John Woodford Replies to Part 13

Baraka has never sold out. Change is one thing; change for the worse--that is, change so as to align with the racist-imperialists, is something else. No one should accept pipedream utopias or idolize persons and systems, because humans can tarnish even the best principles.

But instead of noting Black sellouts, and treating such shifts as natural, why not point to the many great other Black men and women who have never sold out and who have never put a price on their allegiance or accepted efforts to buy them into the ranks of opportunists and apologists for the hypocritical, murderous and hate-driven policies of imperialists.

When it gets down to it, petty-bourgeois nationalists slide into reaction and accommodation with the big bourgeosie of the oppressor group, because they share the same class interests and inclinations.



john woodford
johnwood@umich.edu