 Dr. Martin Luther King, Kwame Ture (Stokely Carmichael) and Mukassa (Willie) Ricks, trying to have a light moment together during the June, 1966, March against Fear |  Calvin Broadus aka Snoop Dogg walking with African women chained up in 2016 |
While many people are lamenting the comments of rapper/actor (I guess you can call what he does acting) Calvin Broadus aka Snoop Dogg regarding the revised "Roots" mini-series, let us remind those of you engaged around this to remember that Hollywood will never properly tell our story. They didn't do it in the original "Roots" from 1977. They didn't do it in the "Malcolm X, Selma, Ali" or "12 Years a Slave" movies, and they won't do it with this movie. Why? Because Hollywood's objective is making money, not educating about truth. You will have to do your own work to find truth. That's why I can't understand why so many of you still waste your time tripping over what someone like Calvin has to say about our people's history? If I want direction on how to record a song for the record industry, I'll listen to Calvin. And, I wouldn't expect him to come to me about advice regarding the entertainment industry so why would I be interested in listening to what he says about our people's struggle? To my knowledge he has no experience engaging in organizational work to free our people so why would people think his opinion matters about anything? Just because he is a star in the capitalist world you defer to him on issues about our future as a people? Very strange indeed.
Instead, I'd recommend you go to the source of our history. This month commemorates the 50 year anniversary of that March against Fear from Memphis, Tennessee to Jackson, Mississippi. That march is significant because it was started by James Meredith, the first African admitted to the University of Mississippi. He was shot by a European the second day of the march and the civil rights movement organizations vowed to continue the march from the spot Meredith was shot. So, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the Congress of Racial Equality, led by Flody McKissick, and the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), led by newly elected chairperson Stokely Carmichael (later of course to become Kwame Ture), came together to continue the march. SNCC had a strategy. Having grown weary of the European dominance of the African movement, SNCC had long preached for European/White organizers to leave the organization of Africans to Africans and to go to the European communities and organize White people against capitalism and white supremacy. Consequently, to force this contradiction and to infuse more militancy into the movement, SNCC had a strategy of changing the theme of the march, which had started with the standard "freedom now" to the new and much more militant "Black Power!" SNCC cadre spread out in front of the march preparing the share croppers with the new slogan with mini rallies and informational sessions that were designed to discuss with the people the need for African nationalism now! As the march, which was fraught with racist violence from the klan and other white racists, neared Greenwood, Mississippi, SNCC organizer Willie (later Mukassa) Ricks informed Carmichael that he should drop the new theme on the people because Ricks had been using it and the people were ready for it. Once the marchers had been forced to prepare to be assaulted on a Canton, Mississippi school yard when European city official overturned the African school board's decision to permit the marchers to camp out on the school grounds, Carmichael captured international attention by leading a loud and militant chant of "Black Power" through the Mississippi night. From there, despite the efforts by King and others to derail it, that theme became the dominant thrust of that march and it soon became the dominant thrust of the entire movement.
Just a cursory study of history reveals that the Black power movement broke the hold of the status quo and subsequent movements for LGBTIQ (Gay liberation at the time), women's liberation, etc., followed suit changing the political, social, and economic foundations of this society. I thought of this as I watched a video just now of Dada Mukassa (formally Willie) Ricks speaking at the All African People's Revolutionary Party (A-APRP) sponsored African Liberation Day rally to hundreds of African youth in Accra, Ghana last week. Dada Mukassa, along with Seku Neblett who is still very active in A-APRP in Ghana, are virtually unknown to activists/organizers today. They are unknown to the masses of African people, but that doesn't give you an excuse not to do the work to find out. If you did, you would discover that there are plenty of people who actually made serious contributions in the 60s who are still here today. Still fighting. And, you would learn that you have access to these people to find out what really happened. If you studied this history, you would know that without their sacrifices, there would be no Snoop Dogg lavishing in the comforts of capitalism today because without the Black Power movement, America would never have evolved to the point of letting a Snoop Dogg become mainstream enough to make Pepsi/Coke or whatever type of silly commercials he makes.
