Tyrone Powers was a young FBI agent fresh from his tour of duty as a Maryland State Trooper. One afternoon as he sat at his desk, a memo was placed in the file container on his desk.
Powers was thoroughly intrigued with the sinister history of the FBI. Time seemed as thin as dryers sheets as he stayed for hours upon hours on end examining counter-intelligence programs conducted by the FBI against Black Politicians.
Powers asked: ” You mean these programs are still going on?”
Power(s)’ senior colleague shot back in a dismissively indifferent voice, “why would we abort a program that was so effective?” The agent went on to state that public revelations of FBI misdeeds fail to stop these programs in the 60’s, so they saw no reason to discontinue them now. Powers was completely riveted by the depth of ominous stratagems contained in government files beyond the reach of the public.
He regained some semblance of poise, collected his scattered reactions, and turned his attention back to his desk. The memo in his file container was a report written in Quantico, Virginia about how to deal with Black People in times of social upheaval and unrest.
According to Powers, the memo said in essence, that black people are emotional, not logical or intellectual. It further stated that in tumultuous periods, black people should NOT be hindered from marching or protesting because after the emotions of moment passes, the movement will simply dissipate with no logical solutions to the issue.
We have recently witnessed the veracity of the FBI’s claim in the latest controversy involving the Nation of Islam’s National Spokesman, the Hon. Louis Farrakhan.
Farrakhan was arbitrarily banned by FACEBOOK after the social media giant determined that his words were anti-semitic. He joins an unsavory cast of characters both black and white banned from Facebook for incendiary comments labeled under the amorphously incredulous title of hate speech.
To be sure, Farrakhan’s social media censure is an open and shut case. Facebook is a private company. Inherent in the capitalist ethos of private property is the right to exclude, no matter how unreasonable, fraudulent, or discriminatory. Therefore, the real issue is not Facebook’s capricious actions but its’ dubious motive.
IS LOUIS FARRAKHAN AN: ANTI-SEMITE, A RACIST, DEMAGOGUE, OR CON-MAN?
In the quiet space within the private circles, beyond the prying eyes of collective white scrutiny, the majority of Black America would answer sheepishly, no.
While Black America has its criticisms of the Nation of Islam, many intuitively understand that it is one of the few black controlled spaces that allow the cathartic recriminations of the innumerable injustices of white society against the souls of black people. Farrakhan’s impregnable swagger rejuvenates the depleted masculinity of millions of black men emasculated by 3 centuries of inhumane sleights, injuries, and usurpations.
But in line with the FBI’s observations and studies on the black psyche, Black America’s reaction to Farrakhan can best be described as schizophrenic. This reaction was encapsulated by the Late James Baldwin when he opined that:
” Deep down in their hearts the black masses don’t believe in white people anymore. They don’t believe in Malcolm, (While in the NOI), either, except when he articulates their disbelief in white people.”
What Baldwin articulated was the same inertia and lethargy observed by FBI psychologists at Quantico. Many black people will pay to hear Farrakhan speak. They will jump to their feet in convulsions of solidarity. They will clap with the ferocity of earth shaking thunder to his numerous recitations of white injustices against black life.
But as they exit the arena back into the firm grip of white economic and political omnipotence, the memory of Farrakhan’s words become a forgettable ejaculate, quietly stored in the grungy begrimed vault of the black memory until the next racial calamity.
When we are confronted with the knowledge of his existence, or the reality of his works in the black community, we become a race of denying Peters and scheming Judases mocking and ridiculing his history of consistent service to redeem black people from the dark catacombs of economic and social neglect.
The following criticisms usually arise when black people are confronted with the lack of black support for Minister Louis Farrakhan:
- I’m not a Muslim, I don’t agree with his religion!
Seriously? There are literally thousand of denominations of Christianity in the Black Community. There is the Catholics, The AME, the Episcopalian, The Baptist, The Primitive Baptist, The Apostolic, The Church of God in Christ….and so on. While these denominations have different practices, they seem to all have the same white image staring at them Sunday after Sunday. They sing the same hymns. They have the same jackleg preachers. And they all deposit your tithes at the same banks. Agree? Religion? Nigga Please!
2. He and the Nation of Islam killed Malcolm X
Now you niggas know you don’t give a $h*T about Malcolm X! Stop it! Anyway, Yes, The Nation of Islam killed Malcolm X. And Yes! Internecine conflict resulted in Farrakhan’s statement that Malcolm X was worthy of death. And yes, said statements resulted in Malcolm X’s murder.
But according to at least 3 independent investigations documented in three very well researched books: Unraveling The Assassination of Malcolm X by Baba Zak Kondo, The Judas Factor by Karl Evanzz, and Malcolm X: a Life of Reinvention by Dr. Manning Marable, Malcolm’s murderers can be found in a coterie of Elijah Muhammad’s Family, his national secretary, who was outed as an FBI informant, The FBI & The NYPD. Beyond words of solidarity for Elijah Muhammad, Louis Farrakhan was not involved in the murder.
One of the men caught at the scene named all five murderers. Four died from murders unrelated to Malcolm’s assassination. The fifth lives quietly in New Jersey, and was recently seen in a television commercial supporting the mayoral candidacy of Presidential hopeful Cory Booker. The planners died quietly in their beds from natural causes or old age.
So are you gonna boycott the NYPD? The FBI? No. You are gonna demand that the FBI investigate suspicious police shootings of black motorists by their fellow state counterparts. Yeah! Right!
3. The NOI don’t do anything for the community.
The Nation of Islam has reclaimed millions of black people from the ravages of the American social order. They have patrolled dangerous neighborhoods empty handed. They have worked in tandem with other neighborhood organizations in fighting drug addiction, drug dealing, domestic abuse and black on black crime. They have done this for over 60 years. With the exception of the Black Panther Party, no other organization has functioned so effectively at the grassroots level among the black poor and working classes. Their pedigree is solid. Their commitment is unquestionable.
The NOI is not perfect. It has more than it’s fair share of backsliders. It is also shamelessly apolitical. It also contains a hint of cult of personality worship that makes many skeptical of its true motives and intentions. But in terms of dealing with the vast psychological maladies of black people on the ground, it is nearly invincible.
Notice I said nearly. The most powerful flaw in the Nation’s armor is not its idiosyncracies or short comings. It is the lack of support from the very people that it seeks to serve.
Thus, while Minister Farrakhan’s social media censure was as predictable as nightfall, the fickle emotionalism of black people will ensure that his injury will go unresolved and unanswered. So while Snoop Dogg can voice his displeasure at Facebook’s decision to ban Minister Louis Farrakhan, his implied threat of a boycott or blackout of Facebook by black people is as hollow as a threat by one negro at a Klan Rally.
So They banned him! And? So what? They have done so without fear of reprisal from a people who they know will be angry just long enough to forget the whole thing after they share their angry posts on Facebook.
TONY MACEO is a senior blogger at the Negromanosphere. His articles drop every Tuesday here online. Support by Paypal @wayofstrategy44 or on Patreon @powerofstrategies…TILL NEXT TIME I’LL HOLLA!
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