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Can African-Americans be racist? Like other seemingly philosophical questions, the answer varies.

If one subscribes to racism being an institutional structure that African-Americans did not create, they would most likely answer in the negative.

Others have chosen to nuance the question by adding reverse racism into the lexicon. Ive always found this to be a curious term in that it suggests that somehow racism, in the hands of marginalized groups, possesses the ability to swim up-stream.

Racism is often transmuted to as the big brother of prejudice. The two are not the same.

I fully admit my prejudice against beets, snakes and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Everyone has prejudices, which could include certain people. But this is not racism.

Did the election of Barack Obama officially usher America into some post-racial Nirvana? In poll after poll, whites are more likely to accept 21stcentury America as post-racial than African-Americans. I suspect as long was we maintain a sophomoric understanding of racism, such data is unlikely to change.

Racism must be removed from the hackneyed black/white axis. It should not be based on people but rather on policy and procedures.

The federal sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine has been widely touted as a racist policy that has led to mass incarceration. What has been discussed less is the Congressional Black Caucus at the behest of many African-American leaders in local communities, supported those policies.

The context for that support was not some diabolical plan to rid communities of young black and Latino men, but rather the primordial desire to feel safe. The level of violence, especially in urban areas, during the crack epidemic made the desire for Congress to take action understandable. But it was ultimately a reactionary policy that was blind to the unintended consequences.

Intent notwithstanding, the outcome suggests many within the Congressional Black Caucus and those African-American leaders supported what could be viewed as a racist policy. Glossing over such details seeks a mythical moral high ground that does nothing to move the conversation forward.

After the Supreme Court gutted Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, in Shelby County v. Holder, many states previously under its provision went to work to make voting more onerous. This had a pernicious impact on low-income and the elderly, as well as some people of color.

Led by state governments dominated by Republicans, the motivation may well have been to suppress the vote of those unlikely to support their candidates. But the legitimacy of the policies was marred by its dishonest justification.

The case for widespread voter fraud has yet to be proven. According to the Brennan Center for Justice, voter fraud in the 2016 election was between 0.0003 and 0.0025 percent. These findings hardly justify systematically disenfranchising untold numbers of registered voters.

In 2016, the 4thCircuit panel ruled against North Carolinas newly instituted voter laws stating: The new provisions target African-Americans with almost surgical precision and impose cures for problems that did not exist.

Some hold to the theory that blacks cannot be racist because they would first need to subjugate whites. But that oversimplifies the institution of racism that operates in an amoral paradigm. For this to be true, wouldnt it also negate any African-Americans from participating in the institution?

How does one account for the two black officers who plead guilty in shooting deaths of black civilians during Hurricane Katrina?

Neither George Zimmerman, who shot and killed Trayvon Martin, nor Officer Jeronimo Yanez, who killed Philando Castile, were white. But in my view both were guilty of racist acts.

Anyone participating in institutions of power can be susceptible to the nefarious clutches of racism. Yanez power lay in his being an officer; Zimmerman was bolstered by Floridas Stand Your Ground law.

We must find a better way to talk about racism.What we have now is too simplistic. Its only contribution is to assure arrested development.

Byron Williams is a contributing columnist. Contact him at 510-208-6417 or byron@byronspeaks.com.

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Williams: Need better understanding for conversation of racism - East Bay Times

We need a deeper, refined analysis for a clear vision of the inherent repression of Black life, says Mumia Abu-Jamal. (Photo: City Lights Books)

In a righteously angry yet calmly principled collection of commentaries and essays, an acclaimed incarcerated author and intellectual asks: Have Black Lives Ever Mattered? "Mumia Abu-Jamal's painstaking courage, truth-telling and disinterest in avoiding the reality of American racial life is, as always, honorable," says Alice Walker. Order your copy today by making a donation to Truthout!

