By Fred M’membe President of the Socialist Party
What we have as political leaders in Zambia today are nothing but what Malcolm X aptly explained in the parable of “house Negro” at
King Solomon Baptist Church, Detroit in a message to the Northern Negro Grass Roots Leadership Conference on November 10, 1963.
The current political leaders of our country want to be more closer and of greater service to the transnational corporations than their owners. They want to be more closer and of greater service to imperialism than the imperialists themselves.
Malcolm X told the conference:
“To understand this, you have to go back to what the young brother here referred to as the house Negro and the field Negro back during slavery. There were two kinds of slaves, the house Negro and the field Negro. The house Negroes – they lived in the house with master, they dressed pretty good, they ate good because they ate his food – what he left. They lived in the attic or the basement, but still they lived near their master; and they loved their master more than their master loved himself. They would give their life to save their master’s house – quicker than the master would. If the master said, ‘We got a good house here,’ the house Negro would say, ‘Yeah, we got a good house here.’ Whenever the master said ‘we,’ he said ‘we.’ That’s how you can tell a house Negro.
If the master’s house caught on fire, the house Negro would fight harder to put the blaze out than the master would. If the master go sick, the house Negro would say, ‘What’s the matter, boss, we sick?’ We sick! He identified himself with his master, more than his master identified with himself. And if you came to the house Negro and said, ‘Let’s run away, let’s escape, let’s separate.’ The house Negro would look at you and say, ‘Man, you crazy. What you mean, separate? Where is there a better house than this? Where can I wear better clothes than this? Where can I eat better food than this?’ That was that house Negro. In those days he was called a ‘house nigger.’ And that’s what we call them today, because we’ve still got some house niggers running around here.
This modern house Negro loves his master. He wants to live near him. He’ll pay three times as much as the house is worth just to live near his master, and then brag about ‘I’m the only Negro out here.’ ‘I’m the only one on my job.’ ‘I’m the only one in this school.’ You’re nothing but a house Negro. And if someone comes to you right now and says, ‘Let’s separate,’ you say the same thing that the house Negro said on the plantation. ‘What you mean, separate? From America, this good white man? Where you going to get a better job than you get here?’ I mean, this is what you say. ‘I ain’t left nothing in Africa,’ that’s what you say. Why, you left your mind in Africa.”
And in an address to the African Students Association and NAACP Campus Chapter, Michigan State University, East Lansing on January 23, 1963 on “The Problem of Race”, Malcolm X explained the difference between the house Negro and the field Negro:
“So you have two types of Negro. The old type and the new type. Most of you know the old type. When you read about him in history during slavery he was called ‘Uncle Tom’. He was the house Negro. But then you had another Negro out in the field. The house Negro was in the minority. The masses – the field Negroes were the masses. They were in the majority. When the master got sick, they prayed that he’d die. If his house caught on fire, they’d pray for a wind to come along and fan the breeze.
But if you went to the field Negro and said, ‘Let’s go, let’s separate,’ he wouldn’t even ask you where or how. He’d say, ‘Yes, let’s go.’ And that one ended right there.
So now you have a twentieth-century-type of house Negro. A twentieth-century Uncle Tom. He’s just as much an Uncle Tom today as Uncle Tom was 100 and 200 years ago. Only he’s a modern Uncle Tom. That Uncle Tom wore a handkerchief around his head. This Uncle Tom wears a top hat. He’s sharp. He dresses just like you do. He speaks the same phraseology, the same language. He tries to speak it better than you do. He speaks with the same accents, same diction. And when you say, ‘your army,’ he says, ‘our army.’ He hasn’t got anybody to defend him, but anytime you say ‘we’ he says ‘we.’ ‘Our president,’ ‘our government,’ ‘our Senate,’ ‘our congressmen,’ ‘our this and our that.’ And he hasn’t even got a seat in that ‘our’ even at the end of the line. So this is the twentieth-century Negro. Whenever you say ‘you,’ the personal pronoun in the singular or in the plural, he uses it right along with you. When you say you’re in trouble, he says, ‘Yes, we’re in trouble.’
But there’s another kind of Black man on the scene. If you say you’re in trouble, he says, ‘Yes, you’re in trouble.’ He doesn’t identify himself with your plight whatsoever.” We are the field Negro (the Pan Africanists, the anti imperialists) and they are the house Nigger (the agents of transnational corporations and Western imperialist puppets). The house Negro is the minority. The majority are the suffering masses of our people.
The house Nigger is used to crush our resistance to transnational corporations and imperialist exploitation, subjugation, degradation and humiliation. The house Nigger is always on offensive denouncing the field Negro to win recognition of the traditional corporations and imperialists. The house Nigger will raze down the field negro’s little shacks and booths to impress visiting dignitaries. This is the type of leadership we have for our Bantustan today! The local “Uncle Tom” is called “Uncle Bally” here in Zambia. Where is it taking us?
Well spoken comrade.
The author is Fred M’membe, that should tell you everything if his name was deleted from this article I would be more interested but as is the case with him he wants to be the pupeteer like he was during the Sata’s time but he has not had his way so he slashes out. Socialist my foot.
Mmembe is the most despicable individual, unfortunately he’s telling the truth.
Getting tired with Fred’s rantings. He has made it clear that HH is a sellout to the West, and there is nothing to suggest otherwise.
HH has traveled to US, and to Europe twice and his connections to South Africa are not with the President of that country but to private multinationals. Has avoided China until the IMF probe raised the issue when our biggest creditor was neglected.
He called Xi using a landline, LOL to assure us relationship with China was intact.
But Fred needs to move on, he has proved his point. Bring something new please! This cannot be his rallying cry to get new voters.
Sean Tembo is doing better in his chqs nd blncs.
