Upload
mickey-ellinger
View
221
Download
0
Tags:
Embed Size (px)
DESCRIPTION
analysis of Afro-Americans in the U.S. as the Third World at home
Citation preview
NET7 BOUNDARIES go. 3
July 1979
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I TEN YEARS OF THE REPUBLIC OF NEW AFRICA 1
II AFRO-AMERICANS: THE "THIRD WORLD" AT HOME 5
III MYTH OF BLACK PROGRESS 14
IV THE HOMELAND 27
V ALMANAC ENTRY 32
VI A HISTORY OF AFRO-AMERICA 34
VII MARXISM AND BLACK LIBERATION 67
VIII SOME QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT BLACK LIBERATION 82
i
:
Send printed material to=
H. Martin
Box 2761
Dartmouth East
Nova Scotia, Canada
B2W 4R4
Send letters to:
Q. Smith
Box 102
Lakeside
Nova Scotia, Canada
BOJ 1Z0
-1-
I
TEN YEARS OF THE REPUBLIC OF NEW AFRICA
(This section consists of an abridged version of a televisionscript screened in the year 2009.)
It may seem hard to believe that thirty years ago many people had
never even heard of the idea of establishing our Republic of New Africa
and of those who had, only a few took it seriously. But today, in *
2009, we celebrate the tenth anniversary of the founding of the RNA and
it seems the most natural thing in the world.
The great majority of our 72 million Afro-Americans assisted in
the birth of our state in 1999, but it took events around the world to
bring about this great day in our nation's history. Today's program
picks up the-story in 1980.
Over the previous decade (the 1970's) the economic gap widened
between Blacks and whites in the old U.S. Accelerating trends toward
automation produced growing unemployment (60% among young Blacks).
After the temporary boom created by the U.S. aggression in Vietnam, the
economic position of Blacks deteriorated rapidly. Life in New York,
Jp^
^s
-2-
Chicago, Los Angeles and other large cities of the U.S. North and West
became more difficult for Black people. The Sixties had seen open rebel
lion but in this period a sort of lull set in bringing with it a decline
in the token sums that governments spent to "assist" urban Blacks. The
business boom in the ghettos was confined to the abortion clinics and
street drug trade.
With these conditions repelling them, a small but growing number of
Blacks responded to the pull of cultural and historic ties to the South
where a few jobs were opening. In the early Eighties, those who relocated
went mainly to Atlanta, Birmingham and other cities and their motivation
was mainly economic. There were some, for example the members of the
"Republic of New Africa", who advocated a return migration to the rural
South as a step toward political independence. But in this period the
oppression of Afro-Americans followed its deadly course "quietly"; events
had not yet made the idea of independence widespread. Because the
imperialist system with the U.S. at the top appeared invulnerable, carry
ing out independence for our own country seemed but a dream. The crises
which befell the U.S. in the mid-1980*s brought the dream into the realm
of reality.
U.S. economic domination was promoting increasing resistance from
nationalist forces outside the major powers. The U.S. economy was weak
ened first by rising oil prices and then by the high price paid to end
the OPEC oil embargo of 1985. When several African governments propped
up by the U.S. defaulted on their loans, major New York banks had to be
bailed out by the federal government. It was against this backdrop that
the Federation of Azania (formerly South Africa) took its dramatic step.
Influential patriotic Azanians reacted to long-standing U.S. interference
supporting earlier white domination. Their statement supporting indepen
dence for the Black Belt and Puerto Rico and the return of the U.S. South
west to Mexico broadcast the program of the RNA worldwide.
From this point, the movement for independence gathered new impetus.
Among the most valued recruits to the RNA cause were the Black veterans
Jp^
J0^\
-3-
of U.S. "counterinsurgency" fighting In Central America and Asia.
These men realized that the U.S. could not "learn a lesson" from its
partial defeat in these wars just as it had not "learned" from Vietnam.
When the necessity of protecting U.S. supplies of raw materials and
U.S. investments again forced military action abroad, they wanted to
be ready to exploit the opening for* Afro-American liberation.
Like all freedom fighters, the Black military had much to learn
at the beginning. Urban rebellions in the North were isolated and
destroyed. After holding out longer, early attempts at setting up
rebel bases in southern rural areas met the same end. Turning for
support to the communist countries, Black leaders received advice
instead: "Ally with the white workers in the U.S.; they hold the key
to revolutionary change". With these words Russia and China turned
their backs on the infant Black liberation movement. For in reality
U.S. whites were bitterly opposed to Black independence; they showed
their true feelings by idolizing the Army officers who ordered the
heavy tank fire which destroyed a large part of the Black ghetto in
Detroit. Those few whites who supported the Black cause had either
to kepp silent or leave the U.S. The billionaire families of the U.S.
and their government were determined to hold onto the Black Belt at
all costs. As long as the U.S. was able to concentrate its forces
against them, Black fighters were able to make little progress.
It was the nationalist movement in Brazil which gave the Black
army its first victory. Starting in northeast Brazil with a substantial
Black population, the nationalists developed an alliance with the
Indians of the Brazilian Amazon region, in which U.S. investment
was growing explosively. Greatly concerned, the U.S. government began
to commit troops to Brazil and U.S. casualties mounted. Events in
Brazil were closely studied by Black leaders and foreshadowed the close
link which developed between Afro-Americans and Native Peoples in the
old U.S. These ties had deep roots in Black history going back to
the Seminole Wars (1836) in which the U.S. forced the Seminoles to leave
-4-
Florida to end their support to runaway slaves. Allied with the Native
People, Black officers set up a secure base area in northern Florida's
inaccessible swamps.
Against this backdrop, Black officers began to plan their historic
raid on Jacksonville. From their base area in the Okefenokee Swamp,. Black
troops swept into the city, timing their attack to coordinate with "dis
turbances" in the Black neighborhoods. Escaping to their base area, the
Black forces and their allies established their ability to operate and
exist in the home of U.S. imperialism.
