www.africanamericanvoice.net April 2019 Free Attorney Ben Crump Sues Harvard Over Slave Images University refuses to return images once used to advocate racism
CAMBRIDGE, MA – Recently a Connecticut woman accused Harvard University of the wrongful seizure, possession and monetization of photographic images of her family’s patriarch, an enslaved African man named Renty, and his daughter, Delia. The images, believed to be the earliest known photographic images of slaves, were commissioned in 1850 by a Harvard professor, Louis Agassiz, and used to support a theory, known as polygenism, that Africans and African-Americans are inferior to whites. Polygenism, widely advocated by the Harvard professor, was used to justify both the ongoing enslavement of black people prior to the Civil War and their segregation afterward. As detailed in a lawsuit filed today, Harvard stood by its professor and, to this day, has never sufficiently repudiated Agassiz and his work. The images, known as daguerreotypes, were captured in the winter of 1850 in a South Carolina photography studio. Renty was brought to a photography studio,
“For years, Papa Renty’s slave owners profited from his suffering – it’s time for Harvard to stop doing the same thing to our family,
”
-Tamara Lanier, Renty’s great- great-great granddaughter.
Remember The Memphis Sanitation Workers
“We’ve got to give ourselves to this struggle until the end. Nothing would be more tragic than to stop at this point in Memphis. We’ve got to see it through” (King, “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop,” 217). SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT , S1
SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT: DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. - THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES APRIL 2019
every angle; next to him, his daughter Delia was then stripped to the waist and forced to pose for the photographs. The lawsuit filed today in Middlesex County Superior Court alleges that Harvard has ignored Tamara Lanier’s repeated requests to stop licensing the pictures for the University’s profit and stop misrepresenting her great-great-great grandfather, the man she knows as Papa Renty. A direct linear descendent of Renty, Ms. Lanier is seeking return of the photos to her family, as well as damages from Harvard. “For years, Papa Renty’s slave owners profited from his suffering – it’s time for Harvard to stop doing the same thing to our family,” said Tamara Lanier, Renty’s greatgreat-great granddaughter. “Papa Renty was a proud and kind man who, like so many enslaved men, women and children, endured years of unimaginable horrors. Harvard’s refusal to honor our family’s history by acknowledging our lineage and its own shameful past is an insult to Papa Renty’s life and memory.” See NATIONAL NEWS, page 8
VOTE NO to St. Louis City St. Louis County Merger
Remove Mayor Krewson because she supports the merger! SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT , S3
“if you want to know the end, look at the beginning”~ a f r i c a n p r o v e r b
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National News
CNN Ignores ‘Moral’ Issue in Refusing to Meet with NABJ
By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA
NABJ President Sarah Glover said she’s stunned that CNN canceled a planned meeting to discuss the importance of diversity and Black representation within the ranks of the network’s executive news managers and those who report directly to the cable channel’s president Jeff Zucker. “It’s a moral issue,” Glover told NNPA Newswire in an interview on Tuesday, March 12. “The diversity discussion is not a buzz word, it’s really serious discussions we are seeking to have with major media companies,” she said. After AT&T agreed to a deal last summer to acquire Time Warner and CNN, NABJ officials reached out to AT&T CEO Randall L. Stephenson who responded in a positive manner, Glover said. The plan was to then meet with CNN and Zucker – a meeting was scheduled for Jan. 22. Two weeks before the meeting, Glover said a CNN official asked for a telephone conference with she and NABJ Executive Director Drew Berry. During that phone call, Glover and Berry were informed that news personality and NABJ Executive Board member Roland Martin would not be welcomed. Glover and NABJ said that was insulting and they would not dis-invite anyone from their delegation, particularly a longtime board member like Martin. As the meeting approached and after five months of preparations, CNN canceled the session only hours before the scheduled time of the meeting. “We’ve had discussions with other broadcasting companies as well as print and digital companies and we’ll continue to have those discussions,” Glover said. She said CNN likely doesn’t understand that the meetings are part of NABJ’s three-year Strategic Plan, which includes bringing advocacy issues front and center. “We’re implementing the strategic plan which is very thoughtful and it’s important to our mission,” Glover said. Other networks like Fox, CBS, ABC, and NBC all have complied with NABJ requests for meetings, Glover said. Other organizations like the National Newspaper Publishers Association, the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow Push, and Color of Change have reached out to NABJ offering their support, Glover said. The recent headlines about the refusal by Zucker, who has declined comment, has made public what was meant to remain private, Glover said.
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“The majority of our meetings, no one hears about, but it is highly unusual that a news organization would place constraints upon how they will engage us,” she said. Color of Change, a national online force driven by more than 1.4 million members, joined NABJ’s call for a civil rights audit at CNN and more black representation among its news leadership. “When there’s more of us in the room fighting for our stories to be told, and raising awareness about the issues impacting our communities, we have an even better chance of creating change and ending the practices that unfairly hold us back,” Color of Change officials said in a statement. “We support NABJ as they call for a civil rights audit and put pressure on CNN President Jeff Zucker to make diversity and inclusion improvements at the network.” Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., with more than 120,000 members, has also joined the fight. In a statement, the organization said it “shares the concern of the National Association of Black Journalists about the lack of black representation within the ranks of CNN’s executive news managers and direct reports to CNN President Jeff Zucker. “As an organization specifically concerned with the issues affecting the African-American community, we lend our voices to those who would encourage constructive dialogue regarding creating an inclusive workplace at CNN,” Alpha Phi Alpha officials said. The Rev. Jackson tweeted that CNN has no African American executive producers, vice presidents on the news side, or senior vice presidents. “Don’t crush the darkness. Fight back with shifting eyes,” Jackson said. In a tweet, NNPA President and CEO Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr., wrote, “NNPA Supports the NABJ and NAACP.” Chavis used the hashtags, diversity and inclusion and end racism. NNPA’s Chairman and Chicago Crusader Publisher Dorothy Leavell, also spoke out. “The National Newspaper Publishers Association is in full support of equal and fair treatment of blacks in the media and stands solidly behind NABJ’s efforts to diversify CNN,” Leavell said. Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) added that, “the people of this country depend on our news organizations to deliver unbiased & fair reporting. That is impossible without equal representation.
