In the current issue of The Black Commentator released today, Cynthia McKinney receives energetic plaudits from Larry Pinkney, a veteran of the Black Panther Party:
Cynthia is running for President of the United States of America, not as a Democratic or Republican Party [i.e. Republicrat] hustler, but as the real people’s candidate. She is not embraced, funded or backed by Wall Street, Lockheed, or any other entity of the corporate / military / prison apparatus as are the candidates of the Democratic and Republican Parties. The Cynthia McKinney campaign is about so much more than merely a presidential run for office. It is about building an ongoing, well-honed, politically conscious people’s movement with a view toward bringing about systemic change. It is about the continuous hard work of building political parties and organizations that are not beholden to the Republicrats [i.e. the Democratic and Republican Parties].
Pinkney’s article also invokes Malcolm X in a scathing indictment of the two-party system, together with a very thinly veiled reference to another current presidential candidate:
It would have been utterly unthinkable for Brother Malcolm to have figuratively thrown Rev. Jeremiah Wright under the proverbial bus and then backed up to run over him again and again at the behest of the racist U.S. corporate, military, and prison industrial apparatus. As Malcolm X repeatedly said, “No sell outs!” Brother Malcolm made it crystal clear that the Democratic and Republican Parties [i.e. the Republicrats] are “foxes and wolves.” Their ultimate objective is to keep Black, Brown, Red, Yellow, and yes even White peoples – disempowered while pretending to be doing the opposite.
I’ll probably take some heat for using the term “veteran” to describe Pinkney, but I found a better word lacking. It’s the term used in Pinkney’s own citation, and I think “former member” implies that one left, rather than the organization simply ceasing to operate.