Posted on October 10, 2008

Attacking Our Black Leaders

Mark Phillips, NationNews, October 9, 2008

WITH THE RECENT ATTACKS on several prominent black personalities in the United States, I have stopped to ask myself: “Is there a deliberate campaign to eliminate the rise of black leadership, regardless of status or fame?”

In 1967, J. Edgar Hoover issued a memorandum from the FBI field office that outlined five main points. Of those five, the most important to keep in mind was the statement, “prevent the rise of a messiah who could unify and electrify the militant nationalist movement . . . Martin Luther King, Stokely Carmichael and Elijah Muhammad all aspire to this position/ . . .”

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Forty or so years later, we see that charges have been brought against prominent black men like Wesley Snipes, R. Kelly, Snoop Dogg and Michael Jackson.

Not necessarily positive role models, you say. How about the allegations of infidelity brought against clean-cut examples of black leadership like Jesse Jackson and Bill Cosby?

Marcus Garvey was an early 20th Century advocate of leadership exemplified. On the other hand, the “establishment” of the time was successful in destroying the “Back to Africa” movement, and the Black Star Line Corporation, and deporting Garvey from the United States on false charges of tax evasion.

After Garvey came the Honourable Elijah Muhammad who established the Nation of Islam, an organisation that brought discipline and economic power to the communities of black people world-wide. On the other hand, his image and his life’s work were tainted and discredited in the movie Malcolm X.

At the time of writing, the most prominent example of black leadership being attacked for their works even more than their fame is Dr Malachi Z. York.

Dr York has instilled in black people the knowledge of their true culture, language, and sense of self and has written more than 400 books on black history and spirituality.

York has been sentenced unjustly to 135 years for child molestation that have not been substantiated by any witnesses. {snip}

It seems to be the new trend of the “establishment” to assassinate the characters of black leaders by depicting anybody who rises to a position of prominence, as a child molester, womaniser or thug.

This approach seems to be most effective because discrediting one’s character publicly is more damaging at times than physical assassination.

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