“And I respect Obama
For what he’s done for the Struggle
But Barack Obama
Ain’t tha New Messiah!
We got lots of work to do
Tomorrow and Today
Just cause the President is Black
Our problems ain’t gon’ just go away.”
As local poet Melvin Hockett read his words on the microphone at the 31st anniversary celebration of the Organization of Black Struggle, some 200 people at the event waived their arms and cheered.
The evening – on Jan. 29 at the Gateway Classic building – explored the idea of “black power in the age of Obama.” The organization’s Youth Cultural Theater staged a “people’s council” reviewing Obama’s policies and actions. Hockett read poetry about “our power today.”
Yet, the main focus of the night was keynote speaker Chokwe Lumumba, Mississippi attorney and Jackson city councilman, who recently worked to free the Scott sisters. Sixteen years ago, Gladys and Jamie Scott were sentenced to two double-life sentences for a theft that amounted to less than $200. Lumumba said their imprisonment was a symbol of racism in the judicial and governmental system of Mississippi.
“First of all, when we talk about black empowerment, we’ve got to understand that it means empowering black people to bring power to the oppressed,” Lumumba said.
He expanded with a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: “Injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere.”
On the night Obama was elected, Lumumba – like many others in the room – was watching TV, “praying to death” that Obama won, he said. His mother, 88 years old and ill, was feeling pretty good that night, he remembers. For those who were part of the Civil Rights Movement, Obama’s election was a quintessential victory.
“You have to understand the joy of our people who couldn’t even go in the front door or couldn’t go in the same bathroom,” Lumumba said. “That is a victory to remember.”
However, it is only a starting point, and there is a difference between a civil-rights victory and a human-rights victory, he said.
“Civil rights is when you are trying to get people to move to the point that they recognize that you are even a human being,” he said. “Human rights go beyond civil rights. Human rights are more than reformers. Human rights are revolutionary. And we find ourselves as a people in need of a revolution.”
Lumumba pointed to the days of plantations, when sometimes there were black overseers.
“Having a black overseer didn’t mean you had a revolution,” he said. “Having a black overseer meant that you had a black guy was in charge of the plantation – to make the plantation work. It was not to liberate the enslaved people.”
Lumumba said what is happening today in Tunisia and Egypt is a reflection of America’s imperialism and particularly of the leadership of President George W. Bush.
“They are going to be raising up over the Arab world where the United States has invested in propping up corrupt governments that hold the people down,” he said.
Lumumba said the future of Obama’s election is in their hands.
At the end of the evening, Ward 18 Alderman Terry Kennedy, who is chairman of the Black Aldermanic Caucus, presented Lumumba with a resolution to honor his work, not only with the Scott sisters and other high-profile legal cases, but also among the Katrina hurricane survivors.
Lumumba said the priority in New Orleans was not only to rebuild communities, but also to create political involvement among the underrepresented people.
After Lumumba helped to set up a People’s Health Relief Fund, he assisted in organizing the “People’s Assembly.” The goal of the assembly is to ensure justice to the Katrina victims and make sure they are included in the rebuilding equation, he said.
During his speech, Lumumba recognized St. Louis leaders in the audience, including veteran activists Percy Green II and Norman Seay.
In Hockett’s poem, he comically depicted some of the organization’s leaders, such as Jamala Rogers and Percy Green II.
About Percy Green, he wrote:
“He’ll have you chained up to stuff
And going to Jail
But he’ll go right along with you
Cause his courage never fails
And be careful when you greet him
Cause this Brother’s all Man
You try and give him some dap
He’ll try to break your damn Hand!!”
About Jamala Rogers, who stepped down as OBS chair last year, he said:
“Look at Mama Jamala
Who’s kind as a bird
But whenever she speaks
She always get heard
She’ll get you out of office
She’ll get you out of jail
And if she can’t get you out
She’ll help you raise Bail.”
For Hockett’s full poem, visit the St. Louis American’s website at www.stlamerican.com.