The resulting clampdown by the U.S. government produced drastically
worsened conditions for Blacks. Further open anti-Black organizations
flourished among whites. These conditions, together with the limited
successes of Black arms produced a mobilization of Black manpower. Break
ing out of the ghetto trap, urban Blacks began to see in Black liberation
a positive goal, worth fighting for. And in 1990, Brazil won its final
victory over U.S. troops. The new government established itself as a
center for the theory and propaganda of anti-U.S. efforts. With support
from France, Germany and Japan, Brazilian anti-imperialists headed a
world-wide boycott of the U.S. From there it was only a short step to
war—war that led to Brazilian troops landing to cut off New Orleans as
the Black Army struck the city from the north and east; war that saw a
growing alliance between the Black Army, Native Peoples, Mexicans and
Puerto Ricanss and finally, in 1999*, the founding of the Republic of
New Africa.
-5-
II
AFRO-AMERICANS: THE "THIRD WORLD" AT HOME
A Long History of Genocide
During World War II, the German fascists preached and practiced
genocide against Jews, Poles, Russians and many other peoples. But
a look at history and current events shows that genocide was not born
with Hitler nor did it die with the defeat of Nazilsm. Europeans set
the precedent for Nazi genocide by their attacks on Africa, Asia and
North and South America. Today the U.S. leads the other imperialists
in making genocide a reality faced daily by millions, but unlike the
German fascists, the U.S. imperialists try" to conceal their genocidal
policies with protestations of bringing democracy.
-Directly under the gun stand the Afro-American people captive
within U.S. boundaries. They are the descendants of survivors of the
most destructive slaughter in history; estimates of the number of
Blacks billed during slave trading range from 60 to 200 million.
It was German fascism killing at Buchenwald, Auschwitz and Warsaw.
^ But now it is U.S. "democracy" killing Blacks in Attica, Jackson State,
-6-
the New York abortion clinics; the U.S. which dropped atom bombs on Japan
and napalm on Vietnam, the U.S. at My Lai, the U.S. backing other
Nigerian peoples against Ibos and Israel against Palestine; U.S. -investors
who paid for the slaughter of the Amazonian Indians.
All these threatened peoples possess land, oil and other valuable
products desired by the U.S. and other imperialist powers.. Their fight
for real independence, control of their own land and resources, represents
the main progressive force in the world today; U.S. imperialism is the
main oppressor of the world's peoples.
Like other trends in society, genocide develops from material con
ditions. Germany before, and the U.S. now, conduct war to gain and
extend control of valuable land and resources. Fascist and democratic
forms of imperialism both use genocidal methods to accumulate wealth
owned by others (land in the U.S. South, money and property of the
European Jews). Genocide is a conscious plan when the peoples involved
pose a direct threat to control by their physical presence or armed
resistance. It occurs as a result of imperialist domination of the world
market under which land is used, not to provide necessities of life for
its people, but for imperialism's profits. Inevitably the oppressed peo
ples are forced into contradiction with imperialism. Their defence fromgenocide is control of their own land and thus destruction of imperialism,
especially U.S. imperialism.
How does the U.S. whites' reaction to genocide compare with the
wholehearted support the Germans gave fascism? Again, the material conditions are more similar than not. Bribed by the promises of "the goodlife", Germans committed genocide. The greater bribes afforded by U.S.imperialism caused U.S. whites to call for bombing Hanoi and invasion ofArab countries to break the oil embargo. What differences there arebetween U.S. Boy Scouts and Hitler Youth exist because U.S. imperialismis in a dominant positon, where Germany was seeking to break the dominanceof France, England and the U.S. As a result the U.S. is more flexible
-7-
and employs a democratic facade, preferring at times to use more
indirect methods of control.
This article focuses on the Afro-American people. We argue that
self-determination for Blacks will require political separation-
land and power in the U.S. Black Belt; that the Afro-Americans' steps
toward self-determination represent an important part of world-wide
opposition to U.S. imperialism. The alternative to nationhood is
genocide. All who wish to improve the world have a stake in preventing
such an alternative. Further, revolutionaries must realize that by
challenging and breaking the imperialist-drawn boundaries of the U.S.,
Afro-Americans and their allies will contribute to the theory and
practical strength needed to destroy U.S. imperialism.
National Oppression and the Drive for Raw Materials
Today's world economy depends heavily on petroleum. Petroleum
m^ production and distribution reflect how the sides are drawn up in the
world. The people of the U.S. are but 5% of the world population, yet
they consume one-third of all crude petroleum produced with whites
taking more than their proportionate share. Africans export oil on a
large scale from Nigeria, Libya and Angola; their consumption is verylow. And oil is but one among many valuable commodities derived from
the rich land of Africa and turned to the benefit of imperialism.
At present, imperialism is on the offensive in Africa; the
imperialists are striving to consolidate and extend their considerable
control over the continent. But the imperialist system operates world
wide. As the leading power, the U.S. exemplifies the features of
imperialism. Sixty billionaire families are at the center of the
financial empire which controls the largest U.S. multi-national corporations and banks. These, in turn, dominate the U.S. economy and government. - To run the U.S. economy requires great imported supplies of
petroleum, copper and other raw materials. The greatest portion of
-8-
U.S. profits comes from operations outside the U.S. and particularly
from raw materials.
Most of the raw materials come from what is euphemistically termed
"the Third World"; "oppressed nations" is a more accurate term. The
basis of national oppression is export of raw materials to the U.S. and
to other "developed" (imperialist) countries. As they are consumed byU.S. industry, the raw materials promote profits for U.S. imperialists
and higher living standards for all whites. Unable to use their own raw
materials and. dependent on the U.S. for industrial products, the oppressednations cannot develop independent economies with whatever payments theyreceive for raw materials, as the example of Iran under the Shah shows.
Looking at most oppressed nations, one observes that large numbersof people have been driven off the land. Massive unemployment and povertyresult. The governments depend on the U.S. for military support andsupplies, and food in many cases, and are deeply in debt to U.S. banks.
