The National Coordinating Committee of the pro-social justice South African political party ‘Black First Land First’ has issued a statement through its national spokesperson, Lindsay Maasdorp, declaring Micah X Johnson a martyr for ‘black liberation’.
Johnson, a former US Army private first class, is responsible for the killing of five Dallas police officers between 7 and 8 July 2016. This he did apparently in retaliation for the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, who were both recently killed by local law enforcement. Johnson himself was killed after a standoff with the police.
The Black First Land First (BLF) party in South Africa, known for its radical espousal of ‘black consciousness’ as developed by the likes of Steve Biko and Frantz Fanon, and its socialist support for the expropriation of land held by white South Africans, declared its solidarity with Johnson and the Black Lives Matter cause. Linday Maasdorp, national spokesperson for the BLF, had the following to say on his public Facebook page:
“BLF declares Micah Xavier Johnson a Martyr of black liberation
Black FIrst Land First (BLF) declares the late brother Micah Xavier Johnson a martyr of black liberation in the 21 century. Micah is the finest revolutionary of our time and a splendid black person who has attained the highest level of radical black consciousness.
Micah Xavier Johnson has defeated fear, the one single most important stumbling block towards black liberation, just like how Steve Biko had declared we should when he said, “you are either alive and proud or you are dead, and when you are dead you can’t care anyway. And your method of death can be a politicizing thing…in fact there is really nothing to lose – almost literally… so if you can overcome the personal fear of death, which is a highly irrational thing, you know, then you are on the way”.
BLF calls upon black people the world over to observe a moment of silence for Brother Micah Xavier Johnson. Everywhere we find ourselves, at church, work, home, school, universities etc, let’s raise our black power fists high, be silent for a moment and then shout “Black Power!” and “long live the spirit of Micah Xavier Johnson, long live!”.
BLF shall for this month open all its meetings with a moment of silence for Brother Micah. In each of BLF’s meetings the Micah Manifesto of Black Liberation shall be read. Furthermore, all BLF Provinces are called upon to organize memorial services for Brother Micah Xavier Johnson. We also call upon all black people to use images of Micah as their profile pictures on social media. Let the children know who Micah Xavier Johnson was and why he did what he did.
Micah Xavier Johnson you are the martyr of black liberation who died in the line of duty. We shall always remember you. We shall be inspired by your example and fight for our liberation by any means necessary.
ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL COORDINATING COMMITTEE OF THE BLACK FIRST LAND FIRST MOVEMENT (BLF NCC)”
* Martin van Staden is the Editor-in-Chief of Being Libertarian and a law student at the University of Pretoria, South Africa.
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