I stand behind NABJ’s investigation into the lack of diversity within CNN’s leadership.” And, in its statement, the NAACP said, “CNN’s lack of black representation in leadership roles is troubling and another example of the media industry’s reluctance to address an issue that continues to plague newsrooms across the country.” Meanwhile, Glover said the NABJ will continue to focus on diversity and inclusion issues. “The meeting will be up to CNN now,” she said. “My focus is on improving diversity in the newsroom and seeing measurable improvement at CNN. That’s why CNN is on our special monitoring list and they will remain on there until there’s improvement.”
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About NABJ The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) is an organization of journalists, students and media-related professionals that provides quality programs and services to and advocates on behalf of black journalists worldwide. Founded by 44 men and women on December 12, 1975, in Washington, D.C., NABJ is the largest organization of journalists of color in the nation. Media Contact: Kanya Stewart Director of Communications Press@NABJ.org 301-204-4447 By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Correspondent
https://au.int/
APRIL 2019
MEDIA ADVISORY
St. John Parish Council Says No To March
The St John Parish Council Subs Marchers New Coalition Targets Genocidal Companies And Politicians in 5-Day March The St. John The Baptist Parish Council has denied a written request for the Coalition Against Death Alley (CADA) to march through the parish on a five-day march from Reserve, La to Baton Rouge, the state capitol. The denial came as a surprise to human and civil rights activists who seek to curb emissions from Dupont/ Denka that are killing the majority Black parish. “I understand the council supports the plant 100 percent. But I did not expect this denial” said Robert Taylor, the executive director of the Concerned Citizens of St. John the Baptist Parish. Loyola Law Professor Bill Quigley dispatched a demand letter to the Parish leaders asking them to cooperate with the marchers who have constitutional rights to march that Quigley says are protected by the Louisiana and U.S. Supreme Court. The letter will be presented to the media and Parish leaders Wednesday March 26. Community, environmental, civil rights, human rights and religious organizations have banded together to form CADA, Coalition Against Death Alley. On March 20th, 2019, these Louisiana leaders announced a process of non-violent protests to pressure industrial giants and governments to stop the ongoing poisoning of majority-black communities in Louisiana’s “Cancer Alley”, which amounts to ongoing silent genocide. Communities along the Mississippi River from New Orleans to Baton Rouge are experiencing high rates of death not just from cancer, but also respiratory and autoimmune diseases. That’s why leaders and residents in the affected communities decided to rename the region “Death Alley.” In St. James Parish, Welcome community leader Ms. Sharon Lavigne, president of “RISE St. James,”opposes the construction of a massive, $9.4+ billion Formosa plastics plant which, if built, would be one of the world’s largest, partially bulldozing existing wetlands. The St. James Fifth Ward Elementary School is located one mile away from the proposed site. St. James residents are already suffering serious health issues due to 32 existing petrochemical industries, most of them located in the majority-black wards of the parish. Five more petrochemical plants are proposed/being constructed in those areas, plus five pipelines slated to transport oil
APRIL 2019
and fracked gas into and out of St. James, the feedstock for plastics production. The small black unincorporated township of Welcome is facing stepped up poisoning, unless their organizing is successful. Their protests include a local church revival on Thursday, 3/21. In the 1990’s, Formosa was blocked by the EPA from building a giant plant on the Whitney Plantation after a small group of St. John the Baptist residents and the thengrowing environmental justice movement organized resistance, including a march from New Orleans to Baton Rouge. Robert Taylor, executive director of “Concerned Citizens of St. John Parish,” whose wife is suffering from cancer and whose daughter is battling an extremely rare debilitating autoimmune disease (with two of her former classmates also diagnosed with the disease) described how Chuck Carr Brown, head of the Louisiana Department for Environmental Quality accused Taylor of “fear-mongering.” “It’s the job of the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality to protect us citizens. Instead they are turning against us, attacking us and defending the industry.” The local DuPont/Denka facility has been emitting chloroprene, a known carcinogen and endocrine-disrupting chemical since the 1960s. The 5th ward elementary school is located 1500 feet from this facility, the only plant in the U.S. producing neoprene. Studies showed chloroprene in 100 percent of St. John The Baptist residents tested. The EPA’s guideline for chloroprene exposure (0.2 ug/m3) is regularly being violated by Denka, sometimes several hundred times over this limit, without any repercussions for the company. On top of that, the majority-black residents of St. John are forced to breathe another carcinogen, ethylene oxide, which is wasted by Evonik Materials in Reserve and by the Union Carbide plant in St. Charles Parish. As a result, nearby St. John residents are facing 800 times the risk of contracting cancer from toxic air pollution, or 15 times the EPA’s upper limit of acceptable risk. In Willowbrook, Illinois, an affluent majority-white suburb of Chicago, a company which was emitting ethylene oxide was shut down by Illinois Governor after residents protested. Our governor, John Bel Edwards, thus far has refused to meet with St. John Concerned Citizens or leaders of CADA.