At the urging of the U.S. government, World Bank, IMF and other imperialistagencies, the governments promote population control aimed at "surplus"population which has become a "liability" in an economy geared to rawmaterial export. This amounts to genocide in practice.
Self-Determination Is the Goal
To oppose U.S. imperialism, oppressed peoples will have to demand
the right to self-determination, to control their own land and raw
materials under a government independent of the U.S. Often, the U.S.answer is genocidal military attack as in Vietnam. There, U.S. imperialismfought to preserve the imperialist-drawn border which created in southernVietnam a preserve open to imperialist plunder. The NLF and North Viet
namese fought to drive U.S. imperialism out of their country. Vietnamwas reunited but the peace terms dictated to Vietnam by its pro-U.S."allies" in Russia and China left the U.S. free to drill for oil offthe coast.
In the case of Vietnam, the old imperialist border divided one
nation leaving part under the control of a government dominated by the U.S.
-9-
{ In other parts of the world, boundaries drawn by imperialism include
oppressed nations within the borders of imperialist states. Examples
are Northern Ireland in the U.K., Puerto Rico and the Black Belt in the
U.S. A third function of imperialist borders is to place one oppressed
nation under the domination of another which is temporarily more firmly
under the imperialist grasp. Examples are Bengal in Pakistan (before
the founding of Bangladesh), Biafra in Nigeria, and the Lunda people
in Zaire. While the specific imperialist uses of borders call for
different tactics from different oppressed nations, the common principle
for all anti-imperialists must be the right to self-determination, the
right to secede from states created by imperialism.
War in Zaire
In Zaire, for example, several imperialist countries control cobalt
(2/3 of world production), uranium, and other vital materials. France3
and Belgium have investments in Shaba province estimated at $25 billion.
0^ Despite this wealth, the people of Zaire are poor; illiteracy and infantmortality are high, income and life expectancy, low. Its government
headed by General Mobutu receives economic and military aid from imperial-4
1st powers and owes $3 billion to imperialist banks and governments.
Most of Zaire's mineral wealth lies in Shaba in land rightfully claimed
by the Lunda people who backed the invasion by their compatriots in
Angola.
French and Belgian imperialists sent troops to secure Shaba for
the Mobutu government and to insure their uranium supply remained in
imperialist hands. Inter-imperialist rivalries between France and the
U.S. mean that France cannot rely on continued uranium supplies from the5
U.S. and Canada. The U.S. has more sources of uranium and so provided
only limited support for Mobutu.
The press trumpeted outrage at the killing of a few hundred whites
working for imperialism in Zaire but said little about the far greater
number of Blacks killed by the French and Belgians. We believe the Lunda
jp\
-10-
people will"remain subject to economic oppression and military attack
until Africans are able to drive the U.S. and European oppressors from
Africa and redraw the boundaries confining them. The role of the -imperial
ist powers in Zaire added one more genocidal crime to their record.
The World Scene and Marxism
On a world scale the contradiction between imperialism, presently
headed by the U.S., and oppressed peoples striving for national liberation
has marked world history since colonialism began. From the viewpoint of
the present historical era, the contradiction must be resolved by the
destruction of imperialism. Until they are able to challenge U.S. domina
tion successfully, the oppressed peoples faCfe the alternatives of slow
destruction from poverty and population control or more rapid demise
through military attacks.
Our view of history reflects our use of the philosophy of dialectical
materialism and a reconstructed version of historical materialism. Devel
oped by Marx and Engels, this philosophy views the world as constantly in a
process of change through the development of the internal contradictions
in society, and principally economic contradictions. Despite our use of
dialectical and historical materialism we are not Marxists for we hold
that Marxism cannot provide a reliable compass for national liberation.
Marxism is based on the labor theory of value which holds that labor
alone is the source of profits and wealth. Land contributes nothing to
value in the Marxist framework. We argue above it is mainly from the
land of Africa, of the Black Belt, of all oppressed nations that imperial
ism derives its profits. To the contrary, Marxist economic writers focus
on the exploitation of factory workers in the West. The political result
is a call to class struggle. In its best days, between 1917 and 1945,
Marxism-Leninism contributed real support to national liberation which
it saw as an important, but secondary, ally of class struggle and the
Soviet Union. After 1945, the national independence forces moved to
the front lines against imperialism. Under economic and military
.JPN
jP^
-11-
pressures from the U.S. and relying on a flawed theory in Marxism, Russia
and its camp have turned into supporters of the status quo, allies and
imperialist rivals of the U.S.
Their economic and military power (representing over a quarter of
the world population) make Russia, China and their allies a major force
retarding the independence of Africa, the Black Belt, and all oppressed
nations. The theory of Marxism does far more damage than the combined
propaganda of USAID, the U.N. and the World Bank. Speaking in the name
of revolution, and associated with progressive past events in Russia, China
and Cuba, Marxism represents accommodation to world domination by U.S.imperialism.
Marxism at Work in Africa
We illustrate this thesis with reference to the role of Russia and
Cuba in Africa. Foreign interference in Africa is an old story. It goes
back to ancient invaders, to Alexander the Great. In modern times,
European colonial powers have committed genocide on a vast scale. As
opponents of imperialist control of Africa, our concern is that the Russ
ians are talking about revolution in Africa but playing an imperialist role.
Russia controls the Cuban economy and pressures Castro to side with
Soviet imperialism against other oppressed nations in Africa. In some
parts of Africa, Russia openly opposes the demand for self-determination.
In supporting Ethiopia, for example, Russia backs the attack on Eritrea.In Angola, Russia and Cuba provided military support for forces oustingthe Portuguese colonialists. Angola's oil may one day flow to the SovietUnion strengthening it against the U.S. On the other hand, the Russianshave strengthened present U.S. control of oil in Angola. Under Russianinfluence the government of Angola allows Gulf Oil to operate in the enclave of Cabinda.
