“LET’S KEEP THE CHANGE”

We ALL are obligated, to start living as ONE Race, “The Human Race”…. And Beyond the Inauguration, Let’s Keep The Change!   

Today, as I prepare to attend the Historical Inauguration in Washington, DC, and to celebrate “MLK N’ ME” (Jan 15^th) B’Day... I MUST STOP and reflect on what this opportunity really means to ME and exactly why I AM BLESSED TO BE AMONGST THE MILLIONS OF ATTENDEES:.  "Here I Am Lord, Send Me" (?).... While searching the soul within, I realize I will be able to say:   I was there for many reasons: I was there to encourage all Human Beings:  Beyond the Inauguration:  "Let’s Keep the Change!”  I was there to "represent' my great grandfather, Adam Thibodeaux, "Papa Deuce" and all my ancestors who have knocked down barriers to make this change possible!

My grandfather, “Papa Deuce’ was a freed slave.  They say, his slave name was ‘Possum D".  I am honored and blessed to remember him.  He spent allot of time with me and my brother.  (If only we knew what we know now…We would have written down all his stories!).    Papa Deuce didn't read or write, spoke in his native language, Creole French, and often fussed at me  to "...stop run’n  d’hem chickens!!!..." as I played outside. (lol)  He rode a TALL black horse.  Perhaps that is why I was destined to meet my husband, and later learn to love,  raised and show,  Quarter Horses. Papa Deuce, although he was Noir, had sky- blue eyes, tall & skinny, (seven feet in statute, as he looked to be from the eyes of lil me).  My mother said  Papa Deuce  was mixed with white (that explained his  blue eyes) . He  was 102-104 years old, at least, when he died.  His birth certificate had been lost. ....

I was there, in DC,  for all   the Harriet Tubman’s, my mother (all who picked-cotton, In Louisiana and Alabama   for a $1.00 a day living), my maternal Creole family, the Leblanc’s & Thibodaux’s, and paternal Golden and Franklin ancestors. Many of who suffered numerous beatings, hangings, killings and suicides, as martyrs in hopes of making changes, (in the right2 read, educational & employment opportunities, integration, etc.) I will think of them as I have the opportunity “to choose” which one of the 5,000 portal-potties to use on the DC Mall during the inauguration events.. I was there for my ancestors,  the pioneers that I must represent!  They are the ones that have opened doors for  our children, and grandchildren!   I was there to have the opportunity to CHOOSE to STAND,  and WITHSTAND, the DC COLD temperatures and the long lines!  ....

Contrary to  what I initially thought was only to celebrate my MLK n’ me (Jan. 15^th B’day), and witness the historical inauguration.  I now realize that I was there to “represent ALL  our ancestors”, the pioneer “Change-Makers” who paved the way for Barack Obama, the first Black President of U.S.   We ALL are obligated, to start living as ONE Race, “The Human Race”…. And Beyond the Inauguration, Let’s Keep The Change! 

"Armchair revolutionary is a pejorative term, generally used within the Radical Left and other left-revolutionary movements, to describe a person who endlessly criticizes the thoughts, ideology or practice of social movements or armed groups from a metaphorical armchair — i.e., from a mostly or totally inactive, theoretical position. When someone is referred to as, or accused of, being an "armchair revolutionary," it is always a term of abuse, intended to invoke a defensive reaction on the part of the accused, or to discredit the political ideas and/or practices that person subscribes to, or both.

Inherent in the meaning of armchair revolutionary is the idea that the person knows that their ideas require them to be physically involved in political struggles, but that instead the person chooses to be intentionally ignorant or dismissive of real-world issues and problems, in an attempt to continue believing in the false reality their views create. In this way the armchair revolutionary is often regarded to see the world in at least a quasi-idealist manner, i.e., one relative solely to his or her own perceptions, rather than bothering with what s/he should really do — to absorb the physical and practical reality s/he would be compelled to see around him/her if s/he stopped the alleged "political posturing" and became an activist in actual political causes.

revolutionary, when used as a noun, is a person who either actively engages in some kind of revolution, or advocates the revolution, with recognition from some government or party which is effectively carrying out a revolution of the same category ^[1]. The term is usually applied to political revolutionaries or social revolutionaries, and less frequently used to revolutionary scientists, inventors, and artists. In the political context, the term "revolutionary" is often used in contrast to the term reformist. While a revolutionary is someone who supports abrupt change, a reformist is someone who supports more gradual change. When used as an adjective, revolutionary refers to something that has a major, sudden impact on society or on some aspect of human endeavor."

