The True Reformers’ Hall was packed last Tuesday night with colored people who even lined the aisles and stair ways to attend the mass-meeting of citizens held for the purpose of making a dignified and conservative protest against the action of the Virginia Passenger and Power Company in making racial discrimination upon its lines in Richmond, Manchester and Petersburg.
COLORED BANKER PLEDGE SUPPORT
A sensation was caused when Chairman Mitchell announced that the Presidents and Cashiers of the four colored Banks, and representing an aggregate capital of $180,000 had met Friday, April 15th, 1904 and pledged their personal and financial support to any movement having for its purpose the transit of the colored people who must ride from one section of the city to the other. The following are the resolutions:
We, the undersigned, officials of the four regularly incorporated Negro Banks of the city of Richmond, viz: The Savings Bank, Grand Fountain, U. O. of T. R., Nickel Savings Bank, Mechanics’ Savings Bank, and the St. Luke Penny Savings Bank, having viewed with alarm the promulgation of the legalized order, clothing the conductors on our street railways system with the power to arbitrarily separate the passengers according to their race and color which power is liable to create ill feeling between the races and precipitate trouble between the citizens, otherwise peaceable and orderly, we desire to emphasize the fact that we stand for law and order and advise our people who ride on the cars of said corporation to obey such rules and regulations as may have been announced.
We realize, however, that to ride on these cars is liable to produce friction and some thoughtless member of the race may in a moment of aggravation commit some overt act that may cause trouble and to place us in the light of attempting to over ride the laws of the commonwealth.
For this reason alone, if no other, we see a source of trouble in street car travel and we note that some of our citizens seem to believe it necessary that some mode of locomotion should be provided in order to minimize friction and avoid trouble. We therefore, pledge our personal and official influence to the support of any movement looking to the transit of any and all persons who may ride and have no other means of reaching their respective destinations; provided that any such movement shall have for its sole purpose a desire to promote harmony between the races and peace and goodwill among the white and colored citizens of this community in which we live.
Provided further that no such movement shall have for its purpose the injury for the Virginia Passenger and Power Co., or the interference with the traffic on any of its lines.
Signed:–
W.L.Taylor, President Savings Bank, G.F., U.O. of T.R. R.T. Hill, Cashier R.F. Tancil, President, Nickel Savings Bank E.A. Washington, Cashier John Mitchell, Jr., President, Mechanics Savings bank Thomas H. Wyatt, Cashier Maggie L. Walker, President, St. Luke Penny Savings Bank Emmet O. Burke, Cashier. . . . A LADY’S VOICE
Mrs. Patsie K. Anderson’s advice given in terse, explicit language was to do no talking but walk, walk, walk. She carried the house by storm and sat down amidst great applause. . . .
RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED
The meeting was one of the most orderly and conservative ever held in this city. A recess of five minutes was taken and later the committee on resolutions made the following report:
“Whereas, the legislature of Virginia has enacted a law permitting the street railway companies to separate the passengers on the basis of their color, the enforcement of which enactment is not compulsory, but is left to the action of the company, and,
“Whereas, we deem the enactment of such a law as a hardship upon our race and calculated to do irreparable harm by making it possible to provoke unnecessary clashes between the races, and,
“Whereas, we deem the enactment of such a law as unncessary and unwarranted in view of the relation which exists between the races races, and,
“Resolved, That we, the citizens of Richmond, in mass-meeting assembled, enter our solemn protest against the enforcement of this law by any and all public service corporations, recognizing as we do that the enforcement of the law in questions is left to the option of such companies.”
Signed:–R.E. Jones, Chairman, H.L. Harris, Secretary, H.F. Jonathan, J.R. Pollard, E.A. Washington, Thomas H. Wyatt, Committee.
From Richmond Planet, April 30, 1904.
STREET-CAR SITUATION
Colored Folks Walking–White Folks Kicking–Amusing Happenings. Rule Very Unpopular The “Jim Crow” street car regulation is in effect in this city and has been since April 20th, 1904. White passengers are ushered up to the front of the car and the colored passengers are seated in the rear. As a result, between eighty and ninety per cent of the colored people who have used the street-car’s are now walking as the street-car company is trying to avoid the moving of the white passengers from time to time on account of the entrance of the colored ones, the rear part of the street-cars is reserved for colored passengers whether they ride or not. As a result it is a common thing to see street-cars with the front part filled and the rear part empty. TWO IN THE REAR SEATS Now and then one or two colored persons may be seen in the “Jim Crow” department. The Clay street line has shown a heavy falling off in travel. Hitherto it has been rammed, jammed and packed in the mornings with colored people going to work. Now at any hour seats can be obtained.
Imari Obadele, Who Fought for Reparations, Dies at 79
Imari Obadele, a teacher and writer whose commitment to black empowerment fired a militant, sometimes violent effort to win reparations for descendants of slaves and to carve out, however quixotically, an African-American republic in the Deep South, died on Jan. 18 in Atlanta. He was 79. Enlarge This Image United Press International Imari Obadele, center, in a 1971 Republic of Afrika news conference in Jackson, Miss. The cause was a stroke, said Johnita Scott, his former wife. Mr. Obadele (pronounced oh-ba-DEL-ee) was president of what he called the Republic of New Afrika, a country that existed as an idea. His provocative proposal was to have Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and South Carolina — the heart of the old Confederacy —removed from the union and given over to black Americans. The demand drew the national news media’s attention. The New York Times called it “bizarre.” The proposal emerged in 1968, the year the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. Black separatism was on the rise, with some advocates resurrecting 19th-century proposals for blacks to return to Africa. Mr. Obadele, who had despaired of integration into white society, demanded American land as payback for the centuries of abuse blacks had suffered. He also asked for billions of dollars and became a leader of the reparations movement. His organization saw itself as fighting a war of national liberation. It had a uniformed militia and engaged in gun battles with the police in Detroit and Jackson, Miss.; a police officer died in each. In the Jackson face-off — a raid on the group’s headquarters in 1971 — murder charges against Mr. Obadele were eventually dropped, though eight members of his group were convicted. A year later, Mr. Obadele was convicted of conspiring to assault an F.B.I.officer and served more than five years of a 12-year sentence. Mr. Obadele and his supporters contended that they had become targets of the Federal Bureau of Investigation because of their political views, pointing to threats and raids by the police in the months before the Mississippi confrontation. Amnesty International in 1977 called Mr. Obadele a political prisoner, one of the first Americans so designated. The F.B.I. was clearly watching the group, as internal agency documents showed when they later became public. A 1968 agency memorandum urged that Mr. Obadele “be kept off the streets”; another called him one of America’s “most violence-prone black extremists.” In his critique of American race relations, Mr. Obadele, who had a doctorate in political science, argued that slaves should not have automatically been considered American citizens after their emancipation because they were offered no choice in the matter. If they had chosen not to become inferior members of a white society (the only possibility for them, as he saw it) or to move to another country, they should have been able to take land from the existing United States. Mr. Obadele also started the advocacy group National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America. Maulana Karenga, the black nationalist leader best known as the creator ofKwanzaa, the African-American celebration in December, wrote in 2008 in The Sentinel, a black newspaper in Los Angeles, that Mr. Obadele’s work for reparations