African liberation forces may be able to take tactical advantage ofU.S. and Soviet rivalry, but Russia is now an imperialist country
-12-
oppressing Georgians, Tartars and others within its own borders. It can
not be a long-term ally of any oppressed people. It cannot defend the
right of Angolans to decide whether their oil is used by Angolans' or sold
abroad. Russian and Cuban actions create illusions about possibilities
for permanent advances in the oppressed nations without destroying U.S.
imperialism. Castro made the following response to U.S. demands for Cuba
to retire from Africa; "We don't ask that you pull your troops out of
the Phillipines, Korea or Western Europe." In other words, rather than
promoting the defeat of U.S. military forces, Castro accepts U.'S. mili
tary occupation of other countries.
Like the Russians, the Chinese leaders seek their own advantage in
Africa. Huang Hua, Foreign Minister of China, flew to Zaire during the
revolt last year to meet with Mobutu. His communique criticized Russia
for backing Angolan support for the rebels of Shaba and said nothing
against French, Belgian or U.S. imperialism.
In brief, we argue that while the Soviet Union, Cuba or China may be
tactical allies for certain African peoples for a limited period, as part
of the status quo they are mainly enemies. This fact, and the lack of a
strong international movement among the oppressed peoples, contribute to
the strength of imperialism and make the world situation temporarily unfavorable for national liberation.
Closer to Home—the Black Belt
Land is essential for independence. Extending and proving our thesis
for U.S. Blacks requires several 3teps. We will show that the Afro-American people are an oppressed colonial nation whose relation to U.S.
rulers is, in essence, the same as Zaire's. Self-determination means
land and political independence in the Black Belt. The alternatives denythe identity of oppressed U.S. Blacks with oppressed Africans.
We take integration as an example. Proponents of integration as anideology see Black oppression as a question of relations between Blacks
-13-
iP^ and U.S. whites. They ignore the fact that U.S. whites give nearly unani
mous support to U.S. imperialism, support bought with high living stan
dards financed by pillaging oppressed nations abroad and within U.S.
borders. Blacks cannot at the same time be an oppressed people and share
equally with U.S. whites in the fruits of their own oppression. As a
theory, integration denies the existence of either U.S. imperialism or a
separate Afro-American nation. We support the right of Afro-Americans
to make and win limited demands. But a program based solely on integra
tion is a dead end.
The ultimate basis of Black power can only be control over land.
This truth is the basis for a program of land and political power in the
Black Belt. It provides a practical guarantee of the rights of Blacks in
the ghettos of the U.S. North and West who are presently threatened by
government programs for population control which feature pressure for
abortions and sterilization. Representing an independent republic with
allies around the world and supported by a Black army, the Black ambas-
m\ sador and consuls will be a real force to protect Blacks outside the
South.
Every nation is different but land is the universal. It is our view
that land will be the basis for Black liberation as it is for the libera
tion of all oppressed peoples.
* * *
1. Statistics come from The World Almanac, 1979. pp. 113, 114, 442.
2. Ferdinand Lundberg, The Rich and the Super-Rich. Lyle Stuart, Inc.,New York, 1968.
3« Manchester Guardian Weekly. Vol. 118, No. 22, May 28, 1978, p. 6.
4. Manchester Guardian Weekly, May 28, 1978, p. 6.
5. Manchester Guardian Weekly, May 28, 1978, p. 6.
6. Atlas World Review. Vol. 5, Mo. 5, May 1973, p. 19.
-14-
III
MYTH OF BLACK PROGRESS
Many U.S. whites are convinced that Afro-Americans have achievedsocial and economic equality.1 Many go so far as to claim that Afro-Americans enjoy preferential treatment over whites. They conclude that"privileges" for Afro-Americans should be taken away. Living conditionsof U.S. Blacks have historically been much worse than those for whites.We will show that, contrary to widely-held white opinions, this gap in thelast few years has actually been widening as Black living conditions havedeteriorated steadily while whites have gained in many areas. More importantly, we will discuss the serious consequences for the Afro-Americanpeople.
The Economic Gap
Unemployment—The official U.S. government unemployment rate forBlacks in 1968 stood at around 7%; by 1977 it had risen to around 13%, anincrease of 6%. White unemployment, by contrast, stood at about 3.5% in
^ 1968, compared to about 6.5% by the end of 1977, an increase of 3%.2
/r*™>
-15-
While white unemployment actually decreased from 1976 to 1977, Black unem
ployment did not. That trend continued into 1978. In June of that year,
for example, unemployment among white men plummeted to 3.4%> while for
Black men the rate was 11.9%, a difference of 8.5% and a 3*s-to-l Black-
to-white ratio. In that same month, 37.1% of Black teenagers were unem
ployed, essentially unchanged from the previous month, whereas 11.6% of
white teenagers were unemployed, down substantially from 13.8% the pre
vious month. The absolute difference in teenage rates was 25.5% for3
June, and the ratio was about 3.2 to 1, Black to white.
The government figures fail to reflect the "hidden unemployed",
i.e., those who are not employed and have given up looking for jobs; the
official figures are not a true depiction of unemployment. Black people,
denied jobs because they are Black, lacking skills whites have acquired,
competing with ever-increasing numbers of unemployed and dissatisfied with
menial and degrading jobs, comprise a much larger percentage of the "hid
den unemployed" than whites. By including the Black "hidden unemployed"
among the "officially" unemployed, we obtain a revised Black unemployment4
rate of 25% for 1977, including a 60% rate for Black teenagers.
Poverty—In 1975, 8.1 million Afro-Americans were officially below
the poverty level; in 1976, the most recent year for which we could obtain
figures, that number had jumped to 8.3 million, an increase of 200,000.
The official number of poverty-stricken whites, on the other hand, dipped
from 17.8 to 16.7 million, a decrease of 1,100,000 for that period. In
addition, the number of Afro-Americans below 125% of the poverty level,
i.e., in "near poverty", officially increased by 200,000. The corres
ponding number of whites declined by 1,900,000. Although the number and
proportion of poor families headed by white women fell sharply from 1975
to 1976, the number of poor families headed by Black women rose from
1,000,000 to 1,100,000. In particular, 71% of Black families headed by
unemployed women were impoverished in 1976.
