Strange Fruit in 2014: Lessons Learned from Black Bodies

I, too, sing America.

I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh,
And eat well,
And grow strong.

Tomorrow,
I’ll be at the table
When company comes.
Nobody’ll dare
Say to me,
“Eat in the kitchen,”
Then.

Besides,
They’ll see how beautiful I am
And be ashamed–

I, too, am America.

-Langston Hughes

 

Black bodies…Swinging in the southern breeze…

February 26^th, 2012. Trayvon Martin: An unarmed 17-year old African-American male was shot fatally by George Zimmerman, in Sanford, Florida, who claimed that Martin was suspicious and possibly armed. Martin was only found to have an Arizona Iced Tea and a bag of Skittles in his possession.

September 14^th, 2013. Jonathan Ferrell: A 24-year old unarmed African-American male (and former FAMU football player) seeking help after a car crash, was shot fatally 10 times by Officer Randall Kerrick in Charlotte, North Carolina.

November 2^nd, 2013. Renisha McBride: A 19-year old African-American woman, shot fatally by Theodore Wafer, after crashing her car in Dearborn Heights, Michigan. She knocked on Wafer’s door for help. She was unarmed.

November 23^rd, 2013. Jordan Russell Davis: A 17-year old African-American male fatally shot by Michael Dunn over loud ‘rap crap’ playing from a Davis’ friends car at a local Jacksonville, Florida gas station.

And in most recent news:

August, 9^th , 2014. Mike Brown: An 18-year old unarmed Ferguson, Missouri teenager was shot multiple times by a local police officer, after a supposed scuffle between the officer and two other people.

It is clear by the above fore-mentioned (and the many others not listed, who were unjustly slain, may God rest their souls) that America still does not care about Black bodies. Though Langston Hughes, in one of his most renown poems, brings attention to the notion that Negroes, Blacks, African-Americans are too, America, it is in these very instances that it becomes clear to many African-Americans that being that “too” in this nation is still not the case. Although America should thank those Black bodies who nurtured and built (and continue to build) her terrain, it is in these heinous circumstances of outright bloodshed based on racial and prejudicial pretenses – these modern day lynchings — that being that “too” of America, even in 2014, comes with a price: and that price could ultimately be one’s life.

When I was younger, I remember my mother having an intense conversation with my brother about being a Black man in America. In my innocence and ignorance, I could not understand for the life of me, why my brother (especially at his tender age) needed such special attention and guidance on the ‘makings of being a Black man in America.” I remember her vividly, on many occasions – whether it was at the dining room table, in the car, or after church – ingraining cautionary phrases and (now, what I know) words of wisdom into my brother about his status of being a man of deep melanin.

She would tell him:

“If you ever get pulled over, son, place both hands on the steering wheel. Don’t make any sudden movements. Only do what the officer tells you to do, when they tell you to do it.”

“Son, try not to be out too late in the streets. The police are watching. You may not be doing anything, but they will still deem you suspicious. I know when you are grown, you will do what you want to do, but always be watchful of your surroundings and who you are with.”

“Don’t wear your hat backwards or have your hood on in the store.”

“As a Black man, son, you have to be extra careful. You are a Black man, and that is the first thing that anyone will see. They don’t care about how well you do in school, or if you are a state-champion in track. All they care about is that you are Black and that you are a man.”

My mother exasperated my brother with advice and lessons such as these, and also stories from the news and from her childhood about what it meant for my brother to Black in America. These ‘race lessons‘ were repeated like clockwork — it was almost like his homework, as my brother repeated time after time what my mother had taught him to do if he were ever to get pulled over or stopped by police officers. She was teaching, preparing and equipping him with these lessons – hoping to ensure that his life would not become the ultimate example.

At the time, my brother, did not fully comprehend what my mother was trying to teach him, but he was forcibly hit with the reality when he was pulled over by police officers in our hometown. He was walking a friend home, and his friend happened to be White. They frisked him and patted him down, while asking his friend whether she was okay or if he had bothered her. They claimed that he looked like a suspect that robbed a local Rite Aid – which is over a mile away from our home.

This was his first, and unfortunately not his last time, being wrongfully accused by a racially motivated law enforcement.

It is a shame that in contemporary times, that this type of cautionary rhetoric must given to Black men, but just like the stories from and of our ancestors, this advice has been passed down from generation to generation. Just as my grandmother told her sons, and my mother told my brother, I will eventually have to tell my son what it means to be a Black man in America. But, my mother’s advice and the advice of many parents of Black youth should (and does) not start and stop with just Black men, but Black women, too — as all Black bodies, regardless of gender, are susceptible to be targets.

Take for instance, what unfortunately happened to a 51-year old California woman who was beaten mercilessly by a California Highway Patrol officer along the Santa Monica freeway, and her assault was recorded by a passing motorist. Also, as mentioned above, the incident concerning Reneisha McBride, who was fatally shot, after knocking on a door for help after surviving a car crash.

