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The Future of the Freedom Party
Before I departed New York City to attend my aunt’s homegoing service in Georgia, I attended the third consecutive UAM membership meeting on a Saturday. The topic has been the need for an office for UAM and the Freedom Party.Before January 1, 2010, UAM had never been without an office in its history. No grass roots organization in the past two decades has achieved UAM’s success. Its success, for more than two decades, has been attributed to an office and competent personnel in it.This lack of an office is putting a serious strain on only two households. Miraculously, UAM has been able to continue to do business despite these obstacles. No quorum has been achieved at any of these Saturday meetings.Blacks need a political education more than they need a political party. This is like urging a person to pursue a medical career before pursuing a medical education. Putting the cart before the horse will never work in any endeavor. This lack of political knowledge will harm the Freedom Party. From top to bottom, Black elected officials lack any knowledge of political science much less any knowledge of politricks. Only white politicians like Rudolph Giuliani, Michael Bloomberg and Andrew Cuomo see the need for a third party.On the other hand, Black politicians see no need for a third party. To win a citywide or statewide office in New York, a candidate must enter the race with at least two horses. Blacks have no interest in governing whites. To make matters worse, the Freedom Party is also without an office. Thus, there is no platform for the Freedom Party, no informative and working Web site, no voter registration campaign, no continuing political education program and no outreach program for young people and felons. Voter registration will end on October 8.Malcolm X said that “land is the basis for all revolutions”. Land is also the basis for any freedoms in the United States and the acquisition of land is a condition precedent to any liberation movement. Predatory lending may be the last stage of stopping any effort to achieve Black liberation. Gentrification is a mop-up action.The question of who acquires, who uses and who maintains land is a political decision. This was the basis for the American Revolution. George Washington was the biggest landlord in the colonies. “The power to tax is the power to destroy.”Without political representation, no landowner nor landlord is safe. Thus, Washington went to war to stop the concept of “taxation without representation”. Any civilized people seeks to participate in political decision-making.During a period of disenfranchisement, Blacks saw landownership dwindle and take a big hit. Malcolm X said “it is the ballot or the bullet”. In fact, the ballot is a bullet. Without political representation, and not simply political presence, Blacks are defenseless.There is a difference between voter education and political education. Voter education is key to the maintenance of plantation politics. Blacks are used as political pawns and political caddies. These sycophants refuse or fail to demand a quid pro quo for their political support.Plantation politics is an economic bonanza for the Democratic Party and for leading Blacks who have an interest in keeping Blacks on the plantation. They view themselves as gatekeepers and their economic well-being is associated with the well-being of whites.When a political party is structured from top-to-bottom rather than from bottom-to-top, the top will inevitably exploit the bottom. The structure of any organization will determine its outcome. See, for example, the National Action Network and the Freedom Party.The absence of a continuing political education program and presence of a flawed organizational structure will only aggravate the political plight of Blacks. Political myths already permeate the Black colony. These myths were created by persons and organizations that benefit from plantation politics.The Freedom Party is mired in mud because of a flawed, structural problem. A political party is different from a political campaign. A candidate controls a political campaign. Blacks must control a political party and seize the bronze; that is, the exercise of the balance of power.Otherwise, the Freedom Party will emulate the Independence Party which was established and maintained through the employment of fraudulent methods. Party officials profit from the cluelessness of those members at the bottom.The Independence Party now enjoys the balance of power in New York and its endorsements are for sale. Most persons who are enrolled in the Independence Party believe that it is the political track for political “independents”. Nothing is further from the truth.In the meantime, the Independence Party has no appetite for making policy. It is simply a cash-and-carry cartel. This format is profitable for top party officials. The Freedom Party must avoid this format at all costs. It could happen, however.UAM’s mission is not only to save itself but also to jump-start the Freedom Party. Political planning and political forecasting are crucial to the political success of Blacks. Constitutional squatters are incapable of employing either tool. The Freedom Party is on an historic mission. It must succeed on November 2.