Income—In 1970, the median Black family income was 61% of white
family income*. By 1976, the figure had decreased to 59%.
JP\
-16-
The Housing Gap
Increasing poverty and unemployment and soaring inflation rates have
meant further deterioration in housing conditions for Afro-Americans for
whom inadequate and unsanitary housing have been the rule rather than the
exception. As their economic plight worsens overall, more Afro-Americans
must accept lower-rent, more unacceptable housing. "Urban renewal'* pro
grams in larger cities have displaced many Afro-American families from
their dwellings, thereby contributing to the housing crisis for Blacks.
Increasing numbers are taking residence in decrepit, unsanitary abandoned
buildings*without heat or plumbing. More Afro-Americans must double up,
living with relatives outside the immediate family, meaning increased
overcrowding. Since far fewer Afro-Americans than whites own their own
homes, they are at the whim of landlords who generally don't care about
the welfare of their tenants. Consequently, most Afro-Americans cannot
build equity with a private dwelling as can many whites. In recent years
the flight of businesses from large cities to suburbs has developed into
a trend. This has trapped Aijro-American employees who either cannot
afford to move or are not permitted by real estate practices to move where
they choose.
The Health Gap
A child born into a poverty family is twice as likely to diebefore his first birthday as a child born to middle-class parents.In certain counties in Georgia, 3 times as many Black babies aswhite babies die during the first 28 days of life....
In the U.S., if a poor child does live beyond his first year, hischance for dying before he is 35 is four times greater than thatof his non-poverty counterpart....
The incidence of preventable mental retardation among poor children is roughly twice that of children born into middle-class andupper-income families....
Hunger and malnutrition take their toll in the form of infantdeaths, organic brain damage, retarded growth and learning andincreased vulnerability to disease....
-17-
The National Center for Health Statistics has found that poorpeople have 4 times as many cardiac conditions as those in thehighest income group; 6 times as much arthritis, rheumatism andhypertension; 3 times as many orthopedic impariments, and virtually 8 times as many visual impairments.0'
Since Black people in the U.S. have always been the princiaal "poor"
segment of the country, we could substitute the word "Black" for the word
"poor" wherever it appears above. As we have shown, the number of poor
Black people has been increasing in recent years while the number of poor
whites has been decreasing.
The evidence we have just given shows deteriorating conditions over
all for Afro-Americans, especially compared to conditions for whites.
Although we have concentrated here on declining conditions, small numbers
of Black people have made some gains. But forces are at work to undermine
even those gains. The evidence indicates the status of Blacks in the U.S.
will continue to deteriorate. With automation looming as an important
0m\ economic factor, the imperialists and their white supporters will makesure of that.
Automation and Black Labor
Automation had its technological origins in the 1950's. If its
potential were fully realized, it would mean the replacement of human .
labor by machines on a large scale. In the U.S. by the mid-1970's, aftersome twenty years of research and development and capital investment in
automated equipment, serious effects of automation began to be felt, as
the unemployment statistics above indicate. We can expect continued development of automation in the future. As one economist explained, "Theevidence that we have is suggesting increasingly that the employment-displacing effects of automation, anticipated for the 1950's, are now beginning to arrive on a serious scale in the 1970's." He predicted that'the 1950's are likely to see a period of jobless growth or even of jobdiminution across the 'entire manufacturing sector of the industrialworld\ even if there is 'growth of output and in capital investment'".9
IP*
/0^\
-13-
Despite the statistics and the growth of automation, Harxists con
tinue to insist that the icperialists need Black labor. K. Baron writes,
::The ruling class ... needs Black workers ... Indeed, for that sophistic
ated gentleman, the American capitalist, the demand for Black labor has
btcome a veritable devil in the flesh.:' Baron and other 2iarxists uphold
these views because they believe Marx's labor theory of value which attrib
utes all value to human labor. .Today, h?weE£ir.___the imperialists derive
their^material wealth,mainly from products of land like oil and minerals.
Human labor is an Important component of value, but the main component is
land. Black labor^is increasingly useless to the impdrij.lists_.for pro
ducing wealth when machines or whites can rsplace it. 3y insisting that
Black labor is needed in the U.S., the Marxists are in effect assuring
people that the imperialists can't afford genocide against Afro-Amsricans.
People who believe this will be unprepared to combat genocide. In a
revolutionary guise, Marxists are disseminating pro-inperialist, ganecidal
propaganda. Sidney Willheln incisively expressed the prospect for Afro-
Americans in an increasingly-automated U.S.,
tfhen economic motives remove the Negro from employment, Americansociety thereby removes the Negro's social existence/ the whiteeases the Negro into worthlessness by depriving him of employment.The Negro is losing out because he is losing out in the technologicaldevelopment of American society, White America can, for the firsttime, easily bear the economic costs far implementing its racialvalues to the point of excluding ths Negro race.l"2
At one time, Black people were wanted in the U.S. insofar as their
labor produced great wealth for white slaveowners before the Civil War and
for white landlords and industrialists after. This has changed in recent
years, though. As the need for Black labor decreases, U.S. imoerialism
and its^whlte_s^porj:e_rs increasingly consider Blacks a burden" to thanas slacks in larger numbers must rely on government funds for subsistence.
As a result, the U.S. is moving towards solidifying white supremacy even
further and taking away what little the Afro-Arasricans have for subsistence
-19-
The Bakke Decision and the Tax Revolt
The 3akke decision by the Suprame Court is one step toward solidify
ing the legality of white supremacy. In that decision, the Court directed
the University of California to admit a white applicant to one of its
medical schools, ruling that preferring nembers of any one group for no
other reason than ethnic origin is discriminatory. In the short run, it
indicates the demise of even the small gains won in the last ten years by
Afro-Americans through the establishment of special quotas favoring them
in certain jobs or educational competitions. Afro-Americans cannot comp
ete against whites in industries or educational institutions almost all
owned and controlled by whites. Afro-Americans face more oppression as
whites, backed by the Bakke decision, uphold white supremacy in the guiseof opposition to discrimination.
