{"id":1934,"date":"2013-03-14T10:18:01","date_gmt":"2013-03-14T16:18:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/?p=1934"},"modified":"2013-03-24T08:56:05","modified_gmt":"2013-03-24T14:56:05","slug":"internalizing-our-own-oppression","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/internalizing-our-own-oppression\/","title":{"rendered":"Internalizing Our Own Oppression"},"content":{"rendered":"

Published in Issue 508 of The Black Commentator on March 14, 2013<\/a>
\nRepublished in thepeoplesvoice.org on March 23, 2013<\/a>
\nBy Larry Pinkney<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat matters is not to know the world but to change<\/strong> it.\u201d
\n–Frantz Fanon<\/p>\n

\u201cThose who do not move, do not notice their chains<\/strong>.\u201d
\n–Rosa Luxemburg<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Oppression, more often than not, is both physical as well as psychological.<\/p>\n

Moreover, oppression has many forms and manifestations. Unfortunately however, while many manifestations of oppression are readily recognized, its causal factors often are not.<\/p>\n

The physical and psychological oppression of everyday ordinary Black, White, Brown, Red, and Yellow people is based in systemic<\/strong> economic, social, and political exploitation. In other words, the causal factors of this oppression are by systemic design.<\/p>\n

Joblessness, homelessness, corporate greed and hegemony, police brutality, judicial injustice, massive incarceration of the poor, and perpetual wars abroad – are all forms of systemic exploitation. This systemic exploitation is part and parcel of the daily oppression endured by the vast majority of everyday people. Another strategic component of this oppression by the power elite who own, operate, and manipulate this political system – is the propagation and perpetuation of the fallacious narrative – that says poor and oppressed people are themselves<\/strong> responsible for being exploited by the avaricious national and global power elite. This is the systemic narrative that infers that people are poor, oppressed, and massively exploited due to their own innate character flaws. This is the systemic narrative of convenience<\/strong> which ingrains people to internalize their own oppression. This is what Frantz Fanon meant when he said, \u201cThe oppressed will always believe the worst about themselves.\u201d The fact is that everyday ordinary people are systemically ingrained<\/strong> to \u201cbelieve the worst about themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

By internalizing our own oppression we help to perpetuate it by failing to recognize<\/strong> its systemic causal factors. In so doing we fail to grasp the meaning of Frantz Fanon’s words: \u201cWhat matters is not to know the world but to change it.\u201d<\/strong> And in order to \u201cchange it\u201d we must first recognize the external and internal national and global systemic causal<\/strong> factors of our oppression.<\/p>\n

In succumbing<\/strong> to the interminable propaganda of the national and global corporate-stream media and the Democrat & Republican parties and their systemic gatekeepers, we are by default, internalizing our own oppression. It does not<\/strong> have to be this way \u2013 but reversing<\/strong> this internalization of our own oppression begins with each of us individually and collectively. Once this process of recognizing and reversing our own internalized oppression begins \u2013 it can spread like a cleansing prairie fire.<\/p>\n

When we everyday ordinary people fail to critically think<\/strong> we also fail to recognize the primary systemic causal factors of our political, economic, and social oppression; and in so doing, we neglect to \u201cmove\u201d to take the much-needed substantive actions<\/strong> in order to bring about an end to our systemic oppression. Rosa Luxemburg correctly noted that, \u201cThose who do not move, do not notice their chains.\u201d And it should be remembered that these \u201cchains\u201d are by systemic design,<\/strong> not by osmosis.<\/p>\n

Systemic oppression must be seen for precisely what it is: A deliberate and callous dis-empowering of everyday people. Nevertheless, we ordinary people, are the ones who hold the keys<\/strong> to our own systemic liberation \u2013 both mental and physical. We must make a conscious and constant effort to,be<\/strong> aware of and reject,<\/strong> the internalization of our own oppression. We must collectively be, both determined and<\/strong> creative, as we struggle to bring about real systemic change and a more just and humane society and world based on human need, not corporate greed and exploitation!<\/p>\n

As always :<\/strong> Each one, reach one. Each one, teach one. And in the immortal words of Joe Hill, \u201cDon’t Mourn. ORGANIZE!\u201d<\/p>\n

Onward, then, my sisters and brothers. Onward!<\/p>\n

Larry Pinkney<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0is 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,\u00a0Saying No to Power: Autobiography of a 20th Century Activist and Thinker<\/a>, by William Mandel [Introduction by Howard Zinn]. (Click\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0to read excerpts from the book.)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Published in Issue 508 of The Black Commentator on March 14, 2013<\/a>
Republished in thepeoplesvoice.org on March 23, 2013<\/a>
By Larry Pinkney<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat matters is not to know the world but to change it.\u201d
–Frantz Fanon<\/p>\n

\u201cThose who do not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4,26],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1934"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1934"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1934\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1938,"href":"http:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1934\/revisions\/1938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}