SPECIAL EDITION
JUNE 2020
I JUST WANT TO LIVE
Keedron Bryant
IN LOVIN MEMORY
#SAYTHEIRNAM
NG Y
MES
IN LO MEM
#SAYTHEI
OVING MORY
IRNAMES
WE
BELONG
HERE By Manasses Williams In light of the recent killings of Black men and women in the United States of America I have had several discussions with friends on what appears to be the ongoing systemic callous and wanton disregard for Black lives in America – thus the formation of the Black Lives Matter Movement. In spite of our collective outrage and anger at these murders, nothing seems to have changed. Thanks to the proliferation of social media, we are more aware of these incidents now, and the United States open secret now has worldwide transparency. The Americas – North, South, Central as well as the Caribbean do not belong to Europeans and their descendants. They are not the aborigines. Therefore, this false premise that somehow Black and Brown people do not belong and they do, is not only a lie, but a deliberate attempt to treat us as resident aliens in countries that we have as much right to be in as they do. The original people
of the Americas and the Caribbean as we all should have known by now are the Indians of the Western Hemisphere, the native Americans and the Indians of the Caribbean, thus the West Indies (to distinguish between East Indians, Indians et al and those Indians of the West). Dee Brown in his best seller, “Bury my Heart at Wounded Knees” which has been described as an eloquent, meticulous documented account of the systemic destruction of the American Indians during the second half the 19th century is the same type of destruction that was carried out through the Caribbean. Therefore, Europeans do not have an innate right to the Americas; they stole it from the Indians and brought us here as free labor to make the United States what it is today, arguably one of the most successful countries in the history of human civilization. Let us look at how Europe and the United States of America got to dominate the world economically since the 17th century to the present. I would argue that if it were not for the appropriation of lands from the Indians in the East and West Indies, the Atlantic Slave Trade – the forced taking of Africans from Africa - and the subsequent development of the plantation system which enabled the development of the Industrial Revolution which were based on cheap and free land and free labor, where would the Europeans be today.
These economies were built on the free and forced labour of our ancestors and on the cheap labour of every successive generation of Black people. We have as much rights to be here as white people; if we are interlopers, outliers, carpet baggers, they are also. It has been said by many Black leaders and scholars, that to survive and be strong we have to unite as a people, economically, culturally, socially and politically. We have not only
Let us fast forward to 2020 and look at the plight of Black people in America today. The fundamental tenets of our expectation to a life of freedom and prosperity have been under siege since slavery, and it is true that we have made tremendous gains, but our sacrifices and constant murder and discrimination are always there to remind us that although the greatness of this nation was built on our backs, we still live in a society that judges and mistreats us on the basis of our race. The Transatlantic Slave Trade, slavery (the plantation system and Jim Crow) not only set out to rob us of our indigenous culture which was embedded in our religion and native languages, was also aimed at robbing us of our humanity. The facts that we were treated as property and not human is today translated into the way certain white people believe that they can murder us, mistreat us and have no fears nor consequences of doing so. Some Black people, out of frustration and sheer exhaustion of being marginalized, abused and murdered, might argue that we should all pack up and go back to Africa; I do not agree with this view.
“These economies were built on the free and forced labour of our ancestors and on the cheap labour of every successive generation of Black people to verbally show support when we are lynched, but in times of prosperity, we have to look out for each other – Blacks need to employ Blacks, encourage more Blacks to run for local and national office, support black businesses with one voice, one purpose, and one aim. Look at what can be achieved if we act as one people with one goal – just look to Haiti. Look how some slaves with one aim were able to establish the first Black Republic in the Western Hemisphere, and in spite of all the hardships and oppression by France, the League of Nations, the United Nations, the United States, natural and human disasters, it is still a Black country teeming with pride and defiance. As Blacks in America, we have to decide if we want to be truly free and try to force our way to economic, social and political equality or wait for the white majority to legislate it for us – I am a firm believer in the former. United States and modern Europe were forged on our backs – we have a right to be here and we are not going anywhere. Note – if you want us to leave, give us trillions of dollars in reparation and we might consider it.
TO OUR ANCESTORS YOU LEFT US A LEGACY - FREEDOM. WE HAVE DROPPED THE BALL. TODAY, STARTING NOW, WE PROMISE THE NEXT GENERATION A FUTURE BASED ON A FOUNDATION OF ECONOMIC POWER, SECURITY, EQUALITY, TRUE FREEDOM, AND HOPE. - Bev.Cooper-Chambers
RACISM IS ABOUT ECONOMICS T
his week has been another sad week in our history as Black people but it stops now.
Martin Luther King Jr., said that a riot is the language of the unheard. Today we take a decision to be heard. To get off of the last rung of the economic ladder we have to make some significant changes. Bob Marley, says emancipate yourself from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds. We must stop committing social economic suicide. Racism is about economics; when the Black people of Montgomery, USA boycotted the buses for one year - things changed. As Black people, we do not have economic power because we earn our money and spend it with other communities. LESSON ONE: • Set up businesses; Create Jobs. • Circulate the money in the Black community at least 15 times. LESSON TWO: • Get involved is politics; • Change the narrative. • Use economic power to support candidates. • Establish an Independent Party with One Voice. • Create a Union to advocate and support Black Workers LESSON THREE: • Support Lawyers, Magistrates, Police Officers to occupy Senior Positions of Influence. LESSON FOUR: • Support the Media to carry the new narrative. LESSON FIVE: • Educate our children to produce jobs.
GOVERNMENT MESSAGE TO IMMIGRANT KEY WORKERS
ON THE TIMELINE
POLICE REPORT
WARNING: STRONG LANGUAGE
Sometimes i wonder if we’re all being played like a video game...And everytime we’re to wake up they hit the emotional power up button and oops we loose again. H.MorrisJr
“Vengeance is Mine, and recompense; Their foot shall slip in due time; For the day of their calamity is at hand; And the things to come hasten upon them” Deut.32:35 KIV.
Dear Coronavirus Episode 11, Racism Is a Virus Published by Onyx Television Network Limited in partnership with Butterfly Maag. Compiled by the Butterfly Maag Team. Special Thanks to Manasses Williams (USA), Hemsley Morris Jr. (Canada) Design Editor: Jonoi Messam No copyright infringement is intended. info@onyxtelevisionnetwork.com