Mo Mahdi’s speech at Milwaukee’s Black & Brown Unity March:

On November 12, 2011, members of the Milwaukee Black and Latino communities marched towards each other and met in the middle of the city’s 27^th Street Bridge. This bridge is significant as it represents the division between the North Side (predominantly African American) and the South Side (predominantly Hispanic). After meeting in the middle and rallying briefly (accompanied by swarms of police cars and motorcycles), they marched together to a nearby city park for a shared rally. Speakers represented both communities. Concerns expressed included issues related to education, jobs, racial disparity in social and economic areas, high rates of incarceration, the profitability of privately owned prisons, homelessness, the failure of the system to solve community problems and decolonization. In the context of sharing this information hope was expressed that these communities of color see their shared interests and demonstrate solidarity for each other.

From Mo Mahdi’s speech at Milwaukee’s Black & Brown Unity March:

“Let’s break down “education.” The “E” stands for “outward”, it means “outward” in Latin. The “duc” (means) “to bring”. “Tion” means “work, action, process.” It’s the process of bringing out the best of us, for us. But that is not what our educational system is designed for. It is to bring out the best in us for them. It’s more like training. Carter G. Woodson said “There is a difference between training and education”. We are not being educated, we are not educating our own children, because we have not been properly educated, so it is on us to educate ourselves so we can further educate our children. We’ve been mis-educated and under that mis-education we’ve been taught that if you read and you write you get a good job. Working for who? You have a good life. Says who? See, these are the things that they teach us. To this day I argue, “why the hell do they still teach us that Christopher Columbus discovered the world, when we all know he didn’t.” We all know he didn’t, but it is still being taught in our schools. They show that they don’t give a damn. So it’s on us. It’s on us. So I have some facts that I thought, their damn who’s facts so the hell with that. We know that we are the people, we pray the most because we’ve been taught who’s god. Who’s god, who’s religion? They educate us on religion, on how we should structure our families, how we should raise our children. How we should pass on things, but yet, we pray the most and we suffer the most. There gotta be something wrong with that. There’s gotta be something wrong with that. So I’m goddamm tired and I say “the hell with hope.” See, everyone says “keep hope alive.” For what? Hope what? Hope that they remove the boot off our neck? Hope that one day they wake up and say “we have been doing something wrong. Let’s educate them on their culture and their schools.” They don’t teach us about our forefathers, our kings and queens. How we got over here, that’s still not in the books. They talk about the damn ships and they tell that one of those ships was named Jesus. So some of them were saying “give me Jesus” cause they wanted to go back damn home. They wasn’t talking about the God they put in front of us. See, see, we sit here we’re on our knees and we’ve got our hands, and I tell people when we pray, in front of us are our hands, we are praying to God to help us. He lets you know when you are praying that you have every damn thing that it takes to help yourselves. So stop hoping. It’s not going to happen. We’ve been hoping for too damn long. It’s time for action. And, goddammit, I love you all.

Please join Muhammad Mahdi as he gears up to fight for Milwaukee(5th district) and to celebrate his 28th Birthday(15th of Nov.) on Tuesday Nov. 15, starting at 5pm (see FB invite in text below).

Facebook invite here | CAMPAIGN KICK-OFF FUNDRAISER for MUHAMMAD MAHDI for COUNTY SUPERVISOR,5th

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Davis shakes his head.

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A White House spokesman declined to comment for this story. In the past, administration officials, including Attorney General Eric Holder, have blamed Democrats and Republicans in Congress for thwarting the government's efforts to prosecute terrorist suspects in federal courts by withholding funding to hold trials. While that is true in the case of self-professed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his co-conspirators, it does not explain the decision Obama made in May 2009--four months after he was sworn in as president--to resurrect military commissions.

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