New York politics: white minds and Black pawns
by ALTON H. MADDOX JR.
A critical thinker is a keen observer of the environment and its elements and who classifies persons or situations and identifies any emerging patterns. Other tools are also employed to allow for political and economic forecasting. The Bible warns us that “people without vision shall perish.” Blacks lack visionary leadership.
Over the past two weeks, I have been listening to Sunday morning talk programs concerning the terroristic acts perpetrated against Sean Bell, Trent Benefield and Joseph Guzman. I have grouped the guests into three categories: Black law enforcement agents, Black selected officials and Black attorneys.
In looking for the common thread, you will find that they are all oath-takers. This means that they can be severely punished for violating the oath. In disciplinary proceedings, none of them are entitled to be tried by a jury of their peers. These disciplinary proceedings are akin to the Star Chamber, and free speech is no defense.
Critical thinking is an anathema in this country to Black success. The common thread that binds me to Kwame Ture, Louis Clayton Jones and Dr. Khalid Abdullah Tariq Al-Mansour is our graduating from Howard University and being taught logic by the same philosophy professor.
Except for Dr. Al-Mansour, the rest of us have lived beyond 55 years of age as paupers. This is the price that critical thinkers pay for living in colonialism. Other critical thinkers include Malcolm X, Dr. Martin L. King, Jr., Fannie Lou Hamer, Medgar Evers, Paul Robeson, Harry and Henrietta Moore, Marcus Garvey and Dr. Amos Wilson.
Dr. Carter G. Woodson, stated in “The Mis-education of the Negro,” “We need workers, not leaders. Such workers will solve the problems which race leaders talk about.”
Consequently, police terrorism is on the rise and no relief is in sight. After each act of police terrorism, Black selected officials promise that it will never happen again. Police terrorism is profitable for the tort industry.
Since the Voting Rights Act of 1965, I have observed that as Blacks elect, but not select, more Blacks in public offices, the worse our conditions become and that while urban rebellions were on the rise before 1965, they have now become virtually non-existent.
Thus, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a huge success since the purpose of politics is to protect private property and to maintain the status quo. Since 1965, Blacks have gone backward. There were under 200,000 Blacks in the criminal justice system before 1965 and now there are over 5,000,000 Blacks in the criminal justice system.
Hopefully, the Black community will commission the esteemed mathematics scholar, Dr. Abdulalim Abdullah Shabazz, to establish a mathematical paradigm to explain the relationship between police terrorism and Black politics. Dr. Shabazz is presently at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania. His brilliance has led Black universities to play ping-pong with his academic tenure.
A greater likelihood of police terrorism occurs in DeKalb County, Ga., and Prince George’s County, Md. Both counties have substantial, Black middle classes and, from top to bottom, the selected officials are Black. In fact, Prince George’s County is the wealthiest Black county in the nation and DeKalb County is on its heels.
The Black voters in both counties are endorsing their own oppression. Stated another way, voting for Black selected officials can be dangerous to your health. The problem is Black selected officials. After an incident of police terrorism, they organize marches rather than writing and passing new laws to address the issue.
All solutions can be found by looking to the past. Lawyers call it the doctrine of stare decisis. I found a present rationale for police terrorism in Dr. Benjamin Quarles’ “The Negro in the Making of America”: “As a rule, a slave code was an accurate reflection of the fears and apprehensions of the colony. Hence, the more numerous the Blacks, the more strict the slave codes.”
If you correctly conclude that Blacks still live in colonies, you will find not only an explanation, but also a solution. To be sure, Malcolm X concluded that Blacks live in colonies. Ture and Jones reached the same conclusion. They were critical thinkers. Black selected officials disagree. This should be your first clue.
In “Black Power: The Politics of Liberation,” Ture and Charles V. Hamilton argue, “Black people in this country form a colony, and it is not in the interest of the colonial power to liberate them.” That being the case, “institutional racism has another name: colonialism.”
Terrorism is a tactic of institutional racism, and it is also a public crime and no particular victim’s family has a greater say in how Black people should address the problem. All Blacks are victims. The KKK once employed the tactic with great success. Today, the NYPD employs it with great success. The NYPD is the KKK in blue.
Eric Adams, who was recently selected to the New York State Senate, made the most profound revelation on the operations of the NYPD. He revealed that in white communities, white elected officials influence the appointment of a precinct commander. This practice is consistent with the history of the NYPD.
