By Commander-in-Chief Gazi Kodzo
[The following speech was given by Commander-in-Chief Gazi Kodzo in Rally #29 when Black Hammer was getting ready to #LeadThePeople for our Covid crisis vigil]
So, last week, y’all were underestimating yourselves, you remember that? It seems so long ago!
I don’t know if it’s quarantine, or depression, but time has bent. Back then, you didn’t know you could put together a candlelight vigil, and I told you you could do it. And look at what you did. Look at all those blocks you filled up with Hammers. Look at the boxes of food and clothes and PPE you were giving out all week. That was so freaking outstanding! Do you know other organizations organize to do events like that once a year? And y’all do it every weekend, so clap for yourselves! I said you could do it and you did it.
And look at the smiles it brought to you. That’s the payment right there, ain’t it? The people who don’t know your names, and you don’t know theirs, and they’re saying thank you. That’s what it’s about as Hammers. In other organization’s it’s about selling newspapers like it was the 1960’s or some shit. Like, nigga who’s buying newspapers? Also it’s hella wasteful! Get that iPhone and scroll! That’s why we have our social media apparatus and Black Hammer Times.
I want to talk about another thing we did that was miraculous, just to prove to you who you are.
I watched this Netflix documentary called “The Social Dilemma”, and it’s about how social media apps have this AI program that basically learns to trick you and make you stay on the phone longer, make you stay on the apps longer, make you stay logged on to do the things they want you to do for longer.
I was looking at this thing; how they were turning people into sheep; how Facebook has actually caused an anti-muslim war in other nations with apps and ads, just to see if they could do it. And we’re addicted to that, it’s not a question of if, we’re all addicted. We’re all stuck to it.
It took us over — well it thought it did, because we turned it around.
We used the thing that was supposed to turn us into human cattle for advertisements, and we used it to connect with each other, to form an organization to end colonialism, a thing that could never exist in colonialism.
People made fun of us for being social media activists, remember that? Like that’s all we are? As if we can’t walk outside, as if our bodies are stuck to the screen. And as if we can’t make things move without leaving our room. We do it all the time. And I’m not just talking about Amazon or Uber. Some of us have used the internet to move things and do things to get that rent paid, have we not?
We have taken those skills from under this hypnosis to handle this material problem. So yeah, we’re social media activists. We’re social media revolutionaries. Social Media has 2 billion active users on it at all times! I think that’s where we need to be if we want to be among the people! I know when Marx and Lenin were alive they didn’t have this apparatus, this system, but girl it’s here now! And we have to go where the two billion people are at — in my room! Cause I’m addicted to it any goddamn way. Then we used social media to get to our people over 200,000 pieces of PPE, hand sanitizer, soap, gloves, herbs, and vitamins. We did it with a wifi connection.
Ain’t none of us came into BH a millionaire yet. I’ll let you know. You’re all broke as a joke. You’re all on the free membership plan, mother knows and it’s fine! It’s fine because you put in the work. We did all of that through this collective, through the ability to tap into the collective brilliance of Colonized people uniting and coming together.
* * *
You know, I went to get my haircut by my Mexican brothers the other day, and when I went into the Mexican barber shop, they were real rude to Mouhamadou and I.
I know that in the past, before I came to certain theoretical conclusions, I would’ve been like “Fuck them! Black vs Everybody! That’s the problem with everybody. Everybody is anti-black!” But now, being in Black Hammer, with us building unity, which is the only cure for division, now that I unite with these theories, when my Mexican brother is being rude to me I feel sympathetic and sad that he doesn’t feel the energy and love I feel in this organization.
That feeling can only come from Colonized nations uniting. I feel sad that he probably doesn’t know that this is his land. I feel sad that he doesn’t even know that he is the true leadership of the revolution, or that there can even be a revolution. So I made sure to give him a flyer.
That’s our power, y’all. Our unity is where we literally get our power. Do you see it? Do you feel it? Principle of Unity #2: we as Colonized people are all equal.– not just with Colonized nations coming together, but inside the nations there are these divisions, and we are saying ‘no’ to all that too! Just get along! We come in here based on that and how beautiful that is.
They also don’t know that even being an African shines brighter in this space. They’re so used to us being used for “diversity” in capitalism, being made as white as possible and smooshed together, so they think coming together means losing a part of yourself. How crazy is that? You ain’t got to lose shit! Come as you are, grandmama say! Come with all of you in Black Hammer. You are allowed to come in with all of you because of our second principle of unity.
Why am I saying this this week? Because next week we’re gonna talk about all the wins we had in Black Hammer. Just wins because that’s all we experienced, thank you jesus! We’re gonna talk about all the wins of 2020, all of them. And y’all are gonna be so happy and proud of yourselves, as you should be.
And then the week after that, the first Tuesday of January, we’re going to be doing some voting. Make sure to come to that rally because we’re going to be giving you the plans of 2021. You’re going to be able to vote if you wanna move those plans forward, or if you don’t like those plans. At the end of the day the whole organization is going to have to end up doing these plans to get them accomplished. That’s how we do: collective leadership. It’s not that hard.
I’m telling you this because the #1 thing that tried to destroy Black Hammer in all of 2020 was people attacking our second principle of unity, not just from outside the organization, but within the organization.
You’ve seen leadership come and go and move around. Some of those who left were because they couldn’t do the work, which is fine, but others we initiated because of an attack on principle #2. Each and every single one of them, each and every attack.
Either they were trying to say “Asians hate Africans”, or they were trying to say “Black men are the white men of the Black commuinty”, or they were saying things about trans people, queer people, even targeting cishet people. They kept trying to target lines of division because that’s how you break something this powerful. It was only because we fought and won in 2020 for our second principle of unity that we have gotten this far, and were able to do what we have done, and were able to plan what we will do.
The attacks on principle #2 will come hard and harder in 2021. Fight for it. Fight for it. Feel what it builds in here. I’m not just talking about work — this isn’t a corporation — just about the comradery and community we have created with Zoom and Telegram and apps, with that distance. So, just imagine what it’s going to feel like in Hammer City, and know how precious that is, for you to really be free and not slighted for anything you are. And defend it hard.
I’m so proud of you all. Always forward, never backward!
Land Back!