was “essential.” Mr. Obadele’s views fueled a debate that had started during Reconstruction. In recent years, the issue has re-emerged among black intellectuals with the publication in 2000 of Randall Robinson’s book “The Debt: What America Owes to Blacks” and an effort by theHarvard law professor Charles J. Ogletree to assemble a top legal team to push for reparations. Mr. Obadele was born Richard Bullock Henry in Philadelphia on May 2, 1930, one of 12 children. He was an avid Boy Scout and as a young man helped his brother Milton start a civil rights organization that had W. E. B. Du Bois as a speaker. When Milton moved to Detroit, Richard followed. Richard worked there as a newspaper reporter and as a technical writer for the military. In 1963, he refused to let his son Freddy go to school and learn from textbooks he considered racist. Richard’s brother was a close friend of Malcolm X, and after Malcolm’s murder in 1965, Richard and Milton Henry helped form the Malcolm X Society to promote his views. Malcolm, in the face of continuing bloodshed in the civil rights struggle, had become increasingly frustrated with the philosophy of nonviolent resistance espoused by Dr. King and others. The Henry brothers began to embrace black separatism. In 1968, they and others formed the Republic of New Afrika and adopted African names; Milton became Gaidi Obadele. (Obadele is a Yoruba word meaning “the king arrives at home.”) At the group’s inaugural meeting in Detroit, about 200 delegates signed a declaration of independence and a “government in exile” was set up. Mr. Obadele was chosen information minister, and he published a handbook, “War in America.” A paramilitary unit, the Black Legion, to be clad in black uniforms with leopard-skin epaulettes, was formed. In March 1969, a gun battle erupted between police officers and the Black Legionnaires outside a Detroit church, leaving one officer dead. The militants were tried but not convicted in a trial that drew conflicting testimony about the confrontation. The Republic of New Afrika splintered the next year, with Milton, or Gaidi Obadele, saying he now rejected violence. Imari, who had now been elected president, led about 100 followers to Mississippi to build a black nation. After a deal to buy 18 acres from a farmer collapsed, the group established a headquarters in a house in Jackson. The local police and F.B.I. agents raided the house on Aug. 18, 1971. Some news reports said the purpose of the raid was to arrest a suspect in the Detroit killing. Others said the goal was to stop treasonous activities or to search for arms. Each side said the other fired first in a gun battle that left one officer dead. Though indicted in the killing, Mr. Obadele was found to have been 10 blocks away during the raid and charges were dropped. But in a related proceeding, he was convicted of conspiracy to assault a federal agent and was sent to prison. Mr. Obadele later earned a Ph.D. in political science from Temple University. He taught at several colleges, including Prairie View A&M University in Texas. He is survived by his daughters Marilyn Obadele and Vivian Gafford; his sons Imari II and Freddy Sterling Young; and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren. In 1983, Mr. Obadele was a defense witness in the trial of Cynthia Boston, a Republic of New Afrika member who was convicted in the holdup of a Brinks armored car in 1981. On the stand, he defended armed struggle. “We cannot tell somebody who is underground what to do,” he said. “If people feel that they must attack people who have been attacking and destroying and harming our people, then that is a decision they have to make.”
Dr. Imari A. Obadele, Ph.D. 1930 – 2010
El-Hajj Malik Shabazz, Gaidi Obadeli and Imari Obadele Dr. Obadele Memorial Service: Atlanta GA 1/30/10
FOR IMARI OBADELE: FREE THE LAND, LIBERATE THE PEOPLE Los Angeles Sentinel, 02-11-10, p. A7 DR. MAULANA KARENGA Imari Abubakari Obadele I (May 2, 1930—January 18, 2010) made his transition still on the battlefield to free the land, liberate the people and to unite the masses into a self-conscious social force to achieve these and other related goals. May we learn the lessons of his life and work; be informed and uplifted by the spirit of possibility he demonstrated even in older age and illness, embrace the model of excellence and achievement that endeared him to us; and continuously practice the morality of remembrance that honors him and makes all these other practices possible and compelling. Surely, as the Husia says of the good, the great and the rightfully respected, “He shall be counted among the ancestors. His name shall endure as a monument and what he has done on earth shall never perish or pass away.” Dr. Imari Obadele played a major role in many of the movements of our times: Civil Rights, Black Power, Pan-Africanism, Reparations and the Million Man March/Day of Absence, and our paths and projects intersected often. He was one by whose name you could really know him; for, in an African sense, his whole name reflected who he was, aspired to and strove to be each day. He had a special patience and an admirable inner strength and resoluteness, as his name Imari (Imara) in Swahili informs us. He was a visionary who looked beyond the now and imagined a new way and world, like his namesake, Abubakari II of Mali, who reached for the unrealized and set sail for a new and yet-to-be-encountered world. And he was “a royal one who returned home,” as his Yoruba last name, Obadele, indicates. It was a defiant return home to his Africanness, and an expansive sense of self this cultivates. He was a soldier-in-the-making, even at an early age, bringing himself into being in the nurturing shadow and shared activities of his older brothers, Attorney Milton Henry (Gaidi Abiodun Obadele) and Laurence Harvey in Philadelphia. As early as 1948, the FBI began monitoring their activities for encouraging draft resistance, resisting our fighting in an army that segregated and treated Blacks unequally and unjustly. An avid student and advocate of the teachings of Min. Malcolm, Imari recounts that Min. Malcolm’s “Message to the Grassroots” lecture had a profound effect on him; especially Malcolm’s linking revolution, independence, freedom, justice and equality to the struggle for land. Taking Malcolm seriously, Imari and Gaidi seized the initiative and called the founding conference of the Republic of New Africa (RNA) in 1968. The 500 plus delegates reaffirmed the right of self-determination, issued a Declaration of Independence, and made a commitment “to build a new society better than what we now know and as perfect as man (and woman) can make it.” They also raised the battle-cry of “free the land,” calling for the U.S. government to cede Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina as the ground on which to build the RNA and for Africans to be prepared to fight to win and keep it. “Free the land” became Imari’s core commitment and battle cry, the centerpiece of his conversations and concerns and the way he greeted coming and going. In addition, the RNA demanded billions in reparations as just compensation for the gross and grievous injury to Black people from enslavement and oppression and for their development and repair and the building of the Nation. And this became Imari’s second signature focus and concern in the struggle to liberate the people. Working to build a base for the RNA in a liberated zone in the South, Imari moved to Mississippi where an armed confrontation between the RNA and the FBI and local police led to the political imprisonment of eleven members of the RNA, including Imari. He and the RNA were on the long list of those hunted and harassed, driven in exile and underground, killed or captured and unjustly imprisoned on trumped-up charges in the FBI’s massive suppression thru its COINTELPRO. Released after five years, he left captivity unbroken and undeterred, defiantly still committed to the demands and discipline of the struggle. Moreover, he earned his doctorate, wrote books and articles, taught international and constitutional law and politics at various universities, filed law suits for reparations, and lectured extensively. In 1987, Imari called for a movement for reparations at a National Conference of Black Lawyers at Harvard and began to build the basis for the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N’COBRA) in order to expand the appeal of the idea, enlarge its base of support and educate the people to its justice and possibility. His work and the work of N’COBRA led to reparations discourse moving from the margin to a center place in the conversations and initiatives in the Black struggle for liberation and justice and to an expanded base of interest and support among the masses and the middle class. Indeed, he is considered “the father of reparations” in the current phase of the Movement.