And these women too, were also unarmed. 

There are many questions to be asked: When will “we” be safe? Our sons and our daughters? Our brothers and sisters? When will we finally have refuge in this very place that was built by our ancestors? When will stop having to tell our children to be careful of every step they take? Will we ever be free of racial profiling and repetitive nature of the slaying of black bodies? Which one of our sons and daughters will be the next Trayvon Martin? ? Jonathan Ferrell? Reneisha McBride? Or Mike Brown?

How many more lessons must the Black community learn from innocent Black bodies?

Langston Hughes’, at the end of his “I, Too” poem wrote:

“Besides,

They’ll see how beautiful I am

And be ashamed—“

When will America truly see how beautiful and valuable Black bodies are and be yet ashamed?

Or will it continue to see the value of our Blackness, only when we are hanging?

 

Modern Hindrances to Pan-Africanism as a Movement

 …I said that just as the American Jew is in political, economic, and cultural harmony with world Jewry, I was convinced that it was time for all Afro-Americans to join the world’s Pan-Africanists. I said that physically we Afro-Americans might remain in America, fighting for our Constitutional rights, but that philosophically and culturally we Afro-Americans badly needed to ‘return’ to Africa – and to develop a working unity in the framework of Pan-Africanism.” – Malcolm X (El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz)

Pan-Africanism as a movement or a series of movements; as a discipline; as an ideology and as a universal unification mechanism for the resurgence of solidarity amongst African peoples—both continental and in the Diaspora—even in its contemporary phase advocates the notions of Pan-African consolidation and the political, social, economic and even psychological independence for African peoples historically and currently under colonial and neo-colonial regimes.

In an attempt to insert the aggregation of cultural, spiritual, artistic, scientific and philosophical African presence and legacies in a pervasive European culture of dogmatism and racial fanaticism, Pan-Africanism and the ‘politicization’ of the Movement, was championed, most notably, by greats such as W.E.B. Du Bois, Kwame Nkrumah, Marcus Garvey, Jomo Kenyatta and countless others who pioneered and participated in the affairs of the Movement. On its historical continuum, the Pan-Africanism Movement was able to thrive as it spawned into a series of movements, during a time where racial injustice, discrimination and prejudice was considered to be at one of its peaks.

With its maturation into modernity, the pervasive and persistent nature of Pan-Africanism – as a discipline, as a series of movements and as a universal unification tool – has seemingly fallen by the wayside; as generations of those who survived and fought the flagrancy of racism for hope of a universal African confederation has shifted to generations of African-Americans/Blacks/Africans of the Diaspora birthed in the ideologies of racial subtlety, race progression and the fallacy that is color-blindness.

In a neoteric age where capitalism, individualism and the notions of post-racial society reigns supreme, Pan-Africanism in its contemporary phase, acts as more an educational and historical ideology of the past; rather than a revolutionary and progressive political movement applicable to both past and present endeavors of Black/African global consolidation.

This paper is not written to deny Pan-African political consciousness in contemporary U.S. society; nor is it written to refute that work is currently being done to advance the Pan-Africanism Movement within the Diaspora. What this paper proposes and investigates are some of the modern hindrances of the Pan-Africanism Movement in the United States and the roadblocks which are prohibiting the progressive fervor of the Movement; or rather what St. Clair Drake describes as “racial-Pan Africanism in the United States…through the Black Power Movement and its attempt to achieve the criterion of unity with continental Pan-Africanism. (Walters, 1993, p. 55) Though “African-Americans [have] been a dynamic element in generating movement toward a world-wide African unity” (Walters, 1993, p. 54), this papers aims to pose why 1) the political process of the Pan-Africanism Movement has halted in modernity and 2) the possible hindrances that have caused both an intercontinental and intra continental divide between African-Americans and Africans to push for Pan-African consolidation.

Though only but three to four hindrances will be addressed throughout this paper, the foundations of this research will serves as a blueprint for future analysis on the modern hindrances of Pan-Africanism in the 21^st century. Therefore, by addressing these hindrances are only but an attempt to reawaken and rehabilitate the Movement that is Pan-Africanism.

The following hindrances will be addressed in this paper:

1. African/African-American Stereotypes, Stigmas and Biases
2. Africa as Sub-Saharan
3. Inter-regional Integration/Cooperation (or lack thereof): The N.A.A.C.P and the African Union
4. Barack Obama and the Myth of a Post-Racial Society

1. African/African-American Stereotypes, Stigmas and Biases

Africa, as the world’s second largest and most populous continent, within itself comprises a spectrum of ethnicities, a range of histories, cultural expressions, peoples, lineages, languages and ancestral ties which accentuate the multifaceted and multifarious nature of the continent. Though this notion of Africa, as a diverse and heterogeneous entity may be obvious to some, the pervasive and perpetuated broadcasting of a one-dimensional Africa in the media has caused many to overlook the multifaceted nature of the continent. This ubiquitous transference of negative and one-dimensional imagery about Africa has not only survived from pre-colonial times but into modernity; its affects have caused both the Caucasian and the African-American alike to carry stigmas, stereotypes and biases about Africa.

