The Decolonizer, January 2017

THEDECO LO NIZER January 2017

Where Do We Go From Here?

A Letter To All The Womxn of Color/ Femmes

America's Shame

Racial Forgetting in the Era of Mass Culture

TABLEO FCO NTENTS 1

What is THE DECOLONIZER?

2

The Settler Colonial Election of Donald Trump: A Musical

6

The News Feed

10

Where Do We Go From Here?

11

The Brown Fist Insurrectionalist

13

Repositioning the Black Femme and Sex

14

A Letter to All the Womxn of Color/ Femmes of Color in My Life

16

Americas Shame: The Silence of the Media and Politicians About the Trauma-to-Prison Pipeline for Black Women and Girls

18

How To's

19

Decolonizing Culture

20

Racial Forgetting in the Era of Mass Culture

22

The Shift to Revolutionary Black Identity

25

Letter From The Editor: To The Third World Peoples of the World

26

Brief Histories

28

Decolonizing Voices

32

Track The Movement

W hat IsTHEDECO LO NIZER? THE DECOLONIZER

Is done talking

We have learned

To speak another language

One you may understand.

It does nothing

To appeal to one

Who cannot hear words

Over the sound of machine guns.

Yes, weare talking now

With wind and rusted machette

And flames that burn things down

We are talking now

Our mouths full of ammunition

Another language

Because we are done talking.

1

TheSettler Colonial ElectionO f DonaldTrum p: AMusical

By The Decolonizer The circus that was the 2016 presidential election has finally ended.

The white supremacist ruling class gave the Amerikkkan people two choices: an imperialist war monger or a thundering pile of human feces. With the smoke cleared, Amerikka has shown its true face-- and it is orange.

White liberal mouths were agape.

Hillary voters wept. Green-party voters wet their pants. Bernie Sanders write-ins mumbled "Bernie can still win this".

And everywhere people rushed to google search what the fuck an Electoral College is. Many of you pathetic white liberals opted to crawl over to Canada, so much so that the damn Canadian immigration website crashed.

Welcome to the nightmare that has been people of color's reality in this country for hundreds of years.

Amerikkka is a racist piece of shit.

Amerikkka has always been a racist piece of shit. Amerikkka will always be a racist piece of shit.

Yes, in this settler colonial charade, where elections are held every four years to mask the fact that the United States is an illegitimate country occupying stolen indigenous lands, where democracy is an oligarchy of ruling class elites who invest in systems such as the Electoral College, YOU have to come to terms with the fact that Donald Trump is the most Amerikkkan president there ever was. THIS is real shit. THIS is U.S. decline. Get your fucking head out your ass, get your shit together, get your politics together, no more liberal fantasies. YOU have to decide to put an end to Amerikkkan empire once and for all.

ACT ONE: THE CAMPAIGN The Donald was looking more and more shitty with every day that moved us closer to November 8th. His campaign reflected the worst of white supremacist patriarchy.

He openly encouraged white supremacist violence at his rallies. He managed to consistently embarrass himself at all three presidential debates, one in which he referred to undocumented immigrants as "hombres". He was recorded bragging about sexually assaulting women in October, then had 24 women come forward to testify that they were sexually assaulted by him. He was due in court in December for raping a 13 year old girl.

Trump when asked about what he would do for Black America, mentioned that he would make New York City stop and frisk policies national. In early November the Ku Klux Klan was reported to have issued an endorsement of Donald Trump in the white nationalist newspaper The Crusader. Trump called for massive deportations of Latinx people and has called for banning Muslims, and Syrian refugees. His proposed wall along the Mexican boarder (which he has yet to abandon even though construction is estimated to be at least 25 billion dollars and more than unrealistic) has been his most popular policy.

In other words, the campaign was going swell.

ACT TWO: TRUMP'S SUPPORTERS Trumps rise to power would come from the poor and working-class white populations with whom his racism and xenophobia spoke directly to. Poor whites, who were promised all of the rewards afforded to them by their whiteness, yet are exploited and abandoned by neo-liberal capitalism, find white nationalist ideologies appealing when they are in direct competition with poor people of color for jobs and resources.

racial entitlement that comes from centuries of colonialism, slavery, Jim Crow, xenophobia and Islamophobia in the United States, have been bruised by neo-liberal agendas that merely codify the violence of its own white supremacy in politically correct rhetoric. All the while shaming poor and working class whites who are uneducated and less covert about their white supremacy.

These people feel cheated. The U.S. settler colonial state promised them power, land, and riches based on their whiteness. Yet, the capitalist machine needs low wage workers and poor farmers in order to sustain itself. Global capitalism requires the outsourcing of jobs to China and India and the hiring of migrant workers who are paid even less and still out-preform their white counterparts.

The economic crisis of global capitalism has been a godsend for neo-Nazi and white nationalist groups, who have capitalized on the discontentment and general dis-empowerment of poor and working class white people. They have been organizing white people for years through shitty news engines like Steve Bannon's Breit-fart News. These groups have been able to amass a considerable following of angry white people who scapegoat Black and Brown people for their problems under white supremacist settler colonialism.

How ironic that under conditions caused by global capitalism, the white lower class has turned to a billionaire elitist who never gave a shit about poor people. Trump supporters are in for a treat when Trump's administration, made up of corporate scum such as Steven Mnuchin and Andrew Puzder, finally enters the White House. The cabinet is stacked with big-time CEOs who have nothing but apathy for the plight of poor and working class whites and will likely destroy whatever is left of the working class.

The long ingrained white supremacy and

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ACT THREE: THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE When the Founding Colonizers drafted the United Snakes Constitution in 1787, they had decided that a direct democracy led by popular vote was far too democratic and put too much power in the hands of the people. The Founding Colonizers, who were rich white men and land owners, had a vested interest in protecting their colonial investments from "the tyranny of the majority" and thus had a vested interest in the election process. They decided on a system called The Electoral College, which would leave the election of the president in the hands of a group of "electors" who are hand-picked by their respective political parties, elected by voters on election day, and supposedly act in the interests of those voters as representatives who directly vote for the president.

The Founding Colonizers justified the system by arguing that the Electoral College helped to balance the unfair advantage that the highly populated cities had over the less populated areas in the colonies.

In actuality many of the southern (and northern) drafters of the constitution feared that a popular vote would leave the southern slave owners at the mercy of the northern states.

At the center of their worries was the hot-button issue of slavery, which was becoming more controversial in the northern states. A popular vote would give the abolitionist an opportunity to determine the fate of the slavocracy. As a corrective, the so-called Three-Fifths Clause established slaves as "three-fifths" of a human to increase the number of white Southern electoral votes. This gave more say to smaller slave states and swing states. The Electoral College was built first and foremost to protect the slave-holding elites and the institution of slavery.

From the very beginning the Electoral College was an apparatus used by the white supremacist ruling class structure to leverage their colonial power over the masses and ensure the protection of their settler property under the illusion of democracy. A great number of the original framers of the Constitution had slaves and

were invested in the slaveocacy. All of them were land owners. All of them were men. All of them had a lot to lose in a direct democracy, which seriously threated their interests should they be unable to control who becomes the next president. The Founding Colonizers (who are the origins of the U.S. ruling class) essentially built the Electoral College in order to control U.S. elections.

Today the Electoral College still serves the purpose it has served for over 300 years.

Because of the two-party system, the Democrats and Republicans nominate their slate of electors, who then vote for the party's presidential nominee. These electors are almost always current or former elected officials who are obliged to vote for their party's nominee, not the popular vote.

