It is a sad to see black people speak of themselves in the first person when referencing the United States government, its intelligence agencies, and war making apparatus. Two years of relentless war propaganda has conflated opposition to Trump with the interests of the ruling elites. Words such as “our allies,” “our intelligence community,” and “our democracy” should never come out of a black person’s mouth.” The desire to be rid of the racist-in-chief has caused a new epidemic of mental illness.

This sorry spectacle did not begin with Trump. It started when black people were elevated to positions of power previously reserved for whites. The yearning to see the black face in a high place created a sickness from which too few have recovered. Colin Powell was admired and given a pass even when he lied at the United Nations and made the case for killing one million Iraqis. The black tradition of opposing war evaporated because someone with brown skin made the case for slaughter.

Even worse, a black man would later become the head killer-in-charge, the president of the United States. The same group that was least likely to approve of United States foreign policies suddenly signed on as cheer leaders for wars, interventions, and assassinations when they were carried out by Barack Obama instead of by a white man.

Now Obama is no longer president and Donald Trump sits in the oval office. But the confusion only intensified with the change of administrations from a black man to an overt white racist. The seeds were planted for a continuing identity crisis. The FBI that crushed the liberation movement is now viewed favorably in the mistaken belief that the enemy of Trump must be a friend.

The discredited Democratic Party’s use of Russiagate to attack Trump has created a new and terrible support for intelligence agencies and prosecutors, groups that every thinking black person should see as their worst arch enemies. But war propaganda exists for a reason and it has done its job. The contagion of foolishness is difficult to treat.

Black people should have no concerns regarding the nations said to be “our allies.” NATO and European Union members have carried out atrocities against African people for centuries. European nations controlled the trans-Atlantic slave trade for two hundred years. They each connived and conspired to snatch portions of Africa to loot and the theft continues even now. France stole millions of dollars from Haiti for more than 100 years and consigned it to poverty it has never escaped. The British brutally put down revolts in African nations such as Kenya. The Belgian King Leopold murdered an estimated 10 million people and robbed Congo of its wealth. Their crimes continue to this very day. French president Sarkozy took millions in bribes from Muammar Gaddafi and then joined in the plot to have him killed.

Some black people are actually defending a prosecutor, in this case Robert Mueller, who uses all of the under handed tactics that his profession is known for carrying out. Squeezing defendants, threatening long prison terms and making well timed leaks to the media have sent millions of black people to jail. These abuses of power shouldn’t be applauded because crooks linked to Trump are now experiencing the injustice system.

The only “we” we have is ourselves and people around the world who struggle against the same forces. We can use the first person when speaking of Venezuela, where people suffer from hunger and deprivation because of United States imposed sanctions. Likewise Cuba is a state we should feel solidarity with because it survives after nearly 60 years of war by other means carried out by the U.S. government. The same applies to people in Haiti and Somalia whose countries were torn apart by the United States and the same criminal nations we’re now supposed to think of as allies.

This time of crisis is an opportunity to think critically and truthfully about this country where we struggle to survive. The people have little say in decisions made on their behalf, even if the people they vote for may be in power. We live under billionaire rule and the party we cling to with such desperation has actively chosen not to represent our interests. Neither Russia nor any other country can subvert a non-existent democracy.

We must be in resistance, but not just against Donald Trump. We must oppose the Democrats too, because their corruption put him in the White House. They are a joke of a political party and cynically promote the Russiagate hoax to gaslight their members and keep them from asking hard questions about their failures.

We must acknowledge that despite 400 years of existence here we will never be considered full citizens. There is no “we” or “us” when we discuss the individuals and entities who run this country. Their reasons for opposing Trump are not our reasons for fighting against him and we should make no allegiances with people and institutions who are our sworn enemies.

James Comey is one of these persons. The former FBI director got an undeserved credibility boost after Donald Trump fired him. But the Comey love was unwarranted and he proved it himself with this twitter missive. “Democrats, please, please don’t lose your minds and rush to the socialist left. This president and his Republican Party are counting on you to do exactly that. America’s great middle wants sensible, balanced, ethical leadership.” It isn’t clear what Comey knows about ethics, but he also knows nothing about what Democratic voters ought to do. His unrequested advice proves the point of this commentary. He and his kind must be opposed at every opportunity. If we are going to use the first person in our pronouns we must be very clear about who we include.

Margaret Kimberley’s Freedom Rider column appears weekly in BAR, and is widely reprinted elsewhere. She maintains a frequently updated blog as well at freedomrider.blogspot.com. Ms. Kimberley lives in New York City, and can be reached via e-Mail at Margaret.Kimberley(at)BlackAgendaReport.com.