Although these images of “helplessness, dependency and suffering may indeed be true”, (Mahadeo & McKinney, 2007) these notions are not representative of all the cultural space of Africa – but even with this concept, the highlighted imagery of Africa persists as it is widely disseminated. Here, the notion presented by Jo Ellen Fair, which states, “of all the world’s regions, Africa is the least understood by Americans” (Fair, 1993) can be applied; as “Africa and Africans have been invented historically and reinvented contemporarily.” (Fair, 1993) Stigmas and stereotypes of Africa and Africans such as “impoverished”, “famine-plague”, “full of war”, “jungle-covered”, “Aids-ridden”, “savage”, primitive”, “underdeveloped”, “tribal”, “corrupt” and “troubled” (Fair, 1993), have survived into modernity and have affected some African-Americans conscious outlook on Africa as a historical, cultural and contemporary space. Moreover, these stereotypes and stigmas are not only applicable or transferred by African-Americans but are also stigmas held by Africans about their intercontinental counterpart; as African-Americans are perceived by some Africans as ‘lazy’, ‘criminals’ or ‘without culture.’

In reference to Pan-Africanism, the stereotypes listed and the ideologies shared by African-Americans, Africans and even those within the Diaspora, pose as a modern hindrance to the Movement because these stanch ideologies and beliefs are rather proposed or favored over reinventing a formidable movement to contemporary Black solidification and unification. Though many members of the Movement in the 1960s faced similar “tensions between [the] two proud groups – Africans and African-Americans – in attempt in what St. Clair Drake describes as ‘groping’ (Walters, 1993, p.57), despite the cultural and societal differences, attempts and persistent thrusts to create and recognize Pan-Africanism as a political entity were made by several organizations such as the Organization of African Unity, the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee and the Pan-African Federation.

Although shared complexion does not automatically equate to racial solidarity, biases and stereotypes presents itself as a hindrance to contemporary Pan-Africanism as it can hinder Afro-centric political consciousness and formation in the Diaspora.

II. Africa as the Sub-Saharan

The saying, “science does not exist in a vacuum,” can also be applied to Africa, as Africa does not exist in a vacuum; as it is ever growing, changing and evolving. Africa, comprised of 54 states, including islands and various territories, can be seen as an entity within itself but comprised of various regions. In regards to Africa territories today, Africa has been dubbed with the pejorative jargon ‘sub-Saharan’; which is a colonialist term described as “an euphemism for contemptuousness employed by the continent’s detractors to delineate between the Arab countries that make up North Africa from the 42 countries and the islands that make-up the rest of Africa.” (Onyeani, 2009) By virtue of the term sub-Saharan, this means North Africa consists of Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia.

Here, sub-Saharan in regards to Pan-Africanism presents itself as a modern hindrance as it purports the notion of the reclamation of Africa to only consist of those who are ‘sub’ or ‘underneath’ the invisible border and not Africa as a whole. Sub-Saharan also excludes the “millions of indigenous Africans who are ethnic natives in Morocco, Algeria, Libya and Egypt.” (Onyeani, 2009) If Pan-Africanism enacts as not only as a unification but a liberatory mechanism from those under colonial rule in the Diaspora, even in its contemporary phase, should not be exclusionary of ‘Northern Africa’; but inclusionary of all Africa and the Diaspora.

‘Sub-Saharan Africa’, according to Owen ‘Alik’ Shahadah, is yet another racial construct. Shahadah writes:

“The notion of some invisible border, which divides the North of Africa from the South, is rooted in racism; which in part assumes that sand is an obstacle for African language and culture. This band of sand hence confines Africa to the bottom of a European imposed nation, which exists neither linguistically (Afro-Asiatic languages); ethnically (Tureg), politically (African Union, Arab League); economically (CEN-SAD) or physically (Sudan and Chad). The over-emphasis on sand as a defining feature in African history is grossly misleading, as culture, trade and languages do not stop when they meet geographic deserts. Thus, sub-Africa is another divisive vestige of colonial domination which balkanized Africa.” (Onyeani, 2009)

