STUDIES BY GRADUATE STUDENT BRANDON STOKES

360 Nation: Bridging the Gap Between the Black Community and Africana Studies

by

Brandon Stokes Doctoral Candidate Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies Indiana University Bloomington

The foundation of Africana Studies comes out of a community struggle. In the founding of the first program at San Francisco State University, Nathan Hare declared that Black Studies was for the Black community and the theories and paradigms used needed to come up with solutions for the ailments of the Black community (Hare, 1969). Scholar John Blassingame countered Hare by arguing that Africana Studies must forge deeper ties within the Academy (Blassingame, 1969). Debates within Africana Studies continued with one side arguing for direct links to community organizations. The other side argued for a stronger bond to the academy with a more tangential relationship to the community. Africana Studies has grown within the academy, but the direct links to the community have not strengthened over the years. The lack of substantial community engagement across the discipline is seen as detrimental by the foremost academics in the field. Maulana Karenga and Molefi Kete Asante lament how Africana Studies is no longer communityfocused (Karenga & Asante 2005). However, there are still places where Africana Studies has links to the Black community. One example is in a small community organization in Chicago, the spirit of the community and Africana Studies connection is alive and well. 360 Nation is a community-based nonprofit agency that has taken the lead on filling community voids through the acquisition and transformation of vacant/unutilized space. 360 Nation is an intergenerational community organization based in the Garfield Park community on the west side of Chicago. 360 Nation utilizes relationship building and social capital to promote self-determination for Black children and their families. Through enriched youth/adult partnership, we promote empathy, critical thought, and the obtainment of a creative technical skillset. These valuable attributes will equip children and their families with the temperament, insight, and selfefficacy to become care agents and transform their communities. According to the Chicago Tribune, the West Garfield Park neighborhood has a median income of $26,000, with most residents living below the poverty line and a crime index of one of the worst in the city (Chicago Tribune, 2016). Poverty and lack of opportunity make residents vulnerable to violence and lower their quality of life. Furthermore, families with lower income and lower educational attainment are less likely to see the connection between the learning objectives in the classroom and their daily lives and how they apply what they have learned.

In building an academic and intellectual foundation from Africana Studies, 360 Nation sets its foundation on four principles: creativity, resilience, reflection, and hope. Creativity represents the act of creating brings us closer to the source of what it means to be fully human. It catalyzes radical and community-driven change. Thus, the act of creating is not only truly human but also a political act as well. The concept of resilience offers that without determination and perseverance, liberation is not possible. Under the assumption that Black American culture derives from and cultivates out of struggle, this trait is innate and essential for the Black community. Reflection represents progress; it is imperative to learn from the past. This individual/ collective practice allows us to integrate traditional and new philosophies and practices that contribute to the transformation of Black communities. Finally, hope represents the work to provide initiatives that inspire and cultivate dreams for our members and the broader community. These four principles come from under the intellectual foundation set forth by the four prophets of 360 Nation: Harriet Tubman, Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X and Ella Baker. Tubman represents the spirit of freedom and sacrifice. Garvey represents the spirit of pride, beauty, and ingenuity of Black culture. Malcolm X represents the spirit of freedom through self-determination. Ella Baker represents the spirit of relationship building, hard work, and humility, which is the foundation of relationship building and strong communities. The power of relationships is essential to 360 connecting the spirit of Africana Studies to the community through the key understandings of relationships. The relationship Black people have with each other and how positive relationship within the community creates a stronger Black community allowing for the healthy growth of Black children. The relationship to the land and working with others to develop a deeper connection to the world and the universe will allow the Black community to act constructively with the environment. The relationship to the marketplace and understanding of the Black community's relationship to money and capitalism. Finally, relationship to history and learning from the past to better understand the present and future for the Black community. These principles and analysis of 360 Nation function similarly to the Kawaida Theory developed by Africana Studies professor Maulana Karenga. The Kawaida Theory surmises that Black people in America lost their social and cultural African heritage through European oppression as the source of Black cultural disconnect. Black people must reconnect to those principles, and 360 Nation seeks to do that through its principles and relationships. Through a relationship with the University of Illinois-Chicago and Black historian Elizabeth Todd Breland, 360 Nation teaches the youth of the community to archive pieces from their community and instill in them the idea of being the voices for their history and formulating ideas based on their worldview. The archival work corresponds with one of the major goals of Africana Studies in transforming Black people from object to subject, which repositions the power back to Black people to define themselves and their humanity. 360 Nation, through its community archival works, seeks to achieve that goal. Additionally, it has transformed one vacant/hazardous lot into a community garden. Building upon the concept of Black people's relationship to the land. A group of neighbors joining together to organize, build, and manage a community garden creates a wave of positive and beneficial effects on the rest of their community. 360 Nation returns the Black community to the agricultural roots that traveled from West Africa across the Atlantic Ocean and continued during arrival in the United States and northward as part of the Great Migration. 360 Nation serves as proof of the work that Africana Studies can provide to the community through exercises and projects that provide intellectual stimulation but provide the foundation for community improvement through the scholar/activist model for which Africana Studies came into existence. The missing element from 360 Nation and organizations like them remains the broad support of Africana Studies departments and programs to engage directly with the community

outside the academy's walls. When the relationship between Africana Studies and the Black community becomes a source of strength, both institutions grow and thrive and provide a unified force to dismantle the unequal power systems affecting Black people in the United States and abroad.