From Wikipedia (Armchair Revolutionary and Revolutionary definitions) 

How Do we break the cycle?

The Armchair Revolutionary must do a few things:

1. Look at themselves and ask the serious question of commitment, Do I have the commitment to take action?

2. They must also commit to a study of revolutionaries from the past and today, Assata Shakur, Nat Turner, Maria Stewart, David Walker, Harriet Tubman, Denmark Vesey, by doing this they can find their fire and see how actual work is to be done. Take this reading list found on AssataShakur.org

Recommended Reading List for Black Revolutionaries
compiled by Assata Forums Members (Updated once a year)

Assata: An Autobiography
Assata Shakur

Seize the Time: The Story of the Black Panther Party and Huey P. Newton
Bobby Seale

Ready For Revolution : The Life and Struggle Of Kwame Ture (Stokley Carmichael)
Kwame Ture (Stokley Carmichael)

Inadmissible Evidence: The Story of the African-American Trial Lawyer Who Defended the Black Liberation Army
Evelyn A. Williams

Handbook of Revolutionary Warfare
Kwame Nkurmah

From Plan to Planet: Life Studies: The Need for Afrikan Minds and Institutions
Haki R. Madhubuti

Afrocentricity
Molefi Kete Asante

Black Power: The Politics of Liberation In America
Kwame Ture and Charles Hamilton

How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America: Problems in Race, Political Economy, and Society
Manning Marable

Metu Neter Vol. 1 & 2
Ra Un Nefer Amen

All Things Censored
Mumia Abu-Jamal

Destruction of Black Civilization
Chancellor Williams

The Huey P Newton Reader
Huey P. Newton

The Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey, Or, Africa for the Africans
Marcus Garvey

Race First: The Ideological and Organizational Struggles of Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association (New Marcus Garvey Library)
Tony Martin

The Creature From Jekyll Island
G. Edward Griffin

By Any Means Necessary
Malcolm X

Soul On Ice
Eldridge Cleaver

Black Skins, White Faces
Frantz Fanon

Ijo Orunmila
Fasina Falade

Two Thousand Seasons
Ayi Kwei Armah

Stokely Speaks: Black Power Back to Pan-Africanism
Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture)

The Spirit of Intimacy: Ancient African Teachings in the Ways of Relationships
Sobonfu Some

Notes for an African World Revolution
John Henrik Clarke

The African Origin Of Civilization: Myth Or Reality
Cheikh Anta Diop

Enemies: The Clash of Races
Haki R. Madhubuti

Cultural Unity of Black Africa
Cheikh Anta Diop

Countering the Conspiracy to Destroy Black Boys series
Jawanza Kunjufu

3. They should examine themselves and what talents, skills and abilities they may have that can assist the upliftment of our people!

4. They should lastly join or start right where they are, a movement of actual movers and shakers in the revolution, like the folks at Black Unity, Assata Shakur.ning, Assata Shakur.org, Something to show a commitment and stop simply complaining!

We can collectively eliminate the Armchair Revolutionary syndrome! We can collectively promote Black Unity!  

Despite what some may say!

DR. MAULANA KARENGA / Los Angeles Sentinel -


It is not difficult to recognize or respect the remarkable moment in the history of this country that the election of Barack Obama represents, nor the profound and particular meaning it has for us as a people; or the significance it holds for all progressives who contributed to it; and the promise it can hold for the world, if we reimagine the future in life-affirming and life-enhancing ways and dare continue the struggle to bring it into being. It is our foremother Anna Julia Cooper who reminds us, however, to be careful about our tendency to assume a singular person's achievement represents advancement of our people instead of simply an opening that still must be widened so that all can enter. She says, "we too often mistake individuals' honor for race development". And likewise, "we often mistake foliage for fruit and overestimate or wrongly estimate brilliant results". Certainly, the Obama victory is a brilliant result, but the fruit of full freedom, equal justice, real equality and shared power for us as a people is still to be cultivated, consummated and harvested. And thus the struggle must and does continue. But there is, still and rightfully so, a need to celebrate this moment in history which brings to mind and heart a wide range of thoughts and feelings: i.e., a shared happiness with and for our people; reverent remembrance and respect for our ancestors whose work and struggle before us brought us to this place; a sense of relief and redirection for the country; anticipation of new possibilities for us and the world; and a deepened appreciation for the need to continue the struggle to forge the good future we all hope for and deserve.