III. Inter-regional Integration/Cooperation (or lack thereof): The N.A.A.C.P and the African Union

Although representing different Africans/Blacks of the Diaspora on different continents and with specify of their aims in regards to their missions (with the mission of the National Association of the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is to “ensure the political, educational, social and economic equality of rights of all people to eliminate race-based discrimination”; and the African Union’s (AU) mission to be “an efficient and value-adding institution driving the African integration and development process in close collaboration  with African Union Member States, the Regional Economic Communities  and African citizens”) the NAACP and the African Union stand as pre-eminent organizations who were (and still are) crucial in advocating for the rights, liberties, justice and unification of Black/African peoples. (NAACP, 2013) (African Union, 2013)

Birthed from the Race Riots of 1908, founded in 1909 after the Niagara Falls Movement (with the name of National Negro Committee) and finally in 1910 converting its name to the NAACP, the NAACP stands as the largest and oldest civil rights organization. Founded by white abolitionists and Black scholars who opposed the wretchedness of racial injustice, the pioneers of the movement include the likes of W.E.B. Du Bois, Ida B. Wells-Barnett and Mary Church Terrell. Contributions of the NAACP include the fight against the onslaught of Jim Crow and disenfranchisement, the creation of the Legal Defense Fund, civil suits against desegregation, lynching, media and federal advocacy, economic opportunity, health education and more.

The African Union, formerly known as the Organization of African Unity (O.A.U), was founded under a charter “institutionalizing the movement for African unity and was launched with the following aims: a) to promote the unity and solidarity of the African states b) to coordinate and intensify their cooperation and efforts c) to achieve better life for the peoples of Africa d) to defend their sovereignty, their territorial integrity and independence e) to eradicate all forms of colonialisms from Africa ad f) to promote international co-operation, having due regard to the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.” (Esedebe, 1982, pgs. 226-227)

In 1990, the O.A.U. shifted to the African Union and intensified their promotion of a regional integration perspective, as it advertised an “integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa driven by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force in [the] global arena.” (Esedebe, 1982, p. 227) Consisting of 54 independent African states, the AU advocates ‘Pan-Africanism and the African Renaissance’, as it consists of a Pan-African Parliament and economic integration institutions such as the African Central Bank, the African Monetary Fund and the African Investment Bank.

Formidable in their own way on their perspective continents, both the NAACP and the African Union, present a modern hindrance to the Pan-Africanism Movement due to the lack of intercontinental integration, cooperation, organization and communication amongst the two groups. Although both groups advocate for the unification and the advancement of Black/African peoples, the NAACP and the AU focus on communal liberation, justice and unity for their respective domestic initiatives, issues and socio-economic and political values. But , I also argue that they also enact as individualistic entities; as they only focus on endeavors ranging on the interests of their continent and not the interests of Pan-Africanism within the Diaspora.

For example, one of the AU’s objectives is to “work with relevant international partners…in the eradication of preventable diseases and the promotion of good health on the continent.” (The African Union, 2013) Their many ‘continent-to-continent’ partnerships include Afro-Arab cooperation; the African-European Union partnership; the Africa-South America summits; and the Africa-Asia Sub-Regional Organizations Conference (AASROC). Their ‘continent-to-country partnerships’ also include India, Turkey, China, France and Korea; with prospective partnerships with the Caribbean, Iran and Australasia. Although the AU has the African-Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA) with the United States, which “offers tangible initiative for African countries to continue their efforts to open their economies and build-free markets”, no other connections or partnerships has been fortified with Black organizations in the Diaspora, including America. This notion includes the N.A.A.C.P., as it too in its contemporary phase, has lacked to connect or re-connect with African organizations such as the AU.

This proves to be a hindrance in the modern Pan-Africanism Movement in the Diaspora as organizations such as the AU and the NAACP only emphasize their individual African/Black issues; thus, excluding African/Black representation, consolidation and unity as an option.

This is why in July of 1964, Malcolm X (El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz) told an O.A.U summit:

 “We in America, are your host brothers and sisters, and I am only to remind you that your problems are our problems. As the African-Americans “awaken” today, we find ourselves in a strange land that has rejected us, and, like the prodigal son we are turning to our elder brothers for help. We pray our pleas do not fall upon deaf ears…

 Your problems will never be solved until and unless ours are solved. You will never be fully respected unless we are also respected. You will never be recognized as free human beings until and unless we are also recognized and treated as human beings.”

(Esedebe, 1982, p. 233) (The African Union: A United and Strong Africa ) (Fair, 1993) (Onyeani, 2009 )

IV. Barack Obama and the Myth of a Post-Racial Society

The election of 44^th President of the United States, Barack Obama, as the first African-American President, was not only a pivotal turning point in the history of the United States but it also ushered a new wave of politics; as many believed that the election of the first Black President in a American society (known for its paradigm of blatant racism, cruel prejudice and wretched bigotry) changed the landscape of race-relations in the United States of America.