There are some states who require their electors to vote on the side of the popular vote under certain stipulations, but for the most part an elector is going to vote for their party affiliation. It is important to note that third party candidates receive no electors and will never succeed in getting a third party candidate to be president, even if they win the popular vote because they would have no electors to vote in the Electoral College.

Continued on page 10

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TheNewsfeed DonaldTrumpSealsElectoral CollegeW in The electors in the Electoral College were due to vote for the next president on December 19th. Despite some calls from democrats to postpone the voting in order to receive intelligence briefings about Russian interference, the voting went ahead as scheduled. Contrary to the hopes of many Hillary voters that the Electoral College could intervene to stop Trump from reaching the White House, the spineless electors voted for Trump anyway.

It is no surprise seeing as how electors are selected and by and beholden to their party affiliation and will vote for how their state voted regardless. The Hillary supporters put all of their faith in the so-called "faithless electors", rogue electors who "don't vote for who they are supposed to". It was anticipated that faithless electors would vote for the winner of the popular vote, who was Hillary Clinton.

But electors did not make peep on December 19th. There was virtually no decent. The process went ahead as planed and orchestrated, regardless of whatever allegations of Russian interference. Electors are beholden to the people in power who appoint them and are never elected by the people.

HumanitarianCrisisInAleppo The five-year Syrian civil war, which has become another imperialist proxy war between the U.S. and Russia, had escalated in violence this December as Assad forces along with Russian assistance closed in to recapture the city of Aleppo from Anti-Assad extremists. The damage that has been done to the city is irreconcilable. The death toll is staggering. The conflict has caused the displacement of more than 10 million Syrian refugees and the disappearances of countless more.

The civil war started in 2011 as an uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

When a group of young boys were arrested for writing anti-Assad graffiti, opposition protests ignited throughout the country demanding the release of the boys. The conflict escalated when security forces killed four protesters on march 8, 2011. In response to the increasing repression of Assad's regime, Syrian rebels and extremists began organizing themselves. The anti-Assad forces, backed by the United States government, led a failed plan to topple Assad in order for the United States to gain position in the region against neighboring Iran. The Assad government was supported

by Russia.

The air strikes conducted by Russian, U.S. and pro-Assad forces have basically leveled the city. On December 22nd Russian and Assad forces laid siege to the city, releasing Aleppo from rebel control.

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Flint W ater CrisisContinues Flint still does not have clean water. The babies have lead poisoning. The water has caused skin lesions, hair loss, chemical-induced hypertension, vision loss and depression. The State of Michigan is still whining about not having enough money to supply the residents with an allotment of 96 half-liter bottles of water per resident to each household every week. It's the state?s fault the water is poison in the first place, and Governor Rick Snyder still has yet to be criminally charged for his part in the crisis. On December 20, 2016 four Flint officials were charged with felonies of false pretenses and conspiracy. They are accused of misusing millions of dollars in bonds given by the Michigan Department of Treasury to switch Fints water source to the Flint River. On December 5th Federal District Court Judge David Lawson told state officials that they must deliver the water to the people of Flint.

Email forbrownbleeders@gmail.com if you wanna help heal Flint

NoDAP The Army Corps decision to reject a key permit for the Dakota Access Pipeline has not stopped water defenders from continuing the protests at Standing Rock. After ETP and SAP announced that construction will continue regardless of the Army Corps , protesters have been on high alert and refuse to be swayed by the staged attempts at pacifying resistance. A tense peace between water defenders and law enforcement broke on December 27th as police arrested for "trespassing", which among other things indicates that construction of the pipeline is in fact continuing. On December 15th the newly elected governor of North Dakota Doug Burgum had made a public statement in support of continued construction. A quote from Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) officially states, ?Make make no mistake about it, this pipeline is going through, it?s going through exactly where we have it planned.?

O AKLANDFIRE A warehouse performance space and group housing complex called Ghost Ship was destroyed in a structure fire during an underground electronic music show on Dec 2 in Oakland, CA. The fire killed 36 people from ages 17-61 including performing musicians, guests and one resident. The negligent and abusive landlord, Derick Ion Almena, was complicit in the ten-thousand-square-foot warehouse going without inspection for thirty years while exploiting a particularly vulnerable group of renters comprised of young people, trans people, artist and people of color. Almena offered the space at a lower cost in relation to the gentrified neighborhoods in San Francisco and other areas of Oakland.

DONATE to the Gray Area Fund to help those directly affected:

https:/ / www.youcaring.com/ ourcommunityaffectedbytheoaklandghostshipfire-715087

W alter Scott:NoJustice The Walter Scott case ended mistrial on December 5th despite video footage of officer Michael T. Slager shooting Walter Scott in the back as Scott was running away. Three days earlier the jury reported that they were one vote shy of convicting Slager for murder or voluntary manslaughter. Yet the jurors came back to the bench on Monday saying that despite the best efforts from all members they were unable to produce a guilty verdict. Slager had fired 8 shots at a fleeing Walter Scott during a traffic stop in Charleston, South Carolina on April 4, 2015.

The case was one of the clearest instances of policing violence and still was unable convict Slager who also faces civil rights charges.

Charleston County Prosecutor Scarlet A. Wilson claimed that Scott would have not been shot if he had stayed in the car and "paid the extreme consequence for his conduct", not acknowledging the multitude of Black people who were shot by police while sitting in there cars.

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Continued from page 3 The Electoral College is dominated by Democrats and Republicans, meaning it is also dominated by corporate interests and investments. Party nominations all the way down to the appointment of electors is infiltrated by the ruling class, who funnel money and hold power and influence in party activities. It is already obvious that the ruling class benefits from a Trump presidency. All of Trumps cabinet picks have been millionaires and billionaires, many the CEOs of companies such as Exxon Mobil and Goldman Sachs.

Electors finally put the nail in Americkkka's coffin this December 19th, when they happily voted for Trump with little decent from the so called "faithless electors". All of the dreams Hillary voters had of a Democrat victory have been flushed down the electoral toilet. The weak ass arguments made by many that the Electoral College was actually going to save this election from Trump have now grown into a sorry joke.

ACT FOUR: RUSSIA DID IT! How pathetic is the United States? So pathetic that instead of taking responsibility for electing the biggest piece of shit to ever fall out of an asshole, Amerikkka blames what is responsible for all Amerikkkan problems: Russia.

You first began hearing of Russian interference in the election when the DNC blamed Russia for the DNC emails leaked to Wikileaks. Those emails pointed to corruption in the DNC nomination of Hillary Clinton (surprise, surprise). Then you might have heard that in some swing states like Ohio, there was reported tampering of voting systems. Charging Russian interference, those states upped their cyber security in response.

Now news media reports claim that a CIA assessment has confirmed Russia helped Donald Trump win the election.

The assessment, which is supposedly the accumulation of findings from 17 U.S. intelligence agencies, has not been disclosed to the public and CIA officials have never commented on the assessment. Instead unnamed sources had provided the tip to The New York Times and Washington Post.

The CIA and FBI continue to disagree on conclusions that Russian played an active role in Trumps victory. Obama appeared on the Daily Show to announce Russia's influence in the election. Yet Congress has repeatedly asked the Obama administration to declassify intelligence briefings on Russian interference in the election. Obama has yet to do so. There is simply no concrete evidence at this point that can prove with "high confidence" that Russia helped Trump win the election.

But of course sensationalist Cold War rhetoric has reemerged with news media even reverting back to referring to Russia as "The Kremlin" (Really? The Kremlin?). As liberals seek refuge from the cognitive dissonance of their settler complacently in white supremacy, U.S. nationalism hearkens back to a time when U.S. politics had all the seriousness of a Saturday morning cartoon.