In his new bookHave Black Lives EverMattered?, author and activist Mumia Abu-Jamal explores this question over 75 essays, spanning from the late 1990s to 2017. Each essay explores the violence of policing and the criminal legal system, whether from a historical perspective or through the stories of people who have died by the hands of police. In the first essay, "Hate Crimes," Abu-Jamal questions the legitimacy of the idea of hate crimes, pointing out that police are never charged with a hate crime when they brutalize and kill Black and Brown people. Abu-Jamal's essays discuss the murder of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman, the killing of Tamir Rice by Cleveland, Ohio, police officer Timothy Loehmann, and what the aftermath of these slayings reveals about how the United States views Black people. His conclusion is perfectly summed up in the first two lines of his October 2015 essay titled, "Tamir Rice of Cleveland" -- "Question: When is a child not a child? Answer: When it's a Black child."

Abu-Jamal spoke with Truthout about some of the issues he engages with inHaveBlack Lives Ever Mattered?, including police violence and the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement.

Tasasha Henderson: You talk about several cases of police violence that did not make national and international news:Carl Hardimanin Chicago, Shep McDaniel in New York City. And in your essays written in the early part of 2014, you convey a feeling that you had a sense that something big was coming -- that there would be an incident of police violence that would set off a powder keg. Did you have a sense or a feeling that there would be an incident, like what eventually did happen to Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, that would lead to the beginnings of a mass resistance?

Mumia Abu-Jamal:I did have an inkling, say, a feeling. I've seen this before, when the frequency and intensity of attacks on Black life was so naked, so ugly, so offensive, that resistance became imperative. Our people have an almost ungodly patience; but when the flames ignite, it can be a formidable social force. Indeed, that is the essence of Black history in the American settler-state. I think Mike Brown's community was one such instance. And when I saw five young brothers tell a reporter: "My name is Mike Brown," "My name is Mike Brown," it was a historic echo from the "Spartacus" era, when slaves of Rome rose and rebelled against the Empire, and identified with each other.

In your essay "Hate Crimes," you question what types of violence are considered hate crimes, and the fact that police violence against Black and Brown people is never considered a hate crime. With the introduction and/or passage ofBlue Lives Matter lawsacross the country, making the assault or killing of police a "hate crime," how do you view legislative attempts to reduce police violence through such policies as body cameras or increased training of police officers? As we see with hate crime statutes, what was supposed to protect vulnerable people has been turned against us.

As the Black Movement, now exemplified by Black Lives Matter, has taken a hashtag and exploded beyond its banks, so too must the people seize the slogans tossed out by their class enemies, and lob it back, as in "Blue Lives Are the Only Lives That Matter!," dig? For words are weapons, and when the state, the empire tries to bullshit people with their white supremacist stuff turn it around. Utilize the truth to open eyes and minds about the intrinsic nature of the state.

For example, we know, for sure, that cops croak hundreds of people every year, often with impunity. Why not ask, "How many cops are on death row?" If not, why not? My purpose here is hardly to endorse the obscenity of death row, but [if] all lives are equal, and the site of a courtroom is the place where people are treated fairly and equitably, well, why not? Or is death row only for "other" people? Dig?

My point is that the state will always utilize its "law" as a tool of repression -- that's the essential nature of the state; but movements must create and expand the space to raise contradictions. Body cameras? Training? BS. Nonsense. Done. It is a bourgeois mirage. In 1978, when [three] cops beatDelbert Africasenseless, breaking his jaw, it was recorded on video. When it came to trial, the trial judge, Stanley Kubacki, dismissed the all-white jury, and threw out the charges, saying the (armed) cops had reason to fear (unarmed) Delbert, because he was so muscular!

We must understand thatthe stateisa hate crime against the poor, the oppressed, Black folks, and Latinas, etc.

In your essay, "Where is the Outrage?" you write, "the unity of the people is the greatest weapon against the silence, fear, and oppression imposed by the system. Our unity -- as communities, networks, and movements -- is so important. Therefore, our unity is attacked." We are seeing different communities and organizations unify, whether it is the Black Lives Matter network, Fight for $15, immigrant rights, etc. How can coalitions sustain themselves and how can communities remain unified in the midst of state repression?

Movements emerge out of necessity, out of the felt sense that they no longer have anything to lose; out of certainty that the state has failed them yesterday, is failing them today, and will fail them tomorrow (to paraphrase MOVE'sJohn Africa).The state isn't the solution, it's the problem. It is this sense, shared by increasingly large parts of the population, that fuels movements, and builds rebellious, and then revolutionary consciousness.As capitalism -- and its concomitant rise of the crony-capitalist-gangster-state -- fails, people begin to see commonalities across our false border, and begin to march toward each other, and not against each other.