But Imari was not prone to overestimate what was achieved or underestimate what was still to be done. He recognized the difficulties and long-term demands of struggle and embraced Amilcar Cabral’s counsel to “mask no difficulties, tell no lies and claim no easy victories.” Thus, he asked us to think critically and always resist and reject the established-order version of reality and “the stampeding power of the White media” which is so often negative to “our dignity as a people and our right to the benefit of common sense, reasoned debate and . . . international law” and exchange. Moreover, in one of his last articles, he raised and reaffirmed a traditional call for steadfastness in struggle, urging us to “walk together . . . and don’t get weary” in the struggle. And like Frederick Douglass, he reminded us there is no substitute for the transformative power of the masses in motion and struggle. He said of reparations and all we struggle for, “Law suits and petitions are necessary and will help. But only our mass demand grown palpable in the streets will bring the results or near-approximation of what we seek and deserve.” Ever optimistic concerning the progressive motion and march of history thru radical and relentless struggle, Imari predicted the eventual victory of the struggle for reparations and freedom. And, then, he said, we can and “will begin to use the proceeds in the best manner to repair ourselves as a people and once more provide Black genius to the world” in freer and even more expansive ways.
Dr. Maulana Karenga, Professor of Africana Studies, California State University-Long Beach, Chair of The Organization Us, Creator of Kwanzaa, and author of Kawaida and Questions of Life and Struggle. [www.MaulanaKarenga.org; http://www.Us-Organization.org and ww.OfficialKwanzaaWebsite.org]
Brief Reflections on the Life of Imari A. Obadele, Ph.D. 1930 – 2010
Johnita Scott-Obadele and Imari A. Obadele Imari Abubakari Obadele grew up in Philadelphia, PA. Some early influences in his life that helped to shape his later perspectives were his active involvement in the Boy Scouts at age eleven and the examples of his older brothers whose accomplishments he admired. Whenever he spoke of his early political and social consciousness, he mentioned his older brothers Milton and Laurence. From Milton, a Tuskegee Airman, he learned how to confront discrimination. Laurence, a free lance photographer, placed Imari in direct contact with the national leaders of the time, including Malcolm X. As a young adult, Imari moved to Detroit where he participated in forming an organization called GOAL (Group on Advanced Leadership) which he described as “a civil and economics rights group.” After listening to Malcolm X’s “Message to the Grassroots” speech and Malcolm’s subsequent assassination, Imari realized that bolder steps would be required to achieve the freedom of Black people. Within three years of these events, he participated in the Black Government Conference from which the Provisional Government of the Republic of New Afrika (RNA) was established. Imari would become the second and longest serving president. Imari would pay a heavy price for his role as leader of the provisional government, as would others. He moved south to the land that had been identified as the national territory leaving behind his wife and four children in Detroit. In Jackson, MS, a confrontation between the police and declared citizens of the RNA led to the death of a policeman and the incarceration of eleven citizens, including Imari. Imari served almost five years in the federal penal system. After his release from prison in 1980, Imari earned both masters and PhD. degrees from Temple University, while at the same time, working to repair the movement and rebuild his personal life. Many progressive groups saw reparations as an ideal or an ultimate goal or as simply one of their many agenda items. Dr. Obadele saw reparations as a primary, immediate, and achievable goal; he recognized the need and the possibility of combining forces around this single issue to build a mass movement to obtain a measure of what justifiably belonged to Black people. He made the call for just such a mass movement at a conference on the U.S. Constitution convened in 1987 by the National Conference of Black Lawyers at Harvard University. From this call and over the next two years, the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N’COBRA) took form. Dr. Obadele was an active Board Member of N’COBRA from its inception and retired from it recently due to poor health. He also co-authored the book Reparations Yes which set forth the legal and political reasons for reparations. N’COBRA brought new energy and vitality to an old movement. Many of the different Black progressive and revolutionary organizations of those earlier days joined this new coalition. Some marveled as they saw individuals who had refused to be in the same room, come together around this single issue and Dr. Obadele’s leadership. Indeed, Dr. Imari Obadele was a powerful and essential catalyst for the emergence of the new phase of the reparations movement in the United States. With stable employment at Prairie View University, and his personal life solid, Dr. Obadele was prolific in writing and recruiting for N’COBRA. He published the first issue of N’COBRA’s magazine: ENCOBRA. He remained on the editorial board for several years. He challenged injustices at every opportunity, filed lawsuits, wrote to politicians and others and spoke wherever he could get an audience of one or hundreds. It was also during his twelve years at Prairie View that N’COBRA enjoyed a high level of student and youth involvement. Its overall membership grew during this period directly and indirectly because of Dr. Obadele’s leadership. Dr. Obadele retired from Prairie View as a full Professor with the respect of his colleagues and the admiration of the hundreds of students who had been nurtured by him. Consistent with his dedication to his students, the independence movement, and the reparations movement Dr. Obadele authored or co-authored the following books and articles:
America the Nation State Brief History of Black Struggle in America The New International Law Regime United States Foreign Policy The U.S. Presidency and the Struggle Which Shaped the Character of the Nation-State The Forty Acres Documents Eight Women Leaders of the Reparations Movement U.S.A. In addition, he was the editor of the New Afrikan Journal. Dr. Obadele spent his retirement years re-establishing a presence in Jackson, MS for the independence movement and working for reparations until health issues forced him from the stage. Dr. Obadele’s life was full and multifaceted. He reached a place where he simultaneously balanced family life with his movement work. He was diverse enough to maintain membership in a Baptist Church, “mainstream” professional organizations, grassroots formations. He always had and nurtured a strong family foundation. He believed in the genius of all Black people, not just certain Black people. Submitted by Johnita Scott, based on personal observations and Dr. Obadele’s writings.
This chapter is about the best kept secret in America. The government knows about the information in this chapter, but they will not admit it.
As we learned in chapter 1, every individual born in one of the 50 sovereign states was born an individual American sovereign, with inalienable rights. Those inalienable rights included life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The pursuit of happiness included the right to engage in a common occupation or business without a license, to travel freely from one place to another without permission from the state (driver’s license), the inalienable right to acquire and possess property without paying property tax, etc.
