Last night, I dreamt that George Bush sent in the troops to liberate “tha hood.” Lines of women and children cheered as soldiers threw bootlegged 50 Cent CD’s into the crowd. I was cheering, myself until I was thrown in the back of the paddy wagon with the rest of the Brotha’s….

While many people are debating where round 3 of the great War on Terror will go down, there is a great possibility that it could take place on the streets of LA instead of the streets of some foreign land.

If a country like Iraq can be attacked, despite a low approval rating, how much more readily can Black men in the so called inner cities be bombed when the masses of people have been duped into believing that they are all gangsta’s, thugs, and gold toothed drug dealers. I haven’t read the opinion polls this morning but the last time that I checked, the approval rating for Drug Dealin’ Darrell wasn’t very high. And who will lead the protest to stop the attack on tha hood? Mr. Johnson down the street who lost his only son in a drive by ,last week or Ms. Lucille who is scared to come outside after dark because of drug deals going down on her front steps?

While 10 years ago, the rumor about Black men being rounded up and sent to concentration camps was just something that Mr. Willie, the neighborhood barber and part time Conspiracy Theorist would mumble about while giving me my Saturday morning haircut, in post 9/11 America this theory has taken on a tone of morbid seriousness.

In states across the country, there are efforts to tie gangs in with terrorism. There is even a Street Gang Terrorism Prevention Act pending in North Carolina as well as an effort to get suspected gang members’ names loaded into a computerized data bank. So, when Lil Pookie who decides to Crip Walk at age 12, applies for college at age 18, along with his application for admittance will be a mug shot with 7th Street Murdera’/Suspected Terrorist written under it. Or when Kenneth Jackson decides to leave the gang stuff in the past and get a real job , the perspective employer won’t see a father of 3 who hasn’t even had a parking ticket in 5 years but he will see Killa Boogie, who at age 15 was a member of the notorious West Street Mob. So the cycle of poverty, hopelessness and depression perpetuates itself over and over again.

Also problematic is the fact that when the “big sweep” comes (ie the “final solution” to deal with Black men) and I am chillin’ on the block in my Afrocentric, red, black and green gear next to a Brotha dressed in all blue; are the cops really going to take the time to find out which one of us is involved in a “criminal” gang ? And since anyone who stands against the status quo can be considered a “criminal” will it even make a difference if they did?

Unfortunately, many Black folks do not realize the seriousness of the times in which we live. So it is easier to turn our condition into a joke, gag or bonus track on a Hip Hop CD. To borrow from the Sista who slapped the taste out of my mouth in 3rd grade for pulling her pony tail. “Sometimes, we just play too darn much!”

As the bombs fall outside my apartment, I can imagine turning on Comic View and hearing a comedian say, “I was ridin’ down Crenshaw , today and I saw 5 Brotha’s get blown away by a tank. Ha! Ha! Ha!….” It is sad that many of us will still be laughing while they are putting pad locks on the doors to our cells.

So the Black community is caught in the middle. Gang bangers on the right and agents of White Supremacy on the left. Having to choose between being victimized by the “problem” (drugs, black on black crime etc) or annihilated by the “solution” (the preservation of White Supremacy by any means necessary). The catch 22 facing the Afrikan community is how do we make our communities safe without further demonizing the image of Black men and aiding and abetting a racist program but at the same time not condoning the anti-Afrikan behavior that has our children scared to walk the streets in broad day light.

The answer is this. We tell the TRUTH. TRUTH, has no respect of person and is the same today as it was yesterday. Yes, Mr. Officer/Politician/Right wing Conservative talk show host, I will accept responsibility for the number of Black men in jail/ out of wedlock births/Black on Black Crime/the kid who took your lunch money in high school as long as you admit to the historical root causes that have contributed and are still contributing to such behavior as well as how you have done every crime imaginable to the nonwhite people of the planet.

Then we can begin to develop an African Centered, Spiritual solution to the problems facing Afrikans in America. A solution that will be of Afrikan people, by Afrikan people and for Afrikan people because it will be done for the love of Afrikan people ! Only by doing this can we counter the diabolical plan to destroy the Afrikan family, starting with the Black man.

The Hip Hop group Goodie MOB once rapped that the New World plan leaves the planet without the Black man. I pray for all our sakes that they are wrong.

Min. Paul Scott represents the Messianic Afrikan Nation. For more information contact: minpaulscott@ yahoo.com Web site: http://members.blackplanet.com/THE-MYD