Thus, this notion of a new political terrain, supposedly ‘unnerved and unscathed’ by race, has caused many Americans to believe in thoughts of the possibilities of a multi-democracy and the idea that America is now embarking towards becoming a ‘post-racial society.’

According to Cathy J. Cohen, author of  “Millenials and the Myth of the Post-Racial Society: Black Youth, Intra-generational Divisions and the Continuing Racial Divide in American Politics”, with this notion of a post-racial/multi-democracy society, some academics and journalist purport that “once millenials dominate the political arena, many of the thorny social issues that have caused a great debate and consternation among the American public will be resolved.” (Cohen, 2011) Cohen also writes that “this line of reasoning suggests that young people who embrace and personify a more inclusive society will eventually take over both policy-making and thought leadership, moving both in a more liberal direction.” (Cohen, 2011)

Although many minority youth reject or are “particularly suspicious of a post-racial anything” (Cohen, 2011) another truth emerges where many youth are not suspicious of the notion of a post-racial society; not only based on the election of President Obama but also based on the ‘lack’ of consistency of the onslaught of racism, the common acceptance of racial subtlety and race-relations as progressive.

The notions of a post-racial society as an ideology amongst the youth –specifically, Black youth—presents itself as a hindrance to Pan-Africanism as it disrupts the notion of a need for a current and contemporary age of Black/African consolidation. If Pan-Africanism in its emerging stages, as an idea and as movement, was sparked by the consciousness of Black/African youth to the degradation and the ill-treatment of Blacks within the Diaspora, how will the movement re-ignite itself in a society where the notions of Pan-Africa are only but an idea of the past and not needed for current and future endeavors?

V. Conclusion

Although four hindrances were discussed throughout this paper— 1) African/African-American Stereotypes, Stigmas and Biases 2) Africa as Sub-Saharan 3) Inter-regional Integration/Cooperation (or lack thereof): The N.A.A.C.P and the African Union and 4) Barack Obama and the Myth of a Post-Racial Society, the foundations of this research will serves as a blueprint for future analysis on the modern hindrances of Pan-Africanism in the 21^st century. Therefore, by addressing these hindrances are only but an attempt to reawaken and rehabilitate the Movement that is Pan-Africanism.

Sources:

Cohen, C. J. (2011). Millenials & the Myth of the Post-Racial Society: Black Youth, Intra-generational Divisions and the Continuing Racial Divide in American Politics. 140, pp. 197-205.

Esedebe, O. P. Pan-Africanism: The Idea and Movement 1776-1963. District of Columbia , Washington , 1982: Howard University Press .

Fair, J. E. (1993). War, Famine and Poverty: Race in the Construction of Africa’s Media Image . Journal of Communication Inquiry , 5-22.

Mahadeo, M. &. (2007 ). Media representations of Africa: Still the same old story? (Vol. 4). Policy & Practice: A Development Education Review.

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People . (n.d.). Retrieved from NAACP: http://www.naacp.org

Onyeani, C. (2009 ). Contemptuousness of ‘Sub-Saharan Africa. Retrieved from African News World: The #1 News about Africa: www.africannewsworld.com/2009/07/contemptuousness-of-sub-saharan-africa.html

The African Union: A United and Strong Africa . (n.d.). (T. A. Commission, Producer) Retrieved from http://www.au/int/en/

Walters, R. W. (1993). Pan-Africanism in the African Diaspora . Detroit , Michigan , United States of America: Wayne State University Press .

 

 

 

The Miseducation of Post-Racialism

The pejorative term that is ‘post-racial’ has seemingly been a common fixture in American society since the emergence of President Barack Hussein Obama, as the first African-American president. Though representing a milestone in race-relations, the notions of race-transcendence has become an ingrained fallacy in the minds of many – especially in some representatives of the American political spectrum, who believe that the hostilities of race are less blatant and a kind-of, sort-of socio-economic and political playing field has been provided to the historically disenfranchised and perpetually marginalized. With this ideology, the notions of post-racialism and universalism are now applied, and the race-specific and civil rights policies that many African-Americans fought and died for are now becoming diluted.

For example, most recently in April, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the University of Michigan’s ban on affirmative action in public college admissions, which ultimately thwarts the diversity-flow in its school. In 2013, the Supreme Court also abolished the Section 4 preclearance of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which now allows nine Southern states the ability to alter their voting regulations without federal approval.

With these subsequent color-blind changes in civil rights policies, it is a fear among many African-Americans that these initiatives in the future will ultimately be castrated; thus possibly inversing African-American rights to that of the state prior to which these policies were instituted.

