There is a duality in regards to the existence of the victimization
in the New Afrikan nation and generally among oppressed people. The
duality expresses itself when oppressed people avoid struggle, avoid
acknowledgment of their colonization and oppression, because of a
psychosocial tendency to align one’s self with strength, victory,
privilege, excess, and power. This tendency is deeply rooted in one of
the characteristics of the “colonial mentality,” which is a lack of
dignity, pride, and self-worth. In this case of identity crisis and
pathology the oppressed chooses to derive its pride, dignity, self-worth
and perceived social, political, and economic interests from the upper
echelons of empire, from the imperialist power structure.
There is another side of this duality which thrives, not on its own
victimhood per se, but more aptly on its ability to resist, thwart, and
overcome the complexities of the colonial-imperial oppression. These are
“the people,” so often refereed to in radical discourse, “the people’s”
collective will in movement fighting, struggling ceaselessly.
The basic truth is that in every contradiction there is winners and
losers. Losers, by default, die victims. Winners are victimizers. The
issue, from my humble point of view, only arises when We have a social
group, or a broad mass within a social group after long periods of
oppression, become content with their own status as victims. So content
in fact that they themselves have rendered all resistance and tactical
victories among themselves as illegitimate expressions of the oppressed
experience. This is indeed an issue because war has a sole purpose to
destroy the will and/or ability for the opposition to resist our
advancement.
“War is nothing but a duel on an extensive scale. If we would
conceive as a unit the countless number of duels which make up a war, we
shall do so best by supposing to ourselves two wrestlers. Each strives
by physical force to compel the other to submit to his will: his first
object is to throw his adversary, and thus to render him incapable of
further resistance… Violence arms itself with the inventions of Art and
Science [cognitive, neuro sciences, behavioral sciences] in order to
contend against violence.”(1)
The inherent danger and crippling effect of the pathology of New
Afrikan Victimization can be seen in many instances, but i will
highlight one in particular.
i am speaking here of the case of Brother Othal “Ozone” Wallace, a
New Afrikan man in Florida currently fighting against the State’s death
penalty. Ozone is a father and was an active participant in the efforts
of liberation for New Afrikan and other oppressed people. Prior to his
current captivity Ozone was active in search and rescue missions of
suspected human trafficking victims. As a craftsman by trade he helped
rebuild communities damaged by hurricane disasters. Ozone was also on
the front lines of armed demonstrations advocating armed self defense
and armed struggle against the oppression of New Afrikans.
In June 2021, Ozone was exiting his vehicle while in a residential
area, when he was approached by a Daytona Beach Police officer who asked
a question common to colonial and oppressed subjects globally, “Where
are you going? Do you live here?” Body cam footage shows the officer
repeat, “Do you live here? Yes or no?” While he grabbed Ozone by the
shoulders. At that point the footage becomes shaky and blurry, but it
should be understood that this entire incident, from the Police’s
observation as someone “unwelcome”, “suspect”, “threatening”, is a
textbook chain of events in the efforts of occupation and
counter-insurgent forces. This “regular” treatment of New Afrikans is
contrary to the U.$. constitution’s Fourth Amendment right to protection
from illegal search and seizure, but its regularity showcases that New
Afrikans are still a colonized population whose existence is situated
outside the general legalities of the empire.
Somehow during the physical struggle, initiated by the officers
arrogant choice to grab Ozone, the officer ended up shot in his face,
while Ozone escaped the scene. He was captured days later, in a wooded
area in Georgia, where state agents also allege to have found multiple
flash bangs, rifle plates, body armor, two rifles, two handguns, and
several boxes of ammunition.
In the ensuing “legal” drama, once the officer died in a hospital as
a result of his wounds in August of 2021, Prosecutors began seeking the
death penalty, the family of the officer filed a civil suit, suing Ozone
for $5 million, specifically the money accumulated by Ozone’s criminal
defense fundraiser page. Prosecutors have sought to have his GoFundMe
account shutdown. In short, Ozone was and remains under attack, and his
experience is synonymous with New Afrikan liberation in general.
My reason for highlighting Ozone’s experience is that i see it as an
example and a dividing line question among “the left” and New Afrikans
particularly and Black liberationists (of many stripes) generally. My
question to the movement(s), to Our People, why is Ozone not as known as
Michael Brown or George Floyd? Why is he not garnering support and
attention from the Black and radical press? Why is he virtually unknown
to the common persyn of the street? The simple answer is that New
Afrikans, generally speaking, even within so-called radical circles,
have become infected with that colonial pathology that i call New
Afrikan Victimization. Some of us are too content with Our imagery and
association with victimhood. Others delude themselves into behaving as
if this victimization doesn’t exist on an institutional and systemic
level. Instead opting for the “boot straps” mentality which is also a
socio-pathology.
Too many of us have failed to acknowledge that We are at war, that
we’re subjects, not free and liberated citizens of a free democratic
society. We’ve failed to realize the there are no “rights” only power
struggles, and those who dictate power subsequently dictate what
“rights” are respected or discarded. Most important, We’ve failed to
realize the implications of these failures. Thus We have Ozone, and
other Political Prisoners of War lost in captivity without support or
even acknowledgment from even elements of Movement(s) that are supposed
to be supporting Political Prisoners of War. Such groups, generally,
have forgotten the current epoch of struggle, that there are Political
Prisoners being captured almost daily. That yesteryears “Black
Nationalist hate group” designation that fueled COINTELPRO and PRISACTS
has been replaced by today’s “Black Identity Extremist” designation that
is fueling present day surveillance, sabotage, and imprisonment of
movement activists. While we should never forget or relinquish support
of BPP/BLA Political Prisoners or others from earlier eras of struggle,
We also should not exclude or ignore those currently active in the
streets (even if We do not agree with their political line).
Free Ozone and All Political Prisoners
Notes: 1. Carl von Clausewitz, 1832, On War.
