{"id":3082,"date":"2011-08-17T19:06:46","date_gmt":"2011-08-18T01:06:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/?p=3082"},"modified":"2013-12-30T20:08:46","modified_gmt":"2013-12-31T02:08:46","slug":"barack-obama-the-corporate-masters-21st-century-house-negro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/barack-obama-the-corporate-masters-21st-century-house-negro\/","title":{"rendered":"Barack Obama: The corporate masters\u2019 21st century \u2018House Negro\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Published in Intrepid Report on\u00a0August 17, 2011<\/a>
\nRepublished in pfpc5.org\u00a0(Contra Costa County Chapter Peace & Freedom Party)\u00a0on August 22, 2011<\/a>
\nBy\u00a0Larry Pinkney<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe theme you describe,\u00a0\u2018independence from the military-corporation\u2019<\/em>\u00a0is one that all sorts of people and groups can unite around. I believe millions, probably tens of millions of people are ready for this because there is little left of the early euphoria that greeted Obama\u2019s election.\u201d<\/strong>
\n \u2014Howard Zinn [January, 2010]<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cJust as the slavemaster of that day used Tom, the house Negro, to keep the field Negroes in check, the same old slavemaster today has Negroes who are nothing but modern Uncle Toms, to keep you and me in check, keep us under control, keep us\u00a0passive<\/em>\u00a0and peaceful and nonviolent . . . It\u2019s like when you go to the dentist, and the man\u2019s going to take your tooth. You\u2019re going to fight him when he starts pulling. So he squirts some stuff in your jaw called novocaine,\u00a0to make you think they\u2019re not doing anything to you.<\/em>\u00a0So you sit there and \u2018cause you\u2019ve got all that novocaine in your jaw, you suffer peacefully. Blood running all down your jaw, and you don\u2019t know what\u2019s happening<\/em>.\u00a0\u2018Cause someone has taught you to suffer peacefully.\u201d<\/strong>
\n \u2014Malcolm X (el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz) [February, 1965]<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The time has arrived to recognize that everyday, ordinary Black, White, Brown, Red, and Yellow people are\u00a0all,<\/em> in varying degrees, de facto slaves on the U.S. Empire\u2019s corporate\/military\u00a0plantation<\/em>\u00a0of economic austerity, manipulation, subterfuge, and the shredding of the U.S. Constitution. The \u201cnovocaine\u201d utilized by the systemic corporate\/military\u00a0puppet masters on this plantation<\/em> is none other than Barack Obama and his nauseating contingent of Democrat and<\/em> Republican Party actors<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Moreover, on this 21st century U.S. plantation, economic austerity\u00a0for the masses and never-ending corporate blood-sucking by the few<\/em>\u00a0are defined as being a necessary \u201csacrifice,\u201d while bloody self-perpetuating U.S. foreign wars are euphemistically defined as ensuring the peace. The corporate-stream<\/em> media, which incorrectly and hideously propagates itself as the so-called \u201cmainstream\u201d media, is the primary purveyor of this corporate political system\u2019s novocaine of disinformation, obfuscation, and egregious omission.<\/p>\n

Then of course there are those systemic gatekeepers who attempt to distract everyday people by narrowly prattling on and on about the\u00a0obvious<\/em>\u00a0need for decent paying jobs, while meticulously\u00a0ignoring<\/em>\u00a0the fact that the most effective way to bring about decent jobs, etc., in this sinking economy is to immediately, forthrightly, and systemically<\/em>\u00a0[i.e., fundamentally and structurally]\u00a0change the direction<\/em>\u00a0of the political \u2018ship of state.\u2019 Anything short of this, for\u00a0everyday people<\/em>,\u00a0amounts to rearranging the deck chairs on the ill-fated RMS\u00a0Titanic<\/em>\u00a0just prior to slamming into a jagged, protruding iceberg and slipping below the ocean\u2019s cold waves of increased austerity and despair. These gatekeepers know full well, that notwithstanding Barack Obama\u2019s incessant\u00a0double-speak<\/em>\u00a0rhetoric, he will do nothing of substance<\/em>\u00a0to force his corporate-backers and puppet masters to provide massive jobs, and to give back to everyday people what has been taken from them in the name of \u201cfree\u201d market profit (for the already bloated rich).<\/p>\n

Among the bitter ironies of this Obama presidency is the fact that it has reinforced and provided a cover for racism, war, and greed in this society under the guise of having a nominally black person as head of state. Indeed, this presidency has provided political cover for the emaciation of the poor, and what remains of the middle class, of\u00a0all<\/em>\u00a0colors. It has been, and continues to be, a disaster of gigantic proportions.<\/p>\n

This president counts on the misdirected,\u00a0blind<\/em>\u00a0color\/pigmentation loyalty from many Black and other \u2018people of color.\u2019 He also counts on what has now become the increasingly obvious\u00a0misplaced<\/em>\u00a0hope of many White persons. Racism blinds and harms both its victims and perpetrators alike, and sadly, this president cynically counts on continued corporate-backing,\u00a0and<\/em>\u00a0on a\u00a0convoluted and systemically manipulated<\/em> form of racism (as it\u00a0affects<\/em>\u00a0people of\u00a0all<\/em>\u00a0colors) to keep him in office. Nevertheless, Obama\u2019s personal political fortunes are utterly irrelevant. What\u00a0is<\/em>\u00a0both relevant and important are\u00a0the lives and livelihoods of everyday, ordinary people<\/em>,\u00a0and it is\u00a0this<\/em>\u00a0that we must concentrate on.<\/p>\n

No more corporate blood sucking. And these corporate vultures must return<\/em> to the people what they have stolen! No more damn U.S. wars abroad. They do\u00a0not<\/em>\u00a0make us safer and they wreak havoc upon the social and economic fabric of this society, this nation, and this world! No more plantation politics. Scrap the plantation!<\/p>\n

It is time to build third parties,\u00a0outside of<\/em> the corporate Democrat and<\/em> Republican Parties. We must create a collective vision that looks\u00a0well beyond<\/em> the 2012 corporately controlled \u2018elections.\u2019 Everyday people must, out of necessity, reject the political novocaine, and see the pain for what it is, and then\u00a0do something<\/em>\u00a0about it\u2014collectively!<\/em>\u00a0Make no mistake about it: Both the Democrats and Republicans, as they have done in the past, will continue to do their utmost to sabotage and\/or discredit the rise of genuine third parties\u2014not connected with them. This is to be expected. However, our task is to hold these corporate Democrat and Republican Party scoundrels politically accountable, even as we lay the foundation for their ultimate demise and the relegating of them to the dustbin of history\u00a0where they belong!<\/em><\/p>\n

The late Howard Zinn was correct about the \u201ctens of millions of people\u201d who are \u201cready.\u201d But it will not occur by osmosis. It will take vision, organizing, creativity, and hard work. Being \u201cready\u201d is only one part of it, and it is the aforementioned vision, organizing, creativity, and hard work that can move those \u201ctens of millions of people\u201d from merely being \u201cready,\u201d to being\u00a0willing to visualize and struggle for<\/em> a different, new, and more equitable nation and world!<\/p>\n

Onward then, my sisters and brothers! Onward . . . !
\n