What better way to mend the massive racial and class divides in this country and temper the wide spread discontent then to revitalize the classic us vs. them binary? Then, confuse and distract the people with reports of Russian interference so they can blindly reinvest U.S. nationalism while ignoring the fact of U.S. decline. Anything to avoid taking actual responsibility for the racism, patriarchy, and general white supremacy that is at the core of the election and the United Snakes.

governed and WE can decide to do away with the settler colonial state that has been ruling undemocratically for hundreds of years.

The election of Trump, though terrible in its consequences, can actually be an effective tool to organize around that has to potential to unify and radicalize the people.

That is, provided that the movement does not continue to be co-opted by spineless liberals who are reactionary in their efforts and have no real commitment to decolonization.

There is no greater argument for the abolition of the United States then the fact that Trump has been elected as its president. His platform has appealed to the very soul and essence of what Amerikkka has always been. Trump is the most Amerikkkan president there ever was. And it is about time that the people wake up to this fact and determine the fate of their lives for themselves.

THE DECOLONIZER urges everyone with the will and strength to do so to organize. Take self-defense classes. Get serious about purchasing firearms. Come up with strategies to protect yourself and your family. Sharpen your political analysis of oppression. Organize around what will help you and your community SURVIVE. And if you are organizing protests, make sure they are anti-state protest rather than just anti-Trump. This is bigger than Trump.

This is about the 500 years of colonization and white supremacist patriarchy. The time has come to demand the end of empire once and for all.

ACT FIVE: COUNT DOWN TO JANUARY 20TH There is still time to intervene to radically change the outcome of this election and make history. Anti-Trump protests have been occurring in every major city across the country.

WE are the people who give consent to be

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W hereDoW eG oFromHere?

By Junie Jones

disenfranchisement of the working class while the bourgeois?pockets got fatter and fatter are causes of the outcome.

The next four years will be a really bad time to be a black body in America but then again when hasn't it been.

Honestly I wasn't surprised. Of course white male supremacy will always prevail white neoliberalism, but the news shook the rest of the nation and unfortunately the only constructive thing to come out of this election so far is the fact that now people are on the same page: America is in fact racist.

Trump used white rage and white fragility and overall white stupidity to win the white vote. All the while liberals were berating black folks for not voting that they missed the bigger issue at hand. Trumps victory wasn't because 46% of the country didn't want to vote for one white supremacist over the other. It's because liberals have failed to see how their non acknowledgement of white supremacy and increasingly unsustainable system of capitalism disenfranchising millions across the country has caused anger, dissent, and distrust of the system causing it to implode on itself.

The very real impacts of climate change only will only continue to destroy the planet and judging on the Trumps administration's position on climate change, humanity's days on this earth are numbered.

With the need for mobilization more urgent than ever there's still inaction for a number of very damning reasons.

Ever since white supremacy won out over neoliberalism, liberals have refused to take accountability for the fact that neoliberalism, a false sense of progressivism, and overall

Right now America is at a crossroads and the direction of either road is going to have a drastic effect on a global scale. One likely outcome is that come time for Trumps inauguration the media and society at large will have come to normalized fascism and liberal counter-revolutionary inaction will allow fascism to take rise.

Tuesday November 8th 2016 marked a historic day in the United States of amerikka. On that day the system elected Donald Trump as president of this settler colonial, antiblack, genocidal nation state.

Despite liberal counter revolutionary movements, a group of radicals may come together and actually be able to dismantle all the systems being put into question since the election. White supremacy, settler colonialism, imperialism, capitalism all of those systems of violence could be facing an end if the correct moves are taken and we start taking up arms to fight the state and fascism.

Either way the United States will never be the same and the air is ripe for change in systems, in ideology, and in thought, all of our worlds are about to change and we need to be strapped for that.

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theBrownFist Insurrectionist

By Chango We have seen that previous movements and some current movements have been impotent in securing, providing, and protecting the interest of the poor and the weak. The only thing they have delivered are empty promises.

When was the last time you have seen a so called socialist, communist, African peoples socialist party, party for liberation and socialism new black panthers, black lives matter in your projects or tenements knocking on your door or at the shelters or soup kitchens or going to visit prisoners and county jails helping the poor and incarcerated? I can bet a dollar to a doughnut you haven't unless there is media attention and grants involved.

When have you seen these many organizations truly working with the people, among the people that they claim to represent? Well I know I haven't and I have been in the projects of NYC and NYS, at many shelters when I was homeless, at the soup kitchens when I was hungry, at the unemployment and workforce centers when I was looking for jobs or any type of work to sustain myself. There was not a socialist, communist, anarchist, leftist in sight.

They were no where to be found in these places, because you know where they were at? They was holding their empty rhetorical meetings without you, and then dining and feasting afterwards and going to their comfortable homes while ignoring your pain and suffering, your struggles, but tell you they are with you. In reality they are with the state that is giving them grants that we never see and jobs that we never get.

They will invite you to their meetings while not caring if you have carfare or transportation to get there and back, not caring if you had a meal to eat (We Have

refreshments here though), a roof over your head, a job, a few dollars, a spouse, a partner, a family.

In fact they could not care less about you, but they want your support, they want you to contribute to their cause, to hand out papers/ fliers, to vote for them, come to their meetings, demonstrations, meetings.

They do not care about you but tell you they are the vanguard that will bring in a new society and if there is any indication of what this new society will be like just look at how they treat the poor and weak, how they treat you. Wanting your support and submission to their party, organization cause, group while giving you nothing in return. How can they bring in a new society based on equality and justice when they do not even practice that in their organization?

They are simply blood suckers who prey on the poor and weak to advance their own corrupt selfish political means, giving you false hopes of a better society a better world.

But if these so-called radical, leftist, and progressive parties and organizations cant and don't treat you well now what makes you think they will when and if they have power?

We The Brown Fist Insurrectionist Party of America and The International Rising Phoenix Insurrectionist Party Of The Third World are here as the real party of poor, weak, marginalized and oppressed.

The Five Fingers Of The Brown Fist Insurrectionist 1)

The Pol it ical Finger

2)

The Mil it ary Finger

3)

The Social Finger

4)

The Economic f inger

5) The Educat ional Finger

First let us correct and define what type of insurrectionalism that we practice and adhere to in order to shovel away the bullshit and misconceptions, in order to inform and clarify what revolutionary leftist scientific insurectionalism is and about to quiet the pseudo socialist, communist, leftist and to crush the corrupt corporate capitalist and expose the greedy and selfish leftist for who they are and are not. For all of these parties serve in some form or fashion their imperial masters while pretending to be on the side of the poor oppressed, weak, and marginalized.

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RepositioningTheBlackFem m eandSex

By Junie Jones

The most unprotected person in America is the black femme whose body is violated both on a structural and societal level. The assault on the black femme be it physical, emotional, or state sanctioned is relentless and always positions black femme bodies as lesser and fungible.

It's impossible to have that kind of system in place on a structural level and not have those dynamics replicated in personal relationships. I think it's time for the complete repositioning of black femmes not only on a societal level but in every way imaginable.

As a non binary trans woman who has a history of being sexually involved with masculine cis men I find my relationships end up replicating oppressive structures like patriarchy, colorism, and anti-blackness drives irreconcilable wedges between me and my partners.

Many of my black femme friends only have negative things to say about relationships with cis or masculine men that have a similar tune of entitlement, neglect, manipulation, and abuse. Many of these relationships require a ton of emotional labor on the black femmes part on educating their partners on why their actions are harmful in the first place.

