The Question of Black Separatism Pt. 1

When the notion of "separatism" is included in any discussion surrounding black liberation, whites immediately cry "reverse racism!" without fully understanding what separatism entails. Separatism can not be understand as a concrete concept, but rather a fluid one that varies over historical periods.

Images of Marcus Garvey’s Black Star Line as a part of the UNIA’s “Back to Africa” Movement may come to mind as an example of a Black separatist movement, yet this was the more reactionary solution that did little to foster Black unity. While historians focus on the physical transport of black people Africa, which was only a small part of the movement, they ignore the most important Pan-Africanist ideal that Garvey stressed: Black pride. His primary objective with the "Back to Africa" Movement was to instill racial pride in Black people, and revive some of the cultural ties with the ancestral homeland that had been severed by slavery and the amalgamation of Blacks into mainstream white culture that created a white superiority complex in many.

To me, separatism means looking out for your own. It means advancing a race that is teetering on the brink of destruction. It signifies the acknowledgement that only unity amongst one another can bring about change, rather than from outside forces or appealing to an oppressive system. Black entrepreneurship is a major component of separatist movement, which causes more money to be pumped into the communities that so desperately needs it, rather than all black expenditure going to a bunch of white men sitting in a board room. Unity is of the utmost importance, especially concerning economics, considering that throughout history Black Civilizations have fought imperialism, slavery, and colonialism through coming together for a common cause: the advancement of the race. The times when blacks have been fragmented, white nations have easily pursued their capitalistic and imperialistic goals at the expense of the near destruction and extinction of the Black race.

History tells us that white Americans have always been hostile towards any Black movement, regardless of whether the movement has sought to include and appeal to whites in the process (as shown by the non-violent movement of the 50's and 60's). Therefore, rather than seeking to include a hostile group or relying on a hostile group to make changes, Blacks must hold self-determination as an ultimate ideal.

Beautiful Poem By A Beautiful Soul

Current Events

I understand that i am
slightly out of fashion.
The in-crowd wants no part of me.

Someone said that i am too sixties
Black.
Someone else told me i had failed to mellow.

It is true i have not
straightened back my hair
Nor discovered maybelline.
And it is also true
that i still like African things,
like statues and dresses
and PEOPLE.

And it is also true
that struggle is foremost in my mind.
And i still rap about discipline-
my anger has not run away.

And i still can't stand ole
el dorado.
And i still can't dig no
one and one.
And i still don't dig no
roka fellas.
And i call a pig a pig.
And a party to my thinking,
happens only once in a while.

Anyway, i'm really kind of happy
being slightly out of style.

By Assata Shakur (From Assata: An Autobiography, p. 240)

The Story of the Foolish Old Man

Story from Mao's Little Red Book:



A foolish old man went to North Mountain and began to dig; a wise old man passed by and said, "Why do you dig, foolish old man? Do you not know that you cannot move the mountain with a little shovel" But the foolish old man answered resolutely, "While the mountain cannot get any higher, it will get lower with each shoveful. When I pass on, my sons and his sons and his son's sons will go on making the mountain lower. Why can't we move this mountain?" And the foolish old man kept digging, and the generations that followed after him, and the wise old man looked on in disgust. But the resoluteness and the spirit of the generations that followed the foolish old man touched God's heart, and God [*] sent two angels who put the mountain on their backs and moved the mountain.

*"God" in this story signifies the millions of people who aided Mao in overthrowing imperialism.
(Cited from Revolutionary Suicide by Huey P. Newton)


We must not succumb to the pressure of wise men and women, for they will crush a people's revolutionary spirit under the guise of conventionalism and practicality. Their force is great in number; they are your mothers, your fathers, and your siblings, yet you must not waver under their continuing assault on change. The mentality of "keeping things the way they are" that pervades wise men, and their neurotic obsession with systemic and societal order, threatens to strengthen the shackles that keep the oppressed in a perpetual slave state in America. In contemporary times, these "wise men" are those who possess the knowledge of the realities of oppression in American society (i.e. the prison-industrial complex that enslaves young black males, the lack of adequate health care for those in poverty, education systems, etc.), yet balk at any attempt to overhaul the repressive systems that perpetuate this inequality.

Foolish men and women are needed to keep America's role as a repressive agent in check. Without them, America will continue to keep the poor and the minority in the lowest rung of society. As Eldridge Cleaver emphatically puts, "Far from helping the dog, America is knee deep in mud trying to keep the dog down. "

Only foolish men, such as the one Mao speaks of, can have the "wisdom" to move a mountain as grand as oppression. It would be naive to think this process can occur naturally, through a society run by elites who constructed the mountain in the first place hundreds of years ago. Elites have sought to infiltrate the consciousness of the people in persisting the myth that the mountain predates man; constructed in the same fashion as the rivers and canyons. The image of early elites carrying rocks to create this mountain burns bright in the minds of the oppressed' ancestors. These ancestors learned the hard way, leaving the world in same way as they lived: crushed under the weight of immense dirt and stones. With each cock of the gun and each crack of the whip, the elite expanded this massive mountain for hundreds of years, never expecting the mountain to collapse from the rage of revolution's shovels.

At points in history, the oppressed have expressed their outrage over their imposed inferior status in America, yet this not does strike fear in the elite who see this anger manifest itself in ways that does not threaten their status position. You see, the elite understand that they have history on their side, that the oppressed' ancestors made the same mistakes that the oppressed continue to make: hoping that the oppressor's morality will outweigh his capitalistic greed. Through protest and other means of non-violent resistance, the oppressed have attempted to garner the attention of the individuals who exploit their suffering, to change a long-standing unethical practice. An example of this is when the people in black community go to the police department with their complaints about police brutality, when the police force is only a wing of the nationwide assault on Black Americans, particularly black men. The elite may make changes to their capitalistic system from time to time (move a few rocks from the mountain), to appease the masses and squelch their revolt, effectively lulling them into a mentality that "business as usual" is finally changing. These small concessions instill a sense in the masses that the elite are a decent and moral people, and that freedom is an eventuality. But, as history has shown time and time again, this is never the case.
As Assata Shakur puts it best, "Nobody in the world, nobody in history have ever gained their freedom by appealing to the moral sense of the people who were oppressing them."

The masses must be shaken out of their sleep-state to pick up their shovels to move this mountain. If not, they will be wise men who have to live up to the fact that their children are going to be born in the same chains that shackled them.

Amandla!

The Foolish Man