Standing before the state’s longestserving environmental reporter for a press briefing on March 20th, Rev. Gregory Manning said, “We are marching with poisoned communities to secure the human right to breathe fresh air. Our governor and other state and federal officials must end the poisoning now!” Rev. Manning is co-moderator of Justice and Beyond, one of thirteen organizations sponsoring the “March Against Death Alley.” Other groups include the Louisiana Conference of Branches of the NAACP, the Sierra Club, the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, No Waste Louisiana, A Community Voice, 350 New Orleans, the Center for Biological Diversity, and other groups. The Coalition Against Death Alley will hold a mass meeting (church rally) 6-8:30 pm at Tchoupitoulas Chapel on Louisiana Route 44 (River Road) in Reserve Wednesday April 3, 2019. Speakers, musicians, singers, poets and businesspeople will blend their talents to launch a movement that stops the poisoning of Black communities like Reserve, one of the deadliest places to live in the United States. They will present visions of how to save the Earth from the existential threat of climate change. The next day, April 4th, the anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., marchers will walk down River Road switching from East to West banks of the Mississippi, to highlight poisonous companies. After marching, each evening the CADA coalition will host mass meetings (rallies). Marchers will sleep in the communities as they trek to Baton Rouge for the opening of the state Legislature. Governor Edwards takes credit for the construction and permanent jobs that the Formosa plant would bring to Welcome and has already promised Formosa a $1.5 billion tax exemption from local property taxes. But Ms. Lavigne counters, “We don’t want jobs that kill us.” Jobs are always a big argument in favor of petrochemical plant construction. The irony is that local residents are rarely hired; most jobs go to out-of-town or even outof-state residents. Sharon Lavigne told us: “We were rich before all these companies moved in. We had a beautiful, peaceful community and productive land. Now our homes flood in a heavy rain, they can’t be sold, we can’t grow anything in our
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gardens, we can’t drink the tap water. Our children are moving away from here to avoid getting sick. All stores are closed, even the post office. These companies have made us poor.” Governor Edwards, a main focus of our protest movement, has not responded to calls to meet with RISE St. James. Edwards’ industry hunters recruited Formosa. Gov. Edwards, who is campaigning in the state’s black communities for re-election, also has not taken action to prevent the escape of 1 billion gallons of acidic, radioactive phosphogypsum from moving off the Mosaic facility in St. James to nearby bayous, rivers, to Lake Maurepas and Lake Pontchartrain. The marchers demands are simple. (1) reduce emissions at the Dupont/Denka plant to allowable EPA limits or shut the plant down. (2) Government takeover of the Mosiac plant to prevent the impending disaster. (3) Stop permitting toxic facilities in St. James and St. John communities. They are already over burdened with chemical facilities. (3) Also conduct environmental impact statements on all proposed plants. Frustrated with Governor Edwards, the chemical facilities, and the national EPA led by President Trump, the marchers are dramatizing their plight, lifting up their voices and uniting with other affected communities by taking it to the streets. For More Information Contact: Rev. Gregory Manning 913-940-5713 Mrs. Sylvia McKenzie 504-967-6796 Robert Taylor 504-559-7304 Sharon Lavigne 225-206-0900 Pat Bryant 504-905-4137
“STRATEGY IS BETTER THAN STRENGTH” ~african proverb
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FINANCIAL
Prayers and Petitions Call for Payday Loan Rule Enactment Clergy Pray in Protest at Trump Doral While 130-Member Coalition Petitions CFPB By Charlene Crowell
Every year the payday lending industry convenes in an effort to further expand and preserve the combined $8 billion-dollars in fees generated each year by consumers caught in that and car-title loans. This year, 2019, also marks the second consecutive year, that the organization representing sellers of these debt-trap loans, the Community Financial Services Association of America (CFSA), has held its event at the Trump National Doral resort in Miami. Pardon me; but it appears that the payday lending industry is proud about its closeness to the White House. After all, once the Trump Administration began, its pledge to end consumer protections has been relentlessly and broadly pursued. From Mick Mulvaney, CFPB’s former Acting Director who was a beneficiary of the industry’s campaign donations as a Member of Congress, to Kathleen Kraninger, its new Director, who is determined to block a rule that was set to go into effect this August, the payday lending agency has multiple reasons to be pleased. But I suspect just as much resentment about these developments are felt by the broadbased coalition of concern that for more than 10 years has fought against these lenders. These are the people who contrast greedy glee with the distress of borrowers caught in loans that average $361 and come with interest rates as high as 600 percent or more. It’s enough to call a ‘Come to Jesus’ meeting. And on March 18, that is exactly what faith groups representing 118 million Americans did. As payday lenders registered for the first day of their conference, clergy and other activists came to proclaim the harms of predatory lending, and to pray for the souls of those who appear content with robbing the poor. “Payday and car-title loans are an abomination in plain sight,” said New Orleans’ Rev. Dr. Willie Gable, the National Baptist Convention USA, Inc.’s Housing and Economic Development Chair. “These lenders weave themselves into the fabric of our neighborhoods and purport to lend a helping hand. But they are wolves in sheep’s clothing.”
The faithful protesters also carried signs that quoted scripture such as Proverbs 22:22, “Do not rob the poor because they are poor”, and Jeremiah 22:3 that teaches, “Do justice and righteousness, and deliver the one who has been robbed from the power of the oppressor.” As Florida’s faith protest got underway, another form of outrage occurred in Washington. A group of 130 organizations representing 31 states and national organizations including Unidos, formerly the National Council of LaRaza; Military Family Association, Color of Change, and the National Fair Housing Alliance, wrote Director Kraninger about the payday rule as well. Noting that “Much more is at stake than industry revenue,” the coalition wrote, they also reminded Kraninger of CFPB’s own research that earlier found that 85 percent of payday loans are reborrowed, and further that 75 percent of all loan fees are due to borrowers being stuck in more than 10 loans a year. “The Bureau should not prioritize industry profits at the expense of the consumers it was created to protect,” states the letter. That same sentiment was shared by Rev. Dr. Russell Meyer, Executive Director of the Tampa-based Florida Council of Churches. “Because their greed knows no shame, we must insist regulation is compassionate,” said Rev. Meyer. Let the Church say, Amen! Charlene Crowell is the Center for Responsible Lending’s Communications Deputy Director. She can be reached at Charlene.crowell@responsiblelending.org.
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“Never be limited by other people’s limited imaginations.” -Dr. Mae Jemison, first African-American female astronaut
“Seeing this exploitative industry show up at the lavish resort of the current occupant of the White House and spending money they have collected from the millions struggling to break free from their traps is an obscenity,” declared Dallas’ Rev. Dr. Frederick D. Haynes, III, Senior Pastor of Friendship -West Baptist Church. “Instead of taking from the rich and giving to the poor, payday lenders take from the poor to become richer,” added Bishop Frank M. Reid, III, Presiding Prelate of the Third Episcopal District and Chair of the Social Action Commission and Ecumenical Officer of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in Columbus, OH Beyond these three pastors, other clergy and social activists joining them hailed from Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, North Carolina and Virginia. Together, their prayers and petitions called for the rule now suspended to take effect as planned. Further, they seek a 36 percent interest rate cap at the federal levels and in states that have no rate cap protection. Currently, 16 states and the District of Columbia have enacted state rate cap protections. Additionally, the Military Lending Act extends protections to active-duty military.
