[Marxism] Cynthia McKinney Announces Formation of DIGNITY

[Michael Friedman <lycophidion@xxxxxxxxx>]

Cynthia McKinney Announces Formation of DIGNITY
By The Editors
Created 06/03/2009 - 10:11


Which way forward for the Black Left? The path leads in the same
direction it always has: agitation, organization, and confrontation
with Power. Cynthia McKinney chose a Harlem church to announce
formation of DIGNITY, to bring the Black body politic back from its
current comatose state. "Dignity is attempting to show real change is
possible" - if people fight for it. "We want to organize networks so
that we can relay information quickly to a large number of people."

Cynthia McKinney Announces Formation of DIGNITY

the editors

Former congresswoman (D-GA) and Green Party presidential candidate
Cynthia McKinney addressed a packed house at St. Mary’s Church, in
Harlem, on Sunday, May 31. Also sharing the podium were Glen Ford and
Margaret Kimberley, of Black Agenda Report, Nellie Bailey, Harlem
Tenants Council, Prof. Anthony Monteiro, of the African American
Studies Department, Temple University, and writer/activist Mae
Jackson. The event was titled, “Which Way Forward for the Black Left?”

”We agreed to found an action organization and to call it Dignity.”

Thank you all for being here.

On Thursday, General Taguba spoke to journalists and said that the
photos currently being withheld by President Obama show rape.  On
Friday, he went even further and said that he saw video of U.S.
soldiers raping and sodomizing detainees.  From the first batch of
photos that were released, we know that detainees were also murdered.
In your name and mine.

But some of us here in the U.S. are not shocked or surprised that this
kind of behavior could occur.  For those of us who have our eyes open,
the gritty streets of America are filled with the experience of
unarmed black and brown men being beaten, raped, sodomized, and even
murdered by terroristic agents of the state.

We remember the Black Panther Party, Malcolm X, Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr., and Kwame Touré.  We remember George Jackson, Soledad and
Attica.  We remember the American Indian Movement, the Puerto Rican
Independistas, the Chicano Movement, and we remember the FBI.  We know
about Area A in Chicago and we’ve heard the San Francisco 8 recount
for us their experiences of torture at the hands of law enforcement.
We’ve heard them tell how 30 years later, the very same people who
tortured them showed up on their doorsteps to re-arrest them for
crimes they did not commit.

So when General Taguba verifies that torture, rape, and murder were
used by U.S. service men and women, we cannot be surprised.

When we see Dick Cheney say that torture worked, we in this audience,
are not surprised.

The gritty streets of America are filled with the experience of
unarmed black and brown men being beaten, raped, sodomized, and even
murdered by terroristic agents of the state.”

When we hear that Democratic Attorney General Jerry Brown who allowed
the San Francisco 8 prosecution to move forward is rumored to want to
be the Governor of California, and expects our votes to win, we are
not surprised.

Or that Gavin Newsome, current mayor of San Francisco who is abetting
the ethnic cleansing of the last remaining black neighborhood in that
city wants to be Governor and expects black, brown, and progressive
white votes, we are not surprised.

So, when yet another young man is gunned down by the police, be it
Oscar Grant in Oakland or Omar Edwards in New York City, and the
policy doesn’t change to stop it. We shouldn’t be surprised.

The authorities have proven that they will do everything and more if
the people let them get away with it.

Our President has breathed new life into the Democratic Party.  But
the fact is, our precious breath, that gives that Party life, is
killing us.

Glen Ford, Roy Singham, Dedon Kamathi of the All African People’s
Revolutionary Party, and I all came together earlier this year, to not
only lament the present, but to change the future.

We decided that while our movement was nascent, coming out of my Power
to the People campaign, that there was power in organization.  That
there was hope in mobilization.  And that victory was possible in
implementation.  We agreed to found an action organization and to call
it Dignity.

There will be some who will maintain that this country, founded as a
settler state, never had any dignity since it rested on taking and not
sharing land that belonged to someone else.

”We decided that while our movement was nascent, coming out of my
Power to the People campaign.”

After deep engagement in slavery, the take-over of whole countries,
denial of self-determination, and endless war and occupation, still
others would say that our country has certainly lost whatever dignity
it might have been able at one time to earn.

And after Abu Ghraib, dignity is no longer possible.

For about ten years, I went around the country proclaiming the black
body politic to be at first moribund, then comatose. I now see the
same fate awaiting the Progressive community even as we witness
ongoing war, even ramping up the war machine during the greatest
transfer of wealth out of black and brown communities by the wholesale
theft of people’s homes.

Bait and switch schemes, whitewashing, and red herrings shouldn’t be
left for the people alone to decipher as they are also trying to save
themselves from drowning.  Some of us know what’s going on and we’re
organizing Dignity in order to inform and then stop it.

We are tired of watching politicians acknowledge our pain, win office,
and then go about their business adding more to the existing pain.

We can change the policies only by changing the nature of the debate
that leads up to the selection of our policymakers.  That means that
we must have a way to get our message out independent of CNN, FOX, the
New York Times, Clear Channel, or Public Radio.  People must know in
advance what the issues are, what the possibilities of policy are, and
be informed, correctly, not only in slick Madison Avenue style
campaigns designed to mislead.  We need media of our own.

”I went around the country proclaiming the black body politic to be at
first moribund, then comatose.”

And finally, we need actions that serve as a wake-up call to all of
our elected officials that for a critical number of us, and Glen just
happens to believe that we have the right number of people supporting
us in general now, business as usual is over.

We have brains, we have brawn, and we’ve got guts.  But is that enough?

We’ve learned from our neighbors to our South, from Mexico, Cuba, and
Haiti; Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Nicaragua that we don’t have
to settle for less than what we need from politics.

And I’m tired of feeling trapped in the politics of self-abnegation.
If people in other parts of the world can do it, then we must be able
to do it, too.
That remains to be seen, however.

So, Dignity is attempting to show that real change is possible.

Dignity will show that just voting for special interest politicians
who reflect special interest political parties in new faces is not
enough.
It is clear that some people are satisfied with that, but we demand more.

Honestly, I called Glen, ready to give up, saying that I’ve done what
I could do.  And Glen, then Dedon, then Roy, and so many others across
our country said, no.  People began contacting me personally, as if
they could sense what I was feeling.  They started adding comments on
our youtube videos, and I know many people are talking among
themselves, expressing disappointment in whispered tones with the
direction so far of the Obama Administration.

”Dignity is attempting to show that real change is possible.”

I was saddened to read a message from Cindy Sheehan saying that she
won’t run against Pelosi next election.  That’s a big blow to us and I
hope she will reconsider.
Who was it that said the race goes not to the swift but to he who can endure?

I’m willing to try one more thing, one more time.  And Dignity is our
effort to endure; to deliver a much-needed victory to the people.
Before it’s too late.
Please support us with your money, your brain, and your time.

Please be sure to sign in.  In the days ahead, we will contact you.
You all have networks.  We want to organize networks so that we can
relay information quickly to a large number of people.

Because of your contributions today, Dignity soon will have an
internet presence and a weekly television show.  We intend to have a
distribution mechanism so that our supporters can place our television
show on cable access stations across the country; we want to be on the
radio, and we also want to be in the faces of the people who got our
votes or have authority over our tax dollars and who continue to
disappoint us.

We are not abused spouses turning the other cheek for another slap in
the face.  We are individuals who know that this country can be better
because we still have faith in the good will and the values of the
American people.

Help us organize Dignity, and with dignity, we will stand up for our rights!

For more information on DIGNITY, contact Ms. McKinney at hq2600@xxxxxxxxx [1]

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