We don't call it Black History Month because we get caught too much in the past to deal with the present. Sometimes I'll hear youngstas talking about what they would have done if they were alive in the times of Malcolm X or Black Panther Minister of Defense Huey P. Newton, when today they aren't doing anything with the Prisoners of Conscience Committee, the San Francisco Bay View Newspaper, KPOO, the Block Report Radio show or with the campaigns of today's political prisoners like Mumia Abu Jamal, Aaron Patterson, Imam Jamil Al-Amin, the SF 8, the Move 9 or anybody else.

It's going to take organization and not just wishful thinking to get our people out of the predicaments we're in - some of the worst in history. We should use this month to re-commit ourselves to the fight against governmental and economic oppression and the fight for Black self-determination in this hell called the United Snakes.

Like Akua Njeri, a veteran Black Panther and the widow of Chairman Fred Hampton, says, "If you can't do the work, get behind somebody that is doing the work." We should not forget to remember the Harriet Tubmans, Marcus Garveys, Nat Turners, Ida B. Wellses and Bunchy Carters, but we should also work to help those freedom fighters who are still breathing in the campaigns that they are involved in today, or we are hypocritical.

Email POCC Minister of Information JR at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it and visit www.blockreportradio.com, hiphopwarreport.com and myspace.com/blockreportfilm.

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