I think the main reason both MLK & Malcolm X were targeted for assassination was because of their potential to challenge US imperialism & introduce a wider segment of Black America to an internationalist framework of liberation. 1/

The establishment would rather we define freedom as gaining participation in the white institutions of America without consideration for how our freedom as Black people here is tied to the conditions of colonized people globally. 2/

So that’s the narrative we get repeatedly, esp w/ figures like Obama & his close proximity to Clinton & Bush. The msg is that fulfillment of Black American struggle is equal share in US empire—something that can never happen, but must remain an unattainable focus nonetheless. 3/3

It must remain our unattainable focus b/c if we were to completely shift our loyalties as Black Americans from the white American colonizing powers to being in solidarity with people around the world who are oppressed by American empire, white supremacy would further destabilize.

So again, all of the emphasis is placed on measuring progress by Black Americans’ ability to gain access to white spaces. We should be more interrogating of why we place so much value on these white spaces in the first place? What are we investing in exactly & why?

Why is it a value add for us to gain access to places built by those who enslaved & murdered us? Access will never be granted to everyone, only a select few. So the investment is in representation & in living vicariously thru the few who are granted access. Is that liberation?