The call for post-racial policies aims to be a tool to transcend the notions of race under the guise of ‘progressive’ politics. Race-neutral politics essentially promotes a newly-found universality, in which everyone is considered to be politically, socially and economically inclusive, centered and where race-specific initiatives are excluded from the political conversation. The question that must be answered is: who is ultimately benefitting from these so-called progressive/race-neutral policies? Certainly not members of the Black community.  Just as political scientist and author Frederick C. Harris states in his book, ‘The Price of the Ticket: Barack Obama and the Rise and Decline of Black Politics” “not every issue facing Black communities fits under the rubric of universalism.” (Harris, 2012) Although Harris notes that issues such as access to healthcare or ‘tuition free-education at public colleges and universities” (Harris, 2012) are clearly inclusive to all Americans, he also poses excellent questions to combat the idealism of universal politics when made applicable to the Black community.

He writes:

“But what should be the political strategy for issues that overwhelmingly disproportionately affect blacks such as mass incarceration? What, for instance, would a national anti-racial profiling act – a law that would ban [and] prohibit police from profiling individuals because of their race – look like under the principle of universalism? Does the principle of color-blindness in advocating issues and policies that are rooted in racial bias actually continue to perpetuate racial inequality by ignoring it or burying it under the rug? And does ignoring the persistence of racial inequalities capitulate to the idea that the United States has become a color-blind society, a concept that declares that race does not – or should not – matter in law and policymaking?” (Harris, 2012)

Ultimately, with this new wave of policymaking, a non-racialized or deracialized approach to politics is applied; essentially disregarding and “disrupting the observance of [racism]” (Gilroy, 11) as a perpetually crippling phenomenon in an institutionally racist American paradigm. These policies also ignore the historical remnants and current manifestations of systematic racism against African-Americans, which is embedded in every facet of society. Therefore, the absence of race-consciousness is therefore racism, as it denies social justice to those deliberately, historically and consistently bastard by the system. (Morris, 2014)

If race-consciousness and race-specifity were acknowledged in the American political sphere, it would imply a systematic flaw within the societal, political and economic paradigm of the United States, and not merely a defect in some of the individuals that comprise it – which is why race-specifity will not be applied on a universal scale. (Morris, 2014) Therefore, to many scholars, the call for post-racialism is not a call for post-Jew; post-Hispanic/Latino; post-Asian/Pacific Islander; post-gender; post-women’s rights or post-immigration or post-LGBTQA (because the rights of those listed are currently recognized and not mitigated) but rather post-Black — as it aims to deny historical and contemporary white supremacy as a ramification(s) for the present socio-economic and political prejudices and inequities many African-Americans still face in 2014.

But many will disagree to this reasoning  and will cry and apply the ideologies of liberalism and behavioralism as the reasoning for the current state of many African-Americans; citing perhaps lack of productivity, laziness, idleness, inferiority, ignorance, preference for leisure and instant gratification as to why many people of color are in the predicament they are presently in. But can lack of productivity incite perpetual gentrification or the mass closures of schools in urban America? What about the increase in prisons and the mass incarceration of Black males? How about a crippling education system in predominately Black communities? Is the contemporary resegregation of schools also attributed to lack of Black productivity? What about stop and frisk? Oh, and can someone explain what has caused African-American unemployment to double that of white-Americans in the last five years, even if the African-American is college-educated? Is this attributed to Black idleness and inferiority too?

And post-racial policies are to be applied when these issues in the Black community continue to be overlooked and unaddressed?

Post-racial my ass.

 

References:

Giloy, P. (2000). Against Race: Imagining Poltical Culture Beyond the Color Line . Boston : Harvard University Press .

Harris, F. C. (2012). The Price of the Ticket: Barack Obama and the Rise and Decline of Black Politics . Oxford: Oxford University Press .

Morris, L. (2014 ). Introduction to Black Politics: Graduate Course Notes . Howard University, Department of Political Science .

 

Is the World Cup doing more harm to Brazil than good?

As Brazil gears up for the World Cup in July, reports detail recent violence against Brazilians – specifically Afro-Brazilians and the indigenous of Brazil – has been brewing, as gentrification measures were enforced to build parking lots for the highly-anticipated ‘futbol’ competition.

According to Revolution News, World Cup gentrification was carried out via gunpoint in early January, as armed and aggressive police officers sent in by the Brazilian government, forcefully and brutally evicted locals from the Mangueira slums of Rio de Janiero. Threatening locals with loaded guns and even going as far as threatening to kill children in their mothers’ arms, this recent attack, according to Francisco Chaves, a reporter for Midia Informal, a Brazilian news source, speaks to the discrimination against poor and defenseless Blacks living in Brazil.

Armed police officer forcefully evacuating residents of a favela in Mangueira, a city of Rio de Janiero. January 2014. Photo Credit: Midia Informal

“The social context is the prototype of (social) exclusion in Brazil: Black. Poor. People living next to open sewers. Fountains without water. Houses without light. Muddy ground. Low self-esteem. Disquiet. Loneliness. Revolt,” Chaves wrote, after uncovering the aftermath of the exploitative and violent event of gentrification.