Remember, capitalism needs racism, and utilizes it to create false consciousness in millions of white poor and working people who live in the illusion that they have something in common with Trumpites. Unity can't be presumed, or wished to come into being. When people work together and fight together, they build the practice of unity.

In your essay, "We Must Fight for More," you write, "history lives to give us options for the future." What options do you think history has given for the Black Lives Matter movement? What does history have to teach movement leaders and participants today?

Malcolm [X] used to say, "Of all our studies, history best rewards our research." He learned this from Elijah Muhammad, his teacher. Malcolm repeated this lesson because he knew, in his own life experience, how history transformed him from a prisoner (known and despised as "Satan") to becoming one of the most respected ministers of the nation, and one of Black America's most beloved leaders. History offers an endless font of human experience that people, communities and movements can draw from to move forward into the future. History, because it is rich in examples of people's love of freedom, is a powerful source for the present and the future!

Why do you think the white supremacist governments in the West (like New Mexico, etc.) fought so hard to outlaw Chicano history? Why do you think today's public schools skimp so much on Black history? Theyknowthat Black history is explosive! And history ain't about what happened years ago, or yesterday. It explains why today is the way it is; and gives ideas about how to transform tomorrows.

Have Black Lives Ever Mattered?includes essays from the 1990s up until this year, and span many aspects of how Black people are victimized by state violence, including police brutality and incarceration. How do you see your book contributing to the continuing conversation and activism concerning racial justice, anti-police brutality and criminal legal system reform?

I'm gladHave Black Lives Ever Mattered?addresses today's issue of police terrorism, but it must be seen in a longer, deeper, broader continuum. America's police don't descend from Scotland Yard in England. They had their birth in the infamous "paddy rollers" of the South, where whites were militarized to oppose any Black slave revolt. Those habits live at the core of any true discussion about what bedevils the lives of Black people today. That should show you some sense of the importance of history just recently noted. Unless we truly grasp those truths, then generations unborn will be struggling with these same problems, and wondering how to change it. Dr.Huey P. Newton, in a late edition of the Black Panther newspaper,called for deep transformation of police,to bring forth Citizen Peace Forces, designed to solve problems, not bomb them.It's time for his ideas to be taken seriously, to begin to utilize history to create openings for better tomorrows.

As we continue in the uncertain future of a Donald Trump presidency, what guidance do you have for young people who are involved in the Black Lives Matter movement and other movements, as they continue to resist, build and organize?

Look, we can look at Trump as the Great Boogeyman, or we can soberly examine the roles of Clinton and Obama, where the former perfected the machinery of mass incarceration, and the latter tinkered with it, just as he all but ignored the greatest loss of Black wealth (i.e. criminal mortgage thefts of Black homes) since Reconstruction.We must develop a deeper, refined analysis that gives us all a clear vision of the inherent repression of the state against Black life, a historical continuum that shows no sign of abatement. Or we can play "Republicans bad/Democrats good" like children looking for shadow plays.

The system is bad; we need deep reconstruction to make new ways of living, growing and becoming possible.

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Exclusive Interview: Mumia Abu-Jamal Speaks About Black Lives Matter and Police Violence - Truth-Out

Image for representation purpose only.

HYDERABAD: Konakalla Subrahmanyam alias Omer, who was arrested recently by the Hyderabad Special Investigation Team (SIT) for having links with Islamic State, was allegedly influenced by reading three books on Islam.

In his confessional statement, the 24-year-old Omer said he had met one Abdul Shukur, who worked in a madrasa in Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh and gifted him three booksShrushtini Kaadu, Shrushti Kartanau Poojinchu, O Manishi Nee Shrushti Kartanu Gurtinchu and Life History of Prophet Mohammed and Laailaahailla-Illaihu Mahummadur - Rasoolu-Illahwhich influenced him to convert to Islam.