Before the Declaration of Independence, there were no Americans Citizens, because there was no America, as a country. The people were subjects of the British Crown. After the Declaration, each state was its own sovereign state, and the citizens were state Citizens. State Citizens had inalienable rights secured by each state’s constitution. But I have a problem with the word “citizen”. Can you be a citizen and a sovereign at the same time? Is a king a citizen of his own country? Or is he a sovereign and not a citizen? I believe that a ‘citizen’ is the same as a ‘subject’, and a subject always has a superior power over him. So, you are either a sovereign, OR a citizen/subject. You cannot be both at the same time.
Our New Afrikan Reality in The U.S. – Haki Kweli Shakur
This is confirmed by an early Supreme Court decision. Chisholm v. Georgia 2 Dall (U.S.) 419, 456-480 (1793) (p.470) All the country now possessed by the United States was then a part of the dominions appertaining to the crown of Great Britain. Every acre of land in this country was then held mediately or immediately from that crown. All the people of this country were then, subjects of the King of Great Britain, and owed allegiance to him; . . . From the crown of Great Britain, the sovereignty of their country passed to the people of it; . . . Here we see the people acting as sovereigns of the whole country; . . . (p.471) At the Revolution, the sovereignty devolved on the people; and they are truly the sovereigns of the country, but they are sovereigns without subjects and have none to govern but themselves; the citizens of America are equal as fellow citizens, and as joint tenants in the sovereignty. (p.458) But in the case of the King, the sovereignty had a double operation. While it vested him with jurisdiction over others, it excluded all others from jurisdiction over him. The law, says Sir William Blackstone, ascribes to the King the attribute of sovereignty: he is sovereign and independent within his own dominions; and owes no kind of subjection to any other potentate upon earth. Hence it is, that no suit or action can be brought against the King, even in civil matters; because no court can have jurisdiction over him: for all jurisdiction implies superiority of power. The principle is, that all human law must be prescribed by a superior. (p.455) As the State has claimed precedence of the people; so in the same inverted course of things, the Government has often claimed precedence of the State; and to this perversion in the second degree, many of the volumes of confusion concerning sovereignty owe their existence. By a State I mean, a complete body of free persons united together for their common benefit, to enjoy peaceably what is their own, and to do justice to others. It is an artificial person. It has its affairs and its interests: It has its rules: It has its rights: And it has its obligations. It may acquire property distinct from that of its members: It may incur debts to be discharged out of the public stock, not out the private fortunes of individuals. (p. 456) The only reason, I believe, why a free man is bound by human laws, it that he binds himself. Upon the same principles, upon which he becomes bound by the laws, he becomes amenable to the Courts of Justice, which are formed and authorized by those laws. If one free man, an original sovereign, may do all this, why may not an aggregate of free men, a collection of original sovereigns, do likewise? . . . In one sense, the term sovereignty has for its correlative, subject. In this sense, the term can receive no application; for it has no object in the Constitution of the United States,. Under that Constitution there are citizens, but no subjects.
“ALL jurisdiction implies superiority of power”! So if you are under the jurisdiction of a government, they have the superior power! You are bound by the laws only because you choose to be! When you pledge allegiance to any country, you become a subject of that country, and you waive your sovereignty. But, if you pledge allegiance only to YOUR creator, then you are the superior power, and no human government is over you. After the ratification of the U.S. Constitution, American sovereigns acquired citizenship status, called Citizen of the united States of America.Also known as American Citizen, with a capital “C”.
DeLima v. Bidwell 182 U.S. 179 (1900) The Constitution is not a physical substance. It is in the nature of a grant or power, or what would be termed in private law a power of attorney. A real constitution is a grant of rights or powers by a sovereign. The sovereign cannot be limited, for he is the source of all law. Yick Wo v. Hopkins 118 U.S. 370
In another Supreme Court case they ruled: Graves v. Schmidlapp 315 U.S. 657-665 (1941) The power to tax is an incident of sovereignty and is coextensive with that to which it is an incident. All subjects over which the sovereign power of a state extends are objects of taxation.
Are the American people sovereigns OVER the government? Or are they subjects of the government, UNDER the government’s jurisdiction and power?
Important points. Sovereign Americans are above the governments they delegated management powers to. Governments are artificial persons, legal fictions. Governments, as artificial persons, can own property and incur debts on their own, separate from the sovereign people. The personal fortunes of the sovereign people are not to be used to discharge the government’s debts. Governments have complete power over their OWN property and subjects. All jurisdiction implies superiority of power. All subjects UNDER the jurisdictional power of a government, are objects of taxation. As the Supreme Court stated above, a free man is subject to human laws only because he binds himself. You, as one of the joint owners of this country, have agreed to abide by certain laws, that you have agreed to. These laws are designated in the Constitution. Remember these concepts. They are critical to the understanding of freedom from taxation.
The Supreme Court of Colorado has ruled: Colorado Anti-Discrimination Commission v. Case 380 P.2d 34 (1962) Natural rights -inherent rights and liberties are not the creatures of constitutional provisions either at the national or state level. The inherent human freedoms with which mankind is endowed are “antecedent to all earthly governments; rights that cannot be repealed or restrained by human laws; rights derived from the Great Legislator of the Universe.”
You become subject to the human laws because you bind yourself to them as an artificial person. You waive your sovereign status, to become a subject. How do you do that? By contracting with the government and accepting benefits. The only way the government will contract with you, is if you waive your inalienable rights and agree to be UNDER their jurisdiction.
Before the 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868, Americans were called Citizens (with a capitlal “C”) of the united States of America. (American Citizen, or American, for short) If you were born in America, you were born a sovereign with inalienable rights. It was a common understanding among the people. Up until then, slavery was still accepted in America. Slaves were not Citizens, state or national, but were merely considered the personal ‘property’ of the slave holders. The 13th Amendment was ratified in 1865, just 3 years before the 14th. The 13th amendment abolished slavery. But that created a new problem. The newly freed slaves were not citizens of any state or country, because they were just property, and property did not have citizenship. To solve the problem, the 14th amendment was passed. This amendment created a new class of citizenship. This new class was legally called: ‘United States citizen’, (with a small “c”). NOT ‘United States of America Citizen’, but just ‘United States citizen’. Notice that the U.S. citizen is spelled with a lower case ‘c’. This is to show a lower class of citizenship. This class of citizen (U.S. citizen) is a privilege granted by the federal government, and not a sovereign inalienable right.
From Black’s Law Dictionary 6th Edition:
Fourteenth Amendment. The Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States, ratified in 1868, creates or at least recognizes for the first time a citizenship of the United States, as distinct from that of the states;
The Civil War was fought from 1861-1865. The significance of this will be seen later.
Let’s see just what the 14th Amendment really does say.
Constitution of the United States of America 14th Amendment (1868). Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges and immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any States deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Notice the wording of this amendment carefully. If they were talking about Citizens of the 50 states, then it would read “and subject to the jurisdiction(s) thereof”. Jurisdictions would be plural if it applied to more than one entity. But since it applies only to the United States government, singular, is also shows the jurisdiction to be singular. Jurisdiction, not jurisdictions.
Several other things to notice here. This section 1 of the amendment has two parts.
The first part has to do with the citizenship of ‘persons’, subjects.
