What does organizing look like when Black radicals are being pushed out of spaces for ‘progressiveness’ that makes uncontested room for the centrist, right-wing and fascists narratives driving most platforms? When examining the conflicts between those fighting oppression under capitalism and the capitalist state’s ruling class alongside those who subscribe to “success” and riches obtained at the expense of the oppressed, few things strike me as obvious disconnects and contradictions. I am often asked about my relationship with the analytical science of Marxism- Leninism as it pertains to my studies, teachings, and praxis because it’s somehow shocking that a Black . . .
Class Struggle
There is No Black Middle Class
The middle class is the ultimate social construct. What we in the US have been told, in regards to the middle class, is that it is the class between the working classes and the upper classes. The average person in the US has accepted that definition, a definition that is based on income. But that is only part of the definition. It is not even a necessary part of the definition. The most important characteristic of the US middle class is whiteness. The middle-class dream in the US is that you can be not that smart, not that competitive, but . . .
Class Struggle at AfroTech
Does gentrification hit differently when it’s a Nupe that pushes you out of your neighborhood? Or do the Somali teenagers dodging hellfire missiles after they’ve been declared terrorists for falling into the wrong gender and age brackets in the wrong country at the wrong time feel the #BlackGirlMagic when the dev-ops engineer that keeps the Pentagon’s drone infrastructure humming on AWS is an African woman? Put another way – are African people who are able to find professional and material success within the genocidal global system of capitalism individual examples of what we as a people should aspire to? Do . . .
New Black Face of Canada
Last September, Time Magazine released a provocative yearbook picture of Justin Trudeau, the current Prime Minister of Canada. It was taken at a costume party for teachers college, in Vancouver. He dressed up as Aladdin……. with Black face. My first thought seeing this picture, “Which version of Aladdin is this?” I wasn’t aware of the Jim Crow era of Arabia nights. Before I knew it, media tried to spin this story, calling it “brown face” because he was dressed as an Arab/middle easterner. Since then, he has apologized for his behavior in 2001. He properly recognized his actions as Black . . .
Unpacking The Super Exploitation of Black Women
“Although we are in essential agreement with Marx’s theory as it applied to the very specific economic relationships he analyzed, we know that his analysis must be extended further in order for us to understand our specific economic situation as Black women.” —the Combahee River Collective Statement, 1977 “The concept of the simultaneity of oppression is still the crux of a Black feminist understanding of political reality and, I believe, one of the most significant ideological contributions of Black feminist thought.” —Black feminist and scholar Barbara Smith, 1983 The situational systematic position of Black women, particularly in the US, has . . .