"The Purpose of Racism"

by Immortal Technique

I begin this new instalment today by apologizing in advance for the incomplete n
ature of the subject matter being presented. I seek only to give brief examples
and not go too in depth into slavery or racism but more so to discuss why we who
were once the victims of this and other American's still hold onto the idea of
Race. I correlate this stubborn inability to let go with the very way in which s
lavery and racism became a part of this nation. Explaining the difference betwee
n the institution's past, present and future will hopefully help us to understan
d how to fight it and overcome it, as it remains alive not just in visible place
s like Jena Louisiana but all over the world as well. We are only given a glimps
e of Racism when looking at Black and Brown issues of inequality in America. Pre
judice continues to flourish globally for a variety of reasons. But to further e
xplain how Racism, which is the institutionalized belief and law-backed ideology
of racial superiority) came to outlast the very condition of slavery from which
most people see it originate from we must go back to the beginning. We must go
back before the times of our own Empire and subsequent Corporate Republic.
Slavery originated long before what we come to read about ever so quickly in the
under-funded classrooms across America. It was already an established reality b
y the time the Hammurabi Code of Mesopotamia (approx.1800BC) was created. The Co
de's principles related to the relief of debt, enslavement to facilitate compens
ation, and for the framework of a post-war societies caste system. But even befo
re The Code and most certainly after the glory of Mesopotamia had subsided, it c
ontinued to manifest itself differently but always with the same economic princi
ple. Although present day conflicts are far removed from ancient times, the peop
le themselves as well as their resources are still commonly seen as spoils of wa
r. Phillip II of Macedon, who was Alexander the Great's father, received 20,000
women and countless young boys as tribute for his conquest of the ancient empire
of Scythia. Instead of destroying the kingdom itself though he left Ateus, it's
ruler in charge and continued the slave trade to re-build the empire whose reso
urces his son would then use to conquer a large part of the Asiatic world.
But the word slave actually originates from the Latin word 'slav' which describe
d the people from the Slavic regions that were conquered and sold into bondage.
It was these Eastern Europeans who were sacrificed on the altar of industry that
were bought and sold to serve the Empires of Old. Whether it was in the Barbari
an Kingdoms of Europe who reigned after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, th
e Near Eastern Arab Lords or what was known then as the Imperium Romanus (Byzant
ine Empire), they toiled and were deprived of their lands, labour, and women for
the pleasure of the strongest military forces of that era. And since it was the
Latin and Arabic tongues that most of Europe and subsequently all of its coloni
es in the Americas adopted their language from, that created this synonymous con
cept of 'slavs' being known as "slaves."
During this example I have to point out how the American version of slavery soug
ht not only to redefine the institution, but achieved that by separating people
from their history. I can remember as a teenager having had several arguments wi
th people who most of them being white, claimed that since Africans sold their o
wn people into slavery it wasn't really as much the fault of the enslaver. While
this is an understandable reaction to the guilt and the striving towards escapi
sm from the actions of oneâ s ancestors, it doesn't lift the burden from their coloni
al masters. This nation and others still benefit from that and will continue to
for years to come. It doesn't make the purveyors of such malice, hatred, and dec
eit guilty of any less of a crime. As if me holding someone down while you rape
them makes you any less guilty of what you did. I may have made your cold-bloode
d goal easier to attain, but I don't carry any blame for you, I carry my own bla
me for myself rather than a part of yours for you. We must all carry our respons
ibility to whatever endâ ¦in full tow. And yet if I am but the servant of your will th
en I am only doing my masters bidding in the crime and yet I share in none of th
e glory, and devour only the scraps from the table. It is also important to poin
t out that the definition of slavery by other Africans was completely different
from the stripping of all humanity and conversion into physical property of peop
le by Europeans.
We would be remiss to point out though that ever since the beginning of humanity
people have always found methods of defining themselves so as to consolidate po
wer in order to live in a state of perpetually declared and reinforced superiori
ty. Not necessarily just in their eyes. But more importantly, to the people they
conquered who were forced to help construct the nation of the victorious party.