The second part has to do with the states being required to protect the privileges and immunities of the United States citizen. We will look at the first part first.
The first part of this amendment says that ‘persons’ born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States, and of the state wherein they reside. We just learned that jurisdiction implies superiority of power, so is a United States citizen superior to the government? NO! The roles are reversed. Notice this does not say they are citizens of the United States ‘of America’. Just the ‘United States’. Is there a difference? Let’s check it out.
First, what is a ‘person’? There are legally two kinds of ‘persons’. First there is the ‘natural person’ with inalienable rights. This is a flesh and blood human being, the sovereign individual. Second, there is just the term ‘person’. When just the term ‘person’ is used, and not ‘natural person’, it means an artificial person, such as a corporation, trust, government, etc. A human being can be both a natural person and an artificial person at the same time. How do you tell the difference? It is as simple as whether you spell your name in all capital letters or not. More on this in a bit. The important thing to remember at this point is that artificial persons are property. Property in Latin is res. Property located in a certain territory, would be its place of residence. So property (res) belonging to and located in the State of Colorado, would be ‘resident’ of the state. Are you a resident of a state or of the United States?
Important point. Since a government is an artificial person, according to the Supreme Court, does an artificial person have jurisdiction over the sovereign that created the artificial person? No. Does the artificial person (government) have jurisdiction over any new artificial persons, or property, created by the government? Yes. A government has complete power over its subjects and its own property. Remember, the Constitution is just a power of attorney from the sovereign people to the government. That power of attorney extends to anything the government, as an artificial person, creates or owns.
So a ‘resident’ would be an artificial ‘person’ (property) located within the jurisdiction of a certain government. Almost all state and federal statutes apply to ‘persons’ who are citizens and residents, and are subject to the jurisdiction thereof. They rarely apply to ‘natural persons’.
Now to the second part of the 14th Amendment. It applies to all persons “born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof’.” This could only mean the territorial jurisdiction of the federal government. As stated in the Supreme Court case of Chisholm v. Georgia quoted earlier, all jurisdiction implies superiority of power. So if you are subject to the jurisdiction of the federal government, that implies their power is superior to your sovereign power, or the sovereign power of your state. In other words, you are not a sovereign, but a subject, if you are a U.S. citizen, name spelled in all caps.
A ‘U.S. citizen’ is a subject of the federal government, subject to its jurisdiction. An ‘American Citizen’ is a sovereign individual, and the government is subject to him, and no court has jurisdiction over him, without his permission. When you present yourself to a court, you give them temporary jurisdiction for a certain issue to be settled. Once it is settled, then that jurisdiction ceases. That is why plaintiffs must prove jurisdiction before courts can hear a case.
An important distinction needs to be understood here. The sovereign technically has inalienable rights, NOT constitutional rights. We all call them constitutional rights, but they are not. They are inalienable rights SECURED by constitutions, state and federal. The basis of any inalienable right is established in the Declaration of Independence. This document very clearly states that “We hold these Truths to be self evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.” Look for the mention of God, or inalienable rights, in the Constitution, and you will not find them.
Many patriots are making constitutional arguments, when they should be making inalienable rights arguments. There is no basis for inalienable rights of property under the constitution, but there IS under the Declaration of Independence! We are using the wrong document to claim our rights under!
For example, the way to state a constitutional argument would be to state that you have the inalienable right to bear arms, stated in the Declaration of Independence, and ‘secured’ by the Bill of Rights, in the 2nd Amendment. You have the inalienable right to not be a witness against yourself, ‘secured’ by the 5th Amendment. This gives your argument a much stronger legal basis and is much harder to dismiss, if you ever did go to court. The Bill of Rights, means the Bill of Inalienable Rights, based on the Declaration of Independence, and secured by the Constitution!
If you are a citizen of the United States, then JUST WHERE and WHAT IS THE ‘UNITED STATES’?
Is there a territorial difference between the United States of America, (the 50 sovereign states) and the United States government (10 miles square, plus possessions)?
What is the legal definition of United States?
Black’s Law Dictionary 6th Edition. United States. This term has several meanings. (1) It may be merely the name of a sovereign occupying the position analogous to that of other sovereigns in the family of nations, (2) it may designate territory over which sovereignty of the United states extends, (3) or it may be the collective name of the states which are united by and under the Constitution. from Hooven & Allison v. Evatt 324 U.S. 652
The first definition (1) only applies to other countries in their relationship to America. It doesn’t apply to us.
The third definition (3) applies only to the 50 states united under the Constitution. That does apply to us.
The second definition (2) is the one we are primarily concerned about. This definition applies to the geographical territory over which the sovereignty and jurisdiction of the United States extends, pertaining to the 14th Amendment jurisdiction over citizens. Again, we must go the the Constitution to see where that territory is. The United States has exclusive jurisdiction only over certain areas. Since each of the 50 states were separate sovereign states, the sovereignty of the United States did not extend to these 50 states, unless they incorporated. What’s left? The Constitution tells us.
U.S. Constitution Article 1 Section 8 Clause 17: To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of Particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the States in which the same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards and other needful buildings;
According to the Constitution, the territory of the United States of America includes the 50 sovereign states, each of which have their own constitution and jurisdiction. The geographical territory of sovereign jurisdictions do not overlap.
The territory of the United States ‘of America’ is different from the territory of the United States ‘government’.
The territorial jurisdiction of the United States government only extends to tens miles square, to places purchased, and to property owned. This would include territories and possessions, temporarily acquired through treaties, that are not part of the 50 states. Persons who are under this exclusive jurisdiction, are citizens of the United States ‘government’, and of the state where they reside. This is a little confusing because Washington, D.C. is considered a state, and the possessions, like Puerto Rico, are considered states. They are political states, but are not part of the 50 sovereign states.
What does the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) say? IRC 7701 is a section devoted to definitions. What is their definition of the United States?
IRC 7701(9) United States. The term “United States” when used in a geographical sense includes only the States and the District of Columbia.
The States? ONLY the States? Does that mean the 50 states, or just U.S.possessions, which are also called states? The use of the word “only” would indicate that this is a restrictive definition. Back to the definitions.
IRC 7701(10) State. The term “State” shall be construed to include the District of Columbia, where such construction is necessary to carry out provisions of this title.
When definition statutes are issued with the word “includes” it means that only the items or categories listed in the definition are included, everything else is excluded. The District of Columbia is a political state of the United States. It is property of the federal government, just like the U.S. possessions like Guam and the Virgin Islands are. Since the 50 states are not mentioned in the definition of state, they are not included.Why? Because the jurisdiction of the United States government, for income tax purposes, includes only areas under its jurisdiction, as stated in the Constitution. The 50 states are separate sovereign states, according to the state constitutions, and therefore would not come under the geographical jurisdiction of the United States federal government, a corporation. As you saw above, the 14th amendment created citizens who WERE under the jurisdiction of the federal government! The IRC defines United States person for us.
IRC 7701(30) United States person. The term “United States person” means – (A) A citizen or resident of the United States.
