Mythology, Lies, and the ‘American’ Way of Violence

Published in Issue 517 of The Black Commentator on May 16, 2013
Republished in thepeoplesvoice.org on May 22, 2013
By Larry Pinkney

“In a composite nation like ours, as before the law, there should be no rich, no poor, no high, no low, no white, no black, but common country, common citizenship, equal rights and a common destiny.”
–Frederick Douglass

“How can you have a war on terrorism when war itself is terrorism?”
–Howard Zinn

As long as the people of this nation continue to be enslaved to mythology and lies physical and psychological violence will prevail unabated.

Only when the beautiful rainbow of everyday ordinary Black, White, Brown, Red, and Yellow people in this nation come to recognize and understand that the real terror is the terror of systemic brainwashing and concomitant political, economic, and social slavery will we truly be free of the horrible and constant violence that plagues this nation and people throughout Mother Earth.

Only when we recognize and come to understand that the cries of the Libyan baby, the Ghanian baby, the Palestinian baby, the Somalian baby, the Irish baby, the German baby, the Russian baby, the Chinese baby, the Indigenous Native baby, the Mexican baby, and all the babies of our human family on Mother Earth represent the cries of a “common destiny” for life and freedom, can we actualize [i.e. bring to fruition] the yearning of humanity as a whole to be free of the manipulated ‘terror’ and the insidious yoke of a national and global blood sucking corporate / military elite that enslaves us all. We belong to each other and to Mother Earth – not the other way around. When a Black, White, Brown, Red, or Yellow baby smiles, so too, should we smile – and when any one of them cries out in pain from the horror of economic deprivation and/or drone missiles and the like, so too, must we cry out in pain and rage. We must recognize our “common destiny” nationally and globally.

The physical and psychological violence suffered by humanity, in reality, emanates from the cynical, avaricious power elite who thrive on propagating lies and myths to keep us divided, unthinking, and collectively powerless. This power elite prattles on and on about eliminating ‘terror’ when it is they themselves who systemically perpetuate the terror and insanity that afflicts this nation and world. Their corporate-stream media and so-called ‘educational’ institutions are busy disinforming and miseducating us all. Moreover, the minions of this power elite come in both genders and in all colors and shades. Their objective remains the same: To ensnare and keep us controlled and in a state of de facto 21^st century slavery. Yet, it is we everyday ordinary Black, White, Brown, Red, and Yellow people who hold the key to our own collective liberation. It is WE who hold the key to our liberation – but we must first break free from the systemic Novocaine that is incessantly injected into us by the systemic blood suckers who enslave us. I reiterate: It is WE who hold the key to our own liberation!

The violence in this nation (and throughout the world) will continue to increase for as long as we everyday people allow ourselves to be enslaved to the corporate-stream ‘news’ media poison of the systemic slave masters. We must reject utterly their narrative, their lies, myths and distortions. We must reject utterly, the pimping politicians and their corporate-stream ‘news’ media. We must create our own media and spread to one another our own collective narratives – the narrative of we everyday ordinary people!

You will never agree with every single thing that other ordinary everyday people might say or believe, nor should you. However, we must learn (and quickly) to find our common ground with each other and adhering to fundamental principles built upon that common ground; as we everyday people are all systemically oppressed and we have far more in common with each other than the pimping systemic slave masters would have you know. Understanding this represents the real ‘power of the people.’

In this year of 2013, the U.S., in the words of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, continues to be “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world.” Is it any wonder then that this violence has, in the words of Malcolm X, “come home to roost?!” Of course not. The external and internal violence and subterfuge of the U.S. government has reached epidemic proportions. We therefore should not be surprised that violence and insanity is striking within this nation itself. And it will continue until we collectively liberate ourselves!

The U.S. government’s ongoing torture and violence at Guantanamo, and in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Palestine, Syria, Iraq, Somalia, and so many other places is, in fact, coming home to roost and will continue to do so until we ordinary people stop it once and for all! We ordinary people are not powerless in this regard and the choice and responsibility is ours!

Each one, reach one. Each one, teach one. Onward, then, my sisters and brothers. Onward…!!

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, Pinkney was interviewed in 1988 on the nationally televised PBS News Hour, formerly known as The MacNeil/Lehrer News Hour, and more recently on the nationally syndicated Alex Jones Show. Pinkney is a former university instructor of political science and international relations, and his writings have been published in various places, including The Boston Globe, San Francisco BayView newspaper, Black Commentator, Intrepid Report, Global Research (Canada), LINKE ZEITUNG (Germany), 107 Cowgate (Ireland and Scotland), and Mayihlome News (Azania/South Africa). He is in the archives of Dr. Huey P. Newton (Stanford University, CA), cofounder of the Black Panther Party. 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.)