“The sadness of seeing a squalid abandoned population as the one from Favela do Metro is chilling,” Chaves continued. “Women, pregnant girls. Babies crying in convulsion. People unemployed, children who cannot go to school. There is no life here. Nothing.”

Midia Informal also described and detailed the violence executed by the police.

According to the report: “A group of armed cops came from an alley. Everyone screamed in desperation. A crazed policeman pulled his gun and threatened to shoot a handcuffed guy in the middle of all the other residents.”

“When a [policeman] was told not to point his gun at people, an armed cop shouted: ‘Hold that bitch. I’ll shoot these children. That pregnant girl is the one who threw stones at us.”

To many poor, Afro-Brazilians, these injustices are but a common fixture in their communities. A resident quoted by Midia Informal said, “We are deprived of everything here. But we do not lack thug police.”

Police blockading residents from Brazilian slum in Mangueira. January 2014. Photo Credit: Midia Informal

Although recent World Cup injustices were executed on poor Blacks living in the favelas of Rio de Janiero, Revolution News also claims that the very first casualties of the 2014 World Cup were a group of indigenous people living in an Indian Museum, known as Aldiea Maracana, which historically was revered as a village for indigenous peoples living in Maracana, also a neighborhood in Rio de Janiero.

In March 2013, the Aldiea Maracana was demolished in order to create a 10,000 car parking lot, which was part of a $500 million renovation of Maracana Stadium, a host stadium for the World Cup, which is located adjacent to the Indian Museum.

A native man gestures as he protests against eviction from the former Indigenous Museum — aka Aldea Maracana — next to the Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on March 22, 2013. Indigenous people have been occupying the place since 2006, which is due to be pulled down to construct a parking lot for the upcoming Brazil 2014 FIFA World Cup. (Vanderlei Almeida/AFP/Getty Images) 

As stated by The Atlantic, several protests were staged, as the indigenous group and supporters tried to prohibit their eviction, but on March 22, they lost their battle, as both indigenous residents and supporters were gassed and arrested by riot police after a 12-hour stand-off.

The deaths of four Brazilian stadium construction workers last year also incited anger among Brazilians, when in November, at a stadium in Sao Paulo, two construction workers were killed when a crane collapsed and fell onto a vehicle they were sitting in. In December, Marcleudo Del Melo Ferraira, died in a hospital, after falling 115 feet when working on the stadium. That same day, another construction worker died of a heart attack.

 Lib.com reported that the victims’ families told Brazilian media that “the construction workers hard to work seven days a week in order to get the stadiums ready for deadlines.” The site also stated there were several serious health and safety issues on the construction site, but Odebrecht, the construction company heading the project, denied the allegations.

Odebrecht is also said to be a prominent donor to Brazil and its political parties during elections, which many Brazilians feel is a conflict of interest.

If extreme gentrification measures and construction site deaths were not enough, FIFA and other world cup organizers were under investigation for allegations of racism, as many popular Afro-Brazilian artists were dropped from representing the event and subsequently replaced with lesers-known Euro-Brazilians.

FIFA denied any allegations of wrong-doing, claiming that, “Our stance against any form of discrimination and racism which is enshrined in our various regulations amongst others is well known.”

Several riots and protests in Brazil have since ignited, as many organizations and social activist groups are calling out FIFA and the Brazilian political elite for their execution of discrimination, racism and cultural terrorism against Brazilian citizens. Black Bloc activists, a Brazilian anarchist group known to execute violence to promote their anti-capitalist ideals, announced plans for protests of the World Cup.

A chilling statement was issued by the group, stating: “Don’t come to Brazil for the World Cup.”

In more news, Black Bloc activists as well as many other anti-World Cup protest organizations are currently under surveillance by the Brazilian government. As reported by Reuters in a recent article,  “Brazilian security forces are using undercover agents, intercepting emails and rigorously monitoring social media to try to ensure that violent anti-government protesters do not ruin soccer’s World Cup this year.”

A man wearing a mask holds a banner during a protest against the 2014 World Cup, in Sao Paulo January 25, 2014. (Reuters)

Jerome Valcke, the Secretary General of FIFA, stated last year, that despite the onslaught of injustices, now is not the time for Brazilians to be protesting.

“It is the wrong time to be protesting. It is right to protest, but for me, it is the wrong time,” Valcke said. “[It is wrong to protest] because it is a time where Brazil should enjoy a unique time, a time they have not enjoyed since 1950.”

“We are not asking them to support FIFA, we are asking them to support the World Cup,” he stated.

In a 2012 article by The Guardian, the news source reported that Brazil said it would no longer deal with Valcke after he said Brazil needed a “kick up the backside”, in regards to the preparation for the World Cup. Vackle later apologized and claimed that his words were ‘mistranslated’ from French to Portuguese.