So if you were a U.S. citizen, you would be in that jurisdiction subject to the federal income tax. And you would be defined as a “Taxpayer”.
IRC 7701(14) Taxpayer. The term “taxpayer” means any person subject to any internal revenue tax.
So if the 50 states were not under the jurisdiction of the United States government, how come they are NOW subject to all the laws handed down by Congress? We know that states can voluntarily give up their sovereignty to the federal government, just the same as we can. They have not done that, have they? Or have they? When the Civil War was fought, all states were not admitted back into the union until their constitutions were approved by Congress. Why was this approval needed? When the southern states seceded from the union, were they then sovereign states, separate from the United States of America, or U.S. territories? When these states, and all future states, were admitted to the new union, were they conquered states, through an act of war? Were they new territory acquired by the federal government, and now under their jurisdiction? Are the 50 states now just political states of the federal government, just like D.C.?
What about territory, or states, acquired through conquest (war)? This territory is not purchased. Is this territory under the exclusive jurisdiction of the United States government? Yes. Temporarily. Any territory acquired by war, or treaty, is acquired for the sovereign people, and this territory is held, in trust, for the people until they decide to make the territory into sovereign states and add them to the Union.
Let’s check with the Supreme Court again. Hooven & Allison Co. v Evatt 324 U.S. 675 (1945) That our dependencies, (possessions) acquired as the result of our war with Spain, are territories belonging to, but not a part of the Union of states under the Constitution, was long since established by a series of decisions in this court . . . This status has ever since been maintained in the practical construction of the Constitution by all the agencies of our government in dealing with our insular possessions. It is no longer doubted that the United States may acquire territory by conquest or by treaty, and may govern it through the exercise of power of Congress conferred by Sec. 3 of Article IV of the Constitution “to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other property belonging to the United States.” In exercising this power, Congress is not subject to the same constitutional limitations as when it is legislating for the United States. (the 50 united States)
When Congress passes laws for the territories of the United States they are not limited by the Constitution. When they pass laws for the 50 states they must follow the limitations of the Constitution, because the 50 states only delegated certain powers to Congress. Powers not delegated were reserved to the states or to the people. (10th Amendment) The 50 states are superior to the federal government. So how does the federal government get the power to make laws for the 50 states?
DeLima v. Bidwell 182 U.S. 179 (1900) If the law or treaty making power enacts that the territory over which the military arm of the government has extended shall come under the permanent absolute sovereign jurisdiction of the United States, a new and different status arises. The former sovereign then loses all right of reverter, and the territorial limits of the United States are in so far enlarged.
Ponder this thought. If the federal government acquired ALL the states, after the Civil War, through the military arm of the government, OR, even today just through a declared national emergency by the Commander in Chief, and instituted martial law, would the 50 states lose their sovereign status and come under the sovereign jurisdiction of the federal government, by conquest? Yes they would. Then the President, as commander in chief, would rule the country by presidential order. This is exactly our status today. The government pretends that you still have inalienable rights secured by the constitutional, because if they let on what the truth was, there would be a revolution. As we will see in the next chapter, in 1933, the United States declared a national emergency that is still in force today.
This doesn’t sound like what they taught us in school, does it? Maybe we should check out another authority. In 1956 -1957, President Eisenhower commissioned a study of this very issue. There were problems with the jurisdictional status of federal lands located within the 50 states. He wanted to clarify the jurisdictional limits of the federal government.
The study was called:
JURISDICTION OVER FEDERAL AREAS WITHIN THE STATES It was a 2 part report and I will quote from it below:
Part II Letter of Acknowledgement. It is my understanding that the report is to be published and distributed, for the purpose of making available to Federal administrators of real property, Federal and States legislators, the legal profession, and others, this text of law of legislative jurisdiction in these areas. The Honorable Herbert Brownwell, Jr. Attorney General, Washington, D.C.
Letter of Transmittal. Together, the two parts of this Committee’s report and the full implementation of its recommendations will provide a basis for reversing in many areas the swing of “the pendulum of power * * * from our states to the central government” to which you referred in your address to the Conference of State Governors on June 25, 1957. Attorney General.
Pg. 45. Since Congress has the power to create States out of Territories and to prescribe the boundaries of the new States, the retention of exclusive legislative jurisdiction over a federally owned area within the States at the time the State is admitted into the Union would not appear to pose any serious constitutional difficulties.
No Federal legislative jurisdiction without consent, cession, or reservation. — It scarcely needs to be said that unless there has been a transfer of jurisdiction (1) pursuant to clause 17 by a Federal acquisition of land with State consent, or (2) by cession from the State to the Federal government, or unless the Federal Government has reserved jurisdiction upon the admission of the State, the Federal Government possess no legislative jurisdiction over any area within a State, such jurisdiction being for exercise entirely by the States, subject to non-interference by the State with Federal functions, and subject to the free exercise by the Federal Government of rights with respect to the use, protection, and disposition of its property. Necessity of State Assent to Transfer of Jurisdiction to Federal Government: Constitutional consent. — The Federal Government cannot, by unilateral action on its part, acquire legislative jurisdiction over any area within the exterior boundaries of a State. Pg. 66 LIMITATIONS ON AREAS OVER WHICH JURISDICTION MAY BE ACQUIRED BY CONSENT OF STATE UNDER CLAUSE 17: In general.–Article I, section 8, clause 17, of the Constitution, provides that Congress shall have the power to exercise exclusive legislation over “Places” which have been “purchased” by the Federal Government, with the consent of the legislature of the States, “for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings.” The quoted words serve to limit the scope of clause 17. They exclude from its purview places which were not “purchased” by the Federal Government, . . .
Chapter VII (pg 169) Relation of States to Federal Enclaves. Exclusive Federal Jurisdiction: States basically without authority. –When the Federal Government has acquired exclusive legislative jurisdiction over an area, by any of the three methods of acquiring such jurisdiction, it is clear that the State in which the area is located is without authority to legislate for the area or enforce any of its laws within the area. All the powers of government with respect to the area are vested in the United States.
That is just a small sampling, but as you can see, the exclusive jurisdiction of the Federal government does NOT extend to the geographical territory of the 50 states, except with their consent, or by conquest (like declaring a national emergency). This was a government report done by the Attorney General for the President. But, hey, what does he know? So, for the federal government to have jurisdiction over you, in one of the 50 states, it must own you as property. That property, or artificial person, is called ‘U.S. citizen’.
The distinction that I make here, is, either you are a Citizen of the United States of America (American Citizen), or a United States citizen (federal citizen).
An American citizen lives in one of the 50 states and has inalienable rights secured by the state and national constitutions. He spells his name in upper and lower case letters.
A United States citizen may also live in one of the 50 states, as a resident, but has only privileges and immunities, with no constitutional protections. He spells his name with all capital letters.
Check all your licenses, bills, mortgages, deeds, credit cards, etc and see which one you are claiming to be!