One must realize that all people who have been held in bondage by their conquer
ors because of their so called race, nationality, religion or supposed lack ther
eof were actually instrumental in building the foundation of every aspect of tha
t culture, the scientific advancements, political framework, and economic pillar
s. Impossible to overlook also is the workforce that suffered to build the beaut
iful structures by which these civilizations are often remembered best for. The
subjugated masses were not only the tool for their masters in building but also
in populating and fighting for the preservation of the very entity, be it an Emp
ire or a Nation, that coincidentally reduced them to the form of servitude and t
hat redefined their place in the world. A nation in other words is and has not b
een defined just by its citizens, but also very much so by its slaves. The purpo
se of this text though is not to delve so much into the complete history of slav
ery, but to see how Racism was formed in modern times to justify it for an econo
mic purpose and how the inability to face these facts that created the particula
r circumstances of continued discrimination we see it today.
After all, it was Hebrews in Egypt who burned their skin even darker labouring i
n the hellfire of midday on the outskirts of the deserts following the orders of
the Master Masons to make the wonders of the world that have stood the test of
time we see today. Whereas the influence of Moors in Spain is undoubted as their
dark hair and even their language is a mixture of Common Latin, with noticeable
Arabic influences, they were not affected as a people the way they forcefully c
atechized the Indigenous population. The Native people of South and Central Amer
ica not only mined their master's gold and silver for centuries, but also built
their cities and temples over their own old structures. But an even more critica
l acknowledgement is how they still carry on the traditions of their Spanish con
querors today. These include, but are not limited to, aspects of their music, fo
od, and racial bias. I think it would also do a great disservice to anyone who h
as ever studied religion to point out that without so called Latino people, Chri
stianity wouldn't have half the followers that it does today. We have carried th
e word of Christ who we are told from youth died horribly to save our souls into
the 21st century. That itself is a structure that has lasted and will last long
er than just about any building created in the middle ages or before that. And M
other Africa has always suffered in being the breadbasket for all of the people
who have invaded her. From ancient times, fast forwarding not only to be sacrifi
ced to the slave trade in what would become the United States where they built m
any monuments including the white house. But also under the laissez-faire mercan
tile aspect of primitive capitalism where they were the basis for the entire Car
ibbean and New World mainland economic boom that provided the rise of these coun
tries and more specifically the institutions that still govern them today. The b
lueprint was set for corporate control battling to dominate government as the Ch
urch once did, but with much more effectiveness this time around. In short, it i
s the global Slave trade that was to be the major contributor if not the shining
example of the Capital that was required and presented to found Capitalism.
(For people who always ask me for books to read, "Capitalism & Slavery" by Eric
Williams 1944.)
These colonies and their former fatherlands owed a majority of their fortunes an
d the build up of their mercantile industry to slave labour. As a matter of fact
it created what was considered the "Golden Age" during the rule of Elizabeth I
in England. At first it was done under the guise of needing to save the souls of
the Africans but later it became evident that plain avarice was the gospel of s
lave traders and their noble sovereigns.
http://www.sonofthesouth.net/slavery/history-slavery.htm
(This here is by no means a complete understanding of even modern slavery but in
the beginning where it discusses the two faced nature of the Crown in its deali
ngs it is a suitable accurate necessity for this argument.)
This rather broad topic was the reason I wrote Industrial Revolution almost 4 ye
ars ago. It was meant to accredit our people's unwilling but unforgettable contr
ibution to that. We bankrolled it over the course of hundreds of years of brutal
treatment and downplayed contributions. Paid not just for the expansion of Engl
and but also all European nations through genocide. The Natives sacrificed their
land, unwillingly, just as others had before them. All this was perpetrated so
that a tired and war-torn Europe could give birth to a new Nation here. This cou
ntry was then born in violence and plunder and so when it matured it took on the
image that its forefathers across the seas had created her in- and like many ab
used children instead of growing up to resent and separate itself from the actio
ns of its parents, it grew to associate the negative behaviour and displays of r
aw power and violence, as trademarks of what a nation needed for strength and in
vulnerability.
