- Recorded history is merely the narrative captured by the victor
- American History is full of mythology made to create heroes out of flawed men
I recently attended a social affair that had a silent action of various pieces of "Black" and "African" art.
The marquee portrait was this one:
"Buffalo Soldiers" - (From left to Right): Rosa Parks, Frederick Douglass, Colin Powell, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr, Barack Obama, Michele Obama, Nelson Mandela
 Ranking Officer President Barack Obama and Michele Obama |  Colin Powel |
 Frederick Douglass |  Malcolm X |
 Rosa Parks |  Rev Dr Martin Luther King |
This proved to be a conversation started, mostly because I asked the people who walked by to note the contradictions that are abundant.
Even the original Buffalo Soldiers are a contradiction. They largely served the US Army out West.
I noted a few years ago the words of a Black professor who was an expert of the Buffalo Soldiers. He told of how Teddy Roosevelt used the Buffalo Soldiers during his conquest of the island of Cuba.
They were commanded to battle the Spanish in the tropical forests of Cuba. The Buffalo Soldiers used the techniques of overwhelming the enemy by making "war chants" - making a moderately sized force sound like an overpowering force, triggering the enemy to retreat. Logic says that if the Buffalo Soldiers learned this chanting technique from the Native Americans during battle that since they were wearing the uniforms of the American Calvary - they were fighting the "Indians" on Western lands.
In this sense many Black Americans are conflicted because we mix the travails of the "stolen land" from the Native American with the heroic exploits of the "Buffalo Soldier".
The portrait displays a similar conflict because it mixes "inside players" (Obama and Powell) with outsiders who vowed to give their lives so that this great but flawed nation might change (Douglas, King and Parks). Then you have Malcolm X who's goal was not integration but to get the Negro to rationalize his desire to sup with people who had no such reciprocal interests. Nelson Mandela is not an American. He is a mix of a Dr King who struggled for change and an Obama who became an inside man in power within the confines of its government.
I can't imagine a circumstance in which a modern day Malcolm X would take up arms within the US Military NOR support the recent military interventions of "Commander In Chief Obama". Would Malcolm X or Frederick Douglass support the recent use of American forces to support a coup in the African nation of Libya? Despite the fact that his modern day lieutenants have become political operatives and thus have been silent about Libya - would Dr King - per his consciousness from his time also be complicitly silent?
This brings up the main inaccuracy of the portrait. Those who are in on inside versus the outside with regards to the American imperial power. The fact that there are "outsiders" and "insiders" shows the course that the Black American has trekked over time.
The actions of this nation that were once worthy of protest in defense of the interests of Black people - today are kept "behind closed doors" because the "favorable person in power" might be hurt politically if Black people speak out. With CNN's morning news on right now they showed a quote from Rep Emanuel Cleaver of the Congressional Black Caucus who stated that if Bill Clinton were president (if a White President was in power) right now the CBC would be leading protests on the White House demanding that the economic problems be addressed.
Dr King believed that an "unjust war" is a greater threat to the interests of Black people and everyone else than remaining silent because President Johnson had 'The Great Society' to offer. Today - those who proclaim that they carry the torch for Dr King have this notion flipped on its head.
In short this portrait is solidly in line with certain Americans who wish to reconstruct history in support of the narrative that they wish to paint to uplift their heroes while diminishing their disagreement with the system, or lately their complicity with it.
Unfortunately for Black America - it is highly likely that anyone who dares pen a "The People's History Of The Black Racial Services Machine" where certain mythology is put to rest will be called a "Traitor To Their Race" - just as Howard Zinn was calleda "traitor to the United States" for his works. Ironically - many of the name callers have the book from Zinn and John Perkin's "Confessions Of An Economic Hitman" sitting right beside it.
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