You will notice that the 14th Amendment says that the States shall uphold the ‘privileges and immunities’ of United States citizens. What about their ‘rights’? United States citizens, subject to the government, do not have a constitution, or inalienable rights. You cannot get that FROM a government. Property (artificial persons) can only have civil rights, privileges and immunities granted by the government. They are people that have been slightly upgraded from property (slaves) to having the privilege of being a citizen/subject of the United States government. It sounds much nicer! Remember that the amendment says U.S. citizens are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the government. And you just read how far that exclusive jurisdiction extends.
But don’t rely on this Attorney General’s report, or the Supreme Court decisions in court. The IRS and the courts consider it a frivolous argument!
The 14th Amendment says “and subject to the jurisdiction thereof”.
What does “subject to” mean?
Black’s Law Dictionary 6th Edition says; Subject to. Liable, subordinate, subservient, inferior, obedient to; governed or affected by; provided that; provided; answerable for.”
Part 2 of the 14th amendment also says that the states: shall not make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges and immunities of citizens of the United States; . Why does it make that statement? Didn’t the first ten amendments to the Constitution (the Bill of Rights) already secure the inalienable rights of the American people? They sure did. Then why a second prohibition?
Legal scholars have argued that the Constitution only limited the powers of the federal government, not the state governments, so this was added in the 14th amendment to restrict the power of the states. Sounds good, doesn’t it? But don’t the constitutions of the 50 states already protect the inalienable rights of the state Citizens? They sure do! Do they need a national constitutional amendment to make them uphold their own state constitutions? Only if the state constitutions were no longer valid. Is your state constitution still valid? Yes. But, the truth is, state constitutions do NOT apply to federal ‘property’ (U.S. citizens).
The governments, state and federal, are not OVER the sovereign people and their sovereign territory. Both governments have been delegated powers to secure the rights of the people, and their jurisdiction in exercising that power, is limited to the property they actually own or control. This property is known as ‘persons’ or ‘residents’.
The United States ‘government’ has jurisdiction only over areas delegated to it by the states and over property acquired by conquest. The state governments also, only have jurisdiction over the areas delegated to them by the state Citizens. Do the people control the government or does the government control the people? Can the government exercise powers not delegated to them? No. The problem is that you DID give them the power, when you waived your inalienable rights and claimed to be a U.S. citizen, subject to their jurisdiction. They just dangled a few carrots (federal benefits, ie: Social Security) over your nose and you grabbed them and asked to be a subject, so you could get MORE benefits. The states did the same thing, so they could get subsidies also.
There is an old saying: “If you give the average person a choice between freedom and a free lunch, he will choose the free lunch”. Which did you choose?
So the only logical conclusion is, that the newly created “United States citizens” (former slaves) were no longer the property of individuals, and they were not American Citizens. And they still didn’t have a constitution to protect them since the Constitution ‘of the United States of America’ did not apply to the federal possessions (property) and territories. The U.S. Constitution only applied to the federal government, and delegated and limited its powers. The federal government was created BY the states. And since U.S. citizens were subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, the state constitutions did not cover them. U.S. citizens are just federal property, artificial ‘persons’ or ‘residents’, in one of the 50 states. And this also placed them squarely within the legal definition of U.S. jurisdiction.
The states each had their own constitutions. But the jurisdictional powers delegated in these state constitutions also only applied to ‘government’ property in the states, not to the sovereign ‘territory’ of the states. So the ‘United States citizens’ were also citizens of the corporate state governments, (not of the sovereign states themselves) and were not protected by the state constitutions. They technically became dual ‘property’. They were property (persons – residents) of the state government and of the federal government. Today, all state governments are corporations, not sovereign states. They are just sub-corporations of the federal government, and therefore are under the jurisdiction of the federal government. They have traded their sovereignty for federal subsidies, just like you have traded your sovereignty for the privileges and immunities of U.S. citizenship under the 14th Amendment!
For proof: If you claim constitutional rights in court, the judge will tell you that if you mention constitutional rights again, he will find you in contempt of court, and throw you in jail. He could do that ONLY if you were resident (property) of the state. Because then you would not have inalienable rights, secured by the state constitution. To find out if you have rights, look at how your name is spelled in the heading of the court case. By the way, this principle also applies to local property tax and driver’s license and registration, but that is 2 other books.
Inalienable rights are flagrantly violated on a daily basis by all levels of government, because most people have waived these rights and traded them for privileges. The problem is that so few people claim their inalienable rights anymore that they are no longer recognized by the government. The people would rather have privileges from the government. You can’t claim to be a sovereign over the government, and at the same time claim benefits handed out by the government for their subjects. Does the King or Queen (you) apply for their own government’s benefits, thereby becoming subjects of their own government?
Since both the state and federal governments are now just corporations, can you be the citizen of a corporation? Yes. The corporation is an artificial ‘person’. But, artificial persons can ONLY create new artificial persons (property) that they control. Remember, the United States federal government is just a corporation! So if you are a U.S. citizen, you are a corporate citizen.
These new United States citizens, created by the 14th Amendment, had no one to protect their new status and rights. Worse yet, they had no rights to protect, just privileges and immunities (civil rights) granted by the federal government. The privilege was, being ‘subject’ to the federal government, instead of to a foreign nation, and the immunities were to be added later. And they were.
One by one, the courts gradually added, to U.S. citizens, each of the rights that American citizens had under the first 10 amendments. But they were not inalienable rights, they were only civil rights. Civil rights are rights given to you by the government. Governments cannot give you inalienable rights. You already have those. But civil rights can also be taken away by the government. Since the federal possessions and territories (federal states) had their own governments, just like the 50 states, this amendment prevented both the 50 state governments, and the federal states, from making laws that violated the civil rights of these United States citizen subjects.
And this is where the controversy comes in. The government wants you to believe that a citizen of the United States, is the same as a Citizen of the United States of America. In a court case, if you make this argument, that you are not a resident of the United States, and therefore not a U.S. citizen, because you live in Colorado, the courts will call this a frivolous argument and fine you. And they are right, if you look at how your name is spelled in the heading of that case.
But think about this. If United States citizens are not protected by the U.S. Constitution, then they also lose the Constitutional limitation that all direct taxes be apportioned. That means that they COULD be taxed on their incomes, from whatever source, directly, without apportionment. United States citizens are not protected by the Constitution. Scary, isn’t it?
American Sovereign OR United States citizen? Which are
You have the right to choose your status as a sovereign in America. But, not as a citizen in the United States. The 50 united States of America are republics, guaranteed a republican form of government. The United States government is a democracy. You must learn the difference! If you choose to be an American Citizen with inalienable rights secured by the constitution, then the constitution says that direct taxes must be apportioned among the states.
On the other hand, if you are a United States citizen, then you have no constitution to protect you, only your civil rights. And those civil rights do not prevent the federal government from taxing your income directly, without apportionment. This is possible because states CAN directly tax their citizens property. So if you are a U.S. citizen, you are in effect the citizen of the state of Washington D.C. And that state can tax its citizen’s property directly. Remember the definition of “State” above, from the Internal Revenue Code? A state is the District of Columbia. The IRC applies to this state and not to the 50 states.