I never thought I would enjoy sex and I still don't think I do but I've been conditioned to want to have sex which forces me to engage in activities I otherwise don't like because my masc partners needs are centered. I was getting a hand job from someone once and I didn't even like it because it was one of the first times my own pleasure was centered and I didn't know how to feel about that.

This perpetuates this patriarchal dynamic where femmes overextend themselves and push themselves past their limits to make a relationship work.

Not only that but black femmes are being forced to face violence and oppression from their partners as well as the state and have no relief from the forces that be.

An important aspect of that is the fact cis men that have sex with femmes hardly ever center the femmes pleasure and end up just using the femmes body to masturbate with.

It cannot be swept under the rug that hypermasculinity and patriarchy condition men to be unfeeling machines that just eat femme labor and shit it out but let this be a call to all cis men to do fucking better with your black femme

partners because they deserve more than your shitty neglect just because society conditioned you to not feel.

Cis men need to start reevaluating how they move in relationships and actively work towards building healthy relationships so the black femme can have at least some sort of relief in the world.

Of course calling out and catching harmful relationship dynamics is just a start. In order for the complete restructuring of society where white supremacist male patriarchy is overturned can those dynamics truly be erased.

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ALetter toAll theW om xnof Color/ Fem m esof Color inm ylife

By Zaira Gomez

Y'all are fucking bomb.

I'm reminded of all that has come before me, that will come after me, that has been in my life and that is currently in my life.

I'm constantly inspired by your complexity. by your ability to look at fear in the eye. by your strength. by your vulnerability. by your softness. by your determination. by your existence.

you remind me to believe that we are capable of creating spaces to love. to come undone. to unlearn. to grow. to learn. to heal.

and you all keep me going.

i see how you create. how you sing. how you write. how you draw. how you work. how you organize. how you cultivate joy. how you forgive. how you fight. how you rest. how you cry. how you love. how you heal.

and this is how i continue. getting out of bed. and finding purpose in my life. this is how i find the inner strength to keep kicking and pushing.

so thank you for living in your truths. for seeking compassion. for finding better days when i thought that it was a hopeless cause. resilience runs through your veins. you are the universe.

always remind yourself that that you are enough. you will make it through. we will make it through. together.

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Am erica'sSham e:TheSilenceof theMediaandPoliticians abouttheTraum a-to-PrisonPipelinefor BlackW om enand G irls

by Taylar Nuevelle On October 18, 2016 I participated in a press conference with the Equal Rights Center (ERC) in Washington, DC. The press conference was about the ERC?s report, ?Unlocking Discrimination: A DC Area Testing Investigation About Racial Discrimination and Criminal Records Screening Policies in Housing?.

This report is about the fact that black women in DC with criminal records have a harder time than their white female counterparts in obtaining safe, quality and affordable housing. One of the take-aways from the report is that criminal background checks are replacing racial discrimination in fair housing.

I have had my own housing woes post incarceration.

This report and press conference received very little coverage from the media, which has left me completely baffled and searching. One of the most important aspects of the ERC report is that women with a criminal history often have survived trauma (domestic violence, childhood physical abuse, sexual violence). I call this the Trauma-to-Prison Pipeline? .

One would think that such a groundbreaking report, with an excellent methodology (that was explained during the press conference) would definitely get some play in the Washington Post as this is in their back yard.

Yet, the Washington Post has been a no show. Just as they were a no show at the press conference on the report released

by Covington & Burling LLC and Washington Lawyers Committee, ?DC Women In Prison.?

The only reason the report was in the Washington Post at all is because I wrote an Op-Ed detailing why the report was a failure. The Washington Post did not show up at this event and Eric Holder, the former Attorney General for the United States was one of the guest speakers. I was invited because I was one of the women interviewed for the sorry excuse of a report.

Yet, whenever there is an opportunity to sensationalize a story concerning a ?criminal act? a Black woman is accused of committing, Washington Post writers such as Keith Alexander and Justin Wm Moyer are all over the story, making sure it gets plenty of face time in the Metro section. However, neither of these reporters has covered an article about what Black women experience prior to incarceration or the racism they endure in the criminal justice system.

Moreover, I have yet to see one ?redemption story? in the Washington Post, New York Times, or any other major media outlet about a Black woman who was incarcerated and returned home and changed her life? and there are plenty of these stories. I am one such woman. Yet, they love to cover Black men who come home after doing double digits and find God and ?turn their lives around.?

My search has led me down this path: there is a clear gender bias in the Criminal Justice Reform Movement. While everyone is speaking about the collateral consequences of mass incarceration of Black men, there is a complicity of silence amongst major media outlets and politicians concerning justice-involved women of color.

Hiding the truth about Black women who are justice-involved is maddening because silence offers no hope of changing the situation and the horrors we women of color survive before, during and post incarceration.

Black women are two times as likely to be incarcerated as White women. The Vera Institute for Justice did an excellent report on women in jails in America? it?s a one of a kind report, much like the ERC?s report.

However, the difference in media coverage is clear. Why? I believe it is because the ERC report dealt with live subjects to conduct their research. The women who participated had tangible stories and the data is factual not anecdotal, or self-reported. This is difficult to dismiss.

Thus the truth: America has always turned its back on poor Black women and, when coupled with a criminal history, what we have is Black women being marginalized in their marginalization? locked up for surviving.

Just as importantly, out of the media coverage that the ERC report did receive, only one newspaper interviewed someone other than the writers of the report? that was the Hoya News which is the newspaper for Georgetown University and they interviewed me as I was a part of the press conference. To-date none of the testers have been interviewed.

In the recently released, much acclaimed documentary, ?The 13th" very little data or even lived experiences of Black women who are or were incarcerated are mentioned. I think about Alicia Keys and her movement with Van Jones # cut50. When she speaks about incarceration and the collateral consequences for women she is referring to Black women who have fathers, brothers, husbands, sons and/ or boyfriends in jail or prison? Not Black women who are incarcerated or justice-involved.

Even Oprah Winfrey finds space and time to promote books by Black men who have been incarcerated. John Legend just released a song about ending mass incarceration and redemption and the unjust over-representation of African Americans in the prison system. But he is telling the story of a Black man.

Two-thirds of Black women who are justice

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-involved are mothers of school-aged children and were the primary caregiver prior to incarceration. Our needs are so different than those of our Black brothers.

Can you hear that? That?s the sound of the silencing of Black justice-involved women and girls traveling the journey on the trauma-to-prison pipeline. A silence so deafening I wake in the middle of the night clutching my heart? because it is in my soul, my heart and mind and I will not forget and I will not be silenced Ever Again.

One of the most upsetting events I attended was at the White House on October 28, 2015 called ?Girls of Color and Intervening Public Systems: Interrupting the Sexual Abuse to Prison Pipeline.? The only reason I was invited (not as a panelist or expert but as a member of the audience) was because I had given a talk on Building a Trauma Informed Nation with the Federal Partners a month prior and used the phrase ?Trauma-to-Prison Pipeline.?

This event at the White House was invitation only and received no publicity. Furthermore, they did not have any justice-involved girls or women on the panel, but "experts". I later wrote an article and it was rejected because the very large liberal entity that asked me to write about the event told me that they could not publish anything that criticized POTUS. How could the White House hold such an event and not have justice-involved Black women and girls in participants? If you do not have the stories, you cannot conduct the study for data to develop programs to interrupt the trauma-to-prison pipeline

and thus create systemic and sustainable change.

