After watching "Malcolm X" on Bravo last night, I realized

[StellaBlue]

...that the rest of America is waking up to the reality that black America has always known. Our country does not, has never, and never intended to, live up to its promises. Not in 1619, not in 1776, not in 1857, not in 1968, not in 2001, not now. People first started realizing it during Watergate, sure, but we've been so blind and complacent.

Wake up, people. It's always been about the oligarchs vs. the rest of us. And we've been cannon fodder and factory hands and taxpayers for their decadence and folly since the beginning of time. This country is not an exception. It's not a shining city on a hill. It's the same as any other country, made up mostly of regular people who just want life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And who sometimes get moments of real justice and democracy in the midst of the bloody drama of human history.

We are lucky to be living when we are.

But I still agree with Malcom. Chickens coming home to roost. Truest statement about American history ever uttered.

[davidwparker]

1. I'm shocked at our history. Not what is taught in school, but the real

history. I keep looking for lightening bolts to come down from Heaven.

[Warpy]

2. Oh, how I wish he had lived longer.

The Malcolm X who had made the Hadj returned an enlightened man. He could have taught us much.

He was always right about the oligarchy. He was always right about the real estate barons in Boston, I learned that first hand and to my sorrow.

Speaking truth to power is always a very hazardous profession.

[StellaBlue]

4. Yes, of all leaders 'taken too soon'

he would be at the top of my list of who I would like to 'see what they would've done'.

So sad about his grandchildren. :(

[valerief]

3. You got that right. n/t

[IndyOp]

5. Black Like Me...

The Real Power Is Truth. Always.

[StellaBlue]

6. You know, I've never read that

Or Invisible Man. Add those to my fall reading list.

[OzarkDem]

20. Read that when I was 14

It changed my view of the world. Next was Dick Gregory's autobiography "Nigger". Radical stuff for a white girl in the suburbs, but it has stuck with me ever since.

[Solly Mack]

7. I can sign on to that statement

but many will call me a "defeatist" and "without hope"..and I'll have me a good snicker about it too.

The truth is, recognizing just how much of a lie your government/country is doesn't strip you of hope or leave you with a sense of defeat. How can you see what's wrong if you're not willing to see something for what it really is?

African-Americans have had to look beyond the facade of America...they were forced to because of how they've been treated by America.

Those oppressed understand the oppressor better than the oppressor understands himself. You have to...that's how you survive when you're the one being oppressed.

I know that when a movement is popular enough and strong enough, that the government has to listen. They have to take notice (because it's to their advantage to do so) - and change takes place. But it's not government changing - it's government being government...better for them to go with the movement and accept the change than to fight it. Calm returns and then it's business as usual.

[butterfly77]

8. That is the point they don't want america to hear it...

But they will because the truth always comes to light no matter how they try to hide it. The rest of the world knows that these hypocrites running this government are liars.

[H2O Man]

9. Malcolm X

was a prophet. He was a beautiful human being.

[KittyWampus]

10. You realize America has gone further integrating society then any other

on the planet, don't you?

We're not perfect by a long shot. But we've progressed the most out of any other country.

Unfortunately we seem to be backsliding....

[StellaBlue]

13. Canada seems more and better integrated to me.

And Britain wasn't too shabby during the four years I spent there, either.

[HamdenRice]

15. As an African American living in an all Black neighborhood,

I have to ask where you are getting this "factoid" from? I've lived in London and South Africa, and from what I've seen of the world, the United States has not gone further than any society in integrating, nor done a great deal of integrating at all. Didn't you notice that last night even a mainstream media outlet like NBC News reported that in many cities the US is more segregated than it was when the Civil Rights Act was signed 4 decades ago?

[rman]

16. "integrating society" integrated into what?

what does this mean practically?

[KittyWampus]

17. Schools, Corporate Structure, Mass Media, Political System.

And please note, I said we still had a long way to go and have been backsliding lately.

[rman]

18. Just looking at indicators of the wellbeing of the populace;

health, child mortality, crime, suicide rates etc, the US hasn't been doing very well for decades now. Other countries have been doing better during that same period, primarily Western European countries.

[shadowknows69]

19. 43 Presidents in our country's history

what percentage wasn't caucasian again?

[jberryhill]

11. Freedom Only Starts

In a place somewhere between your ears.

[cynatnite]

12. What Malcolm said about himself from those days...

"That was a bad scene, brother. The sickness and madness of those days -- I'm glad to be free of them."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_x

[Gregorian]

14. I also saw that and came away with the same realization.

Yes. You said it so well.

It's saddening.


edit- I would like to say that the world/life we are living in/living is working in slow motion, thanks to politics and bullies. BUT, eventually the good get their turn.

Like black blues musicians. Stifled, they gained nothing for their achievements, while groups like the Rolling Stones walked away with a billion dollars. That was due to efforts of bullies in record companies. Laugh, but it's an example. Just a "trivial" example of people stiffling and cheating in order to gain power and money on other people's backs. The same with politics, land, petroleum.