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“In recognizing the humanity of our fellow beings, we pay ourselves the highest tribute.” -Thurgood Marshall, first African American U.S. Supreme Court member
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The Black believes that America can best leadPress the world away from racial can best lead the world away from racial and national antagonism when it affords and national antagonism when it affords to all people – regardless of race, color to all people – regardless race,rights. color or creed – their human andof legal or creed – their human and legal rights. Hating no person and fearing no person, Hating no person fearing no person, the Black Press and strives to help every the Black Press strives to help person in the firm belief that all areevery hurt person firmisbelief as long in as the anyone held that back.all are hurt as long as anyone is held back.
APRIL 2019
HEALTH
Sweet Potato Breakfast Casserole and Stair Workout
Recipe of the Week
Sweet Potato Breakfast Casserole
Ingredients: • 1 (8 ounce) package vegetarian sausage links (such as Morningstar Farms®) • 1/2 cup water, or more as needed • 4 cups shredded sweet potatoes • 1/4 cup butter, melted • 1 1/2 (8 ounce) packages shredded, reduced-fat mild Cheddar-mozzarella cheese blend • 1/2 cup finely chopped onion • 1 cup finely sliced fresh spinach leaves • 1 (16 ounce) container low-fat small curd cottage cheese • 8 jumbo eggs Directions: 1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x13-inch baking dish. 2. Place sausage in a large skillet and pour in about 1/4 inch of water; cook sausage over medium heat until water evaporates and sausages are evenly browned, 10 to 15 minutes. Crumble cooked sausages into a bowl. 3. Mix sweet potatoes and butter together in a bowl; evenly spread into the bottom of the prepared 9x13-inch dish. 4. Stir Cheddar-mozzarella cheese blend, onion, spinach, cottage cheese, eggs, and crumbled sausage together in a large bowl; spoon over sweet potato layer. 5. Bake casserole in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and eggs are set, about 1 hour. Cool 5 minutes before serving.
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APRIL 2019
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NATIONAL NEWS Southern Poverty Law Center Fires Co-founder, and Faces Charges of Racism, Sexism, Opportunism
By RICHARD B. MUHAMMAD The firing of the co-founder of the Southern Poverty law Center came as a shock, but perhaps more shocking were suspected reasons for his firing. Morris Dees, who long served as the leader of the controversial group, told news organizations he had no idea why he was fired. Media outlets reported on concerns SPLC faced internal strife connected to a hostile work environment, concerns that the group used racial fears to feed its juggernaut of a financial operation and charges of internal racism and sexism. From Montgomery, Ala., Richard Cohen, SPLC president, didn’t offer a reason for the change March 14, but promised his group was undergoing “a comprehensive assessment of our internal climate and workplace practices” to make sure “all voices are heard and all staff members are respected.” “When one of our own fails to meet those standards, no matter his or her role in the organization, we take it seriously and must take appropriate action,” said Mr. Cohen, who declined in media interviews to get into the details of what forced the change. He also praised Mr. Dees for years of civil rights work. An attorney, Mr. Dees led a successful campaign in 1987 that won $7 million in damages against the United Klans of America for the family of a 19-year-old Black man, Michael Donald. His body was found hanging from a tree in Mobile, Ala. “I am glad to see Dees leave S.P.L.C., whatever the reason,” William A. Jacobson, a professor at Cornell Law School and SPLC critic told The New York Times. “S.P.L.C. long ago focused on combating the Ku Klux Klan, but then abused the reputation it earned for those efforts by demonizing political opponents through
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the use of hate and extremist lists to stifle speech by people who presented no risk of violence.” While many saw the group, which includes civil rights leader and politician Julian Bond as a co-founder, as an opponent of the KKK and similar groups in previous years, its annual designations of certain organizations as hate groups has drawn concern. One major concern came as SPLC named the Nation of Islam, which does not espouse race hatred or violence, was added to that list. Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan condemned the designation and has called for SPLC and Mr. Dees to prove their spurious charges. Nation of Islam Student Minister William Muhammad, flanked by community leaders in Milwaukee, recently blasted SPLC for the hate designation, which was reported on by media outlets in his city. The allegations of hatred among registered members of the Nation of Islam in Wisconsin were “defamatory and unjustified,” he said. And, William Muhammad added, airing so-called SPLC findings presented the mosque, Believers, family, children and guests as the face of hatred. We do not take the escalation of this slander lightly. In an environment of heightened racism, violence and Islamophobia, to target our mosque is a grave injustice and is an injustice to the community we serve,” stated Student Minister Muhammad, reading from a statement prepared by Minister Farrakhan. “This label on the Nation [of Islam] has no merit in law or in fact. Labeling us with groups such as the KKK, Neo-Nazis and other White supremacists, who have a record of hate and violence in the city of Milwaukee [is unfounded],” he said. Mr. Dees told national media outlets he didn’t know what motivated the change and pointed out the Cohen statement did not accuse him of any wrongdoing.