Doing what you are good at – sowing hate, division, insults and innuendos. I see you have gone back to using.the Bantustan label that you put on Tongas. It won’t work this time. People have known you for who you are. It must suck being you.
Makunku – Exactly, this is why I would like to ask this man when he decided to be a socialist what was the turning point? Has he forgiven PF and Lazy Lungu? This man is filled with so much hate and is very good at manupulating the docile…I remember his Editorials back in the day no respect for anyone no ethics whatsoever. The Socialist Party is merely a cover for this man…
The famous Malcom X never took money from HOMOS like you bwana Mmembe
Such derogatory language
This man is not a journalist..he has no respect for ethics he can not even censore the term “Ni^& er”. He is so full of hate remember the language he deployed against Lazy Lungu during Presidential campaigns
I have always said this comrade. Hh is the biggest house negro ever.. he is a coconut and an oreo. Black on outside but f00Iishly whlte on inside like the upnd diasporans
And you Kaizer Zulu are a thief and traitor. You robbed Zambia blind of its wealth and sold what remained of it to the Chinese. You also were part of a government that deployed thugs in bus stops, markets and other public places to brutalise the people of the country. Do us a favour, shut up and go away
WHAT IS THE ATTRACTION FOR LOSERS ATTRACTING LOSERS
Look at the UK based impostor very soon it will start commending Fred because like him it has no principles…this is the man who used to insult Lazy Lungu everyday.
NOT LONG AGO, FORMER TELE-EVANGELIST DR NEVERS MUMBA SAID SOCIALISM IS SATANIC. IT FOLLOWS THAT ADVOCATES OF SOCIALISM ARE SATANISTS.
Comrade membe thinks he is in the 1970s liberation struggles for Africa………….
Cde Membe , the days of the revolutionary are over , every one is liberated, ………
It is up to every one to chose how they develop and charter their ways in the world……….days of blame are over…..
Playing the victim is embarrassing to say the least………….
Spaka – Fred is not Julius Sello Malema of RSA..he is no Pan African this is man who was against KK principles back in 1991, he was totally against everything UNIP stood for and helped bury it. Today he is here preaching hate again to the youth to further his selfish needs. who is he to quote Brother Malcolm X when he never preached in this type of language with trabilistic undertones. I detest this man because he is lieing to the docile..he is no socialist he has no shame whatsoever. Ask him where he took the profits from the Post? When he workers were not getting paid.
Pretty pathetic, sour grapes, green envy… You can’t polish yourself to look shinier than you are, any more than you can polish a turd. It’s characteristics will always be unmistakable. Hurling turds all over the place, simply means you are loosing your mind. People have always known you are a bottom-feeder. This article is not a surprise.
America in 1963 and Zambia in 2022. There is just no comparison. Trying to gain credibility and stature on borrowed words. Not going to happen.
I said turd…comment under moderation.
no rhyme or reason to this LT moderation.
So says ba yaku mbu yo
This is the lowest point for Fred. To think that Socialism still has a place in the 21st Century is nothing but delusional. Ain’t there other causes that Fred can focus on than this long dead and buried ideology really? This type of politics is indeed very shameful and only self-serving Fred. Stop it before you find yourself fleeing this beloved country once again like you did before. Why hate a fellow Zambian (HH) so baselessly for no good reason when Lungu is the one that destroyed your livelihood and yet you’ve simply shut up about it/him.. absolutely shut up. Time to Grow up Man and find another person to pick on… The “N”word is never used on a dignified leader of a nation like you have chosen to in your article. Even in the most advanced democracies people have respect for…
He comes from the school of basic dimwitted low-lifes who think their message gets clearer and is better understood when delivered with insults.
He has no class no morals …dont mind him!!
Unlike Fred the man he has quoted was a true black freedom fighter. And Malcom X’s narration about house nigaz is something very common among Zambian soccer fans who have abandoned local football for English soccer. You hear them crying “we lost” when they are talking about their masters in Liverpool, Manchester and Arsenal. They cry more for their masters’ house than for their home.
KIKIKI BO MMEMBE HAS RATTLED MANY. HE SPEAKS HIS MIND WHETHER IT IS TRUE OR NOT HE UTTERS. ARE YOU THE HOUSE NIGGER? WHY WORRY ABOUT A LOSER SUCH AS MMEMBE?
What rattled……???
He sounds foolish…..
Ranting about imaginary imperialists……..in this day and age ?
This article is CRASS and undignified.
The person who wrote this article says he wants to be the president of your country, let me tell you something he has lost the respect of BLACK people all over the world.
When you are a politician and you use the N word in whatever capacity, you are a reprehensible person and this man truly is.
He is a disgrace to black people all over the world.
Leaders whether they be black or white do not speak like that.
What rattled……???
He sounds foo.lish…..
Ranting about imaginary imperialists……..in this day and age ?
This Nigger Mnembe has lost it. Only that UK Nigger imposter is going with him on this rubbish.
Said like a real house negro
Says the Gay Fake Socialist
Total garbage! How can one call themselves learned with such myopic views. Is your socialistic of communistic to be specific as you (Mmembe) wish to align yourself to such ideologies not based on your perceived “friendships” with other countries promulgating those beliefs? You should have written critically of the past despotic regime than the current which is doing everything to dig the nation out of debt! How do assume one can get out of the shackles of indebtedness without engaging the lenders? No leader is well placed to get us free from outside influence by being debt free that one and only HH – at least for now. If you can explain how you would do it, better articulate such thinking than philosophical fallacy. As long as you fail to explain how to bring the nation to debt free,…
But Fred, you are taking Cuban money. They don’t give without expecting a return on their investment. Once in the house you will simply change the paint.
“house Negro”
yaba house negro