From Cointel-Pro to Gang Injunctions to PRISM & Privatization our HKR Intv w/ Kali Akuno

Kali Akuno

Kali Akuno

Yesterday we on Hard Knock Radio we chopped it up with long time activist and freedom fighter Kali Akuno of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement.. The subject at hand was the updated report MXGM had done on Police Killings… About a year ago when they started documenting Black people killed by police it was discovered that every 36 hours Law Enforcement guns down someone from our community… With the new data it was discovered that rate has increased to every 28 hours.. You can see the new report titled Operation Ghetto Storm —> HERE

In our conversation with Kali, not only does he break down the specifics of that report but he also connects the terrorism and mass surveillance the Black community has long experienced with law enforcement to what is currently going on now with the PRISM program. Kali outlines the sordid legacy of Cointel-Pro and later sweeping gang injunctions which were pioneered by former LA Police Chief Darryl Gates. He talks about what it was like growing up in LA and the impact mass surveillance (profiling) had on the Black community. For example, by the time the Rodney King Rebellions unfold in 1992, almost half of LA’s Black male population were listed on LAPD’s Gang Database. People were placed on these lists simply for living in a neighborhood. At the time many outside Black and Brown communities ignored this.. Many even suggested that the folks living in South central, Watts, Compton, East LA etc, were deserving a such treatment.  Kali noted that what had become routine in Black and Brown communities in the War on Drugs has now been tweaked and being used to Fight the War on Terror.

In our interview Kali points out that local police and the federal government have long worked together when executing their policies of containment in the hood.  What makes the war on terror so frightening is much of the intel gathering is done by private corporation who stand to make a profit.. Kali gives a thorough breakdown of how private industry has shaped the Military Industrial Complex  and the long term =effects it is having on folks both here and abroad..

This is a very thorough and insightful interview..

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29 Black People Have Been Killed by Police/Security Since Jan 2012: 16 Since Trayvon

First thing that needs to be noted is that we just had another police shooting of an unarmed man in Austin, Texas on Thursday night.. This happened after the report was compiled, so add another name to this grisly toll..

Second, folks have got to understand this is not coincident, it’s quite deliberate. Police have moved from a point of trying to de-escalate or prevention to a shoot first ask questions later policy..

The list below are just noting the deaths at hands of the police, its not highlighting the enormous amounts of brutality and outright disrespect many in the Black community have to endure on a daily basis.. The report below is to say the least disturbing and underscores a low wage war going on in our communities…

Twenty-eight Black People (27 Men and 1 Female) Killed by Police Officials, Security
Guards, and Self-Appointed “Keepers of the Peace” between January 1, 2012 and March
31, 2012

– 28 cases of state sanctioned or justified murder of Black people in the first 3
months of 2012 alone have been found (due to under reporting and discriminatory
methods of documentation, it is likely that there are more that our research has yet
to uncover)

– Of the 28 killed people, 18 were definitely unarmed. 2 probably had firearms, 8
were alleged to have non-lethal weapons.

– Of the 28 killed people,

. 11 were innocent of any illegal behavior or behavior that involved a
threat to anyone (although the shooters claimed they looked “suspicious”);

. 7 were emotionally disturbed and/or displaying strange behavior.

. The remaining 10 were either engaged in illegal or potentially illegal
activity, or there was too little info to determine circumstances of their
killing. It appears that in all but two of these cases, illegal and/or harmful
behavior could have been stopped without the use of lethal force.



[4]This list of28 names was collected between 3/28/2012 and 3/30/2012 by reviewing google

search results to the question, “who have police killed in 2012”. Only the first 65 pages out of
712,000,000 were reviewed.

[5] News One.com reported Rodriguez was African America however other reports and family

photos indicate he was Latino.

[6] Many written reports do not explicitly identify the race of the victim. Most, however, do show

photographs. In the case of Warren, no photo was displayed.

This document was researched, written and produced by Kali Akuno and Arlene Eisen working
on behalf of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, Black Left Unity Network, and US Human
Rights Network.