However I must recognize the 100th US congress for passing an amendment in 1988
which gave credit to the Iroquois Confederacy for providing fundamental ideas up
on which our US government created its Republic. (Poverty of Philosophy on Vol.1
mentions this briefly.)
http://www.upenn.edu/gazette/0107/gaz09.html
The Eastern European slavs were the basis for a word which the word that has coi
led itself like a serpent around the neck of racism like an old school rope chai
n 1000 years before the first slave ship "Jesus of Lubeck" dubbed "The Good Ship
Jesus" first left Africa with Slaves bound for Europe and the new world. When l
ooking at South America, Africa, and the Caribbean one has only to examine the n
ations conquerors to know why these Indigenous people speak Spanish and Portugue
se or why these African people here speak those languages and French was as well
as a derivative of English mixed with their own native languages such as in Jam
aica. I was having a discussion with a fellow Revolutionary who had no idea that
his Jamaican brothers once all spoke Spanish. Itâ s insane to actually read the hist
ory that the island of Jamaica was once full of African, Spanish-speaking slaves
who were then conquered by the English after the failed attack on the island of
Hispaniolaâ ¦ Imagine if history had seen that invasion proceed and the English hold
the Hispaniola, leaving the Spanish with Jamaica. Imagine Jamaicans speaking Spa
nish and Dominicans speaking Englishâ ¦ It's okay to laugh here.
Slavery was redefined as not the condition of a person due to war or the bounty
of conquest, but rather a genetic hierarchy and the idea of racial inferiority a
nd hegemony was created, to cement it all together. However it was not something
that began in America although they ran with it, but a formulated idea that beg
an after the fall of Grenada in early 1492. This completed the European Spanish
"Reconquista" militarily but it was the beginning of their racist government pol
icy. What followed was what would set up the early excuses for different branche
s of races to be given different rights. The Spaniards enslaved or expelled the
Black Muslim Moors and required the excuse for enslavement by race and religion
to rebuild the nation. They then instituted the "Alhambra decree" which expelled
all the Jews from Spain and also forced Muslims to convert to Roman Catholicism
or face execution. This gave way to Spain's own "limpieza de la sangre" or "pur
ification of the blood" philosophy. This historical truth is of course contrary
to Pope Benedict XVI's fantasy-land claim that Christian's never held forced con
versions. Besides this I invite him to also read the history of South America an
d come to terms with the fact that all people have used the issue of religion as
well as race to subjugate a people, and certainly Christianity does not escape
this category. It is for this reason that I have always stated that to name any
movement that deals with Immigrant Rights in the South West "La Reconquista" is
pure idiocy. It is a reflection of the beginning of white European's definition
of racism. We should not emulate it in any spirit, but learn how it came to crea
te our condition today.
http://www.british-civil-wars.co.uk/military/anglo-spanish-war.htmjamaica
To understand how all this translates into the Modern Race problems of today one
has to first understand how the U.S. justified slavery in many different ways.
It was not only the inability of America to coexist with the complete hypocrisy
that the slave trade was to its proclaimed Christian Values and Democracy. The U
S was faced with the chilling reality of the necessity to support the beginnings
of a Capitalist Empire and assert its control of the region through conquest. I
ndian Wars, Mexican American War, Spanish American War, Banana Wars, were a nece
ssity for its expansion and stability due to the nature of the type of Republica
n (the corporate state not the party) prototype, which is quite frankly the livi
ng embodiment of terrorism. Terrorism is after all, organized violence with a po
litical and or economic purpose. It should be noted that many of the founding fa
thers were students of history, as most Masons are. They designed a system where
they knew the truth but purposefully denied it to the average white American ra
cist not out of nature but out of ignorance. The men with power in this nation w
ho always understood the contributions of Africans and Indigenous people crafted
these lies about racial inferiority and the need to purify the soul from pagan
religion as the ultimate excuse for free labour, resources and land. There is so
mething intrinsically two-faced and despicable about the difference in what they
knew of the world and what they were willing to convince with their lack of arg
ument against in the nation. As masons, all of them knew not only the history of
Europe, but of Africa and therefore this is not an indictment of secret societi
es but much more of men in government who were cowards in the face of true desir
e. If they had just coldly (or rather truthfully) said to the Africans and Nativ
es, we wanted your land and labour and we have the force with which to take it,
then after slavery was abolished the racial prejudice would have been slowly pha
sed out, but it lingered so brutally because of the excuses made for modern ensl
avement. The notion that Humanity had superior races and had subspecies of peopl
e that were primitive compared to others was thus carried over from Europe to Am
erica. Thomas Jefferson was one of the few Founding Fathers who (in the Virginia
Papers) argued for the possible assimilation of the Native American and yet saw
the African as savages and untameable.