Most state governments, with the enthusiastic backing of the white
population, are promoting drastic cut3 in taxes. Carter's federal
budget for 1972 is smaller than 1978's, but military expenditures have
increased while social programs have been cut. Numerous surveys haveshown that the current opposition- movement to taxes is supported bywhites because they think it is a way to strike at Afro-Americans, espec-ia^v---those--3Il_wel^ Carl Holman, President of the National UrbanCoalition, points out about the California Proposition 13 to cut taxes:
That vote means layoffs, with minority workers who have least senioritylosing their jobs, it means curtailed services for poor people, and itmeans the crippling of affirmative action programs."13 White chauvinismis so strong that many whites will be indifferent when cuts in taxes bringdenial of the necessities of life to welfare recipients and others; manyother whites actively encourage a cutoff of necessities for Slacks.
Oppression and Dying
The white ruling class once utilized the Army, police and vigilantewhite hoodlums to lynch, murder, and rape Afro-Americans. Yet, as longas there was an economic need for Afro-Americans, these tactics were des
igned mainly to terrorize, not to eliminate, a whole people. Today, however, when the white U.S. society finds no more economic usefulness for
-20-
Afro-Americansj new methods of killing them much more effectively and on
a wider scale are emerging. The new methods are genocidal in nature, not
terroristic.
To avoid the prospect of future problems with Afro-Americans, imper
ialists sponsor "population control as a method to eliminate Black people
before they can grow and develop into freedom fighters. Through tne news
media, books, social workers, doctors> and "family planners", the imperial
ists try to convince Black people that their\ oppression will be relieved
if they are relieved of children. The imperialists' pro-abortion propa
ganda is gleefully disseminated by liberals, radicals and Marxists.
Doctors, social workers, and the courts use welfare aid as a tool to pres
sure Black women to seek abortions or sterilization. Other doctors have
tricked Black women and sterilized them on the pretext of performing other
procedures. The success of abortion and sterilization programs in Black
communities will mean fewer Black people in future generations and fewer
Black freedom fighters. It is easier for the U.S. government to kill
Elack babies in the womb than it is to fight revolutionary Black youths
or adults. That is why so many whites encourage abortion and steriliz
ation of Blacks.
According to U.S. government statistics, about 70% of U.S. whites used
some contraceptive method in 1973 and about 60% of U.S. Blacks. Of these,
11.6% of the white females had been sterilized, while 23.1% of the Black
females had been sterilized. For Slack wonen the rate increased from 14.4%
in 1J35 to IS.3% in 1970. The Blacl. abortion rate is also rapidly risingand twice that of whites (table)-. For every 1,000 live births in Washington,
D.C. and New York City in 1974, there were 1,115 and 1,138 abortions,
respectively, i.e., there were more abortions than births. Both Wash
ington and New York have large Black populations. Abortion genocide is
progressing at a rapid pace in the liberal northern cities. Whether 31ack
women volunteer for abortions or sterilizations or are forced into it by
welfare bureaucrats, the source of the pressure is imperialist oppression
and the result is the same—ganocide.
400-
35*0-
K 3004
^f 250
o xoo-
I-J
0- MMIH"
-21-
15
a—-4
^
^2
>r
^
BUCK
W/rtrrar
LEGAL ABORT/ON KA7I0.S, Of faCE, WiTED srATE5, /T72-W74-
TABLES
FROM
SEPT. i<n7
pp.169-JHO.
"3>
13 *~
yA
#
x,)<?li 1^13 \<*1+
legal fiGofirtioN /?/nEs; 8v (?/££, w/ted sr/rfcs, mz-ffl*
-22-
While abortion is killing Black fetuses, homicides are killing Black
adults at epidemic rates. In 1974, more than 6% of Black males and more
than 2% of Black females who died x*era victims of homicide. During that
year homicide was the fourth leading cause of death among Blacks, claim
ing more lives than all the infectious diseases combined, and exceeded
only by heart diseases, cancer and accidents (all of which Blacks suffer
in greater percentages than whites in the U.S.) If recent trends con
tinue, homicide will soon pass accidents as the third-leading cause of
death among Blacks, if it hasn't already. It was around the end of the
1960's that the homicide rate began rising sharply for 31acks. In 1355
the rate was 50.7 per 100,000 for Black men; by 1970 it had shot u? to
72.8, and in 1974 it was 77.9. By comparison, the rate for white mnles
was 4.8 per 100,000 in 1965 and 9.3 per 100,000 in 1974.15
Hundreds of thousands, even millions, of Afro-Americans are addicted
to drugs like heroin, methadone and morphine. Dr. William Corson, Com
missioner of the U.S. Presidential Crime Commission, estimated in 1971
that there may be up to three million heroin addicts in the U.S~, of
whom at least 80% were Black or from another oppressed nationality.
Dr. Mary Maroni, a white researcher, found in the early lJ70fs that 8% of
all annual income of the residents of Bedford-Stuyvesant, 3 large Black
ghetto in New York, went for the purchase of heroin.16 Translated intosocial terms, these statistics mean that millions of Afro-Americans are
suffering a living death uhile addicted and that many can look forward to
an early death from overdose, violence or malnutrition-related disease.
Hie Afro-Americans are victims of a deliberate program to promote narco
tics addiction within their communities. Imperialists and their organ
ized crime henchmen rake in the lucrative profits as government officials
and police at all levels in the U.S. conspire to deliver narcotics to
their Slack prey.
Death Toll
To develop some sense of the effect of oppression and genocide on
the Afro-Americans, we estimate the 1574 death toll attributable to
jpsss
Jp^v
-23-
certain of the genocidal phenomena just described:
Abortions There were roughly 534,000 live births of Blackbabies and 400 abortions per 1,000 live births.Death toll * 233,600.
Homicides The official number of Black males was about
12,000,000 and there were 77.; homicides per1C0,000 Black males.Death toll = 9,348.
Hypertension The hypertension-related death rate for 31acks was58.4 per 100,000 of population and 27.1 per 100,000of population for whites. The difference in rates,31.3 per 100.000 we will call oppression-related.Death toll « 7,512.
