Racism blinds many whites to the real enemy
By ROD D.
The ·ruling elite of America has used
racism and ethnic chauvinism to divide varius
raci I, ethnic and religious groups in the in
terest of preserving the privileges and power
of tbe rich and the super rich.
The American political economy thrives
on greed profiteering nd the exploitation of
the many by tbe few.
African Americans have often been the
most visible and convenient scapegoats for
the failure of tbe American capitali I system
to deliver on the false promise of the
American dream to learge numbers of white
poor and wor .I]g people. Put another way,
fueling racism and racial antogonism i a use
ful means of masking the exploitation of
tho e at the bottom of th economic pyramid.
particularly white poor and working people.
Thi ad cenerio of divide and exploit i
an integral part of American history.
During the era of Slavery plantation
owners would hire out ome of their laves to
b in owners in nearby vii lages and towns.
Predictably cheap slave Jabor undercut free
labor thereby driving down wages. That i to
ay the wage of "free" white orkers w
pegged to what a white busines owner could
hire a Blac lave for from a white plantation
owner.
It wa the Black lave, however, who
were the Object of bi uer re entrncnt on the
part of white I borers. It eldom occurred to
white laborers that it w the white plantation
owner in coli ion witb other white busine
owners who were really re ponsible for the
suppressed w e and lining economic
fortune I of tbe white worker. Racism
blinded white orkers from seeing the real
enemy.
In the South after Reconstruction an
elaborate system of Black Codes and Jim
Crow laws were enacted as psychological and
material measures to appease poor white
farmers and workers.
Poor whites relished the psychological and
material benefits of Jim Crow. However. poor
whites were in fact the victims of a conscious
cbeme by the white establishment to sup
press the wages of white workers by u ing the
former slaves as a lever to keep wages low.
Hence white business and commercial in
terests reaped greater profits by dividing and
exploiting both Black and white laborers. But
once again poor white farmers and workers
generally directed their anger and ho tile ac
tion towards the Black victim as oppo ed to
the white victimizers.
The white political and economic elite in
the South u ed racism and divide and conqu 'r
tactic not only to maintain their economic
status, but also to retain political power.
Indeed a major effort to organize Black
nd white to "unite and fight" the white c tab
Ii hment in the South in the latter part of the
nineteenth century ultimately failed bccaus
of racism. Just a it appeared that the power
ful Populi t Movement would topple the
white outhem power elite, a strident appeal
to white racial olidarity by the white c tab
lishment shattered th tenuous unity that had
been forged between Black and white
workers and farmers.
Poor whites were educed by the appeal to
racism and white domination over African
American . The real enem)' breathed a sigh of
relief as their confused brethren at the bottom
once again mi sed the target.
The effort to organize labor i another case
study of the 'rich and powerful utilizing
raci m to divide and conquer. When white
VANTAGE'
POI T
orkers beg�n to organize. Black wor ers
ere generally excluded from the labor
movement because of racism.
White busines interest, however, driven
by tbe profit motive and tbe que t io maintain
the economic upper band, had no differculty
. in abandoning their white workers.
Convenien Iy ignoring race. white busi
nesse hired Black workers as strike breakers
in hopes of de eating the labor movem nt.
White raci J solidarity 'was ignored in the
intere t of In fit, power and privilege for the
white captai s of indu try and commerce.
White worke ,however, more often than not
aw Black w kers as the problem instead of
their white b e who were m nipulating
Black and w ite worke in order to retain
economic po r.
It i one of h great tra cdics of American
hi 'tory that 0 ,t white Americans have not
gra ped th r ality of their exploitation by
their own wea thy, kith and in.
Right up to thi movement, African
Am rican rc till being ubjected (0 auac
on the Bla k agenda and ingled out a lh
targets of cial animosity and ra i t viol nee.