Even modern religious excuses were created, not only the popular bible belt prea
chers that spoke against integration and inter-racial marriage, but even smaller
groups like Mormon sects of Christianity exhibited a form of pretentious racism
in their gospel which stated that as a punishment God painted certain people wi
th darker skin cursed the savage "lamanites" (Native Americans) and that the "Ma
rk of Cain" was placed upon blacks and that's why they were cursed, until a 1978
"revelation" which couldn't have possibly been the overwhelming national and in
ternational pressure... And while Brigham Young's Racist rants in "Journal of Di
scourses" is not official LDS gospel it reflects the age and the practice of mos
t Churches at the time. This is not bigotry, or bias, these are facts. I have me
t many modern Christians of all sects, Protestants, Catholics, Evangelicals and
Mormons who come to terms with this and cannot truly justify some of the more ou
tlandish claims of their Church but who use their faith to try and better their
lives. But in examining these facts, it is an actual part of the religion, it is
something that cannot be skirted and perhaps that is why some people of that fa
ith are very quick to not seek and have open discussions about these doctrines p
reached. The same way there are banks and companies, who directly benefited from
the middle passage who refuse to open their old records to public view on the m
atter. But the most damaging of all these causes of ignorance is the Racial Scie
nce of Eugenics, which tried to prove through a fundamentally flawed discipline
that there were sub human species exemplified by Indigenous people and of course
the Black African. But this was also applied lightly to other "races" of South
Eastern Europeans, like Greeks, Italians, Spaniards, Armenians and Slavs who had
to apply to be considered white and received benefits from being included in th
at group that others never did during the early 1900's.
It is because of these excuses and junk science that were actually accepted or a
t least not challenged in a manner which was formidable until 1935 when it was f
inally decided to be phased out of the scientific community and the forceful and
secret sterilization programs of Native Americans continued into the 1970's and
is still the subject of great international debate.
http://www.ratical.org/ratville/sterilize.html
The destruction of the outwardly Racist aspects of Eugenics also became necessar
y as the US descended into a propaganda war with Germany during World War 2. Rac
ial science still found support from students of Darwin's Theory's of Survival o
f the Fittest and interpreters of "The Descent of Man" coupled with the disgrace
d Eugenicists eagerness to prove the superiority of the White Race. The ghost of
racial science still haunts the hallways of intellectual institutions through i
ts promotion standards of achievement based on racial heredity implicated by the
Bell Curve. Eventually though, the rise of Nazi Germany would show the world wh
at a state could do in Modern times when using science to claim the superiority
of one race over another. Perhaps we could have avoided this inhuman Holocaust i
f we had acknowledged the existence of others before it under a similar premise.

Realistically though if those people who were caged could have been connected to
the glory of their past then perhaps they themselves would not have been so eas
ily convinced of their own proposed "heathen nature", and could not have accepte
d it as if it were the essence of their true selves. And that goes for all ensla
ved peopleâ ¦ all of those who find themselves oppressed throughout the globe. A peopl
e's identity comes not only from the colour of their skin and the language they
speak but also the God they whisper their prayers to or loudly proclaim their un
dying loyalty to with action. There is no such thing as a white man's religion j
ust a white European interpretation of a certain religious faith- and all religi
ons, no matter how the zealots who love them have to understand, have been intro
duced to people by conquerors.
