{"id":214487,"date":"2022-06-06T12:00:57","date_gmt":"2022-06-06T11:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=214487"},"modified":"2022-06-04T04:48:39","modified_gmt":"2022-06-04T03:48:39","slug":"africom-black-skin-white-mask","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2022\/06\/africom-black-skin-white-mask\/","title":{"rendered":"AFRICOM: Black Skin, White Mask"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lt. General Michael Langley is poised to become the first Black Four Star Marine Corps Officer and second Black commander of AFRICOM\u2014a neocolonial force whose main purpose is to enable Western corporate pillage of Africa. <\/em>We have seen Blacks assist in the subjugation of their own people before and it is not something to cheer about.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Lt. General Michael Langley [Source: nytimes.com]<\/p><\/div>\n

3 Jun 2022 – <\/em>In his 1952 book Black Skin, White Masks<\/em>, Algerian psychiatrist Frantz Fanon warned about the emergence of post-colonial African leaders who would do the bidding of the former colonial powers.<\/p>\n

\n
\"A
[Source: abebooks.com<\/a>]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Were he still alive, Fanon would not be surprised at how the last remaining imperial power is poised to appoint a Black man\u2014Michael Langley, a 37-year army man who served overseas in Afghanistan, Somalia and Okinawa\u2014to head its Africa military command (AFRICOM).<\/p>\n

It was the first Black U.S. President, Barack Obama, who expanded the number of AFRICOM military bases in Africa from three to 84<\/a>, contributing to the effective recolonization of Africa.<\/p>\n

AFRICOM today sustains ties to 53 African nations and provides a cover for an\u00a0estimated 9,000 U.S. troops in Africa<\/a>.<\/p>\n

AFRICOM founder Vice Admiral Robert Moeller admitted that one of AFRICOM\u2019s guiding principles was\u00a0\u201cprotecting the free flow of natural resources from Africa to the global market.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

In April, AFRICOM announced that it would open an office in copper-rich Zambia<\/a> as part of its ongoing expansion.<\/p>\n

Zambia\u2019s former representative to the African Union (AU), Emmanuel Mwamba, considered AFRICOM\u2019s expansion a betrayal of previous Zambian leaders\u2019 efforts to remain non-aligned.<\/p>\n

\"Documents
A map of U.S. military bases\u2014forward operating sites, cooperative security locations, and contingency locations\u2014across the African continent from declassified Fiscal Year 2015 U.S. Africa Command planning documents. [Source: theintercept.com<\/a>]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
[Source: smithsonianmag.com<\/a>]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n
\"SADC
SADC security forces represent an important local alternative to AFRICOM. [Source:\u00a0defenceweb.co.za<\/a>]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

The AU and Southern African Development Community (SADC) for years had tried to resist the establishment of U.S. and other foreign military bases in Africa, and to develop their own standby military forces and security architecture<\/a>\u00a0designed to prevent a return to the era of colonialism.<\/p>\n

A Historic Appointment?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The New York Times<\/em> gushed about Langley\u2019s potential appointment\u2014he has been recommended by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to become the next AFRICOM commander\u2014calling it \u201chistoric.\u201d[1]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

But historic for whom?<\/p>\n

The U.S. military to be sure has an abysmal record of promoting African-Americans: The Marine Corps has never had anyone other than a white man in its senior leadership and four-star posts, and only 30 Blacks have ever obtained the rank of General.[2]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

Retired Lieutenant General Ronald L. Bailey, the first Black man to command the First Marine Division, was quoted in The New York Times <\/em>as saying that the promotion of Langley, whom he has known since he was a First Lieutenant, \u201cis bigger than Langley. This is for our nation. It\u2019s been a glass ceiling for years, and now Black Marines will see that this is possible.\u201d[3]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

\"New
General Ronald L. Bailey [Source: carringtoncf.org<\/a>]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The fact that a glass ceiling has been broken, however, does not erase the fact that Langley is now in a position to hasten the exploitation of Black people throughout Africa.<\/p>\n

And he can do so more effectively than a white by helping to give the illusion that U.S. policy is designed to help Africans.<\/p>\n

The first black commander of AFRICOM, William \u201cKip\u201d Ward (2007-2011) was accused of spending hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars on personal luxuries<\/a>, resulting in his demotion<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"General
\u201cKip\u201d Ward [Source: businessinsider.com<\/a>]<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n
\"War
[Source: masspeaceaction.org<\/a>]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

In his 2020 book Understanding the War Industry <\/em>(Atlanta: Clarity, 2020), Christian Sorensen emphasizes how the U.S. war industry has sustained a progressive veneer through more minority appointments and by emphasizing the diversity of its workforce<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Langley\u2019s likely appointment is but the latest example. It is of little solace to Africans who suffer the humiliation of having their countries occupied by a white foreign power.<\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n

NOTES:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Eric Schmitt and Helene Cooper, \u201cA Historic Endorsement for U.S. Commander in Africa,\u201d The New York Times<\/em>, May 21, 2022, A19. \u2191<\/a><\/li>\n
  2. Idem.<\/em> \u2191<\/a><\/li>\n
  3. Idem.<\/em> \u2191<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    ______________________________________________<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/a> Jeremy Kuzmarov is Managing Editor of <\/em>CovertAction Magazine and author of four books on U.S. foreign policy, including <\/em>Obama\u2019s Unending Wars (Clarity Press, 2019) and T<\/em>he Russians Are Coming, Again, with John Marciano (Monthly Review Press, 2018). He can be reached at: jkuzmarov2@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

    Go to Original \u2013 covertactionmagazine.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    3 Jun 2022 – Lt. General Michael Langley is poised to become the first black Four Star Marine Corps Officer and second black commander of AFRICOM\u2014a neocolonial force to enable Western corporate pillage of Africa. We have seen Blacks assist in the subjugation of their own people before and it is not something to cheer about.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[127],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-214487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214487"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214487\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}