The total death toll for these three categories only is 250,460 or
more than 1% of the entire official population figure. That one-year
figure approaches the total number of U.S. combat deaths incurred
during all of World War II.
In 1965 the Black fertility rate (the number of live births per
1000 women aged 15-44) was 133.9 compared to 91.4 for whites. The
difference of 42.5 was a worry to the imperialists. In only 10 years
they reduced the figures to 89.3 for Blacks and 63.0 for whites, a
difference of only 26.3. Although abortions were not the sole factor
involved, they certainly played a significant role, as the death figures
above show.
The effect of genocide is most striking not when we compare the
31ack death rate to the white one (since the average Elack age is much
lower) but rather when we compare birth rates. By currently relying
heavily on population control"1 genocide, the imperialists can pose as
humanitarians who allow impoverished peoples to rid themselves of an un-
needad burden. In truth, it is a very effective step toward killing a
whole people through attrition.
A Precarious Position
The two examples cited are signs of increasingly open anti-Black
activity in the U.S. As the Afro-Americans lose their economic
-24-
usefulness to the imperialists, their position in the U.S. becomes more
precarious. They are discarded by U.S. society, without jobs, forced onto
welfare, pushed into city ghettos with their myriad problems—bad housing,
lack of sanitation and narcotics addiction. The Bakke decision and the
growing 'anti-tax:i movements indicate that whites are moving to take jobs
and welfare away from Black people so middle- and upper-class whites can
keep the jobs and welfare money for themselves. Abortions, homicides and
drug addiction indicate that national oppression is beginning to mean .
national extermination for the Afro-American people. It is well-known
that the Native Peoples of North America., who were considered an economic
burden and an obstacle to progress by whites, were ruthlessly and deter
minedly decimated almost to extinction. There is no reason why U.S.
imperialism, after butchering hundreds of thousands in Vietnam, will not
try to treat Afro-Americans the same way.
About 55% of the Black population live in cramped quarters in north
ern city ghettos, surrounded by a hostile society that controls the food,
water and power supplies and can withhold them at any time. Large numbers
of Black people are either on welfare or unemployment or have government
jobs, they are at the mercy of local, state and federal governments when
those governments want to take away the sources of funds.
U.S. authorities at any level have no right to arrest or jail even
one Afro-American, yet large numbers of Afro-Americans are arrested and
imprisoned every year. In 1576, for example, over 2.1 million Afro-Amer
icans, almost 10% of the official population, were arrested. The compar
able figure for x/hites was only about 3%. Of the 2.1 million Blacks,
about one third were charged with serious crimes meaning long prison
sentences for those convicted. Only about one fifth of the whites
arrested were charged with serious crimes. Besides the disruption and
trauma incurred by 31acks through arrest or conviction, while incarcerated
they are totally at the mercy of the vicious anti-Black prison system in
the U.S. Attempts at protest within the prisons culminated in the
massacre at Attica.
-25-
Tne imperialists and most other whites would like the Afro-Americans
passively and peacefully to accept the fate in store for them. If Black
people sit idly by, their situation will continue to deteriorate, and
many will die. If, on the otherhani, they rebel in the cities as in
1968, they face reprisals by police and National Guard.
A Way Out
The situation, although difficult, provides hope. The best means
of stopping the destruction of the Afro-American people li'es in Black
control of their homeland in the South, defended by atBlack army. Tftien
Afro-Americans see an independent, Black-controlled Black Belt as a
viable and necessary goal worthy of struggle, much of the present frus
tration and violence will give x/ay to determined efforts at nation-
building.
* * *
1. See The State of Black America—1978, tfational Urban League,pp. 199-201.
2. Statistical Abstract of the U.S., 1977, p. 383.
3. The Hew York Times, July 3, 1978, p.24.
4. The State of Black America—1978, p.21.
5. Statistical Abstract of the U.S.. 1977, pp. 454-455.
6. The Stlte of Black America—1973, p. 29.7. Statistical Abstract of the U.S., 1977, table no. 726.
8. Phylon. June 1977,pp.194-196.
9. The Hew York Times, July 4, 1978, p. Dl.
10. The Heed for Black Labor, Harold Baron.
11. See New Boundaries, published by this author, March 1973.
12. Who Meeds the iiegro?, Sidney Willhelm, 1971, pp. 212, 213, -author's 'emphasis.
13. The New York Times, June 23, 1973, p. A12.
<?^
-26-
14. Statistical Abstract of the U.S.. 1^77, pp.62-63.
!5. PhyIon, December:1977. p.-400.
16« The American Heroin Empire. Richard Kunnes, M.D., 1972, pp. 83,85
-27-
IV
THE HOMELAND
While Afro-Americans without land or power suffer in the ghettos
north and south, what is happening to the land that is rightfully
theirs? We believe that the Black Belt belongs to the Afro-American
people and it is the main thing that U.S. imperialism wants from them.
The U.S. exploits the land of the Black Belt as it does all
oppressed nations, that is, the agricultural and mineral resources
are taken to enrich U.S. giant corporations and all U.S. whites. Raw
materials mostly flow north but even when they stay in the South theyremain in white hands. This section will show how U.S. ^0wanew
depends^on Black Belt land.
Agriculture and Raw Materials
Agricultural products were the main source of super-profits in
the past when Black Belt cotton was a vital raw material for industryin England and New England. Today minerals, especially, oil, are of
-28-
primary importance. Agriculture in the 31ack ;5elt is no longer essential
to the white nation; however, likeUnited Brands' plantations in Central
America (and to a much greater extent) Black Belt agriculture is a big
money-maker and adds luxury to whites' diet. There are 120 million acres
of farmland in the Black 3elt with a total value in 1975 of $60 billion.
In comparison, the total assets of the world's largest financial corpor
ation (Bank of America) were also $60 billion, so it is easy to see that
agriculture in the Black Belt is not just peanuts.