This is not the first time the center has had to face public questions about its internal operations. “In 1994, The Montgomery Advertiser published an eight-part series on the S.P.L.C. that included allegations of discriminatory treatment of black employees. The report included accounts from staff members accusing Mr. Dees of being a racist, and suggested that black employees felt threatened. The center and Mr. Dees denied the accusations,” said the New York Times. According to the Non Profit Times, the 82-year-old Dees was less active with the SPLC in recent years and in “the only public statement from the organization, it was implied that the termination had to do with workplace conduct. … According to the L.A. Times, ‘A letter signed by about two dozen employees—and sent to management and the board of directors before news broke of Dees’ firing— said they were concerned that internal allegations of mistreatment, sexual harassment, gender discrimination, and racism threaten’ ” to jeopardize SPLC. “The SPLC’s most recent federal Form 990, for 2017 and filed in October 2018, showed that Dees earned more than Cohen. Listed as the ‘chief trial counsel,’ the Form 990 shows he was paid $375,181 with other compensation of $41,767. Cohen was paid $364,799 with other compensation of $42,742. The organization, known in nonprofit circles as a fundraising powerhouse, had total revenue of $121,975,162 on contributions of $111,176,287. The Form 990 also showed investments totaling $471,046,609,” the Non Profit Times reported March 15. The Los Angeles Times, in a March 14 article, said, SPLC, “whose leadership is predominantly white, has been wrestling with complaints of workplace mistreatment of women and people of color. It was not immediately clear whether those issues were connected to the firing of Dees, who is 82.” And, the Times continued “employees sent correspondence to management demanding reforms, expressing concerns about the resignation last week (earlier in March) of a highly respected black attorney at the organization and criticizing the organization’s work culture.” “The center has faced complaints in the past that it does not employ enough black staffers. In an internal email to the organization’s legal department announcing her departure … a black attorney suggested the center needed to create a more inclusive work environment. ‘As a woman of color, the experiences of staff of color and female staff have been particularly important to me ... and we recognize that there is more work to do in the legal department and across the organization to ensure that SPLC is a place where everyone is heard and respected and where the values we are committed to pursuing externally are also being practiced internally,’ ” she wrote in an email, the Los Angeles Times said. “In recent years, according to the center’s internal email to staff, Dees’ role has been focused on ‘donor relations’—expanding the Southern Poverty Law Center’s financial resources, which nearly totaled half a billion dollars in assets in 2017, according to the group’s most recently available public financial disclosures,” the Los Angeles Times said. The letter was forwarded to other staff and SPLC said the
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issues would be addressed and include “additional training for management for “racial equity, inclusion and results,” according to the Los Angeles Times “Stephen Bright, a Yale law professor and former director of the Southern Center for Human Rights in Atlanta, has long questioned what he calls the center’s ‘fraudulent’ fundraising. ‘The chickens have had a very long trip, but they finally came home to roost,’ Bright said. ‘Morris is a flimflam man and he’s managed to flimflam his way along for many years raising money by telling people about the Ku Klux Klan and hate groups,’ he said. ‘He sort of goes to whatever will sell and has, of course, brought in millions and millions and millions of dollars,’ ” the Los Angeles Times article continued. “While the SPLC funded some good work, Bright said, he had long heard complaints about race discrimination and sexual harassment from the center’s former attorneys and interns. ‘It’s remarkable,’ he said, ‘how many people who have worked at the center have not spoken very well of the center after they left.’ ” TheFinalCall.Com/National News
“Hate is too great a burden to bear. It injures the hater more than it injures the hated.” -Coretta Scott King
“Have a vision. Be demanding.” -Colin Powell
APRIL 2019
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APRIL 2019
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special supplement
St. Louis city and St. Louis County Boycott For Economic and Social Justice
The St. Louis County and St. Louis City Boycott consist of grassroots organizations dedicated to exposing the injustice and unfair treatment of African Americans. Missouri is ground zero for the modern day civil rights movement.
Remember, Missouri was a slave state.
Arab Businesses
*Study the history of slavery and SLU
St. Louis Galleria in Richmond Heights
“We have tried everything else, now it’s time for an economic boycott,” organizer Rev. Dinah Tatman said in a statement. “Since we are a nation where all men are upposed to be created equal, it’s time to redistribute the pain.”
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President, veteran human rights activist and leader of the Universal People Organization “We support the boycott.” -Zaki Baruti
We ask conscious people to support the boycott! www.africanamericanvoice.net
APRIL 2019
special supplement Lewis Reed
Steve Stenger
lost the confidence of the majority of voters. THE MAJORITY OF THE VOTERS DEMAND
Lewis Reed to:
• Oppose privatization of Lambert Airport
Election results: Reed 36% Majority 64%
Both opponents won the majority of the vote.
• Oppose the St. Louis City and St. Louis County merger • Support the recall of Mayor Lyda Krewson
The Majority of City of St. Louis voters oppose the City-County merger
would have the power of a dictator for six years. Former St. Louis Comptroller Virvus Jones said, “People in the City of St. Louis will have a mayor name Steve Stenger who we did not vote for.” Former St. Louis Mayor Freeman Bosley said, “Lyda Krewson wants to dissolve the City of St. Louis and not involve the City of St. Louis.” Bosley also called Krewson’s support of the merger a betrayal to voters. Don’t sign the petition and vote no if it’s on the ballot.
VOTE NO TO ST. LOUIS CITY-COUNTY MERGER FOR THE FOLLOWING REASONS: 1. TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION: Taxes will increase for current St. Louis City residents. 2. STRIPED OF POLITICAL POWER: African Americans Aldermen positions will be eliminated negatively impacting Black representation. 3. VOTING RIGHTS: Citizens will lose political power by not having a right to vote for 6 years (UNTIL 2025). 4. UNFAIR INCREASE IN TAXES: Taxes will increase for current St. Louis City residents.
SUPPORT THE RECALL OF
ST. LOUIS MAYOR LYDA KREWSON Remove Mayor Krewson because she supports the merger! APRIL 2019
www.africanamericanvoice.net
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special supplement
THE BLACK POWER BLUEPRINT IS A BLACK-LED SELF-DETERMINATION PROJECT IN ST. LOUIS, MO ORGANIZED BY BLACK STAR INDUSTRIES AND THE AFRICAN PEOPLE’S EDUCATION AND DEFENSE FUND.
Phase I: Uhuru House
African Community Center Renovation (COMPLETE!) Supporters around the country gave generously to reach the $25,000 crowdfunding goal for Phase I, needed to renovate the three-story St. Louis Uhuru House, a black community center, event space, rental hall and economic development hub. These contributions helped install the plumbing, heating, HVAC, finish the electrical, the interior and other construction. This vibrant community center in the heart of the black community of St. Louis is now open!
Phase II: Creating an outdoor event space (IN PROGRESS)
On the property across right across the street, we are building the One Africa! One Nation! Marketplace and a community garden. YOU can make a concrete difference TODAY by donating towards the $20,000 needed to help fund Phase Two. Telephone: (314) 380-8016 Email: info@apedf.org Web: http://blackpowerblueprint.org
Phase III: Uhuru Jiko Commercial Kitchen and Uhuru Bakery Café (COMING SOON) On Goodfellow Boulevard, in a once thriving neighborhood, we are building the Uhuru Jiko Community Commercial Kitchen, a bakery and café, and the training center for the African Independence Workforce Program.
Facebook : Black Power Blueprint Twitter: @BlkPwrBlueprint
Our Mission Our stated Mission is as follows: The Institute of the Black
World 21st Century is committed to enhancing the capacity of Black communities in the U.S. and globally to achieve cultural, social, economic and political equality and an enhanced quality of life for all marginalized people.
