Friday, September 09, 2005
Diaspora Covenant
As African-Americans in the United States, we have achieved much of what we have due to the grace of God and our own efforts to liberate ourselves. We would still be enslaved if many of our ancestors had not freed themselves and forced our issue of enslavement onto the agenda of Caucasians in the North and South. We would still, in fact, be enslaved if we hadn't forced segregation onto the world's stage at a time when America was trying to present a benevolent face to the world. Nonetheless, our current condition is not purely of our own making – only looking inward at ourselves to explain our condition without looking out to the wider society is short-sighted and a path to self-hatred:
- We believe that we must strive for and maintain unity in the family, community, nation and race.
- We believe that we must define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves and speak for ourselves.
- We believe that we must build and maintain our community together and make our brothers’ and sisters’ problems our own problems and to solve them together.
- We believe that we must build and maintain our own stores, shops and other businesses and to profit from them together.
- We believe that we must make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.
- We believe that we must leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it.
We know that no political party deserves our support if the price is our ability to openly question its direction and agitate when the party risks harming our community through its actions or neglect. We covenant together that we will restore for African children in America the assumption that life can be better.
COVENANT
We enter into covenant, one with another, to:
COVENANT
We enter into covenant, one with another, to:
- Ensure that every African in America votes in every election.
- Nurture and discipline our sons and daughters throughout our communities such that they do not become burdens on society.
- Create quality community clinics where our people can receive treatment and preventive care.
- Refuse to speak evil of Africans in America, to refuse to run our own people down with our own lips.
- Have Africans run for every elective office available
- Leverage our voting power in order to force politicians to accede to our demands.
- Support each others’ families – to help fathers head their households, to help mothers maintain order in the home, and to help children heed their parents’ words of wisdom.
- Acquire the means of production such that our businesses are solely dependant upon other Africans, from the raw materials through recycling.
- Take control of the streets in our own neighborhoods, to police our own communities, and to maintain order among ourselves.
- Never again silently stand by when violence is perpetuated against an African in America.
CONTRACT
As we covenant together to take steps to improve the condition of Africans in America, we must also present our demands to society. We demand the following:
- Permanent Voting Rights Act: The notion that the right of Africans in America to vote is renewable, hence deniable, is an abomination. We demand that this travesty of justice be corrected immediately.
- Boston Tea Act: One of the founding principles of America is the notion that there can be no taxation without representation. Felons who have served their time must either be allowed to vote or they must be exempted from all taxation.
- Single-Payer Universal Health Care: America is the only industrialized nation in the world that does not have single-payer universal health care system. This must be corrected, and until it is corrected there must be a bankruptcy exemption for health care costs.
- All Men Are Created Equal Act: All language from state constitutions which denigrate Africans in America must be immediately stricken.
- Any political party which expects the support of Africans in America must have Africans in positions of significant authority at every level of command.
- Campaign Finance Reform: No donations over $100 are to be allowed to parties, campaigns, PACs, or 527’s. 527’s and PAC’s are not to be allowed to air advertisements within 90 days of a primary or within 90 days of a general election.
- Value Families Act: The greatest family value is to value families. There must be a livable minimum wage, reliable mass-transit, and at least 4 weeks paid vacation so that families can spend quality time with the people who matter most.
- Teddy Roosevelt Trust-Busting Act: Media conglomerates must be broken down to individual outlets, as must the many oligopolies within the American economy.
- Community Policing Act: All police officers must reside within the precinct that they patrol – suburban cops can no longer patrol urban streets, and north side residents cannot patrol the south side.
- Dixiecrat Apology Act: The United States of America must formally apologize for failing to act on anti-lynching legislation at any point prior to the Civil Rights Movement.
Come, let us reason together. Let's discuss this in the comments.
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So what do you think?
Wow.
This would make the country a much better place to live.
Why is it that most of us White people don't understand that when Black America is better off, than we are ALL better off?
The more Black people in elected office , CEO chairs, judicial positions and professorships, the more the power structure will appreciate the contributions of the labor class.
The more likely we are to see justice for poor and middle-class Whites.
THAT is the most obvious point to me - when will non-powerful Whites realize that they are being screwed by the wealthy whites who divide the progressive movement with racism?
I especially love the part about media conglomerates....oh yeah!
I think single prayer health care can be a great aspect to our health care system as we are in a major crisis.