Since women are one of the fastest growing populations in the jails and prisons in America, one would think that in the last year or more, with bi-partisan support for criminal justice reform, at least one woman who has been incarcerated would have had center stage on the issues. The fact that Black women are twice as likely as White women to be incarcerated means our country is filling up our jails and prisons with Black women survivors of trauma.

President Obama visited a male federal prison in 2015 to shed light on why we must end mass incarceration, but no one even asked, ?When will Obama visit a female prison? What about the women?? To-date not one high profile politician has visited a women?s jail or prison.

This is why while incarcerated I created the Who Speaks for Me? Project. I have a story to tell and as do many other women like me.

The national media must do its part and spread the truth about justice-involved Black women and girls as widely as they do about Black men in this corrupt judicial system.

Make our stories? the stories of us Black women and girls who are justice-involved, and the fact that 90% of us have survived some type of major traumatic experience in our childhood and/ or adult life (sexual violence, physical abuse, domestic violence and/ or witnessing violence) prior to incarceration? headline news.

This trauma is exacerbated by incarceration and left untreated.

Just as importantly, politicians need to stop having closed door and invitation only meetings, and publicly discuss what the data and stories tell us about the Trauma-to-Prison Pipeline for Black women and girls.

Society has to stop making us a footnote in this politically corrupt judicial system, as do those who are a part of the criminal justice reform movement. Only then can we really begin to build a Just, Equal, and Radically Inclusive Society.

Women, especially poor Black women, carry the brunt of America?s racism. When we end up on the journey of the Trauma-to-Prison Pipeline we are cloaked in shame.

This shame is reinforced by our society when our truths go ignored and our stories untold. I have decided that in order to heal, I must share my story and shed the shame. This is America?s shame and I will not be complicit. I will not continue to be a statistic on the wrong side.

TM

16

HowTo's HowtoO rganizeASurvival Program A survival program is an organized grassroots effort that offers an oppressed community basic needs for their survival. Where ever the top-down social welfare programs initiated by an oppressive regime fail, the survival program is there to fill in the void, ensuring that the people are fed, clothed, and have the necessary resources essential to their survival. More than charity or community service, a survival program is the revolutionary act of the people providing for themselves and is specifically designed to undermine the state and break dependence from it.

The Black Panther Party for Self Defense was well known for its survival programs, so much so that J. Edgar Hoover identified the Free Breakfast program as the most dangerous and subversive of all the Party's activities.

He claimed that the programs were really for indoctrinating kids into Black revolutionary ideology. He was partly right, for the survival programs exposed many poor Black people to revolutionary ideas they would not normally be exposed to. The survival programs became the platform for politicizing the people and proved to be an effective tool for mobilizing popular support. Furthermore, they cemented the Party's position in the Black community and won the trust of the Black poor and working class.

In the most concrete sense, the survival programs help place the people in a better position to wage revolutionary struggle, since one cannot fight oppression on an empty stomach or without decent clothing.

Step 1: Establish Yourself In The Community Before you begin anything you must first establish yourself in the community you are working with. It is very important that you are a resident or a native of that community or else it cannot be said that your programs are grassroots. The true power of the survival programs come from the self-determination of the people who already live there and know their community and needs. Get to know your neighbors and talk with them about their needs and struggles. Familiarize yourself with social spaces such as community centers, churches, and soup kitchens. Scout out possible spaces in the community that would be available for you to have your programming.

Step 2: Form A List Of Needs After collecting feedback from neighbors and other residence, start out by jotting down a list of all of the needs you can think of. Keep in mind some of the most basic needs such as food, clothing, housing, child care, health care, employment, and safety.

You might even consider transportation and education. Maybe residents need repairs done to their homes. As a resident you should also be asking the question "what do I need?". Look at state welfare programs functioning in the community. Where they are lacking? Where are people being under-served? Your list should be as exhaustive as possible.

Step 3: Outline The Survival Program Choose a need from the list and brainstorm how you might go about serving that need. If the need is food for example, maybe you want to start a breakfast program or a food drive. Organize an rough outline of what the program will entail and how it will function. The outline should not be too rigid and must leave space for modifications as the people see fit.

Step 4: Make A Political Education Plan Your survival program will get people through the door. Once they are there it is crucial that you provide exposure to revolutionary ideology and political education. This can be as simple as handing out political pamphlets with a meal, or putting up revolutionary posters and art in your spaces. Your approach should not be preachy, condescending, or paternalistic. Instead, respect the people as humans and make an effort to level with them about oppression. Every person who receives services from your program should know what your movement is about, in the same way everyone who receives services from Salvation Army knows what they are about. Your message should be clear and accessible to the people. Everyone who receives services from your program must leave with something in their hands that explains the movement and its politics.

Step 5: Setting Up The Survival Program Make a map of the resources at your disposal, including money, possible volunteers, local donors, and venues. You will want to have a separate revenue stream in place to fund the project. Avoid grants. Venues can be a public space or someones home. When you have secured adequate funding for your program and have a venue you are ready to begin your program. Be aware that the program may be infiltrated and plan accordingly.

17

DeclonizingCulture Bookof themonth: Colonize This!

It has been decades since women of color first turned feminism upside down, exposing the ?70s feminist movement as exclusive, white, and unaware of the concerns and issues of women of color from around the globe. Now a new generation of brilliant, outspoken women of color is speaking to the concerns of a new feminism, and to their place in it. Daisy Hernandez of Ms. magazine and poet Bushra Rehman have collected a diverse, lively group of emerging writers who speak to their experience? to the strength and rigidity of community and religion, to borders and divisions, both internal and external? and address issues that take feminism into the twenty-first century.

Artist of themonth: CoriN.Pillows Cori is an emerging artist who seeks truth and peace through every brush stroke. She paints iconic images of historical leaders who inspire her to change the world, portraits of friends and family, and pieces that reflect power and strength in her community. Her work varies in mediums from charcoal and acrylics to digital mixed media. She creates from a place of great inspiration, which includes nature, history, family, love, loss, pain, struggle, social justice, and so much more. She is always seeking to reflect positive powerful images of her community in an attempt to remind us how amazing we all are. She finds that the fun is in the journey of creating the art piece and the outcome is simply icing on the cake.

Filmof themonth:

W ordof themonth:

The Four th Wor ld War

Non-Profit I ndustr ial Complex

What this documentary calls "the Fourth World War" is the struggle of poor and working-class people all over the globe who must battle both large corporations and oppressive governments in order to survive and win basic human rights.

Filmed in the streets of Mexico, Korea, Argentina, Palestine, Quebec City, and other locations all over the world, this is an emotional and very politicized look at glaring injustice and the emerging movements that seek to combat it.

This month's word is Non-Profit Industrial Complex.

Non-Profit Industrial Complex (noun): The system of non-profit industries that dominate the "social justice" scene, turn over profits, and neutralize the authentic descent of the people. The 1.3 trillion dollar industry consists of millions of 501(c)(3)s and international NGOs who complete with each other over donor contracts and grants, often commodifying the struggles of poor people of color in the process.

While many of these organizations may have started with good intentions, the mad rush for RFPs, donor contracts, and the limiting requirements of granters virtually inhibit any of them from effecting change. In actuality these organizations, who depend on social crises caused by capitalism and colonialism in order to stay relevant and appeal to their donors, are just another head of the colonial system.

Non-Profit Industrial Complex in a sentence: The non-profit industrial complex has co-opted the Black Lives Matter Movement for the purpose of mobilizing funding from the white liberal donor establishment and suppressing the more radical elements of the movement.

