By Charo R. Walker
BlackFood News Reporter
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THE Black is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations worked well into the night, hours before its now historic November 7 Rally and March on the White House. The Pre-Rally gathering was essentially a work session and both elders and youth and women and men worked together to ensure that the Coalition’s powerful message would be communicated effectively.
Before the work session began, though, a brief speech was made by Chioma Oruh, Outreach Coordinator for the Black is Back Coalition. Her words summed up the anticipation of many. “Right now this is the eve of something really exciting that’s about to happen tomorrow; a baby that’s about to be born. This is the first step of the Black is Back Coalition; one of many in which we will move steadily,” stated Oruh.
She added: “Whatever oppositions are against Obama, none of them include the voices of black people, none of them include our mission, what we are striving for. None of them talk about police brutality or prisons. They don’t include what’s happening on the African continent. … We are here because we recognize that we are in a dire situation around the world. African people have been in a dire situation for the past 500 years. And it’s a consequence of the Empire that Obama sits on top of. … So, here we are. Not just to usher something out but to bring in something great. And that is a stance of black people, together, who recognize our duty to not just stand opposed to the craziness that’s in our world but to have an agenda – a program that’s going to lead our people into a place of governance, self-determination and freedom."
Chairman of the Black is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations, Omali Yeshitela, followed Oruh and spoke at length on a range of U.S. and international issues; his sound analysis confirmed the necessity of the Rally and March.
When speaking of the current international social crisis he stated: “The fact is that capitalism was born as a world system…it was born at our expense; at the expense of Africa; the indigenous people. [For The Bahamas] that’s one of the clearest examples of what we mean when we say it was born at the expense of other peoples because the peoples who occupied that land don’t even exist anymore. And so you have a social system that was born parasitic. … There is a tremendous amount of wealth that’s concentrated in Europe and North America…but it is a parasitic wealth. It requires, like all parasites, a host that it lives off. It sucks the resources from this host.”
At the same time, Chairman Yeshitela acknowledged the growing consciousness of people in the face of the exploitative nature of imperialist White Power. “More and more countries and people have been breaking free of absolute control by the Empire and its creating crisis…at one time Cuba was by itself…and then of course what happened in Venezuela and subsequent to Venezuela, Bolivia and Evo Morales. And this is a trend…that’s sweeping the world and as a consequence of that the foundation of the whole capitalist enterprise worldwide is being shaken.”
Obama’s presidency, then, became a must. “Peoples around the world are demanding a different relationship; economically; politically. And it becomes necessary for imperial White Power to disguise itself…because of the growing consciousness of people…[so] now the face of imperialism is the face that looks like the vast majority of the peoples around the world,” declared the Chairman.
Cognizant of this trickery, the Black is Back Coalition boldly shouldered responsibility in laying out an official stance against the policies of President Obama; the new camouflage for imperial White Power.
The Pre-Rally event also allowed members of the Coalition and participants in the Rally and March to get to know each other better. Once individual introductions were made, however, all hands were on deck to ensure that poster boards, banners, and chants – that would be sung on the route to the White House – were created so that the well articulated position of the Coalition could be seen and heard throughout the streets of Washington, DC.♦bf