Phillip Gardiner, Dr. P. H.

Social and Behavioral Sciences

Neurosciences and Nicotine Dependence

Research Administrator

Tobacco Related Disease Research Program

University of California Office of the President

300 Lakeside Drive, 6th Floor

Why We Are We Still Marchin’ ? by TRUTH Minista Paul Scott

I have marched until my feet have bled and I have rioted until they called the Feds.
What’s left my conscious said?
“Revolution”  Arrested Development

When folks gather in DC for the Jobs and Justice March and the Martin Luther King Memorial dedication this weekend, I betcha a million bucks that somebody is gonna pose the same question that people have been asking for the last 40 years. “What would Martin Luther King Jr say if he was here, today ?” If MLK was at the march, he would probably mean mug the crowd and yell “after all these years, why are y’all still marchin’ ?”

While people have accused the Hip Hop generation of being politically, apathetic (many times for good reason) the hardcore truth is that many young folks are just tired of traveling down the same road that has led us to nowhere-ville. They just need for someone to tell them the best way to bring about change.

Unfortunately, most old school cats are still trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together, themselves. They can’t answer the basic question, “after all these years of marching and protesting, why are the conditions of poor people, relatively, the same as they were back in 1963?”

The reason is simple. It’s called controlled chaos: when things appear to be out of order but they are really being controlled by a master shot caller. There are forces at work making sure that we stay lost in the wilderness and never make it to the Promised Land.

The government’s repression of political dissent goes back decades. One can trace it as far back as the early 20th century with the Bureau of Investigation’s attack on Marcus Garvey or the House UnAmerican Affairs Committee’s attacks on Paul Robeson and others.

While it is known that the FBI’s COINTELPRO (Counter Intelligence Program) played a major role in destroying political movements during the late 60’s and early 70’s, what must be examined in the 21st century is “how” they did it.

According to Ward Churchill and Jim Wall in their book, “Agents of Repression,” the FBI used several techniques to disrupt movements, including infiltrating organizations with agents, falsely tagging activists as “snitches” and assassinations. Another strategy was setting up phony, militant organizations or “pseudo gangs” “designed to confuse, divide and undermine, as well as do outright battles with authentic dissident groups.” This may even account for the street gangs of today who will kill on sight members of rival gangs but would never consider bangin’ on the system.

Also, although politicians praise the strategy of nonviolence, history teaches us that it is only after riots, when people start tearin’ stuff up, that the government suddenly is able to “find” money for all sorts of social programs that they couldn’t find before the rebellions. This is a technique that President Richard Nixon used as he transformed Black Power into Green Power.

One of the least talked about strategies to stop radical movements did not come from the Feds but from philanthropic foundations. According to Robert W Allen in his book “Black Awakening in Capitalist America,” these foundations used their money to co-opt the Black Power movement. The main organization responsible was the Ford Foundation, headed by former US national security advisor, McGeorge Bundy, who’s brother just happened to be William Bundy, former director of the CIA. Allen called the Ford Foundation “the most important, though, least publicized” organization manipulating the militant black movement.”

Not only did the foundations influence the direction of street organizations but they also manipulated Black studies programs at colleges to make sure they produced “Clarence Thomas’s” instead of “Malcolm X’s.” Noliwe Rooks discusses the efforts of the foundations to take the “black” out of Black studies in her book, “White Money, Black Power.”

Later, during the Hip Hop era, we see the role that entertainment corporations played in diverting the rebellious energy of poor and oppressed ghetto kids.

During the golden age of conscious Hip Hop (1988-92) we witnessed a period that best represented how rap music could be used as a tool to organize the masses. This was a time when Hip Hop artists, not only made songs about fighting the power, but also participated in acts of civil disobedience such as when members of the X-Clan were involved in the “Day of Outrage” following the murder of Yusef Hawkins in 1989.

However, after ’92, conscious Hip Hop was replaced by a materialistic music that made people want to be part of the system instead of fighting against it. They have made grown men walking around with their drawers showin’ the ultimate act of rebellion.

