by Comrade Hash, Black Hammer Times Staff
Just as Africa is the cradle of humanity, African liberation movements nurture revolutionaries around the world!
Three amazing revolutionaries were born on May 19th, and it was their time in Harlem that focused their lifelong fights: Malcolm X, Yuri Kochiyama, and Hồ Chí Minh showed how the anti-colonial and anti-capitalist fight is stronger when it centers the African struggle.
Malcolm X (1925-1965)
Malcolm X fought for self-determination for African people World Wide.
He lived and hustled in Harlem for his early years of his life before he went to prison and was revolutionized. He then joined the National of Islam and became their Leading Spokes Man. Malcolm X used his platform to fight for anti-colonialism in the interest of poor and working class Africans. He was notorious for criticizing Petty Bourgeoisie Africans and their Colonizer masters.
After he left the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X changed his name to El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz. Then he created his own organization, The Organization of Afro-American Unity. He was assassinated by the FBI with the assistance of members of The Nation of Islam. His life and and work lived on to inspire many African anti-colonial movements like The Black Panther Party and MOVE.
Yuri Kochiyama (1921-2014)
Yuri Kochiyama was a Japanese american who grew up in California, and was imprisoned in an amerikkkan concentration camp.
As an adult living in Harlem, Yuri joined Malcolm X’s pan-African organization.
Throughout her life, Yuri organized with a number of revolutionary groups including the Puerto Rican Young Lords party and the Republic of New Africa.
Aside from being close with Malcolm X, Yuri also fought alongside Assata Shakur and Mumia Abu Jamal.
Hồ Chí Minh (1890-1969)
Most people know Hồ Chí Minh as the anti-colonial revolutionary leader of the Viet Cong (Vietnamese Communist).
Hồ Chí Minh won the fight to unify Vietnam after performing a revolutionary hat trick — winning wars against 3 groups of colonizers and/or imperialist: the French, the Japanese, and finally, the amerikkkans.
But before that, Uncle Hồ traveled the world working in boat kitchens. In 1912, around his mid-20s, Hồ lived and worked in Harlem for a time.
Colonized Tauruses United in Revolution
From their time in Harlem, all three learned and taught that the fight against white power is the fight for Black Power.
This fight involves the whole world, from California to New York, from France and Africa, and from Vietnam to Japan. Of course, it’s not just black and white— anyone who tells you that is trying to hide something from you.
It’s not just:
- black vs white
- colonized vs colonizer
- worker vs capitalist
- east vs west
ITS ALL OF THAT at the same time.
The key point about these three revolutionaries is they were damn stubborn and determined to get to the root issue to bring political clarity to their people.
(Can you tell they were Tauruses?)
Hồ Chí Minh said it perfectly in a newspaper article from 1924:
“It is well known that the black race is the most oppressed and the most exploited of the human family.
It is well known that the spread of capitalism and the discovery of the new world had as an immediate result the rebirth of slavery […], a scourge for the Negroes and a bitter disgrace for mankind.”
— p51-58 of “Ho Chi Minh On Revolution” (original article in French)
Malcolm X was one of the foremost leaders for African liberation, and Yuri Kochiyama and Hồ Chí Minh united in this fight.
They recognized that the foundation of capitalism is colonialism which rests on the exploitation of African colonized people: when Africans are truly liberated, colonialism and white power will end worldwide.
Although Malcolm X’s fight was cut short, Yuri Kochiyama and Hồ Chí Minh continued the fight, and even though the war isn’t over, we can see success in the anti-colonial strategy in many places, including Vietnam today.
Black Hammer continues this legacy!
We are an organization for the poor and colonized working class, and our main focus is building Black Power to beat colonialism once and for all.
So today, pour one out and wish happy birthday to these ancestors who led the way.
BLACK POWER!
LAND BACK!