I got circumcision (Kathana) at Machilipatnam with the help of Dr Chand Pasha. I also attended prayers at Tabligh Jamath Masjid there. Later, I attended Tablig Jamat at Siddipur in Gujarat where I met one Mohammed Shafi of Hyderabad. I underwent training in rituals at Darul-ul-Uloom madrasa for nine months at Khali village near Siddipur, he told investigators.

Omer also allegedly assisted a Srinagar youth in collecting funds in Hyderabad. In May, Mohammed Amir of Islamic Global School of Srinagar told him that they wanted to visit the city to collect donations for his school. Omer, born and brought up in Krishna district, came in contact with one Abu Qahafa Al-Hindi Waseem, a resident of Saudi Arabia, through an app. He also contacted Abu Muhammad of Pakistan, Abudl Jaleel Oyelese of Nigeria, Aidi Sumaili of Johannesburg and Ismail Sha Sahil of Pakistan on Facebook.

The investigators have obtained Omers Facebook messenger details from his mobile phone in which he had conversation with one Ismail of Pakistan on June 7, 2016 regarding Moulana Masood Azhar, dreaded Pak terrorist, said sources.

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Hyderabad youth worked for Islamic State via social networking - The New Indian Express

The Obama administration was on track to come up with an estimate of how many Americans information is snared by the governments foreign surveillance then the Trump administration took over and things got bogged down.

Now that has turned into a significant hiccup as the intelligence community asks Congress to renew those surveillance powers before they expire at the end of the year.

Some powerful members of Congress have demanded that the Trump administration restart efforts to come up with an estimate, saying Americans deserve to know who, exactly, is being caught up in the U.S. dragnet on electronic communications.

Without it, some of them say, it could be tough to continue the surveillance programs or at least will require some serious restrictions.

Congress must reauthorize the program, but knowing the scope of incidental collection will help us determine what, if any, additional privacy protections are needed to ensure we honor the Fourth Amendment, said Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr., a Wisconsin Republican who has been at the forefront of these issues since writing the original Patriot Act in 2001. If the administration does not disclose the scope of the intrusion, Congress should assume the worst and pursue more restrictive protections for Americans data.

The issue stems from intelligence gathered under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which allows the government to collect information from foreign sources. No American, and no person inside the U.S., is to be targeted.

But if a foreign target is talking to an American, those communications can be collected and in some cases the American can be unmasked, meaning their name is attached to communications.

That happened late last year with Michael Flynn, who at the time was a top security adviser to candidate Donald Trump. His communications with a Russian official were unmasked, then somehow leaked, in a way that embarrassed Mr. Trump.

A number of members of Congress want to know how many more Americans are in Mr. Flynns situation, with their communications snared in what the government calls incidental collection.

Civil rights advocates said the Obama administration was close to producing an estimate, having worked through a number of objections and hurdles.

We had gotten past these arguments, said Elizabeth Goitein, co-director at the Brennan Center for Justice.

But when Mr. Trumps team took over, that progress reversed.

New Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats, a former Republican senator from Indiana, said he looked at the issue, talked it through with the National Security Agency and concluded it was impossible to follow through.

I went out there. I talked to them. They went through the technical details. There were extensive efforts on the part of, I learned, on the parts of NSA to try to get you an appropriate answer. We were not able to do that, he told Congress in a June hearing.

He said working on an estimate would siphon personnel from focusing on hostile foreign countries. He also said trying to figure out a number could mean unmasking more Americans, which would raise privacy concerns.

Timothy Barrett, a spokesman from ODNI, said analysts had been working before and after Mr. Trumps inauguration to come up with a plan to get a number.

In each instance, they were unable to do so, he said.

Critics say the Obama administration seemed willing, and they are not sure what has changed substantively.

Neema Singh Guliani, legislative counsel with the American Civil Liberties Union, said the intelligence agencies are thumbing their nose at Congress.

Its that [they] dont want to provide this number, and the change in leadership has affected that, she said.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a California Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, said Congress deserves the answer.

We have gotten stonewalled now on a bipartisan basis, she said. We were on the verge at the end of December with the old administration with getting the information, which as legislators were entitled to get.

A Republican House Judiciary Committee aide told The Washington Times that the committee is continuing to work with the intelligence agencies to try to come up with another way for lawmakers to get a picture of the scope of the surveillance.