If you live in one of the 50 sovereign states, then you cannot also live in one of the federal states. Their jurisdictions do not overlap. But, can you create an artificial entity, (like a corporation or trust is an artificial entity) and call yourself a United States citizen? Yes you can. How? You may not be aware of it, but it has already been done for you. The way to tell is to look at your name. When an artificial person is named (such as a corporation), proper English grammar says that the name will be spelled in all capital letters. So if your name is Joseph John Smith, the spelling indicates that you are a real live flesh and blood natural human (natural person). But if you spell your name in all capitals, JOSEPH JOHN SMITH, then…….
In 2003, Abdul Olugbala Shakur, Sitawa Nantambu Jamaa, Hodari Kambon, Abasi Ganda, Yafeu I-yapo, Dr. Donald R. Evans, and Dr. Rashad Ali developed the concept of transforming the entire U.S. Prison Industrial Slave-Complex (P.I.S.C.) into the largest university in the country. The initial name for the project was University of the Mind, but under this title we received very minimum feedback, so by Summer of 2003 we decided to name our university—The George Jackson University (GJU), within six (6) months we received over 20,000 applications for enrollment into our GJU from new Afrikan (Afrikan Amerikan) prisoners across the country, we even received applications from as far as Brazil, London, and Canada, brothas and sistas trying to connect. The massive responses we received also put fear in our captors, and they immediately went to work on developing a plan to sabotage, and the efforts, were compromised. By 2005, I (Abdul Olugbala Shakur) was not allowed to correspond with no addresses associated with the GJU. The Institutional Gang Investigation Unit (IGI) even sabotaged my marriage. This was a deliberate act. During multiple federal law-suits IGI was not able to provide the courts with evidence to support their fraudulent allegations, and as a result we have received multiple out of court settlements.
HISTORY OF GJU In the past five (5) years a growing number of people have inquired about the GJU, make no mistake about it, we were not discouraged from pursuing our objective, many of us have been extremely busy working on a number of other issues, and not to mention all documents related to the GJU were fraudulently confiscated, therefore we have to start all over again. Our first step towards revising the GJU is developing a strong and dedicated outside support network and faculty . We are re-instituting the concept of transforming the entire U.S. prison industrial slave complex into the largest progressive educational institution in the country with emphasis on Afro-centric and Pan-Afrikan studies and New Afrikan political education.
Excerpted from GJU Booklet submitted by Abdul Olugbala Shakur
Revisions for web made by Kilaika Anayejali kwa Baruti 7/5/2014
On December 11, 1958, 34 year old Patrice Lumumba, president of the Congolese National Movement, spoke at the Assembly of African Peoples, an international Pan African Conference sponsored by Kwame Nkrumah, the Prime Minister of newly independent Ghana. His remarks appear below. Two years later Lumumba would become the first Prime Minister of the Congo.
We thank the organizers of the Conference of the Assembly of African Peoples for the friendly invitation they kindly extended to our movement.We would like to express our gratitude to His Excellency Prime Minister Nkrumah and to the people of Ghana for the fraternal welcome given us.
We would also like to thank the representatives of the independent peoples present here for their continued defense of the Congo in international tribunals.
I hope they will regard these words, delivered in the name of all our compatriots, as an expression of our sincere gratitude.
The Present Situation in the Congo Up until the end of last year, there was no legislative council any where in the Congo. All the organs of the country were — and still are — consultative.
Since January of this year, the political structure of the country has undergone modification, the most important change being the creation of communes in certain cities in the Congo.
Legislation to that effect has been passed with regard to rural districts and will be applied in the course of the coming year.
But the new decrees concerning the organization of cities and rural districts have not yet granted these institutions complete autonomy.
In the urban councils, as in all the other consultative organs of the country, a system of representation has been instituted that gives the European minority and the African majority an equal number of seats. There is no need to underscore the fact that this is anti- democratic.
Realizing the progress that has been made by the various segments of the population and taking note of the demands repeatedly put forward by its subjects, Belgium has recently sent to the Congo a commission charged with the task of acquainting itself with the aspirations of the people at first hand.
We for our part believe that on this occasion the country clearly expressed its preference for self-determination.
The Belgian government has promised to deliver its solemn decision on this subject next month.
Our Program of Action The Congolese National Movement, which we represent at this great conference, is a political movement, founded on October 5, 1958.
This date marks a decisive step for the Congolese people as they move toward emancipation. I am happy to say that the birth of our movement was warmly received by the people for this reason.
The fundamental aim of our movement is to free the Congolese people from the colonialist regime and earn them their independence.
We base our action on the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Man — rights guaranteed to each and every citizen of humanity by the United Nations Charter —and we are of the opinion that the Congo, as a human society, has the right to join the ranks of free peoples.
We wish to see a modern democratic state established in our country, which will grant its citizens freedom, justice, social peace, tolerance, well-being, and equality, with no discrimination whatsoever.
In a motion we recently transmitted to the minister of the Congo in Brussels, we clearly stipulated — as did many other compatriots of ours — that the Congo could no longer be treated as a colony to be either exploited or settled, and that its attainment of independence was the sine qua non condition of peace.
In our actions aimed at winning the independence of the Congo, we have repeatedly proclaimed that we are against no one, but rather are simply against domination, injustices and abuses, and merely want to free ourselves of the shackles of colonialism and all its consequences.
These injustices and the stupid superiority complex that the colonialists make such a display of, are the causes of the drama of the West in Africa, as is clearly evident from the disturbing reports of the other delegates. Along with this struggle for national liberation waged with calm and dignity, our movement opposes, with every power at its command, the balkanization of national territory under any pretext whatsoever.
From all the speeches that have preceded ours, something becomes obvious that is, to say the least, odd, and that all colonized people have noticed: the proverbial patience and good-heartedness that Africans have given proof of for thousands of years, despite persecution, extortions, discrimination, segregation, and tortures of every sort.
The winds of freedom currently blowing across all of Africa have not left the Congolese people indifferent. Political awareness, which until very recently was latent, is now becoming manifest and assuming outward expression, and it will assert itself even more forcefully in the months to come. We are thus assured of the support of the masses and of the success of the efforts we are undertaking.
This historical conference, which puts us in contact with experienced political figures from all the African countries and from all over the world, reveals one thing to us: despite the boundaries that separate us, despite our ethnic differences, we have the same awareness, the same soul plunged day and night in anguish, the same anxious desire to make this African continent a free and happy continent that has rid itself of unrest and of fear and of any sort of colonialist domination.
We are particularly happy to see that this conference has set as its objective the struggle against all the internal and external factors standing in the way of the emancipation of our respective countries and the unification of Africa.
Among these factors, the most important are colonialism, imperialism, tribalism, and religious separatism, all of which seriously hinder the flowering of a harmonious and fraternal African society.
This is why we passionately cry out with all the delegates:
Down with colonialism and imperialism! Down with racism and tribalism! And long live the Congolese nation, long live independent Africa!
From the Richmond Planet, April 4, 1904.