So, instead of us spending so much time worrying about what empty headed people like Snoop, Ravin, Bill Cosby, Pharrall, Kanye West, or whomever is just consuming the benefits of our real struggle for justice has to say about something they know absolutely nothing about, find out about Dada Mukassa, Kwame Ture, etc. Let's start to do the work to find out about our true history like the March against Fear so we aren't letting our children rely on Hollywood to shape our interpretations of our history. Anyone who let's their enemies tell their history is a fool. And, anyone who spends time listening to an empty head's opinions about our enemies interpretation of our history (when you don't know it) is even more foolish than the first fool. We can do better than this.
Instead, I'd recommend you go to the source of our history. This month commemorates the 50 year anniversary of that March against Fear from Memphis, Tennessee to Jackson, Mississippi. That march is significant because it was started by James Meredith, the first African admitted to the University of Mississippi. He was shot by a European the second day of the march and the civil rights movement organizations vowed to continue the march from the spot Meredith was shot. So, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the Congress of Racial Equality, led by Flody McKissick, and the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), led by newly elected chairperson Stokely Carmichael (later of course to become Kwame Ture), came together to continue the march. SNCC had a strategy. Having grown weary of the European dominance of the African movement, SNCC had long preached for European/White organizers to leave the organization of Africans to Africans and to go to the European communities and organize White people against capitalism and white supremacy. Consequently, to force this contradiction and to infuse more militancy into the movement, SNCC had a strategy of changing the theme of the march, which had started with the standard "freedom now" to the new and much more militant "Black Power!" SNCC cadre spread out in front of the march preparing the share croppers with the new slogan with mini rallies and informational sessions that were designed to discuss with the people the need for African nationalism now! As the march, which was fraught with racist violence from the klan and other white racists, neared Greenwood, Mississippi, SNCC organizer Willie (later Mukassa) Ricks informed Carmichael that he should drop the new theme on the people because Ricks had been using it and the people were ready for it. Once the marchers had been forced to prepare to be assaulted on a Canton, Mississippi school yard when European city official overturned the African school board's decision to permit the marchers to camp out on the school grounds, Carmichael captured international attention by leading a loud and militant chant of "Black Power" through the Mississippi night. From there, despite the efforts by King and others to derail it, that theme became the dominant thrust of that march and it soon became the dominant thrust of the entire movement.
Just a cursory study of history reveals that the Black power movement broke the hold of the status quo and subsequent movements for LGBTIQ (Gay liberation at the time), women's liberation, etc., followed suit changing the political, social, and economic foundations of this society. I thought of this as I watched a video just now of Dada Mukassa (formally Willie) Ricks speaking at the All African People's Revolutionary Party (A-APRP) sponsored African Liberation Day rally to hundreds of African youth in Accra, Ghana last week. Dada Mukassa, along with Seku Neblett who is still very active in A-APRP in Ghana, are virtually unknown to activists/organizers today. They are unknown to the masses of African people, but that doesn't give you an excuse not to do the work to find out. If you did, you would discover that there are plenty of people who actually made serious contributions in the 60s who are still here today. Still fighting. And, you would learn that you have access to these people to find out what really happened. If you studied this history, you would know that without their sacrifices, there would be no Snoop Dogg lavishing in the comforts of capitalism today because without the Black Power movement, America would never have evolved to the point of letting a Snoop Dogg become mainstream enough to make Pepsi/Coke or whatever type of silly commercials he makes.
So, instead of us spending so much time worrying about what empty headed people like Snoop, Ravin, Bill Cosby, Pharrall, Kanye West, or whomever is just consuming the benefits of our real struggle for justice has to say about something they know absolutely nothing about, find out about Dada Mukassa, Kwame Ture, etc. Let's start to do the work to find out about our true history like the March against Fear so we aren't letting our children rely on Hollywood to shape our interpretations of our history. Anyone who let's their enemies tell their history is a fool. And, anyone who spends time listening to an empty head's opinions about our enemies interpretation of our history (when you don't know it) is even more foolish than the first fool. We can do better than this.
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