U.S. whites get the benefit of cheap oranges, peaches, tobacco and
sugar. Soybeans and corn are the biggest crops in the Black Belt today;
these animal feeds prop up the high-protein diets of U.S. whites, re
leasing "surplus" wheat for uses other than domestic consumption. Sold
abroad to boost U.S. export earnings and to play the politics of hunger,
surplus food is used to make oppressed nations dependent on U.S. supplies,
giving the U.S. government a powerful lever for population control and
other objectives through threats to cut off food supplies.
Just as cotton fueled the textile industry of England and New England
which kindled the fires of world trade and conquest, so today oil more .
literally fuels and lubricates imperialist industry and trade.
The U.S. does not have enough oil, importing over 40% of its usage
which causes a huge deficit in foreign trade. Further, domestic supply.
comes mainly from the 31ack Belt, the Mexican territory of the Southwest
and lands of Native Americans in Oklahoma and Alaska. Production in
the Black Belt is growing faster than in the Southwest. In 1978 Exxon
announced a fifty-million-barrel discovery twenty-five miles from the
mouth of the Mississippi. A spokesman said, "This rates among the best3
oil and gas discoveries made by Lxxon in recent years."
Oil production does not require much labor (one employee per4
$100,000). The descendants of slaves and sharecroppers whose labor was
so valuable in the past are now seen only as a threat to imperialist
-29-
control of the .Black Belt. Oil fuels the farm machines that took the
sharecroppers' jobs.
Other important minerals in the Black Belt are coal, phosphates,
stone, clay,zinc, bromine and sulphur. Arkansas produces 90% of U.S.
bauxite (aluminum ore). This will become more important when supplies
are cut off from Jamaica, Guyana and other oppressed nations. The
total value of Black Belt minerals in 1975 was around $13.9 billion.
Conpare this to the total exports of Chile, $1.2 billion, and Venezuela,
$5.6 billion, whose copper and oil are known to be of importance to
U.S. imperialism.
Geopolitics and Geoeconomics
The Black Belt is a vulnerable area for U.S. imperialism in part
due to its geographical position so near the heart of the beast (Wash
ington, D.C. is right on the border). Further, the economy of U.S.
imperialism has been so intertwined with the oppression of *he Black
Belt from the very beginning that it is unlikely to survive a separation
for very Ion?;.
There are a number of places in the world that are so strategically
important that the U.S. considers them places to be held at great cost
whether they are profitable or not; Israel is an important example.
None, however,_is as important as the Black Belt. Imperialist strate
gists have contingency plans for abandoning Israel in favor of reliance
on Arab compradores, yet there is no plan for abandoning the Black Belt
or the land stolen from Mexico. The importance of the Black Belt is
reflected in the number of Army, Navy, Air Force and liarine bases
located there. Even if the Black Belt contained no oil or agricultural
land, the U.S. would consider it a key area to hold, for today as in
the past the Black Belt is a base area for attacks on other countries.
The units that the U.S.had on alert to intervene in Zaire were the 32nd
Airborne Livision at Ft. Bragg, north Carolina and Marines at Parris
Island, South Carolina. Also important is Ft. Polk, Louisiana, main
-30-
-infantry training center for the Vietnam war. These counterinsurgency units
threaten the Black Belt itself.
The rivers and ports of the Black Belt have been important for
extracting raw materials. However, they are also important to the North
for its international trade. U.S. imperialism has built highways, rail
roads, airports and ports to take advantage of the military and economic
features of the Black 3elt geography; many were built with Black labor.
Under imperialist control, these facilities threaten those who would
liberate the Black Belt. However, once they are won they caa be a great
asset. The same may be said for all capital investment in the Black Belt.
As Afro-Americans are driven out of the Black Belt in larger numbers
imperialists feel safe allowing capitalist development there. From 1940
to 1960 the percentage of Afro-Americans in the Black Belt population fell
from 24% to 20.9%. Over the same period the 31ack Belt's percentage of
total U.S. value added in manufacturing grew from 15.7% to 20.1%. The
percentage of new capital expenditures was even greater, reaching 25.6%
in 195C. Today, the newspapers are full of stories of the booming Sun
belt. Is all of this good for the Afro-Americans? tie must remember that
when U.S. whites wanted to build their economy on land owned by Native
Peoples (Indians) they started shooting and driving them onto reservations.
The obvious fact is that almost all of the capital in the Black Belt
belongs to whites, "riot only is there foreign (U.S.) ownership of oil
rigs and factories as in other oppressed nations, but foreign ownership
extends right down to the corner grocery stores. The 31ack bourgeoisie
is confined to a few areas such as funeral parlors and a few Insurance
agencies and car dealerships. Total taxable property in the Black Belt
is $360 billion. Any reasonable allowance for 31ack ownership still
leaves over $300 billion in foreign investment.
Far more than in the oppressed nations outside U.S. borders millions
of whites are bribed with land in the Black Belt. *7hether it be house lots,
-31-
farms or plantations Black Belt land is something that imperialism will
not give up easily.
Millions of other whites go south to enjoy the climate and other
attractions. Disney World is the number-one tourist destination in
the world. Tourists spend $5 billion annually in Florida, another
billion in Louisiana and hundreds of thousands in the other states.
This money should be going to the Afro-American nation if it wishes
to admit tourists at all.
The above shows that the land of the Black Belt is extremely
valuable to U.S. imperialism.
The next section will further illustrate the value of land by
discussing its importance to the future of the Afro-American people.
* * *
1. Statistical Abstract of the U.S., 1977, p.679. Figure comprisestotal of Virginia, I'aryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia,Florida, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana.
2. CBS Almanac 19 76, Hammond Almanac Inc., iiaplewood, K.J., p. 176.
3. new York Times, June 27, 1978.
4. Statistical Abstract of the U.S., 1977, p. 556.
5. Statistical Abstract of the U.S.? 1977, p. 746.
6. CDF Almanac 1975, pp. 488,645.
7. Marshall R. Colberg, Human Capital in Southern Development 1939-1963, Univ. of North Carolina Press, 1965, pp. 12, 73, 35.