At this point it is necessary to acknowledge that Revolutionary concepts are pre
sent in both Islam and Christianity and how both have respectively created the b
asis for a Revolutionary path to those enslaved people who were confined to a wo
rld of ignorance which is a prison darker than any man made dungeon. Judaism, Bu
ddhism and all other faiths have built into them a mechanism to preserve themsel
ves even under the harsh conditions and people can always find methods to conver
t any faith into a weapon. But the strongest weapon that one has when it concern
s fighting racism is the history of all of these religions.
Both Christianity and Judaism have strong roots in Africa- and without Africa, I
slam would not have travelled west past the borders of Arabia. Western and Easte
rn Europe were still ruled by tribal councils when these Nations in Africa had a
ided in bringing about the formulation, redefinition and governing ideas of thes
e faiths. For example, it should be noted that Christianity reached Africa befor
e it ever reached Europe. Although it was obviously not utilized as a siege weap
on of conquest as Constantine was able to, it was an empowering idea for people
who already understood the principles of this line of thought. If you read the B
ible it mentions Ethiopia and Egypt (Kemet) over 250 times, where as Rome and Gr
eece is only spoken of a handful of times. The actual Ark of the Covenant is sti
ll theorized by many historians to be kept hidden safe in Ethiopia, which should
make you consider how a people who would later be depicted as savages and anima
ls by their new masters could ever be the gatekeepers and originators of such a
sacred aspect of humanity as the religions that we still live by today.
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/ark.htmlwhere
And while it is one of 3 theories, it is proof of the close connection that does
in fact exist with or without the Ark. In Eastern Africa during the first Mille
nnia even leading up to the crusades, there existed sects of Christians who show
ed more disciplined dedication to the faith than any other followers of Christ a
s they use to brand their children's foreheads from birth with the symbol of a c
ross. (In their Gnostic Christian belief it was held that the Devil could only a
ppear in the form of a Spirit after Christ sacrificed himself to banish him from
the physical realm but that Satan could still as a spirit infect and posses a p
erson's body, and the Cross branded on the forehead from birth warded him off.)
Comparing the past to the present and future requires us to take note of how Rom
ans and Greeks of that time did not have anywhere near the same prejudice as the
ir future generations would. Otherwise why would so many Generals, Lords, Govern
ors, Emperors and even Popes of African origin ever be in the service of the Emp
ire or the faith? Strange to think that these modern day European immigrants and
their neighbours who all came here in America who would adopt such an ideologic
ally backward ideology as racism but this is a study of how that happenedâ ¦
The reality of what history teaches us is that religion used to matter in the ol
d world much more than the colour of our skin. Their phenotypical differences di
dn't affect their marriage and or association with other people to the extent of
what they preached and lived their faith to be. They simply respected their ski
lls and abilities when they saw them, much the way America does now, because its
interests are not that of defending the nations that we come from, but rather,
exploiting them through a modernized version of Capitalism. Here and now they're
willing to allow people who have been immersed and completely assimilated to Am
erican culture (no matter what colour and sex,) from a conservative standpoint t
o represent the nation. But that doesn't signify that we all have equal rights i
n this country. (And since racism reinforces classism when you have a class of p
eople who have the economic means to deal better with the legal system than othe
rs, one immediately points to race because it's obvious- but the class factor ha
s gone unmentioned until more recent times.) This phenomenon simply utilizes the
ir skill and conveniently has the dual purpose of giving the false idea that div
ersity in a president's cabinet implies diversity in the nature of justice for a
ll the nation's citizens. We are confused about our depraved condition because o
f the media attention given to a few artisans and millionaire modern gladiators
who amuse the Empire in Coliseums. Most of our success stories walk around being
40 million dollar slaves and poster children for capitalism. Our people need to
take their patronage away from corporations who offer us meaningless material l
iabilities and we need not chastise them in this process but accept them open ar
med as our brothers and sisters. We need to make solid investments in our own in
frastructure. We are a Nation within a Nation, which is what we must never forge
t if we strive to escape our condition, this is but a pit stop in our destiny, a
fter all, one cannot free their mind if they have not even the slightest inclina
tion of its incarceration or colonization.
