by DANNY HAIPHONG
Cuban leader Fidel Castro (left) with US revolutionary leader Malcolm X.
Malcolm X’s work remains prophetic nearly five decades since his assassination. In a 1964 speech at the University of Ghana, Malcolm proclaimed that “for the twenty million of us in America who are of African descent, it is not an American dream; it’s an American nightmare.” It was Malcolm’s staunch internationalism, however, that spoke to the global character of America’s nightmare. Malcolm X connected the struggle of African people, Vietnamese people, and that of anti-colonial forces all over the world to the internal oppression of Black America in the US. For the last few weeks, the Black rebellion in Ferguson and the rise of the Islamic State (IS) in Iraq and Syria have dominated corporate media airwaves. These developments necessitate a revival of Malcolm’s analysis of the “American nightmare” in the 21st century.
The Black rebellion in Ferguson has arisen from the ashes of the Black liberation movement. Domestic state repression and reform put a halt on the growing Black liberation movement during the mid 20th century. Malcolm’s teachings inspired many Black Americans, especially young Black Americans, to take whatever means necessary to achieve lasting freedom. Organizations such as SNCC, the Black Panther Party, and the Black Liberation Army were a direct threat to the nightmare of American white supremacy and capitalism. However, despite the joint efforts to “neutralize” the Black liberation movement, state repression was not enough to dampen Black upheaval. It was the combined failure of repression and America’s transition into a post-industrial, finance capital-ruled empire that forced a change in the character of white supremacy.
The establishment responded by creating a sharp class distinction in the Black community while preparing the conditions for a policy of mass incarceration and austerity. The Black misleadership class was a new and improved buffer between Black revolution and white supremacy. Black misleaders occupied seats in Congress, police administrations, and municipal offices reserved for willing defendants of white capitalist crimes. For many years, the service of this class of Black misleaders created a formidable barrier to radical political organization. However, Ferguson’s rebellion is exposing the deepening contradiction between America’s Black elite and the eroding conditions of the oppressed masses.
“The Black misleadership class was a new and improved buffer between Black revolution and white supremacy.”
Ferguson is a profound indication that only “stronger stuff” will truly redress the nightmare of white supremacy and American capital. Black Ferguson’s courageous stand is deeply rooted in the fact that presently, conditions for Black America are in many ways worse than the nightmare Malcolm described. Black Americans make up the vast majority of the nearly three million people locked up in the largest prison state in the history of humanity. Law enforcement murders a Black American nearly every day. Surveillance and police harassment encompass every block of the Black urban landscape.
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