Write Us
Institute of the Black World 21st Century 31-35 95th Street East Elmhurst, New York 11369 or Institute of the Black World 21st Century 235 Holliday Street Baltimore, Maryland 21202
Call Us (718) 429-1415 Toll Free, (888) 774-2921
Email Us
General information: info@ibw21.org Contact editors: editors@ibw21.org
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www.africanamericanvoice.net
APRIL 2019
Beyond the rhetoric
By Mr. Alford & Ms. DeBow The NBCC is dedicated to economically empowering and sustaining African American communities through entrepreneurship and capitalistic activity within the United States and the Black Diaspora. NBCC provides resources to support the development of startups and established minority & women-owned businesses. The NBCC was incorporated in Washington, DC in March 1993. The NBCC is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, nonsectarian organization dedicated to the economic empowerment of African American communities. 120 affiliated chapters are locally based throughout the nation as well as international affiliate chapters based in Bahamas, Brazil, Colombia, Ghana, Kenya, France, Botswana, Cameroon and Jamaica and businesses as well as individuals who may have chosen to be direct members with the national office. The NBCC is a 501(c)3 corporation that is on the leading edge of educating and training Black communities on the need to participate vigorously in this great capitalistic society known as America. The National Black Chamber of Commerce’s (NBCC) 27th Annual Conference is being held in Atlanta, Georgia July 24-27, 2019. Our theme is Economic Empowerment Through Entrepreneurial Pursuits. Our Atlanta affiliate, Georgia Greater Black Chamber of Commerce, will connect us with a portion of the Black businesses throughout Georgia. Among states, Georgia had the largest total number with 256,848 black-owned businesses and accounted for 9.9 percent of the nation’s black-owned businesses, according to
Black Demographics. Black businesses comprise 26% of Georgia businesses which is the second largest percentage in the nation. In 2018 Georgia ranked number one in the U.S. for small business climate and number two for most startups by women. Black Demographics also states Black-owned businesses in the United States increased by 34.5% between 2007
of Savannah, we feed the world with Georgia Grown products, lead the nation in aerospace, cyber innovation, and FinTech, and we proudly embrace our “Hollywood of the South” designation. We are expecting entrepreneurs, business professionals, corporate and government representatives to attend this amazing conference. Our Diaspora panels attract attendees from France, Ghana, Colombia,
and 2012 totaling 2.6 million Black firms. About 4 in 10 black-ownedbusinesses (1.1 Million) in 2012 operated in the health care, social assistance; and other services such as repair, maintenance, personal and laundry services sectors.Black businesses account for over $138 billion in revenue each year according to the US Bureau of Census. Governor Brian P. Kemp and First Lady Marty Kemp attest, “With low taxes, a business-friendly government, beautiful natural resources, Atlanta’s HartsfieldJackson International Airport, and the Port
Nigeria and Kenya.The panel topics are varied and include some of the most urgent topics of today including Telemedicine, Cyber Security and Privacy. Capital Access, Energy, Telecom, Tech, Inclusion & Diversity, Diaspora Trade, Ports & Trade are also of paramount interest to today’s entrepreneur. We also will spend a day exploring the business of film, music and fashion with Master Class instruction. If your community does not have a Black Chamber of Commerce, then someone in your community needs to step forward. If you are interested in starting your own
chamber, join us and learn from business leaders the do’s and don’ts and best practices of chamber building. Our four-day conference offers an opening reception, 2 days of entrepreneurial resources through paneled discussions, and high-level networking with successful entrepreneurs and business leaders complemented by intimate breakout sessions. On the last day of the conference, we venture into the community for breakfast and recap. Participants will engage in informative dialogues with national and international leaders. Last year’s speakers included Senator Tim Scott, NNPA’s Dr. Benjamin Chavis & Chairman Dorothy Leavell and Pastor Jamal Bryant to name a few. This year’s conference hotel is the Atlanta Airport Marriott Gateway (http://bit. ly/2UnsdSk) from July 24th – 27th, 2019. (Rooms are $159 for a king and $169 for a double. Reservations may also be made by calling 800-228-9290.) We are holding a small group of rooms at this discounted price. We are certain this year’s NBCC conference will be of interest to you. Please contact kdebow@nationalbcc.org if you would like to support our conference; sponsorships start at $500 and up. We look forward to networking with you, register for this event here. Mr. Alford is the Co-Founder, President/CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce ®. Ms. DeBow is the Co-Founder, Executive Vice President of the NBCC. Website: www.nationalbcc.org Emails: halford@ nationalbcc.org kdebow@nationalbcc.org
Mission Statement The National Black Chamber of Commerce® is dedicated to economically empowering and sustaining African American communities through entrepreneurship and capitalistic activity within the United States and via interaction with the Black Diaspora.
Organization Profile The National Black Chamber of Commerce® was incorporated in Washington, DC in March 1993. The NBCC is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, nonsectarian organization dedicated to the economic empowerment of African American communities. 140 affiliated chapters are locally based throughout the nation as well as international affiliate chapters based in Bahamas, Brazil, Colombia, Ghana, Kenya, France, Botswana, Cameroon and Jamaica and businesses as well as individuals who may have chosen to be direct members with the national office. In essence, the NBCC is a 501(c)3 corporation that is on the leading edge of educating and training Black communities on the need to participate vigorously in this great capitalistic society known as America. The NBCC reaches 100,000 Black owned businesses. There are 2.6 million Black owned businesses in the United States. Black businesses account for over $138 billion in revenue each year according to the US Bureau of Census. The National Black Chamber of Commerce® is dedicated to economically empowering and sustaining African American communities through entrepreneurship and capitalistic activity within the United States.
