with the core belief.”

– Frantz Fanon

It is perhaps the irony of ironies in this 21st century that the United States power structure has deliberately re-installed as its imperial leader a man of so-called ‘color’ who, under the auspices of his very own extrajudicial and infamous ‘kill list,’ has appointed unto himself the right to murder whomever he chooses in this nation or anywhere else in the world. This is of course Barack Obama, the same person who unceasingly has bombed sovereign nations in Africa, South Asia, and the ‘Middle East,’ murdering women, children, and men with his drone missiles of destruction and terror. In flagrant violation of international law, common decency, and the U.S. Constitution itself, Obama has proven to be the wily, smiling murderer – reigning down instability, destruction, and death upon huge segments of the people of Mother Earth. Moreover, the increased and sustained violence by the U.S. corporate-owned government, against civil liberties and social and economic justice – right here inside the United States – is at an all time high, with far too few people paying heed. Keep in mind that Barack Obama continues to be the chief executive of this corporate-owned U.S. government.

Nevertheless, those who legitimately, urgently, and strongly criticize the reprehensible, treacherous, and murderous actions by Barack Obama against the everyday Black, White, Brown, Red, and Yellow people of this nation and world are often fallaciously labeled as being anti-Black. This of course is by systemic design and is a well perpetuated, ridiculous and dangerous myth; but it has thus far been an effective Teflon-tactic-of-diversion, and is precisely why it is so important to the U.S. corporate elite to keep Obama in power in order to do their (sometimes overt though usually covert) bidding. Sadly, a significant portion of Black America, and of the U.S. populace-at-large, have been thoroughly bamboozled by Obama and the corporate-owned ‘news’ media that overwhelmingly supports him. Thus, it is no wonder that those who legitimately, urgently, and strongly criticize Barack Obama are often described as being anti-Black; when in fact it is none other than Barack Obama himself whose repeated actions have shown him to be not only anti–Black but also anti-Humanity as a whole.

There is absolutely no time to be concerned about being dubbed as anti-Black due to one’s legitimate opposition to Barack Obama and/or his corporate-owned Democrat and Republican accomplices. Black America is a part of humanity, and it is in fact our collective humanity as Black Americans that is at stake. In the political, historical, and social context of struggle in the United States – being truly Black has always demanded that we side with humanity. Barack Obama and his corporate/military masters are about distorting and destroying our political consciousness as an integral part of the human family. We must not allow this to happen.

In this context then, it is the very zenith of principles, consciousness, necessity, and of being Black to stalwartly oppose Barack Obama’s ‘Kill List,’ drone missile murders, and his other utterly reprehensible actions against everyday ordinary people both at home and abroad. If you are accused of being anti-Black because of your legitimate opposition to the policies of Obama –hold your head high and intensify in the quest on behalf of not only Black America, but also on behalf of everyday people of all hues and shades of the entire collective human family. This applies to all people irrespective of color. As Malcolm X clearly stated, humanity is engaged in a “clash between those who want freedom, justice, and equality for everyone and those who want to continue the system of exploitation.”

Notwithstanding his bait-and-switch tactics and his obfuscated rhetoric, Barack Obama has clearly and repeatedly demonstrated that he is on the side of the corporate elite, i. e. “those who want to continue the system of exploitation.” Stop being misled by the systemic gatekeepers. Wake up! Regain your senses, your conscience, and your consciousness – and in so doing regain your humanity! Do this for yourselves, the human family, and for our precious Mother Earth.

Is opposing Obama’s ‘Kill List,’ and drone missile murders, etc. being anti-Black? Absolutely not! To the contrary, supporting Obama’s hypocrisy and murders is the height of insanity, and is being anti-Black and anti the human family as a whole. Hold your heads high and intensify in the struggle!

Remember. Each one, reach one. Each one, teach one. Onward, then, my sisters and brothers. Onward!

Larry Pinkney is a veteran of the Black Panther Party, the former Minister of Interior of the Republic of New Africa, a former political prisoner and the only American to have successfully self-authored his civil/political rights case to the United Nations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. In connection with his political organizing activities, Pinkney was interviewed in 1988 on the nationally televised PBS News Hour, formerly known as The MacNeil/Lehrer News Hour, and more recently on the nationally syndicated Alex Jones Show. Pinkney is a former university instructor of political science and international relations, and his writings have been published in various places, including The Boston Globe, San Francisco BayView newspaper, Black Commentator, Intrepid Report, Global Research (Canada), LINKE ZEITUNG (Germany), 107 Cowgate (Ireland and Scotland), and Mayihlome News (Azania/South Africa). He is in the archives of Dr. Huey P. Newton (Stanford University, CA), cofounder of the Black Panther Party. For more about Larry Pinkney see the book, Saying No to Power: Autobiography of a 20th Century Activist and Thinker, by William Mandel [Introduction by Howard Zinn]. (Click here to read excerpts from the book.)