18

Racial ForgettingintheEraof MassCulture:TheShopsat Tanforan,JapaneseInternm entandW hiteAm erican Territoriality 75 thousand families scattered all around the United States is not going to upset anybody. - Franklin D. Roosevelt1

By Bud Gankhuyag

After President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 into law on February 19, 1942, over 100,000 Japanese people were shoved into hastily made assembly centers, where they would stay until the government finished constructing internment camps.

30 miles south of San Francisco along U.S. Interstate 380 stands a massive sign advertising ?The Shops at Tanforan Mall? that invades the view of drivers? windshields. A graceful silhouette of a racehorse in mid-stride runs below the words, signaling that this shopping mall was once the site of a famed racetrack of the same name. However, hidden from this design and from public view, is the more infamous legacy of the racetrack being used as an assembly center for Japanese internees during World War II.

Tanforan Racetrack was one such place. A prominent venue in the horse-racing world where Seabiscuit raced, the horse stalls could quickly be repurposed into temporary homes for the interned.

In his memoir, Yoshiko Uchida remembers that ?The stall was about ten by twenty feet and empty except for three folded Army cots lying on the floor. Dust, dirt, and wood shavings covered the linoleum that had been laid over manure-covered boards, the smell of horses hung in the air, and the whitened corpses of many insects still clung to the hastily white-washed walls.?2

This peculiar history of the land stands in striking contrast to the sterile, corporate-curated mall found in suburbs built on top of it, as well as on top of indigenous land. Because the mall imposes the totality of its existence, both physically and culturally, it is what happens inside its walls, not so much the building or the land on which it sits, that people remember and consider significant.

Mine Okubo?s Citizen 13660 provides a graphic memoir with a dry, morbid humor that captures both the destitution and resilience of the internees.

She and her family were later transferred to Tule Lake, but at Tanforan, they felt ?close to freedom and yet far from it. The San Bruno streetcar line bordered the camp on the east and the main state highway on the south. Streams of cars passed by all day. Guard towers and barbed wire surrounded the entire center. Guards were on duty night and day.?3

Developers repurposed the land in such a way that what was previously there may leave only traces or echoes; history becomes an afterthought to the daily ritual of consumerism.

What does the history of internment mean in the context of collective memory and consumerist cultural production? What happens in a space where history has literally been buried? Racial forgetting, the unseen manufacturing of a racial makeup and attitude, the non-existence of what once existed, pervades the shopping mall today, where a trace of the history of internment is not in clear view but must be deliberately sought.

Being forced into horse stalls is evidently dehumanizing enough, but the more subtle detail lay in the fact that government officials created this situation precisely by deeming Japanese as un-American, foreign and dangerous. In other words, racehorses had certain rights over the Japanese.

Unlike the horses that could be considered a source of national pride and prowess, the Japanese were foreign threats that, according to an official at Tanforan, ?when given an inch of consideration, a Japanese will soon take a yard of authority" 4 .

These racial politics were profoundly tethered to land politics at a time when global powers waged violent war over territorial gains and international supremacy.

Even though all Japanese, citizen and non-citizen alike, were labeled foreign threats, they were more physically restrained to the land than ever before, literally forcibly restricted from leaving the camp premises. Their existence at Tanforan, while waiting for their next deployment, was a daily reproduction of nationalist anxiety over territoriality, the subsequent military duress, and the perpetual scapegoating and foreignization of the Japanese.

When the war is over And after we are gone Who will visit This lonely grave in the wild Where my friend is buried?5

Are there graves in Tanforan? If there are, they rest in the same ground (or on top) of the indigenous Ohlone people. What happens to a space where anguish was felt and lives lost? When the psychic energy of sorrow dissipates into the air, where does it go? Does the land itself change? Not physically, least, yet to a society driven by real estate, capital interests and profit, the preservation of the racetrack may have been the most redeeming aspect of Japanese internment.

After war ended in August 1945, while those released found their homes and businesses destroyed and rendered unrecognizable, the Tanforan Racetrack resumed its racing business, as patrons and enthusiast enjoyed its facilities for nearly two more decades, until a fire destroyed the grounds in 1964.6

19

The construction of the Tanforan Mall took advantage of increasing highway construction and suburbanization; the highly profitable project of the Tanforan Shopping Center motivated it's quick development.

Yet considering the utilitarian facade of the mall, its outwardly inviting consumerist modus operandi, consumer culture is the mall?s implicit answer to racism; no matter what color or creed we are, the mall tells us, we all have the right to shop.

Like all shopping malls, The Shops at Tanforan postures itself as the mantle of the town by serving as a purportedly utilitarian spaces where anyone can find something for themselves, and thus everyone can find communion. Here, consumerism acts as a stand-in for public participation and civic service.

The engulfing logic of American settler colonialism and racism leads to this whitewashed conclusion. A commemorative garden stands near the mall?s entrance, a memorial organizers bitterly fought for, but shoppers may walk in this garden and learn this brief history, only to go inside to shop.

As with any culture, the culture of shopping malls would not exist if there were not participants to daily reproduce its ethos. For shoppers at Tanforan, their participation and production of mall culture is the successor to the carceral camp of the Japanese in the history of the land, whether or not they acknowledge it.

1 Helen

Murao, interview, in Tateisihi, And Justice for All, 48, quoted in Ronald Takaki, Strangers from a Different Shore: A History of Asian Americans (New York: Back Bay, 1998), 404.

2 Yoshiko

Uchida, Desert Exile, 70.

3 Mine

Okubo, Citizen 13660 (Seattle, University of Washington, 1946), 81.

4 Ibid., 93.

5 Aiko

Mifune, interviews with author, February 18, 1988 and March 29, 1988, quoted in quoted in Ronald Takaki, Strangers from a Different Shore: A History of Asian Americans (New York: Back Bay, 1998), 405.

6 History, City

of San Bruno, accessed October 16, 2016, https:/ / sanbruno.ca.gov/ community/ history.htm.

White American territorialism stays intact, the Japanese devalued, and the Ohlone people erased. The obliteration of the ethnic and indigenous past is ultimately a lie, however.

Memory of internment and the enduring survival of the indigenous exist as living contradictions to the project that sought to eliminate them. Despite murder, genocide, incarceration, and erasure, they are still here.

20

TheShift ToRevolutionaryBlackIdentity

By Junie Jones

?All myniggasinthewhole wideworldthisshit isfor us?

We are the soldiers of the revolution. For the past hundreds of years the world has stepped on the necks of black people and have built the world on our subjugation and we've endured and we've survived.

The time for surviving is over it's time to start fighting for what we?re owed.

The state always has its hand wrapped around our neck but for a second it's grip is faltering and we have the opportunity to seize freedom. We are the most resilient people on the planet to survive what we did and still continue to resist despite unending violence. There's a window of opportunity we have to end our oppression and I?m telling you it needs to be taken now.

Build your resources and material needs so when the state comes knocking at your door with violence you have the same thing in your hands for them. This is my call to action to all black people. It's time to strip off the ontological chains of pain and strife attached to blackness, to heal the trauma we suffer by loving each other and taking care of each other truly during this shift in identity.

Now is the time for community building and organizing and unification in all, encompassing new ideas of Blackness and liberation. The anti-black world we?re forced to be subjugated to is burning and we don't have to put out the fire.

Let it burn this country and its borders to the ground for indigenous reclamation.

America is not for us and never was. Let's come together as a people and let white people burn their world to the ground.

We don't have to be apart of that.

In the coming months we'll have a chance to change the existence of Blackness in this world and truly experience freedom, if we move correctly.