Perhaps the most telling example of the political manipulation of Hip Hop was the 2004 election when, instead of using their influence and resources to politically educate their constituents in the ‘hood, Hip Hop moguls created a politically ambivalent marketing strategy called “Vote or Die” that did little more than sell overpriced T-Shirts.

The most interesting political movement in recent history is Occupy Wall Street, as activists have successfully broken out of the box of the Republican/Democratic dynamic and have taken the fight straight to the seat of power. If this movement continues focusing on the source of the multiple problems facing the ‘hood ( the multi-national corporations) this could be a major tipping point, effecting the economic balance of this country.

However, we have already seen filthy rich celebrities co-sign what is supposed to be a poor people’s movement. And it is just a matter of time before some slick politician tries to turn radical, revolutionists into mild mannered voter registration political reformists good only for putting “Vote for Me” posters on people’s front yards.

Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Today we find ourselves at the crossroads; one way leads to Freedom and the other road leads to perpetual oppression.

We all have a choice to make.

Do we we leave the next generation a movement for real socio-economic change or just sore feet and worn out Air Jordans?

TRUTH Minista Paul Scott represents the Militant Mind Militia. He can be reached at militantmindmilitia@gmail.com Website http://www.militantmindmilitia.com

source: http://militantmindmilitia.blogspot.com/2011/10/controlled-chaos-why-are-we-still.html

Black History Month: Remembering Huey P Newton

Today February 17th 2011 is the birthday of Huey P Newton-co-founder of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense..Since its Black History month we figured it be good o give folks some insight on who Huey was and who the Panthers were.. Below are some clips that give some insight.. Here’s a bio on Huey…

image 1

Huey Newton, the youngest of seven children, was born in Monroe, on 17th February, 1942. His father, who named his son after the radical politcian, Huey P. Long, was an active member of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP).

At Merritt College in Oakland, California, Newton met Bobby Seale and in 1966 they formed the Black Panther Party. Initially established to protect local communities from police brutality and racism, it eventually developed into a Marxist revolutionary group. The Black Panthers also ran medical clinics and provided free food to school children. Other important members included Stokely CarmichaelH. Rap BrownFred HamptonBobby Hutton andEldridge Cleaver.

The activities of the Black Panthers came to the attention of J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI. Hoover described the Panthers as “the greatest threat to the internal security of the country” and in November 1968 ordered the FBI to employ “hard-hitting counter-intelligence measures to cripple the Black Panthers”.

The Black Panthers had chapters in several major cities and had a membership of over 2,000. Harassed by the police, members became involved in several shoot-outs. This included an exchange of fire between Panthers and the police at Oakland on 28th October, 1967. Newton was wounded and while in hospital was charged with killing a police officer. The following year he was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter.

After being released from prison Newton renounced political violence. Over a six year period 24 Black Panthers had been killed in gun fights with the police. Another member, George Jackson, was killed while in San Quentin prison in August, 1971.

Newton now concentrated on socialist community programs including free breakfasts for children, free medical clinics and helping the homeless. The Panthers also became involved in conventional politics and in 1973 Bobby Seale ran for mayor of Oakland and came second out of nine candidates with 43,710 votes (40 per cent of votes cast).

Newton published his book, Revolutionary Suicide in 1973. The following year he was arrested and charged with murder and assault with a deadly weapon. Released on bail, Newton fled to Cuba but in 1977 he returned to the United States and was freed after two hung juries.

Newton returned to his studies at the University of California and in 1980 he received a Ph.D. in social philosophy. His dissertation was entitled:War Against the Panthers: A Study in Repression in America. Huey Newton was shot dead on 22nd August, 1989, while walking along a street in Oakland.

courtesy of http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAnewtonH.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhTD1CY1COs&playnext=1&list=PL0B8A60B9092950FA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuU7bEqKcLk&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4ypqCYPduI&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oIWjbhZI-A&feature=related