Thug Life Army

Rap, Revolution and Ridin'' Dirty:The Politics of White Paranoia by Min. Paul Scott

“They see me rollin'', they hatin'',  patrollin'' They tryin'' to catch me ridin'' dirty” - Chamillionaire "Ridin'' Dirty"

Rollin'' through tha hood late at night red and blue lights are a common sight. Most of the time I really don''t pay the Po Po that much attention. I mean, it ain''t like a Brotha is sportin'' a black on black Phantom with spinnin'' rims and I don''t smoke, so it ain''t like they are gonna find a blunt stuffed under my car seat. But the recent arrest of the seven Brotha's in Miami and Georgia accused of home grown terrorism had my nerves a little shook as I headed to the crib last  Friday night. As I pulled up to a traffic light with Paris''  Sonic Jihad CD playing in the deck, I couldn''t help but wonder if the cop stationed across the intersection was eyeballin'' me with my "Power to the People" license plate or the bandana wearin'' Brotha's in the white Lex next to me with Chamillionaire blasting  through the speakers...

Let's be honest. Many of us knew that before the grand finale of the War on Terror it was going to, in some way, effect tha hood. So when those "alphabet boyz" hit tha block in Miami last week, it was not a total shock. What was shocking was that the pictures of the "terrorists" being flashed across cable news stations were not those of some militant, radical extremist group but they looked like everyday Brotha's that you see in the neighborhood. (Esther, come here! Ain''t that Rita Lawson's boy, Rollo on the TV? Naw, it couldn’t be...)

Although the white news commentators are supposed to be so darn smart, sometimes they just seem sooo clueless.  Last Friday, cable news programs were filled with reporters babblin'' about how some members of a "brainwashed, Black Muslim cult" were running around tha hood dressed in ninja uniforms armed with Bibles trying to blow stuff up. (Last time I checked, Muslims read the Koran, but why confuse the people with details.)

They called the group the "Seas of David" although anyone with even a basic understanding of Black Religious Nationalism 101 would know that the term was probably "Seeds of David." They went on about how the greatest threat to national security was the radicalization of American citizens by militant groups. That's white folks talk for "we knew we would be in trouble if the negroes ever stopped looking at the Hip Hop Honey’s Swim Suit Issue and picked up the Black Militant Morning News." 

The talking heads on Fox and CNN seemed confused as to why a group of young Black men in a community with an astronomically high unemployment and poverty rate could have a beef with America. (Note to Bill O''Reilly: having to eat Cheerios without the milk for dinner with your power cut off does tend to make one a bit peeved.)

As they went throughout the hood trying to interview the residents of Liberty City (in other words, looking  for snitches) they seemed amazed that the neighbors were not up in arms that a group of crazy mass murderers was  planning to kill innocent people right under their noses. The reporters seemed to have forgotten that they were in tha Dirty South and the biggest threat to Black people has historically been a group of terrorists called the Ku Klux Klan.

Can anybody say Rosewood?

They were also not hip to the fact that police profiling and entrapment are things that Black folks have to deal with on a daily basis. Not to mention that many of the elders in the community still had not so fond memories of the COINTELPRO program of the 60's/70's that led to the wrongful incarceration of many Black leaders on trumped up charges. There is one story of an FBI agent provocateur traveling to Black Panther offices across the country startin'' drama just to bring heat down on the organization. The more things change, the more they remain the same.

The question that we should be asking is with all the ill stuff going on in the world like that little war in Iraq and the North Koreans playin'' with nuclear missiles, how did a Homeland Security Agent just happen to stumble upon a massive terrorist plot in the middle of one of the poorest communities in America.

Maybe the Feds haven''t been watching BET lately, but according to the Hip Hop videos, Liberty City ain''t exactly a hot bed of political activity. Brotha's and Sista's are too busy trying to eat and pay rent.

Maybe, dude was trying to find one of Luke Campbell's stripper parties and took a wrong turn somewhere. Who knows?

The bottom line is that after all the red alerts and hoopla, the Feds found no evidence of the Miami 7 having even the slightest possibility of toting a bunch of explosives  a thousand miles to Chicago and blowing up a building. There were no sticks of dynamite, no weapons of mass destruction, no DNA evidence. Nuthin''. Maybe the Miami 7 need to hire the lawyers from  the Duke Lacrosse player's rape case to get them off the hook.

What white America must realize is that rhetoric like this goes on in the Black community all the time, whether at Hip Hop ciphers, beauty salons or barbershops. And just because Mr. Lewis went on a 6 month tirade after the last presidential election that does not make him a threat to national security.

I guess the only good thing about this incident is that it gave the Bush administration some cool new lyrics like "aspirational not operational" to replace the worn out "Axis of Evil" and "Rouge Regime" catch phrases.

Do I feel safer after the arrest of the Miami 7?

Nope.

If anything, I am more paranoid. Not that I think that the college kids that throw the wild parties next door are some sleeper cell but now I can''t help but  wonder if  the nosey white dude at work that always wants to talk politics at the water cooler is  just a thirsty, wannabe political analyst or a Homeland  Security secret agent.

hmm......?

TRUTH Minista Paul Scott represents the Messianic Afrikan Nation in Durham NC. He can be reached at

(919) 451-8283

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blog: http://www.truthminista.blogspot.com

Minister Paul Scott