To many Brazilians’ surprise, Brazilian football legend, Pele, also agreed with Vackle’s statement about suppressing protesting.

“It is now time for people to be quiet because this is a great moment for our country, it is good publicity and good for tourism.”

Sources:

http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2013/04/brazilian-police-evict-indigenous-squatters-from-2014-stadium-site/100491/

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2012/mar/06/jerome-valcke-apology-brazil-world-cup

http://libcom.org/blog/brazil-world-cup-2014-workers-deaths-racism-gentrification-cultural-terrorism-15122013

http://www.npr.org/2013/10/22/239860341/brazils-black-block-activists-criminals-or-people-power

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/05/us-brazil-protests-insight-idUSBREA141JO20140205

A Dream Recognized, A Struggle Forgotten

In a steadily declining capitalist society, where liberalism, individualism and the forward-thinking notion of racial subtlety reigns supreme, it is very easy for the new-generation of African-Americans to forget. In a world, where dreams, for some, can no longer be deferred by the color of their skin but can become an ultimate reality because of the content of their character, the African-American forgets. The African-American, whether it be he or she, forgets that it was the dreams and lives of their ancestors that festered up like a sore, like a raisin in the sun, so that today, the African-American can bask in the possibilities that some of their predecessors thought unfathomable.

I am that African-American who has forgotten.

Yesterday, Wednesday, August 28^th, 2013, marked the 50^th anniversary of the March on Washington, where hundreds, if not thousands of people, congregated at the Lincoln Memorial to commemorate those who raised their voices against the racial and social injustices in America. The gathering, entitled as “Let Freedom Ring”, also honored and paid tribute to one of the most prominent martyrs of the Civil Rights Movement, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his renown “I Have A Dream Speech”.

Organized by the 50^th Anniversary Coalition for Jobs, Justice and Freedom, the National Urban League, Southern Christian Leadership Conference and other civil rights organizations, the gathering included speeches from President Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter.

A commemorative meeting of this magnitude was surely needed to honor such a prolific moment in history.  After hearing the many speeches, I was invigorated with a new sense of passion, compassion and unending gratitude to those who walked before me.

But it is my duty as both journalist and political scientist to pose these questions to the new-generation of African-Americans: What happens after this? What happens when the march is over, the cameras are no longer rolling and the passion incited by the motivating speeches wears off?  What happens when we fade into our regular lives and forget the price that was paid so that we too, can be America?

Forgetfulness. Complacency. Stagnation. Those are the answers. And honestly, I will say I have been guilty of all three. First and foremost, forgetfulness in the sense that at times, I am not fully cognizant of the sacrifices that were made by my ancestors. Complacency in the sense that I have partially bought into the lie that the dream of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is completely accomplished and recognized, due to the integration or rather assimilation of African-Americans in American society. With this notion, it is easy for me to become mindless to the fact that Black Politics and the Civil Rights Movement are just as much needed today as it was in the 1960’s.

Now, this mindless, complacent thinking usually becomes awakened in me when visible and blatant forms of racism are exhibited within American society. (i.e. Travyon Martin) But after the out pour of emotions from the Black community—which includes disgust, anger and rage—after the rallies; the marches and the injustice-filled social media statuses; the race consciousness and the race awareness all becomes race memory as the hype dissipates. (i.e. Trayvon Martin)

Stagnation is the final answer to this issue as some, not all, African-Americans—including myself—are caught in this vicious cycle of marching and rallying and marching for the same problems that our foremothers and forefathers were marching and rallying for; and nothing revolutionary in the Black community has been accomplished since from it.

This cycle must be broken.

Yesterday called for more than just a mere Facebook status or tweet/Instagram photo to “shout-out” what happened fifty years ago. Yesterday called for the African-American to take introspect and reflect all the way to the beginning of the Black struggle until now. From indentured servitude to slavery; to the rape of our mothers; the whippings of our fathers to the molestation of our children to the lynching of our aunts and uncles, the African-American needs to remember.

Our roots in American history go deep, so we must remember those who entered institutions from the back; those who drank and ate in the colored section; the Freedom Riders who were spat on, mocked and maliciously beaten so that we, the old generation, the current, and the generations of African-Americans to come can have the liberties and freedoms that we so absent-mindedly take advantage of.

We must remember to be pro-active and consistent in the fight for Civil Rights—not just during February or when something goes disarray in our community but everyday because we are African-Americans in the truest sense because of our predecessors.

Though the celebration that was held on yesterday was not only for the African-American—it was for the Jew; the Hispanic and Latino; the White; the gay and the straight; male and female and the elderly and disabled—this celebration was significant for the African-American for this very reason: without the Struggle, there would have not been a Dream.

Let us not forget the struggle and the work that still needs to be done to make the dream of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a fully manifested reality.