WE STILL HAVE HOUSE NEGROES AND FIELD NEGROES

Pan-Africanist revolutionary Malcolm X would have celebrated his 100th birthday today. In his renowned 1965 speech delivered just days before his assassination on 21 February at the age of 39, he drew a powerful distinction between the ‘house negro’ and the ‘field negro.’

Sixty years have passed since he was gunned down in what many contend was a US-intelligence orchestrated plot. In 2024, Malcolm X's family sued the FBI, CIA and New York Police Department for $100 million over the agencies' complicity. Their attorney, Ben Crump, said they believe these institutions ‘all conspired to assassinate Malcolm X.’

Yet, even today, as we continue the struggle against racism, imperialism, and neo-colonialism, we see the same tactics at play, with the oppressor often enlisting people who share our skin colour in the divide-and-conquer strategy.

For example, the United States recently attempted to manufacture consent for intervention in Burkina Faso through a campaign of character assassination against the country’s revolutionary president, Ibrahim Traoré. US Africa Command’s General Michael E Langley became the imperial mouthpiece, appearing before the US Senate Armed Services Committee to accuse Traoré of squandering the country’s recently reclaimed gold to fortify his position. Meanwhile, in what appears to be a carefully orchestrated smear campaign to delegitimise his revolutionary leadership, Western media and certain African media lazily circulated the same headline and story. In it, they claimed widespread support for Traoré is simply a product of 'disinformation.'

House negroes like Langley do not wish to see the master's house burning. They work against those like Traoré, who resist imperial dictates, reciting their master’s script to promote and maintain the status quo. Thus, Malcolm X's speech serves as a timely reminder that in our fight for true independence, some of our 'skin folk' are no more than tools employed by the oppressors to undermine the movements they seem to resemble.