Today we discuss racism’s relationship to US empire and Nancy Pelosi’s role as opposition to Trump. We print your letters for “Descent into Barbarism: Silently Killing the Vulnerable” and “Nancy Pelosi: The leader of the ‘Hizb al-Shaitan’.”
“Descent into Barbarism: Silently Killing the Vulnerable” by Dr. Kweli Nzito discusses the economic and political dimensions of US imperialism’s war on darker peoples worldwide.
Bill Barlow writes:
“Why is it that nearly all Wall Street corporate CEOs are White, nearly all American billionaires are White, every country the US targets for regime change or to drop bombs on is non-White, and nearly every Pentagon General and Admiral advocating for continued military adventurism around the world is White?
“Answer: American capitalism is a racist system purposely designed to enrich White elites at the expense of people of color, except lately, in order to greatly add to their enrichment, White poor and middle class Americans have been added to their hit list.”
In “Nancy Pelosi: The leader of the ‘Hizb al-Shaitan’” by B.R. Gowani argues that the House speaker serves as controlled opposition to Trump in the vein of the “party of Satan” in Egyptian writer Nawal El-Saadwai’s novel The Fall of the Imam.
Marc Salomon writes:
“We have tried running progressives, greens, against her but she has this city locked down tight. There will be no AOCs in SF because they are all working for patronage nonprofits and would never risk their funding and jobs.”
Bill Barlow writes:
“Democrats need to understand that the art of speaking out of both sides of their mouth is not an exclusively Republican skill. The leadership of BOTH parties are pro-imperialism. Actually the horrors of war is a good way to make a living...as long as you fight it from your Wall Street corporate office or the halls of Congress.”
Kathleen Bushman writes:
“Democratic Party leaders seem intent upon convincing us that all would be well if only a Democrat -- any Democrat even slave marketer Hillary -- had won instead of Trump. For instance, -- if we are ever going to get past knee jerk racism in this country, or make any other change to the status quo -- we need to learn to see through the smoother liars and manipulators in the more Machiavellian of the two parties. The smoother conman is always the more superficially likeable. We voters especially need to fear the more likeable politician who manipulates racism for political advantage. As I tried to point out recently in a note I published the other day, it was the affable sax player, Clinton and grandpa Ron (Reagan) who gained a great deal of political advantage by manipulating racism.
“I actually prefer the un-brushed photo of racism's ugly face -- at least Trump is too crude to make racism appear the least bit civilized or reasonable. I will forever remember the ugly face of racism as the face of a woman I saw in a 60’s news report. I was a high school sophomore during the lunch counter sit-ins which generated such a violent response from southern racists. A news report at the time showed the ugly face of a what might have been an otherwise attractive white woman -- yet it was ugly, red and distorted with anger and hate. To this day, whenever I hear a racist statement, that face immediately comes back to the forefront of my mind.”
Building a serious, united Left in this political crisis is something that remains to be hashed out among the activists for peace and justice. Your letters serve as an outlet for discovering the best ideas for this struggle.
Jahan Choudhryis Comments Editor for Black Agenda Report. He is an organizer with the Saturday Free School based in Philadelphia, PA.
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