Freedom from capitalism, from colonialism, from global white supremacy and antiblackness now is our chance to end this burning plantation called america and seize freedom.

21

Letter FromTheEditor:ToTheThirdW orldPeoplesof TheW orld

By Dubian Ade Comrades, We have inherited the project of our ancestors. This project, which lives in our bones and echoes through our bodies. This project that has been passed down in the muscles fibers and colors our intergenerational trauma. The project we have known intuitively, yet have procrastinated, feared, repressed within ourselves. We have tried reconciliation with our oppressors. We have tried reform. We have even tried to make our respective countries work for us, carving out a home amongst the oppression.

But the project calls out to us and will not be ignored, even when we try with all our power to silence it. This project is mass decolonization and the immediate end of western empire, once and for all.

Donald Trump is now president of the United States of America. The Colonial United States of America. The bloody and murderous United States of America. It is not a surprise to us, so much as it is an ugly reminder, and a warning.

That fear that you are feeling, the acknowledgement that repercussions will affect all third world peoples across the globe, is resurrecting in you the project, which you have put off for so many years.

What we as the third world peoples of the world have put off for so many centuries.

You have pushed back at the project, even saying that we have endured worse than Trump. That we can survive what is coming.

You hide away from the fact that we deserve better. That the United States and the whole of Europe has owe us for too long,. That if we are to live we can and must take what is our due, by any means necessary.

The project is tapping you on the soldier.

And this time there is no choice. This time the project will not take no for an answer.

The time has come to finish what our ancestors had started, what they had died for in order for us to be here, alive and strong and prepared to carry out whatever necessary to end the regime of global white supremacist patriarchy. Our ancestors have prepared us for this moment.

You do not fear what they will do to us if we rise, no matter how much you try to tell yourself that their response will be brutal. They are already brutal in their policing, their military, their economic displacement. They are already brutal in their technologies of repression and control. They already kill us for no reason at all.

No, you do not fear what they will do to us, you fear that the project will be successful. You are afraid of what will be required of us. The strength and the responsibility to bring fourth a more complete humanity.

You fear stepping into the unknown. Yet you also know that if we do not move on this project now, we may not survive to see another day.

The world has changed, yet it has not changed. The state is both there and not there. There are rulers, yet there are no rulers. Colonialism, yet there is neocolonialism. In this globalized world it can be hard to identify who our enemies actually are. So let us be frank by saying that the The World Bank, the IMF, the Council on Foreign Relations, The Federal Reserve, The FBI, The BIA, The CIA, G4S and it's likenesses, are all the immediate enemies of the people and the project of third world liberation. The time has come to dismantle these institutions.

The time has come to organize. For the biggest mistake of our oppressors is that through the consolidation of power they are easily made into targets, hence the illusion of democratic government manufactured to protect them. When the state falls so does the curtain. We greatly outnumber them. We are the commodity, the resource that feeds colonizing imperial beast. We are the ones that are the source of the power. And when we move, so will the structure crumble to the ground.

To achieve this we take cues again from our ancestors, who in years past had the foresight to organize themselves into a third world liberation front. During the great decades of decolonization in the 50s and 60s it became a necessity for Black and Brown peoples in Africa, Asia, and Latin America to band together for the purposes of solidarity. They made mistakes. The nationalism, land disputes, class difference, and patriarchy proved to be too decisive to ward off European globalization. Yet, we have these lessons to learn from.

Today our efforts must be organized on a global scale. Though our situations as people of color are diverse, we must come together to fulfill the project, this project of decolonization.

All of us have been touched by the conquest of Europe and the United States. All of us have witnessed its violence and have never been the same. So we call on the Zapatistas in Mexico, the students in South Africa, the stone throwers in Palestine, the workers in India, the water protectors in the United States, the Aboriginal Peoples in Australia. We call on Black Lives Matter, Section 22, the independence movement in Puerto Rico. We call on all third world resistance movements.

Let us combine our strength on the basis of genuine respect for women, trans, queer, disabled, poor and working class people of color, for our ancestors tell us that we will not be successful without their leadership. Let us build coalitions that have the power to support one other and sustain our movements. Let us mobilize our workers who are the life blood of the global capitalist system. Let us mobilize our purchasing power as consumers in the global capitalist system. Let us bring back the revolutionary technology of guerrilla warfare to defend ourselves against the colonizers and the imperialists. Let us conspire to bring down the state.

We, the third world peoples of the world who carry on our backs entire nations, we are the source of the success and the defeat of empire.

We know, as our ancestors knew, that decolonization is possible. It there in every story about freedom we have ever told. Decolonization is possible and everyone is aware of it, even our oppressors. It is the reality they fear above all things. This is why they stop at nothing to isolate our movements.

However, when we decide to move forward with the project there is nothing that can be done to stop it. This project, which humanizes us at every turn, cultivates a love of ones self, and a love of freedom. This projects which decolonizes the mind, body, and spirit. They can never destroy this project, which was birthed the moment the colonizer appeared on the shores, and has survived through the violence done to us and our ancestors. This project which will out live us when we are gone. Come comrades, there is not a moment left to waste on anything else. The project of decolonization awaits us.

Until Victory,

24

BRIEFHISTO RIES:TheCubanRevolution

By Dubian Ade The Spanish colonization of Cuba began as soon as mass murderer Christopher Columbus landed on the island 1492.

Colonial violence caused the indigenous Taino of the region to decline in great number. For three years the Taino chief Hatuey and other Taino chieftains waged a guerrilla campaign against the Spanish but were eventually defeated. Following these developments, a Spanish colonial government was set up in Havana 1514.

African slaves were introduced to the island in 1526 to toil on sugar and tobacco plantations.

The regime was characterized by an intensely autocratic right- wing military rule that generously supported U.S. business investments and activity on the island. Corruption and organized crime continued to thrive under Batista. The Cuban plantation system remained relatively in tact, despite the abolition of slavery on the island, and segregation still persisted in the public sector. In the employment sector Black and mulatto Cubans were largely regulated to service work, agricultural labor, and the manufacturing industries. U.S. imperialism found a comfortable position in the country under Batista, and U.S. demands hindered Cuba's economic development.

Batista's 1952 coup prevented one Fidel Castro from running under the Partido Orthodoxo ticket. The young lawyer, disillusioned with the Batista dictatorship petitioned the court to remove Batista Spanish rule on the island lasted for more on the grounds that he violated the 1940 than three centuries, only briefly interrupted Constitution. When this effort failed, Castro decided by the British occupation of Havana in 1762. to used armed force. On July 6, 1953, Castro led an It was the conflict of the Spanish- American attack on the Moncada army garrison in Santiago de War that officially ended Spanish colonial Cuba. Though the attack was unsuccessful, the July rule on the island. U.S. troops had invaded 6th Movement became the name of the revolutionary Cuba during the war and, following its campaign to end the Batista regime. Many of the defeat, Spain left the U.S. in control of the participants in the July 6th attack were killed or government in Havana. American thrown in jail. Castro himself was jailed and then businesses closed in to take advantage of deported to Mexico. There, in Mexico City, the the arrangement, setting up shop and survivors of the attack were able to regroup. establishing corporate investments in the Meanwhile, a young Argentine doctor by the name of Cuban sugar industry.

