Injustice is difficult to disguise, and oppressed people will instinctively struggle against it. But the oppressed are sometimes duped by the oppressor into allowing their resistance to be channeled into a “safe” political arena where it can be monitored, manipulated and ultimately exhausted.
Malcolm X questioned the logic of submitting petitions for justice to the oppressor’s institutions. He said: “We need to expand the civil rights struggle to a higher level – to the level of human rights. Whenever you are in a civil rights struggle, whether you know it or not, you are confining yourself to the jurisdiction of Uncle Sam… When you take your case to Washington, D.C., you’re taking it to the criminal who’s responsible; it’s like running from the wolf to the fox. They’re all in cahoots together.”
Some have been so persuaded that their only avenue for resistance is electoral politics that they have come to believe that electing a socialist to office is “radical.” However, in any other context, the term “radical” has a very different meaning. For example, radical surgery may mean the complete removal of a malignancy. So while the U.S. may appear to be healthy, Malcolm X’s beloved Field Negroes know that the U.S. carries a fatal cancer that, if not carved from its torso threatens the survival of oppressed humanity.
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