Remember last year when black women “saved” Alabama and America from Roy Moore, the GOP politician accused of open racism, misogyny, and pedophilia. Except nothing changed because… It’s Alabama. And America. Doug Jones the democrat who now represents Alabama as a U.S. senator won primarily because of the organizing genius of African American women. And yet Doug Jones has already knighted an all white senior staff and promised that he will work with the Roy Moore Republicans.

There is actually nothing novel about this narrative:

Democrats/liberals tell us how bad it will be if a conservative gets elected We pledge our support to a white liberal “ally” A multi-racial coalition gets the liberal elected Once elected the ally abandons the black political base and courts the white mainstream Nothing of substance changes Repeat, etc, etc, etc.

People of color have campaigned for, donated to, and put their trust in candidates like JFK and Bill Clinton for decades and in the end received nothing but broken promises. And broken promises are the trademark of American Democracy.

First Nations people taught Europeans how to hunt, farm, and the hygiene techniques necessary to survive in America. Parts of the American Constitution were influenced by America’s indigenous nations. Nevertheless, indigenous people were slaughtered, systematically robbed, raped, and had much of their culture decimated. The United States broke treaty after treaty with First Nations people because those treaties were just Trojan horses that allowed the U.S. government to regroup while planning its next attack (See Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee).

Most of my ancestors began their sojourn in the United States as captives. We have faced the conditions of American Apartheid since the 1500’s. And despite being the recipients of genocide and diabolical racism, we have given everything to make this country great. We have fought on behalf of the United States in every war since the Revolutionary War. Crispus Attucks was the first martyr in the American revolution. Benjamin Banneker designed Washington D.C. and countless scientists of color revolutionized and modernized American civilization.

During World War I soldiers of color enlisted because they wanted to protect America, they wanted to make it better. They returned to lynchings and vitriol. In World War II black soldiers fought Hitler (while this country was placing Japanese citizens in concentration camps) because we wanted to save “American Democracy”. After helping defeat the Nazi’s, soldiers of color returned to a Jim Crow America. Hundreds of people of color marched, died, and were beaten by police during the civil rights era all because they wanted to make America better. Martin Luther King, Jr. attempted to appeal to America’s moral consciousness. He called for nonviolent action as well as economic and racial equality, as a result, he was labeled a public enemy, monitored by the FBI, and assassinated.

No one has given more of themselves for America than black women. Long before modern feminism was heralding the power of the matriarchy, black women were living it by pulling an unfair share of the burden in their community. Not only were black women holding their families together, they were cooking for, cleaning for, and breastfeeding the children of their oppressors. And yet Malcolm X’s statement that:

“The most disrespected woman in America, is the black woman. The most unprotected person in America is the black woman. The most neglected person in America, is the black woman”

Is as true today as it was decades ago.

Today our situation has only improved symbolically. We have found no equity in the education system that is still de facto segregated. We have found no equity in the criminal justice system where we are over-represented, or in the economic system where we are underemployed or unemployed. So why are we fighting to preserve institutions that decimate our communities? Why are we fighting to get the lesser of two evils elected? Why are we begging people who are indifferent to our future for jobs?

I don’t make sweeping allegations about people of any nationality. I know several people of non-color who are good hearted and well meaning. But America is a majority rule country and the results you see in this country are due to the majority rule. If the the majority of Americans are not interested in saving the most marginalized people, why are the most marginalized people interested in saving America?

“Do Not Look For Healing at the Feet of Those That Broke You”- Rupi Kaur

As people of color continue to deal with record underemployment and poverty we can no longer afford to marry ourselves to institutions that give us absolutely no return on investment. Not only should people of color in America boycott organizations that support openly racist agendas but we should divest from all institutions that give us lip service but absolutely no policy change.

While many conservatives have spewed racially charged tirades at us, shown us open disdain for decades, what liberals have done is equally unforgivable. Liberal organizations and institutions have taken our money, given us false hopes, and in the end delivered no change. At least the conservatives were honest? In fact, in some cases liberals have damaged us more than their openly racist counterparts. For example Bill Clinton, who famously won the affection of people of color while playing the saxophone (and us) on the Arsenio Hall Show, waged a more heinous drug war on people of color than Reagan or Bush. In fact more black men were imprisoned under the Clinton administration than Bush and Reagan combined. Hillary Clinton who was supposed to be the much better choice than Donald Trump supported private prisons up until her run for presidency, called young men of color super predators, and still supports the apartheid against the Palestinian people. Together Bill and Hillary used the Clinton Foundation to exploit the tragedy in Haiti to raise millions of dollars, however many Haitians claim that those millions never reached those devastated by the earthquake. Maya Angelou said when someone shows you who they are believe them. Liberal or Conservative, left wing or right wing it’s the damn same bird.