Che Guevara was busy backpacking through Latin Cuba however could not be legally annexed America. During his journey he encountered the by the U.S. and under pressure from the aftermath of revolution in Bolivia, studied Marxist Cuban people free elections were held in theory, and met revolutionary fighters, many of 1900. By 1902 Cuba was officially whom were survivors of the July 6th attack in Cuba. recognized as an independent nation in While in Guatemala, Che witnessed the CIA backed charge of its own administration. Yet, the 1954 coup that removed democratically elected specter of United States imperialism did not Jacobo Arbenz in order to install Jorge Ubico. This go away with independence. The U.S. more than anything greatly politicized Che and by the maintained corporate investments in Cuba time he fled Guatemala for Mexico City in September despite the transition, reserved the right to of that same year, he was prepared to wage intervene militarily in Cuba, and still held revolutionary struggle. Che and Fidel met in 1955 and imperial control of Guantanamo Bay as Guevara enthusiastically agreed to take part in the apart of the transition agreement. Not to second attempt to liberate Cuba. mention the conversion of many areas of Havana into tourist destinations specifically On November 25, 1956 Fidel along with eighty- two combatants including Che, set- sailed for Cuba on a geared towards American tourists. small cruiser called the Granma. Before they were After some years of political challenges, even able to land they were spotted by Batista's social unrest, and U.S. intervention, troops and were ambushed at Alegria de Pio. A Fulgencio Batista, a military leader and number of combatants were killed before they were former president of Cuba, seized political able to fight in the revolution. Fidel's forces hastily power during a bloodless coup in 1952 three dispersed and headed into mountains of the Sierra months before elections. The U.S. backed Maestra.

Batista administration suspended the Constitution of 1940 and established a The loss was more than a rocky start to the campaign brutal dictatorship that lasted for about which threated to generally cripple the morale of the eight years.

July 6th Movement. However, within the Sierra Maestra Fidel's forces were able to regroup.

The guerrillas spent months recuperating, time that they used to build a relationship with the local peasants. Eventually the guerrillas were able to bring on a few new recruits to even the losses at Alegria de Pio. With the help of the peasant recruits the Rebel Army successfully defeated Batista's forces in the Battle of La Plata.

The guerrillas took over the army outpost at La Plata and engaged in a few small battles that resulted in victories. On July 12, 1957 the Rebel Army issued the Manifesto of the Sierra Maestra, which called on the people of Cuba to wage revolutionary struggle against the Batista army and support the efforts of the guerrillas. Once their first permanent supply base was secured at El Hombrito, the rebels were officially well entrenched in the Sierra Maestra.

The guerrilla movement in the Sierra Maestra would have been impossible without the help of the local peasants, who supported the rebels with lodging, supplies, and a pool of recruits.

Rebels practiced the guerrilla tactic of ambush in order to steal enemy resources and ammunition.

Psychological warfare was also a staple of the guerrillas and was used to keep enemy troops up at all hours of the night. Che Guevera, who functioned as a combatant and the group's medical doctor, was especially talented in these guerrilla tactics. Che quickly rose to the level of commander in charge of his own rebel column.

He later theorized the tactics used in the revolution in the handbook Guerrilla Warfare . The handbook became a canon text used by third world guerrilla movements across the globe in the fight against colonization and imperialism.

A aggressive offensive by Batista's army in October of 1957 saw the loss of many combatants. That winter the rebels responded with a winter offensive. A key victory at Pino del Agua in February, 1958 allowed the guerrillas to expand themselves into the Oriente province. By April 9th the pieces were in place to organize a national general strike. The April 9th strike was eventually suppressed by the Batista army, and prompted Batista to launch a more aggressive offensive the following month.After two months of fighting Batista's second offensive failed.

The turning point in the revolution came on July 21, 1958 during the battle of El Jigue. Batista's defeat allowed the rebels to significantly expand themselves in the Sierra Maestra. Che and Camilo Cienfuegos led columns to invade central Cuba. Fidel joined them for the final battle of Guisa on November 15th. On January 1, 1959 Batista fled Cuba as the guerrillas closed in on Santa Clara .

25

DecolonizingVoices I Dream Of Home

By IxChel Lec I dream of home I dream of becoming home

I see it when I close my eyes when the cold seeps in from my window then, I dream of home

my eyes close and inside me they open my brown skin slowly becomes the warm brown soil and my veins, with their red blood, are the virgin waters that flow beneath the surface I can feel it, when I lose myself to the depths of sleep my thoughts grow thicker Until, they become clear no longer in my possession but they are clear they have now become the wind they have become Xocomil everywhere in a constant whisper

I am home now

my eyes open inside of me and they no longer are eyes but they are lakes, the craters of the volcanos that millions of years ago were flooded by rain Atitlan and Amatitlan my lakes

I have become home

27

coffee and corn grow from my arms I can hear the quetzales and the guardabarrancos singing soft melodies into my ears perched from the trees that now grow from my head

I feel the small flap from the wings of the hummingbirds, flying from flower to flower in the cloud forest that has emerged from my legs

I feel my chest become the Ciera Madre 33 volcanoes slowly growing from my ribs.

I am home now.

I feel the pain of home now.

My skin cracks when the virgin waters that run through my veins are slowly drained because of deforestation my skin melts off in the mud slides, that come during the harsh rainy season

My eyes sting, my beautiful lake muddy now with pesticides and sewage

I hear the shots fired at the quetzales that one by one fall from the sky where they once ruled the rain forest their emerald and ruby feathers ripped from their corpses, slowly they become extinct

I feel the trees being ripped from my scalp to make space for the sugar cane

I no longer feel the hummingbird wings flap they fly away in search of the flora, that no longer grows in my forest the cloud forest that grew from my legs shrinks

but I am home now.

28

TRACKTHE MO VEMENT January,2017 # NoDAP

# PuertoRicoNoEsUnCenicero

Water defenders have continued to stand their ground against the colonizers at Standing Rock despite the Army Corps decision to deny DAP permits. A statement by Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) and SAP stated that it intends to continue construction of the pipeline regardless of the Army Corps decision. Water Defenders were arrested on December 27th for "trespassing" and attempting to tear down the dividing gate on the North end of the site.

On December 5th protests flared in Peñuelas, Puerto Rico in response to widespread coal polution and water contamination from the corporation AES. The U.S. company based in Arlington, VA has been using Peñuelas as its own private dumping grounds for its coal fired electricity plant, dumping hundreds of pounds of ash onto local communities in Puerto Rico. At least 60 protestors were arrested in what was a mostly peaceful action organized by local environmental groups.

# Okinawa

# Peru

On December 5th a resumption of U.S. military aircraft activities in Okinawa sparked protests against the millitary occupation of Okinawa. The v- 22 Osprey fleet has continued its opporations despite the historic U.S. military deal with the Japanese government that returned nearly 10,000 acres of land back to the government. The stipulations of the deal still gave U.S. military privlages in the area and allowed for the construction of six new helipads in the areas still controled by the U.S.

A three month blockade of the Marañón River by Indigenous protesters opposed to oil contamination in the region ended on December 15th when indigenous leaders signed an accords on pipeline inspection.

Since September hundreds of indigenous activist had blocked the Marañón River in Saramurillo to press for demands after two separate oil spills devastated communities in the Marañón Valley. The Saramurilla accords have called for the thorough inspection of Petroperú pipelines and the pipelines in Blocks 192 and 8.

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Special thankstoour contributing writers Taylar Nuevelle

Junie Jones

Chango Zaira Gomez Bud Gankhuyag Dubian Ade

THE DECOLONIZER gives a special thanks to @DecolonizingMedia for their continued coverage on issues regarding # indigenousliberation and for their righteous use of images. Their work continues to influence THE DECOLONIZER. Check out their work at http:/ / decolonizingmedia.tumblr.com/

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