It was said that Jesus Christ could cast demons out of people by calling them by
 their name and so we must continue in that tradition. For how can someone be cu
red of alcoholism or drug addiction if they don't know they have a substance abu
se problem? How can one be healed from cancer until they admit they have it and
seek treatment, until they face that fight? We must call out racism's origins, a
nd look behind it to see the misinformation it has been spreading to hide its tr
ue inherent master. Purposeful ignorance for financial gain is perhaps one of th
e most devilish concepts ever invented. Institutionalized racism is classism's g
reatest ally, its ground troops, for even when slavery ended the focus reverted
to racism instead of the excuse for it and the capital gained from it to forge a
n empire.
It is because we have lost touch with our roots as a result of the colonial era
genocide and global slave trade that we have not been able to connect to our pas
t, and, to who we really are. When we mark our position in the present taking no
te of the past puts a trajectory on our evolution of our culture as a people. We
were not just enslaved, we were brainwashed religiously, de-evolved politically
and scientifically, spiritually robbed, our relationship with our women severed
and our achievements lost by the rewriting of our history by our conquerors. Ou
r greatest mistake is to fight this on only one level. We keep thinking only one
thing can conquer our oppression, we think that a radical political system like
Communism, or that just a religious system like Islam, a sect of Christianity o
r an economic system that is a farce like a free market can improve our situatio
n collectively. And what we really end up doing is playing a game of "mercy" wit
h one finger against an entire hand of repressive indoctrinations. We must condu
ct a Revolution on all fronts. One in the arts, music, poetry, legal work, teach
ing, theology, medicine, childcare & development, all forms of Media, science, m
ath, and engineering etc, all in order to fight centuries of purposeful ignoranc
e. My work with youth and with gangs especially has shown me what difference the
re is in a child when he realizes who his ancestors were and what scientific and
mathematical concepts they are the inventors and originators of. We should not
run from our intelligence or our potential but seriously accept our responsibili
ty to find the cause and to lift ourselves out of it because the forces that cru
shed our Rebellions in the past will not help us. While some have criticized my
work in building this Army, I have dispatched all who have come looking for know
ledge to a front in this war that has nothing to do with random acts of physical
violence but rather and aggressive reclaiming of our history, politics, spiritu
ality, and so forth. I was once sent on this sort of mission myself by my former
teachers who passed their knowledge onto me. I while I am by no means a Master
teacher or a General; I apologize that I cannot offer the expertise of such a pe
rson at this time in my life. I am just the Captain of my own unit, I do what I
can for my people, (regardless of race or faith,) those who would believe in the
promise of what America could be and not the broken promise of what it is now..
. I wish I could do more. But this is where we begin to address Racism, global r
acism, and the evolution of the slave trade by putting it into historical contex
t. Continue it until we are free when I am gone.

Con Amor de Revolucion,

Immortal
Technique

PS.
Thank you for listening, the following was not an attempt to explain the obvious
, that there is no such thing as race and subhuman categories of race but rather
a brief synopsis of how it came to root itself in our minds and how to connect
knowledge to destroy that poison. I hope others will add their own knowledge to
the discussion. There are many things that I could not put in simply due to the
fact that this is already too much to read for some. In my mind there has always
been one human race not a stack of different breeds that have characteristics t
agged onto them. But I wanted to point out that while there is no such thing as
race now and therefore racism is unjustifiable, in the future due to genetic mod
ification and in the present due to the physical wellbeing of people who can aff
ord healthy food and those who sufferâ ¦ one day there truly might be more than one hu
man race. There will be people who can afford to be upgraded for medical purpose
s and genetically modified to deal with the changing conditions on Earth. If thi
s is science fiction, then ask yourself why are scientists working on it now? Af
ter all that would be natural evolution considering that we evolve ourselves and
we are part of nature even though we seek to conquer it all the time as if it w
ere a separate entity. One day there might be a race of people who don't get AID
S, who aren't susceptible to cancer, birth defects, or extremes of hot and cold
weather. People will change with the climate because they can as opposed to thos
e who might suffer & die out because it is not within their means. Ask yourself
when this happens who will be able to AFFORD it and therefore what is the benchm
ark of what creates the futuristic version of racismâ ¦ it is frighteningly similar to
what