APRIL 2019
4400 Jenifer St. NW Suite 331, Washington, DC 20015 Phone: 202-466-6888 | fax: 202-466-4918 Info@nationalbcc.org | www.nationalbcc.org
“you must act as if it is impossible to fail ” ~african proverb
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Continued from COVER STORY, page 1
“These photographs make it clear that Harvard benefited from slavery then and continues to benefit now. By my calculation, Renty is 169 years a slave. When will Harvard finally set him free?” said national civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, co-lead counsel for Ms. Lanier. “Without slavery, this photo would not exist, nor would the racist theories that led to its creation We cannot erase the wrongs of the past or the legacies of slavery within higher education, but we can forge a new path of respect, dignity and equality moving forward. Returning the images would be a first step in the right direction.” In 1847, Harvard had recruited Agassiz, whose work as a zoologist had focused on grouping living things together based on observable characteristics and placing them in hierarchical order, to head the University’s Lawrence School of Science. With the prestige and support of Harvard, Agassiz soon became a zealous advocate for polygenism. The famed Harvard professor’s assertion of black inferiority came at an opportune time for slave owners and northern profiteers from the cotton trade and aided their fight against abolitionists. The Fugitive Slave Act, widely seen as a barometer for the relative strength of the pro-slavery and abolitionist camps, was being hotly debated in Congress. For those seeking to prove that African-Americans were inferior, Agassiz’s work, backed by Harvard’s prestige, was an invaluable gift. Based upon the oral history passed on to Tamara Lanier, Renty was born in Africa. After being kidnapped by slave merchants, he was enslaved on the B.F. Taylor plantation in South Carolina. Renty was small in stature but towering in the minds of those who knew him. Though prohibited by South Carolina law, Renty taught himself and other enslaved people to read and also conducted secret Bible
National News readings and Bible study on the plantation. In the winter of 1850, on Agassiz’s orders, Papa Renty was led into a plush photograph studio in Columbia, South Carolina. He was ordered to fully disrobe, and Delia was stripped naked to the waist. Renty and Delia were photographed in various poses, half and full figures taken from the front, side and back views. The completed daguerreotypes received just the enthusiastic reception that had Agassiz hoped. The next month, Agassiz published the results of his research in an article entitled The Diversity of Origin of the Human Races, noting that he had recently studied “closely many native Africans belonging to different tribes, and [have] learned readily to distinguish their nations ... and determine their origin from their physical features.” He went on to describe, with the detached voice of an empiricist, the essential characteristics of Africans as “submissive, obsequious, [and] imitative,” possessing “a peculiar indifference to the advantages afforded by civilized society.” For decades, the images were then forgotten. In 1976, an employee of Harvard’s Peabody Museum, the late Ellie Reichlin, discovered them in a corner cabinet of the museum’s attic. Despite Ms. Reichlin’s expressed concern for the families of the men and women depicted, Harvard University chose to make no effort to locate the subjects’ descendants. In displaying and licensing the images, Harvard has avoided the fact that the daguerreotypes were part of a study, overseen by a Harvard professor, to demonstrate racial inferiority of blacks. To this day, Harvard insists that anyone seeking to view the photographs sign a contract, and anyone wishing to reproduce the images, even for educational purposes, pay a hefty fee to the University. In other words, Harvard – the wealthiest university in the world – has seen fit to further enrich itself from images that only exist because a
Harvard professor forced enslaved men and women to participate in their creation without consent, dignity or compensation. In 2011, Tamara Lanier, then the chief probation officer in Norwich, CT, wrote a letter to Dr. Drew Faust, the President of Harvard University from 2007-2018. Faust, a Civil War historian, was the first president of Harvard to have been raised in the South. Lanier detailed her ancestry and expressed her belief that she was a direct, linear descendant of Renty and Delia. Dr. Faust’s evasive response made no mention of Lanier’s heritage and offered no opportunity to discuss returning the pictures to the Lanier family. Over the next several years, Lanier continued to gather documentation of her heritage and consult with genealogical experts who validated her ancestry. She also made additional unsuccessful attempts to engage Harvard University in a conversation about the images. In 2016, Lanier reached out to the Harvard Crimson, the University’s student newspaper, to suggest a news story about the daguerreotypes. The paper responded positively, and Lanier traveled to Cambridge for an interview. Sometime later, Ms. Lanier received an email from an editor at the Crimson informing her that the story had been killed due to “concerns the Peabody Museum has raised.” Harvard continues to use the Renty images as a source of income. For example, in 2017, Harvard used Renty’s image to sell its 13th anniversary edition of “From Site to Sight: Anthropology, Photography and the Power of Imagery.” Renty’s image is the cover of the book, which sells for $40.00. The same year, Harvard hosted a national academic conference called “Universities and Slavery: Bound by History.” The program for the conference referred to Renty as “anonymous,” even though Ms. Lanier, who was in attendance, had repeatedly told the renowned university
that the man was her great- great-great grandfather. Even though Agassiz helped lay the groundwork for over 100 years of statesanctioned segregation, discrimination and violence against African-Americans, Harvard continues to defend him as a great scientist of his time, according to the lawsuit, and continues to profit from the images while refusing to acknowledge the legitimacy of Ms. Lanier’s familial relationship. Tamara Lanier is represented by Benjamin Crump, Talley Kaleko and Scott Carruthers of Ben Crump Law, Michael Koskoff, Joshua Koskoff, Preston Tisdale and Katie Mesner-Hage of Koskoff Koskoff & Bieder, and Elizabeth Mulvey of Crowe & Mulvey. The lawsuit was filed in Middlesex County Superior Court. Sign the petition https://www.change. org/p/family-to-harvard-freerenty
ABOUT BEN CRUMP LAW Through his work, nationally renowned civil rights attorney Ben Crump has spearheaded a legal movement to better protect the rights of marginalized citizens. He has led landscape-changing civil rights cases and represented clients in a wide range of areas including civil rights, personal injury, labor and employment, class actions, and more. Ben Crump Law is dedicated to holding the powerful accountable. For more information, visit www.bencrump.com.