Indeed, Obama himself has said the campaign was a chance for change, not change itself. Likewise, the election is a change of the guardian of state interests, but not the change the Obama campaign promised of a new way to relate to each other and the world. And if Obama is to be more than a new moral mask for the established order and a political muzzle for us to preempt and prevent needed social criticism, we must honor our social justice tradition, continue the unfinished struggle and challenge him to do likewise.


So yes, I share the happiness of our people in their sense of winning a long-coming and hard-fought victory and vindication, their celebration of making the long journey from enslavement to the highest office of leadership of the very society that enslaved us and of winning within a system that didn't favor us, and that, it was said, was not ready to receive us in such a position of prominence, prestige and power. And yet we did it.


I also remember with reverent respect the ancestors and elders, those who opened the way down which we still walk on this long and unfinished journey and taught us the way to walk with dignity, strength, and determination in the world: Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, Martin Delaney, Marcus Garvey, Mary McLeod Bethune, Malcolm X, Fannie Lou Hamer, Martin L. King, and others too numerous to name. And I pay hommage also to those who ran the political race before Obama, especially those who ran the presidential race-Shirley Chisholm, Jesse Jackson, and Al Sharpton, all who taught possibility, widened the circle of inclusion and kept alive the hope and commitment to change eventually chanted by Obama advocates during the campaign and victory celebrations around the world.


And there is this palpable sense of relief and redirection for the country, a hopeful feeling that an Obama administration will rescue the country from the Bush night-and-day-mare of corporate corruption, violations of human and civil rights, economic collapse and the cheap peddling of vulgar flag pin- wearing patriotism framed and fermented in fear and hatred against peoples of the world.


In its place is the need to respect the right and insure the capacity of the people of New Orleans to return and rebuild their lives and future; and to address issues of adequate and affordable housing, universal health care, employment, education, rebuilding the economy, improving multicultural relations and the practice of peace as central to U.S. recovery, respect and positive reassertion in the world. But again, relief and redirection will come not from a single man surrounded by corporate colleagues, lobbyists of every kind and conservative congresspersons who will caution slowness, minimum motion forward and maintenance of a system of trade-offs and back- slapping set in place centuries ago. Only an aware, organized and engaged people can call for and compel the steps needed to turn hope into policy and promise into practice.


All over the world, there is this widespread anticipation of the proposal and pursuit of new possibilities, beyond the Bush years of imperial illusions and aggressiveness, unjust and unjustifiable wars, institutionalized torture and state terror against citizens and various peoples of the world, efforts to dominate and occupy rather than cooperate and the military-might-as-right claim to the resources of the world. And in place of this international banditry and bludgeoning are perceived possibilities of non- interventionist aid for the people of Darfur, Haiti, Congo, Africa as a whole, and the rest of the world, the end of occupation and a just peace and repair for Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan, and framing of a future of common interests and cooperation. As a people who remain a key moral and social vanguard in this country, we must be in the front ranks of those who dare develop and put forth an agenda for ourselves and the country, to help frame the issues, to reimagine the future, and to inform and guide the work ahead to build a politics of social justice, just peace and a shared good in this country and the world. Dr. Ron Daniels, President, Institute of the Black World 21st Century, has called us to conference next week 2008 November 19-23 in New Orleans and we urge all to attend and participate in this historic dialog.


This State of the Black World Conference is the first national planning conference since Obama's election. It will engage African American leaders from around the country, representatives from African nations and other countries in the Diaspora in an intergenerational dialog to think thru issues in politics, culture, economics, community organizing and the academy, as we move beyond the election to turning ideas into action, hope into public policy, and the energy cultivated during the election to rebuilding and sustaining a movement for real, experienced and uplifting change. (To register visit: www.stateoftheblackworld.org)


Dr. Maulana Karenga, Professor of Africana Studies, California State University-Long Beach, Chair of The Organization Us, Creator of Kwanzaa, and author of Kawaida and Questions of Life and Struggle: African American, Pan-African and Global Issues.