Many w ite poor and wor ing people, in
deed many white American period perceive
Black peop e th ource of their economic
woe and m ladle . Meanwhile the real
e emy, the white minority of the rich and
uper rich who con titute America ruling
elite, continue to exploit poor and working
people in general, confident that t blinders
o raci m ill i elate th m from all ck by a
fuddled an victimized white poor and
working cJ
One h t wonder when "Joe Sixpack"
and the Arche Bunders of America will take
off the blinde to ee that African Americans
arc not thei re I en my.
lVE
The
ByLo i J
As controversy continues to
wirl around the killing of 11
MOVE members in Philadel
phia on ay 13, 1985, little
known to the vast majority of
people is the ripple effect that
stemmed from the bombing,
and "random" incidents seem
ingly no in this category, yet are
instant and blatant reminders.
. These two factor are the
b . for this article, and begin
with ...
January 13 1986, less than a
year after the bombing. when
Fran Powell, the cop who
dropped the bomb, burned
about the f ce and hands, as
gunpo der he was trying to
destroy, e�loded in his face.
A few months later, Ernest
Bostic, a tenant in one of the
houses destroyed by fire, ot a
lawyer six times. Bo tic ob
jected to having to p y this
lawyer a third of the $20,000
ded him by the city for per
sonallosses.
The lawyer survived, Bostic
tried and convicted. Powell
th "random" t Bostic caught
up in the ripple.
OVE
bombing:
The Ripple E
There's more ...
Initially, the contract to
rebuild the 61 home was given
to Black Developer Ernest Ed
wards, who promptly ran into
first one problem than another.
There were problems with
bonding, problems with
scheduling, problems with cost
overruns.
In the end, Edwards was
tried for ste ling nearly
$138,000 from the MOVE
project, and in October of 1988,
sentenced 7 to 14 years.
Another, feeling the effect of
the ripple.
The following year Terrance
M ulvihil, one of the cops who
sho round after round into the
MOVE house in May of 1985,
picked up a gun and blew his
own brains out. Not only was
Mulvihill present in 1985, he
too part in the raid on MOVE
in Augus of 1978, and was one
of the cops acquitted in the mer
ciless beating of Delbert Africa
that day. Another "random",
followed by yet another ...
On April 12, 1989, the state
helicopter used to drop the
bomb on MOVE, struc po�er
lines in upstate Pennsylvarua,
crashed into the Susquehanna
river, and killed both State
troopers on board, More ...
Twice within two weeks,
Mayor Wilson Goode, who in
th wake of the bombing said
he'd do it again, was rushed to
the hospital. Both times racing
heart was involved. The second
time, his heart was beating so
rapidly, it had awakened him
three times that week. Each
time a battery 0 tests were run
and he was released.
Doctors insisted Goode's
heart was normal, but worried
why it woke him up shortly after
he fell asleep. This "random" is
dubbed a "medical mystery".
Summing it all up:
While on May 13 1985, a
bomb was dropped in Philadel
phia, it impact was felt
worldwide. Response among
national Black Ie ders however,
has never been commensur te
with the grossne of the act.
Some have half-stepped, others
have made no steps at all, while
still others have not even
bothered with routine courtesy
response to direct appeals.
Failure on the part of the
Black Hierarchy to act accord
ingly, does not minimize this
heinous crime, it compounds i�!
To think that if ignored it will
just go away, is to capitulate to
the worst kind of h Uucinatio
ware ess brings with it, i
own need to adhere; expl�
why people get so busy whep
faced with injustice.
11 people were burned up
alive, and the only person se t
to jail was Ramona Africa, a vi -
tim! .The villians are till on the
treet
... And yes! t has been 5
years, which es not a par
ticle of differe ceo We as a
people still re for the ever
elusive justice, and it's been
nearly 400 years! Clearly, when
m contin to reach for
something, ther is every in
dication it is being witheld.
Documented ere is some of
t h happened since M y
of 1985, and see confined to
Philadelphia. But ripples e of
times the beginning of a weep
ing tidal wavel
eet
. Loui t .fame
... nd as both ripples and
"randoms"show no sign of
ce e, the final MOVE chapter
h yet to be written!
(Editors Note: The house on
which the bomb was dropped
belonged to Louise James. She
and her sister La Verne Sims were
on the scene throughout the en
tire di:ly and have never ceased
their fight for justice.)