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APRIL 2019
Week in Malveaux
LET’S CALL THE WHITE TERRORISTS OUT
WE MUST CONTINUE TO FIGHT FOR SOCIALISM FROM BELOW
By Haley Pessin
By Julianne Malveaux An Australian white nationalist man who says he hates immigrants acted out his hate by murdering at least 49 people and seriously injuring dozens more. He directed his ire at two mosques in the New Zealand city of Christchurch, after posting a hate-filled manifesto that was replete with anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim ranting. It is important to know that it was a WHITE man, not a person of color, who perpetrated the most deadly mass shooting in New Zealand. It is essential to call out the WHITE terrorists that too many are too timid to call out by name. They are called nationalist, but when they go on gun-toting rampages, especially in places of worship, this is not nationalism; it is terrorism, plain and simple. Why are so many so willing to put adjectives around heinous acts, and to describe these terrorists as mentally ill. Why are so many willing to soft-pedal the abhorrence of these acts? To his credit, the 45th President did acknowledge the “horrible massacre” in New Zealand, which is much better than he did when Heather Heyer was murdered in Charlottesville, and 45 said that there were “good people on both sides” of that insanity. The Charlottesville murder of Ms. Heyer is relevant because the man who slaughtered 49 people in New Zealand embraced our President as a symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose.” Had 45 a speck of sense, he might have addressed his inclusion in the shooter’s manifesto and condemned it. But how could 45 actually condemn the actions of a white nationalist when, heretofore, he has embraced them, riled them up, supported them, and even used the word “nationalist” himself when it has suited him. The New Zealand terrorist also referenced Dylan Roof in his manifesto. Roof, of course, was the man who has been convicted for his attack at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. The way that law enforcement chose to coddle Dylan Roof, and the way the media sought to “explain him” is a textbook case in how white privilege works, even for terrorists. Upon his arrest, Roof was taken to get a fast-food meal. Perhaps his blood sugar was low, and someone hoped to attribute his terrorism to the fact that he may have forgotten to eat! In any case when have you know an African American perpetrator of ANYTHING to be fed BEFORE he gets to jail? There is, of course, a professional
courtesy that “law enforcement” officials treat WHITE terrorists, while the FBI stirs up anti-Black sentiment with their bulletins about “Black Identity Extremists.” The word TERRORIST has rarely been applied to Dylan Roof (instead, he is described as a murderer and white supremacist) but his massacre of nine Black people in church was nothing less than terrorism. But if we call Roof a terrorist, we must also look at the police who coddled him as terroristenablers. We have to look at the media who rushed to explain his background as terrorist-explainers. We have to ask WHITE people why such terrorism is acceptable. Let’s consider the massacre at the Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburgh last year. The assailant, Robert D. Bowers killed 11 people and wounding several others, including four police officers. For all the talk of the anti-Semitism that supposedly comes from Muslims, African Americans and others, it was a WHITE terrorist who killed all those people at the Tree of Life Congregation. But for all the talk we hear about terrorists, we rarely experience people calling terrorists just what they are! A white man kills 49 at two mosques. A white man kills 11 at a synagogue. But the people who are being accused of hate are Black and Brown. What if Black, Brown (Muslim, Palestinian, Latino) and Jewish people decided to fight the white supremacy that permeates our nation? Then, do you think, we could all get along? We may not all agree, but we must call out the WHITE TERRORISM that leaves too many dead or maimed. We must say “enough” to a President who fans the flames of white nationalism, thus white terrorism, for sport and to inflame his base. When will he stop? When will it end? And, equally importantly, when will some folks call white nationalism for the terrorism that it is?
Julianne Malveaux is an author and economist. Her latest book “Are We Better Off? Race, Obama and Public Policy”
is available via www.amazon.com for booking, wholesale inquiries or for more info visit www.juliannemalveaux.com
“one who causes others misfortune also teaches them wisdom”
IMMEDIATELY BEFORE the crisis currently rocking the International Socialist Organization, our members fought hard to change it. We fought to transform our group into one that would be run by its own members, open to multiple perspectives (without any illusions that only the “leadership” had the right answers), and fit to bring the politics of socialism from below into and alongside a growing, radicalizing left — and we won. In the aftermath of this crisis, I was furious that our victory was being cut short by the retroactive impact of leaders whose actions proved more damaging than we could have imagined. It seems like we are at the beginning of one of the moments revolutionaries prepare their whole lives for — a rebirth of a socialist left, complete with the return of class struggle and movements for social justice. And yet, the discovery that the leaders of an avowedly anti-sexist organization intervened such that a member accused of rape was allowed to rise to our highest leadership body has been so destructive that it is hard to figure out how we can participate and move forward. Reflections on our crisis But I keep coming back to something my dad (who is also an ISO member) raised in response to the crisis: What if our organization had imploded due to these revelations not now, at the very beginning of a rebirth of the socialist left, but once we were much further along in the development of this new left? It is no accident that this crisis happened after a change in leadership — not because we were wrong to fight to democratize the ISO, but because that was the only context in which there was a realistic sense that any exposure of wrongs by the past leadership would get a hearing. Of course, whatever was rotten in the ISO is not reducible to its leadership, past or present — there are bigger, explicitly political and organizational questions that this throws up not just for us, but for the whole left. But I also don’t believe these revelations invalidate the need for revolutionary organization or the project of fighting for socialism from below. My work in the ISO is still the thing I am most proud of. My most fulfilling experiences as an activist have come at the height of struggles in which the ideas of thousands of ordinary people suddenly matched or exceeded the sense of possibility that, most of the time, was only held by a tiny section of us on thelLeft who insisted that another world is possible. It’s why this beautiful Howard Zinn quote still resonates so much with me: “To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human
history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.” NONE OF this is invalidated by an organizational structure, leadership or practice that was never worthy of our members or our politics, even if we are right to raise big questions about what needs to change and how we can open ourselves up to the traditions, ideas and (most of all) people who we were previously trained to write off because they “didn’t have our politics.” I understand that grappling with this, for many of us, means we will need to proceed at a much slower pace or even take a step back from activity for now. But I still believe there is a need for an organization that both unites and captures the collective strength, knowledge, experience and dedication of militants, organizers and activists who agree on the fundamental need to win a society run by those who make it run, in the interests of the majority, and not for profit. And while its true, and an excellent thing, that we aren’t (and never were!) the thing ensuring that a revolutionary party representing the interests of the working class will develop in the U.S., and while it’s true that we are just at the beginning of this rebirth of the left, the stakes remain high — for defeating the right, for protecting the future of the planet, for rebuilding the labor movement and the infrastructure for sustaining struggles against all forms of oppression. The need for revolutionary organization remains because there is still a need to unite the militants who have (unevenly) drawn these conclusions, and because there are no guarantees that we will win. Even if, as others have said, the ISO can no longer be the vehicle for connecting people who share these convictions, or who are coming to these conclusions and eager to figure out where to plug in and fight, I don’t think we should dissolve without a strategy for maintaining our connections to each other. I’m committed to figuring out what that looks like with whoever is ready and willing to do so. And, thankfully, I know I’m not alone. Haley Pessin argues that the failures of the ISO should be understood and used in order to improve the revolutionary socialist project, not abandon it. Sociallistworker.com
~african proverb
APRIL 2019
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