Brand Obama by Larry Pinkney

"The madness of this course, we believe, is admitted now...but we fear the lesson is wholly lost on our present ruler." - Frederick Douglass, from his speech, What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? "The challenge remains. On the other side are formidable forces: money, political power, the major media. On our side are the people of the world and a power greater than money or weapons: the truth." - Howard Zinn The truth is that at this moment of time in this, the 21st century, the vast majority of everyday ordinary Black, White, Brown, Red, and Yellow people in the United States are de facto slaves. That's right - slaves. A hit list abroad means there is a hit list at home We are slaves to the psychological, economic, and physical dictates of a                              self-legitimized organized corporate / military crime syndicate known as the United States government. Our bondage is not only economic, it is mental, and is supported by constantly tweaked tyrannical and unjust laws and extremely brutal police forces throughout this nation. Our slavery is further reinforced by a corporate owned and controlled "news" media that is as pathetic as it is insidious. Unfortunately, much of 'Black America' exists in a vacuum of delusion and has yet to heed the burning significance of Harriet Tubman's words, when she said, "I freed a thousand slaves - I could have freed a thousand more if only they knew they were slaves." Now, this nation has as its president [i.e. chief executive] a dangerously alluring man, of somewhat darker pigmentation, who has, in the fallacious name of 'hope and change,' ushered in a corporate-controlled police state, and has shamelessly taken on unconstitutional powers to overtly and/or covertly militarily attack peoples and sovereign nations in Africa and the so-called 'Middle East,' etc. Yet, much of Black America has remained deafeningly silent about these horrors. This man, Barack Obama, was four years ago, and remains today, a deceivingly packaged corporate brand whose actions have repeatedly belied his obfuscated rhetoric. His demonstrative message to Black America is, in reality, "Shut up! You should consider yourself lucky to have someone who looks like you in the White House! So just shut up and support me! Ignore your conscience and your common sense, while I do what I want!"  Meanwhile, Barack Obama, relying upon his obfuscated rhetoric, his well-honed hypocrisy, and his now meaningless pigmentation is going about the business of making an utter mockery of the hundreds of years struggle and enormous sacrifices collectively made by Black America. Notwithstanding his hypocritical and strong support for the trillions of dollars given to Wall Street's banksters and other corporate robber barons, at the terrible expense of everyday people of all colors in this nation, Obama has now blatantly taken it upon himself to be the judge, jury, and executioner of people (including U.S. citizens) around the world that he decides will be eliminated, i.e. murdered, without the bother of a trial, a jury, or legal defense. He is the corporate brand assassin with his very own secret 'kill list.' How can so much of Black America, after years of lynchings and Jim Crow, etc. be silent (and therefore complicit) in this? Another word for 'kill list' is government terrorism, and covertly murdering those persons on a kill list does not diminish so-called terrorism - it enhances it, which is the height of "madness" and hypocrisy. As if the internal U.S. government outrages of COINTELPRO [counter intelligence program], the Patriot Act, and the NDAA (the so-called National Defense Authorization Act) are not already more than egregious and draconian enough, Obama now has his own murderous hit list [i.e. 'kill list']. What will it take for the slaves under the yoke of this organized   government terrorism against everyday people to recognize and resist their / our slavery?! Moreover, make no mistake about it: What this corporate self-legitimized organized crime syndicate U.S. government practices abroad, it most assuredly will, or does already, practice covertly right here at home. A hit list abroad means there is a hit list at home. Wake up Black America! We must wake up and regain our collective conscience and          common sense. Much of Black America has remained deafeningly silent about these horrors Notwithstanding the phony rhetoric and statistics emanating from the corporate-owned U.S. government crime syndicate, the reality is that the rate of joblessness for everyday people of all colors in this nation has skyrocketed, and the actual rate of joblessness in  Black America is deep into the double digits. Yet, Barack Obama and his political           accomplices in the symbiotically-joined Democratic and Republican parties are doing quite well even as the elite Wall Street banksters and other corporate robber barons have annual criminal 'salaries' that are in six and seven digits. This is not only insane -it is criminal. Without economic 'democracy' in this nation for the masses of everyday           ordinary people, there is no 'democracy' at all! Remember: Obama's 'kill list' has many forms, not the least of which is economic, and most of us are targets. We must first recognize our slavery, in order to eradicate it. We must trust that 'Black America' collectively will re-awaken and regain its rightful place among our everyday sisters and brothers of all colors in this nation and throughout Mother Earth. This will not happen by osmosis. We must work to make it so! Each one, reach one. Each one, teach one. Onward, then, my sisters and brothers. Onward!... THIS ARTICLE FIRST APPEARED IN BLACKCOMMENTATOR.COM BlackCommentator.com Editorial Board member and Columnist, 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 in opposition to voter suppression, etc., Pinkney was interviewed in 1988 on the nationally televised PBS News Hour, formerly known as The MacNeil / Lehrer News Hour. 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.) Click here to contact Mr. Pinkney.