In the 1840s when the city’s police department was being developed, elected officials had a say in police personnel. Thus, this present practice in white communities has historical roots. Of course, this current practice only occurs in communities. The practice is different in colonies. Ture and Hamilton assert, “Politically, decisions which affect Black lives have always been made by white people.”
If anyone critically analyzes the November 25 terroristic acts at the Kalua Cabaret in Queens, it stands out that the selected officials in the area are Congressman Gregory Meeks, New York State Senator Ada Smith, New York State Assemblywoman Vivian E. Cook and New York City Councilman Leroy G. Comrie.
They are all Black, and they are the political representatives for white, absentee landowners. These landowners are the heirs of the earlier slave masters. These Black selected officials have no say in the appointment of a precinct commander. If they did, the precinct commander would be on the unemployment line.
A similar paradigm existed in the election district where Amadou Diallo was assassinated, except that all of the selected officials were Latinos. Cong. Jose Serrano topped the pyramid. Neither Black nor Latino officials have any political power. Their white, political bosses select precinct commanders.
All Black or Latino elected officials in an area signal to the police the powerlessness of the area’s residents. Another layer of our powerlessness is the absence of legal representatives like Chokwe Lumumba, Louis Clayton Jones and Michael Warren. The American Revolution started over “taxation without representation.” Blacks need to connect the dots.
Charles Hamilton Houston said, “Any lawyer who is not a social engineer is a social parasite.” He was the greatest lawyer of the 20th century and was Thurgood Marshall’s mentor. Houston recognized that any legal assault on white supremacy had to have an institutional base and be staffed with social engineers.
A decision was made by Gov. Mario Cuomo and State Attorney General Robert Abrams that Blacks would never benefit again from the services of social engineers. Our fate would be placed in the hands of social parasites who accommodate police terrorism for a profit. Their interest is in maintaining police terrorism.
In the past 16 years, Blacks have moved from liberation politics to plantation politics. It will be exemplified at the “Shopping for Justice” march down Fifth Avenue. Black people should not have to march when they elect statewide, public officials to address their grievances.
Blacks did flips to put Charles Schumer, Hillary Clinton, Eliot Spitzer and Andrew Cuomo in powerful political positions; yet, Blacks will be marching and hollering alone while these white officials remain in the Big House drinking mint juleps and observing Black selected officials and HNICs organize physical education classes to amuse whites on Fifth Avenue.
No student has ever secured an academic degree by only taking physical education courses. An intelligence test is required for admission into the military, and military training includes an academic curriculum. When Black selected officials, activists, lawyers and preachers respond to terrorism by marches only, it is a tell-tale sign of ignorance running amuck.
The United States is a republic. It means that no group can guard freedom without political and legal representation. When I arrived in New York in 1973, there was a “Lone Ranger–Tonto” paradigm in the law. It was also the political paradigm and it is still in existence today.
Any Black lawyer invited into a high-profile case in New York is “Tonto.” Johnny Cochran was a legendary lawyer. Yet, when he represented Sean Combs in Manhattan Supreme Court he was “Tonto” and Benjamin Brofman was the “Lone Ranger.” In California, he had to form a “Dream Team.”
The buffoon in Amos ’n’ Andy was Algonquin J. Calhoun. Hollywood developed this show to breed distrust for Black professionals. In law, for example, there is an attorney-client privilege. I was put into a Catch-22 situation in People v. Sharpton. I chose the unexpected option. I chose to suffer personally to uphold Black professionals and my clients.
At times, I was a social architect and, at other times, a social engineer. My legal credits are legion, like forcing the first appointment of a special prosecutor. It happened in Howard Beach, and it had never happened before in this country. Without my pro bono representation, many Blacks would still be behind bars. I believe in the uncompromising representation of Black people.
I have had to suffer for refusing to become “Tonto.” My plight is unspeakable on radio. Within the next month, an effort is afoot to put the final nail in my legal coffin. I need your support immediately. Please send any expression of support to UAM Legal Defense Fund, 16 Court Street, Ste. 1901, Brooklyn, NY 11241. The struggle must continue. Asante sana.
UAM’s weekly forum will continue December 20 at the Elks Plaza, 1068 Fulton Street (near Classon Avenue) in Brooklyn. Alton Maddox will unveil “A Legal Blueprint to End Police Terrorism.” Take the “C” train to Franklin Avenue. For more information, call UAM at (718) 834-9034.
See: www.reinstatealtonmaddox.com
