(Members and Supporters of UAM)

Freedom Is Not Free, Pt. 2

When the Freedom Party was created in 1994, and amended in both 2009 and 2010, it was based on a struggle against the decision of Chief Justice Roger Taney in Scott v. Sandford. This decision had also prompted Black men to sacrifice their lives during the Civil War.

The struggles of these Black men gave a definition to citizenship in the U.S. Constitution. This country had to adopt the doctrine of jus soli which is now the subject of current debate. Republican and Tea Party advocates are taking aim at the children of "illegal immigrants". These children may be the targets but Blacks will be the victims.

Political parties are not directly embedded in the U.S. Constitution. The rights of political parties arise under the First Amendment. This is why the First Amendment and the Second Amendment are off-limits to Blacks. The Reconstruction Amendments --13th, 14th and 15th-- are only appendages to the "Bill of Rights".

Before the Civil War, the "ballot or the bullet" was a rallying cry by our revered ancestors for human rights. Their efforts have resulted in Blacks enjoying some civil rights. Today, most Blacks believe that they have reached the "Promised Land". This results from a lack of knowledge of history. To understand history, you must go backwards to move forward. The more you move backwards defines the limits of your forward movement.

My writings on African-centered, political history and political science today exceed the writings of any other person in this country. Kwame Ture, who was a classmate of mine at Howard University and a frequent speaker of UAM at the Slave Theater, personally asked me to sponsor this effort.

He saw the lack of political education in the Black "community" as a primary obstacle to freedom. In preaching, for example, Dr. William A. Jones, a revered ancestor, would often say that a preacher in the pulpit must know his or her destination. Many preachers filibuster because of the lack of a credible and considered destination in their sermons.

This rule also applies to politics. Black people must have a political destination. When the U.S. Constitution was framed, it was based on natural law for white kleptocrats. Thus, no one else enjoyed any rights that white kleptocrats were bound to respect.

The goal of white kleptocrats, today, is to maintain Black bondage. See, for example, the prison-industrial complex and plantation politics. The Reconstruction Amendments were designed to keep Blacks away from human rights and into the pasture of civil rights.

Any Black book list must include Dred Scott. Black lawyers are afraid to discuss it and I am subject to censorship in New York. Blacks are safe as long as they are on the wrong road headed in the wrong direction. Thus, political education is the key to Black liberation.

The Freedom Party lacks an operating website. Some supporters believe that "freedom is free" when it relates to communications. Many believe that my writings should be subject to censorship not only in the Freedom Party but also in the Black media.

By far, I have travelled the most distance for the Freedom Party throughout New York State. With no income, I have employed all gifts, tributes in my honor and current rents, among other things, to keep the Freedom Party alive and relevant for all Blacks. Travel alone is very expensive. Far too many Blacks believe that our final destination is the White House and not the World Court.

To finance a website and other necessities of a third party, UAM must come alive financially. Throughout the state, many people are demanding to view our website. This website should have the writings of our "best and brightest". My current writings on the Freedom Party can only be viewed on www.reinstatealtonmaddox.com. The website for the Freedom Party is www.freedompartynys.com.

Members of political parties in this country are not monolithic inside the political party. There is ample room for disagreement. Blacks are mostly loyal members of the Democratic Party which, among many things, is opposed to reparations and lukewarm to affirmative action. Yet, it will take a crowbar to pry them away from the Democratic Party.

The "Founding Fathers" represented special interest groups. These groups included banking interests, financial interests, agricultural interests and mercantile interests. Their overriding interest was white supremacy, however. Disparate interests gave rise to the Civil War. Labor interests were banned from the U.S. Constitution but present in the Civil War.

The Freedom Party is no different. It is also made up of special interest groups. Many groups disagreed before June 2010 and many will continue to disagree after the Freedom Party secures ballot status in November 2010. In the meantime, the overriding interest should be human rights. If the destination is correct, no freedom train can drift far from the tracks.

Since I have put all of my eggs in one basket, I am banking on the Freedom Party. For me, it is all or none. The Underground Railroad is still awaiting the Freedom Party. Harriet Tubman is still its conductor and Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X and Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. inter alia, are still its engineers.

UAM must come alive by 9-11, its next membership meeting at the Cotton Club, to make this "dream" a reality. I have put up personally most of the seed money to make UAM a viable player in the Freedom Party. Without support from its membership as in UAM, however, it will lose any credible voice in the Freedom Party.

No lawyer in American jurisprudence has represented more Black victims pro bono than myself. Pro bono litigation involves representation which should be paid for by the race. I wrote weekly in the New York Amsterdam News for more than a decade, without receiving a penny. We must sacrifice for the race.

It should not be surprising that I would take leading a position in the Freedom Party. If I could clone myself twenty times, Blacks would rule New York. We are just that close to freedom. Preston Wilcox said that if New York City had 100 Black men it would be ours for the taking. He was in jail with Charles Barron.

Frederick Douglass said, "You may not get everything you pay for but you will pay for everything you get". The Freedom Party, if it achieves ballot status, will pay for it in full with interest. This is the United States. In the meantime, I hope that I am leading by example.