The issue seems to be a bigger hurdle for the House, where top members on both sides of the aisle are demanding answers, than the Senate.

The top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, said the estimate would be good to know but isnt necessarily key to the debate on reauthorization.

The House-Senate divide has played out in the past. The last time provisions of the Patriot Act were due for renewal, the House demanded a major rewrite, while senators were more inclined to give the intelligence community a free hand.

In the end, the House largely prevailed by using the looming expiration as a bargaining chip.

Without changes, the powers would have expired altogether, so faced with that choice, intelligence officials and senators accepted more restrictions rather than lose access to the information altogether.

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Efforts to estimate scope of FISA intrusion on Americans halts under Trump administration - Washington Times

CHARLESTON A software development company in Nashville went looking for young talent to write software for the financial services industry. Instead of looking overseas, it found what it needed in West Virginia.

It opened its first office in Huntington last year, and now its looking to other cities in the Mountain State should it run out of room in Huntington.

Core10 was founded by three people: Jeff Martin and Lee Farabaugh, who have roots in the software industry, and Joe Maxwell, a venture capitalist and Huntington native.

Martin is Core10s CEO. Farabaugh is its chief operating officer.

The company produces proprietary software for what Farabaugh calls the fintech industry banking, finance, alternative finance, lending and wealth management, among others.

Technology people in Nashville are just getting too expensive, Farabaugh said in explaining why the company looked beyond Music City.

We wanted a place with people who were smart, well-educated, humble, loved the area (and) wanted to stay but lacked the opportunity to do so, and Huntington just perfectly fit that bill, she said. Our first few grads came out of Marshall (University). Weve since then made some strong catches at (West Virginia University), so were nonpartisan.

The fact that young developer labor costs less in Huntington than it would in other parts of the country fits in with what Farabaugh calls the hereshore philosophy: Rather than look offshore to find low-cost labor, why not look for it here in the United States?

The state of West Virginia helped with money from its Jobs Investment Trust. Core10 opened in temporary quarters in Huntington last year. It moved into a permanent office in the River Tower West building downtown Huntington in November.

Farabaugh described the dcor of the Huntington office as very tech, modern, hip office space.

I think our office would rival anything in Silicon Valley. Our team loves working there, she said.

Most of the workers are young, such as Rachel Loudermilk, 22, who grew up in a suburb of Columbus, Ohio, and graduated from Marshall in May 2016 with a degree in computer information technology.

I was graduating in May and was looking for a job in general, Loudermilk said. My professor knew the founders of Core10. It worked out really well. The timing was perfect.

Loudermilk said she works in application development and data analysis. That is, she learns what clients need and puts data in usable formats.

We all enjoy working with people at the same experience level here. A lot of people who work in Nashville are senior-level people, and they mentor us, she said.

Zach Litteral, 22, grew up in a small Ohio community near Huntington. He graduated from Marshall this past spring, but he began working at Core10 before that.

The first few months of this job were very interesting, he said. I worked 40 hours a week and studied 19 hours a week at Marshall. They only let you take 18, but I needed 19 so I had to ask for an extension. You dont know how happy I was at graduation.

Litteral said he is an applications developer who works under the direction of two senior developers in Nashville.

This is one of the few places Ive worked that if I dont know something, thats OK, he said. Every junior developer has a senior developer they can call at any time to get help.

Blaine Anderson II is 27, making him one of the older people in the Huntington office. He said he has lived in Connecticut, Atlanta and Florida, but Huntington is a good place to be now, as he spent his elementary school and high school years in Cabell County.

Unlike his coworkers, he does not have a college degree, but he grew up building computers and working with them.

I built my own computer when I was 9, maybe. Not out of a kit, he said. My brother was a programmer. My dad was a hardware person. I wrote my first line of code when I was 8.

Farabaugh said the plan for now is to expand Core10s Huntington office.

Weve got room for about 40 people in that office, and if we outgrow it, well just renovate some more space, she said. And then wed like to start innovation centers in other towns in West Virginia. Weve been looking at Beckley. Weve been looking at Morgantown.

I could see us with three or four centers across the state.

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Nashville Tech Firm Looks to W.Va. for Young Developers - The Exponent Telegram (press release) (registration)