It’s Time To Divest from America

Divesting means no donations, no volunteering, no stumping for candidates, nonprofits, religious organizations that have failed to go to bat for us. It also means investing our energy in listening to our elders, teaching our youth, researching our own history, and building a strategic plan for the future. We as a people have unlimited potential, but it’s wasted if we’re trying to fix a system built on predicated on injustice.

It’s Time to Stop Letting People Use White Privilege as a Cop Out

I often hear supposed allies tell me that they’re sorry about their white privilege. I even had a white woman tell me that she would use her white privilege to protect me. I’m a grown ass man. I don’t need the protection of “white privilege”. The only thing we should ask supposed allies to do is stop participating in white supremacy. No amount of white privilege will protect anyone when standing against the system even if it’s for their own interests (see Gary Webb, see John Brown, see Abraham Lincoln). We must demand all supposed allies to prove their loyalty by openly confronting systemic racism. We have to stop giving people credit just because they give us lip service, it hasn’t gotten us anywhere.

Symbols are Powerful But Insufficient

No matter our political and faith perspectives most people of color agree that the United States has not yet implemented equity for all Americans regardless of national origin or race. However, there isn’t a consensus on whether or not we can change this country (And I honestly don’t know why we’re still debating this). There are some of us who saw Obama as a breakthrough in American and world politics. There is even debate on whether Oprah Winfrey should run for the executive office. I do agree that Obama inspired people of color all over the world and that the election of an individual like Oprah or Michelle Obama would do the same for women and people of color. However, as a student of history and avid observer of politics I can say that Obama (regardless of intentions) was not able to slow down, limit, or ease the blow of poverty, racism, and miss-education.

Symbols are useless against gentrification and class warfare.

Symbols don’t stop police brutality and murder of citizens.

Symbols don’t stop the school to prison pipeline.

You just can’t put brown skin on capitalism and call it a revolution.

Betting our future on the moral consciousness of America is a futile endeavor, MLK proved that. When Moses and Aaron stood before the King of Egypt centuries ago they did not plead for more Israelites in office, they didn’t say what we need is an Israelite Pharaoh. The demand was LET MY PEOPLE GO. We modern day Israelites are living in an empire built on over 400 years of oppression and we must realize that our future did not begin with and will not end with the United States. We need freedom not gestures, salvation not more symbols.

Self determination vs. Victim blaming

Self-critique is always necessary for improvement and eventual victory. However there are some black activists that mistakenly think any critique of our own culture is victim-blaming. Yes it’s true that racism exists. It is deadly. It is genocidal. It is a leviathan. But there are things we can do to limit or curtail its impact. One thing we can do is reject the trap games and tricknology offered by the prevalent society. Yes we know that crack sentences are more punitive than cocaine sentences. And yes there are hella brothers and sisters that get set up by the police but there are people in our community that get cruel and unusual punishment for selling controlled substances. But we don’t have to sell crack. Even if it’s brought into our communities by outside forces. We don’t have to shoot each other even if carts of semi-automatic guns are being dropped in the hood. We don’t have to participate in self-destructive behavior. We don’t have to help the people that hate us beat us. We don’t have to donate to nonprofits or to the political parties that don’t serve our interests, we don’t have to tithe to false prophets, we don’t have to put our necks on the line for America. We are in a state of emergency and we have to stop entrusting our future to institutions that are proven to either be indifferent or oppositional to our plight.

Right now this country is divided into liberal and conservative factions, but this not our fight. Our battle is to embrace our own heritage, our own culture, to break the psychological chains of slavery, to break the economic chains of poverty, break the cycles of physical, mental, and sexual abuse, learn to love each other, learn to love ourselves regardless of what other cultures think. This is our struggle. Let Trump and Hillary fight each other. The Democratic party isn’t going to save us, the Republican party isn’t going to save us, religion isn’t going to save us. If we want deliverance we’re going to have to deliver ourselves.