Wednesday, 4/16/97 Black Nationalism promotes concept of racial
solidarity Common experience of racism fosters sense of a shared
identity
He believe that our communities must be the sources of their own
strength politically, economically, intellectually and culturally
in the struggle for human rights and dignity … The Afro-American
community must accept the responsibility for regaining our people
who have lost their place in society … (We) must be prepared to
help each other in all ways possible … Afro-Americans must unite
and work together. We must take pride in the Afro-American
community, for it is home, and it is power. — Statement of Basic
Aims and Objectives of the Organization of Afro American Unity,
June 28, 1964 Defining my politics is not an easy task. I always
considered myself a left of center? liberal? with progressive? to
radical? tendencies. I use question marks, to signify the obscurity
and emptiness of these political labels. Basically, I would
describe myself as a "justice-seeking pragmatist who believes that
people must actively engage the system to produce political and
social change." This general principle has guided my curricular and
extra-curricular activities since the 11th grade. Moreover, the
particular intricacies of my political and intellectual development
undergo constant evolutionary revision. Daily experiences,
observations and revelations significantly shape the perimeters of
my thoughts and actions. However, if there was a single moment
critical to understanding my politics, it occurred somewhere during
the fight to save affirmative action. I can not say precisely what
or when it happened, but I changed. No longer was I concerned with
integration into American society. I was tired of begging for
rights and entitlements that should be afforded to African people
as matters of promise and principle. I was disgusted at having to
placate the interest of African people with the agendas of other
"interest groups," to present the facade of a united coalition.
Where was our integrity? Where was our identity? Where was our
independence? I sought answers to these questions, but simply, I
sought a way out. If there is any lesson to be learned from the
passage of Prop. 209, it is that America cannot be trusted to
protect the rights of African people. As if the Three-Fifths
compromise, the Dredd Scott decision, the Tuskegee syphilis
experiment, and other atrocities sanctioned by the American
government weren’t enough; Prop. 209 is America’s current rebuke of
African people. I can offer a litany of examples chronicling
America’s institutional and individual disdain for African people,
but what would be the point? Any honest person (black, white,
yellow, brown or whatever) in his heart knows the truth, and that
such will remain the same until African people step forward to
reclaim our destiny from the clutches of our oppressors. The time
is ripe to heed the long-standing, and often overlooked, calls for
Black Nationalism. Contrary to the prevailing, misinformed
assumptions, Black Nationalism as an ideology, and inaction is not
a rabid assertion of Black supremacy. Unlike white Nationalism and
patriotism, Black Nationalism and its proponents do not seek to
humiliate, exploit, or oppress any person or people. Rather, Black
Nationalism is a positive affirmation of the cultural, political,
social and economic identity of African people. In its most
rudimentary forms, it reacts to the brutally violent and repressive
conditions under which African people live. Racism and white
supremacy creates an environment where whites are viewed with
suspicion, and Black folks are beholden to each other. The most
basic expression of Black Nationalist thought is that Black people
in America are bound by the common experience of racism and the
struggle against it. Progressive attempts to qualify a unifying
Black or African identity stem from recognition of a common culture
different from mainstream American culture. The distinct nature of
"Africans in America," is attributed to African ancestry.
Therefore, regardless of white supremacy (a very real fact indeed),
African people are united by their shared African-influenced
heritage and culture. Nevertheless, the sense of a shared identity,
be it in reaction to racism or descending from African origins,
produces the concept of racial solidarity, which is the cornerstone
of Black Nationalist thought and action. Black Nationalists claim
only what is entitled to all other sovereign people; these include:
freedom from foreign oppression, control of internal economy, and
unrestricted domain of political and other institutions affecting
the quality of life. The battle cry is that African people must
claim the rights and responsibilities of racial solidarity,
self-determination and self-reliance. By invoking such, Black
Nationalists affirm that African people, and African people alone,
have the right to define the terms of our existence. As the quote
above indicates, it is the responsibility of each individual to
safeguard the interests of African people as a whole. An objective
look at Black Nationalism in theory and action will reveal both
regressive and progressive tendencies. Reactionary forms of Black
Nationalism are principally concerned with changing the balance of
power from white to Black. Again, this is not to be confused with
"Black supremacy;" Black Nationalists do not want to oppress
whites. As a reaction to white power, it seeks to assert Black
autonomy in the creation and implementation of all matters
concerning African people. Black police in Black communities. Black
teachers for Black children. Reactionary expressions of Black Power
have come in the form of the African Methodist Episcopal church and
other "Black" oriented Christian denominations: the Nation of Islam
and so-called "Recycle Black dollar" campaigns. However, they fail
to challenge the ideological assumptions and implications of
Christianity, patriarchy and capitalism. With Christian,
patriarchal and capitalist institutions unfettered, the spiritual
and material realities of the masses of African people remain the
same. Instead of praying to a blond-haired, blue-eyed Jesus who
affirms European superiority, "Black" theologians alter the divine
message to meet their own interests; the bourgeoisie class becomes
native rather than foreign, and Black men replace white men as the
political and social hegemony. Black Nationalism becomes
Revolutionary when it challenges more than the question of who is
in power and is actively engaged in dismantling ALL oppressive
ideologies and institutions. This includes the artificial
construction of race. But before there can be any fellowship among
humans, we must first address the immediate realities of life. As
an African, I have no choice but to be concerned with the fate of
my people as a whole. It simply is a fundamental question of
reality. I, and the millions of former slaves, would not be in this
country if it were not because of a false European assumption about
the inferiority of our Black skin. So it is under the shadow of
this Western-created identity that we struggle for independence.
Therefore, as a Black Nationalist, I organize on the basis of race
as a matter of survival, on both a personal and collective level.
Foremost on our quest for self-determination is a reconstruction of
the image of Africa and African people. According to the European
construction of race, black skin and African heritage are proxies
for licentious and degenerate behavior. Therefore, the assumption
is that when a crime or any wrongdoing is committed, the
perpetrator is a person of African descent. This is why in the case
of Rosewood, Florida, the false accusation of one white woman
against a "nigger," was the only mandate mobs of white men needed
to destroy and take the lives of law-abiding African men, women and
children. We see a very similar case in 1993, when a white woman,
Susan Smith, of Union, S.C., claimed her two toddler sons were
kidnapped during a car-jacking committed by "a Black man." Her
phony charge brought about a nationwide manhunt, ending only when
Smith confessed to killing the children herself. Our ability to
reconstruct our image is essential to our understanding of who we
are. Without self-expression, Africans and other marginalized
people are destined to be defined in opposition of European
standards. Since all we know is based upon reaction to foreign
concepts, any so-called revolutionary action is bound to repeat
those of the oppressor. This has been the major criticism of Black
Nationalism. As we begin to recognize the fallacy of the European
representation of who we are, logically, other prevailing
assumptions must also be challenged. To complete the revolution we
must reconstruct not only the image of, but our relationship with,
the Creator, humanity, and the natural and material worlds. Black
Nationalism is reactionary to the extent that it limits
revolutionary change to the benefit of one group over another. It
is only through the exploration of African roots and origins that
African people are able to develop literary, historical,
philosophical, political and social canons and institutions free
from European influence. This revolutionary (evolutionary)
expedition culminates in a revolution of soul and society. This is
Black Nationalism at its highest expression. Palmer is a
fourth-year African American studies student.