Where do I start? Last week the US government murdered Troy Davis and as I write this the government is showing no signs of collapsing in the near future. As I look for signs that Black folks are about to engage in organized confrontation with a nation state that is determined to render us civically, socially, and physically dead I see none. I wonder have we slipped into a delusional fantasy, a fantasy that is based on nostalgia for the 1960s and 70s when it seemed that revolution was in progress.

I know that the radical groups of the 60s failed for their not-so-radical practices, but what I long for is the affect that created a sense that the bullshit that is part of the fabric of life today was on its way out. There was a feeling that the racist, sexist, anti-Black power structure could not continue to rule. I thought by now we would be past lynching Black men and instead we have a Republican party whose base is cheering the deaths carried out by the governor of Texas. I can only believe that they think the majority of those killed in Texas were Black.

I wonder if I’m paranoid when I wonder if the Tea Party is against Obama’s healthcare plan because it will allow some Black people to live longer. I don’t see any sign of liberation in the future nor do I see the vast majority of Black folks being willing to acknowledge the political climate that exists in relation to black folks. For example, in Michigan Republicans want to take food stamps if you own a car worth more than $15,000. This echoes "welfare queens in Cadillacs." In the meantime Black Detroit and Saginaw with its larger numbers of Black folks will be starving. Any of the progress made financially is being wiped out by a recession with no end in sight and right wing policies aimed at eradicating us.

I thought the murder of Oscar Grant would be the last straw for Black folks. We are subjected to racial profiling, targeted for prison, and murdered by police who spend less than 2 years in jail if any time at all as in the case of Sean Bell. In light of a rapidly increasing onslaught against Black folks I thought by now we all would be giving much more consideration to the words of Dhoruba Bin Wahad., Bin Wahad wrote in response to the 2005 execution of Stanley “Tookie” Williams:

Tookie Williams was executed to send a clarion signal to African youth that redemptive militancy is unacceptable - only rejection of your social history and complete surrender to the myths of white America could possibly save your life. In this sense, his execution was a commentary on the cowardice of many of today's Black leaders - who want to be both patriots and champions of Africans in America. This is the age of American empire, you can't be both.

I thought by now the realization that we can’t be patriots in a nation that is hell bent on destroying us would be forcing a strident voice to emerge from even the Black bourgeoisie. I’ve been wondering for years now what will it take to force those of use that believe that we are privileged to take a stand. Will we just quietly die?

I’m not longing for the conditions that brought about the militancy of the 1960s and 70s. I wish there would have never been a need for George and Jonathan Jackson. I wish we could have passed through the era of confronting the police and all that that has done to organic Black leadership without the damage. I wish Assata Shakur could walk free among us in the country where she was born, but she can’t. And as long as none of those wishes can't be true I have some others. I wish Black folk across the US would become unruly. I wish we would challenge every white, Asian, or Brown person on their anti-Black racism. I wish we would never give anyone a pass when they hate on Black folks, including other Black folks. I wish we would plot, conspire, sneak around, lie to the enemy, find ways to undermine white supremacy and the agencies that support it. Agencies like the public schools, public hospitals, police, prisons, and universities, the agencies that kill us. I wish young Black folk would talk to old Black folk and find out what they know. I wish old Black folk would talk to young Black folk and find out what they know. I wish every Black parent would raise their child to be a solider in this struggle, our Black struggle to be free of an enemy that cannot contain its murderous desire to destroy us. Teach them to love Black folks with all of our flaws.

I wish Black folk in the academy could learn to love those niggas in the hood. I wish the niggas in the hood could learn to respect what those niggas in the academy go through and find it in their hearts to teach what the struggle is. I wish we could all Black stand together and stand strong in the face of our murderous enemies and wage a beautiful struggle, a war motivated by love for Black folk. In Struggle!!!