HAVE YOUR SAY: 02071930174
We continue our season honouring the life and legacy of the eminent Prophet and King Omowale Malcolm X whose physical life was extinguished by assassins bullets on February 21st 1965. By then however, the proverbial genie was out of the bottle and the essence of the prophet had fertilised the next generation of freedom fighters manifested through the likes of the Black Panther Party for Self Defence, the Republic of New Afrika and the Us organisation. (1)
Although general attempts at infiltration and sabotage and COINTELPRO in particular cannot be over estimated, none of the new cadre rose to the standing and impact of Omowale Malcolm X during that period or since. (2)
In many respects Malcolm X stands as the archetype for any budding activist. For an indication as to why, we need look no further than his eulogy, delivered as his funeral by Ossie Davis:
“Malcolm was our manhood, our living, black manhood! This was his meaning to his people. And, in honoring him, we honor the best in ourselves… Consigning these mortal remains to earth, the common mother of all, secure in the knowledge that what we place in the ground is no more now a man – but a seed – which, after the winter of our discontent, will come forth again to meet us. And we will know him then for what he was and is – a Prince – our own black shining Prince! – who didn’t hesitate to die, because he loved us so.” (3)
One argument is that it isn’t necessarily a bad thing that a leader of the calibre of Omowale Malcolm X has not risen up due to the inherent limitations of that model of leadership where once the leader goes “the very life of the group is threatened.” (4)
Another critique of this mode of leadership and indeed that whole (and beyond) is the endemic patriarchy within the movement. This perspective regards Malcolm X and even Martin Luther King Jr as “agents of black male patriarchy,” that begot a legacy of Misogyny that is “still prevalent today (among) many so called pro-black activists.” (5)
Indeed, Black Lives Matter advocate that “we must move beyond the narrow nationalism that is all too prevalent in Black communities. We must ensure we are building a movement that brings all of us to the front.” (6)
It is somewhat ironic that almost half a century before the Black Power era, The Most Eminent Prophet & King, His Excellency Marcus Mosiah Garvey was utilising the organising power of Afrikan women to a profound extent in the UNIA-ACL. (7) At the end of his life Malcolm X, although still in midst of an Abrahamic religion, the like of which Baba John Henrik Clarke regarded as “male chauvinist murder cults” (8), he was moving unquestionably towards his Garveyite roots – as could be seen in the programme of the Organization of Afro-American Unity. (9)
The determination to “rediscover our true African culture” may well have led the OAAU to the“traditional egalitarian gender roles” (10) that the establishment of real community and institutionalisation of rites of passage. (11)
So, the dichotomy could be seen to be around the immersion in Afrikan culture in a holistic way or the continued retention of European values, not least because Afrikan men pose the primary threat to European domination (12). The likes of Mwalimu Baruti see little scope for compromise:
“No compromise of the Afrikan by infusing definitions of Afrikan manhood with European malehood (or a European defined Afrikan malehood) is acceptable. European and Afrikan manhoods are incompatible as one negates the other. They cannot exist as equals in the same reality.” (12)
(1) Komozi Woodard (29/07/14) Rethinking the Black Power Movement. http://exhibitions.nypl.org/africanaage/essay-black-power.html
(2) Jonathan David Farley (04/04/08) Preventing the rise of a ‘messiah’.https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/apr/04/preventingtheriseofamessi
(3) Ossie Davis (27/02/65) Eulogy. http://malcolmx.com/eulogy/
(4) Charles E Wilson (1990) Leadership: Triumph in Leadership Tragedy in John Henrik Clarke (Ed) (1990) Malcolm X: The Man and His Times. Africa World Press. p. 27. https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/poverty-matters/2011/jan/17/patrice-lumumba-50th-anniversary-assassination
(5) Jonathan Holmes (06/10/16) 4 Things Black Men Need to Realize about Sexism in Black Communities. https://coloredchristianity.com/about/
(6) Black Lives Matter (09/2016) About. http://blacklivesmatter.com/about
(7) Tony Martin (1991) Women In The Garvey Movement in Rupert Lewis & Patrick Bryan Garvey: His Work and Impact, Africa World Press, pp. 67-72
(8) Bantu Kelani (15/09/03) Enslavement of ‘Negroid’ Minds. http://www.africaspeaks.com/kelani/en/22112003.html
(9) The Organization of Afro-American Unity (1965) Program of the OAAU. https://www.malcolm-x.org/docs/gen_oaau.htm.
(10) Mwalimu K Bomani Baruti (2004) Asafo: A Warrior’s Guide To Manhood, Akoben House, p. 6
(11) Baruti (2004) pp. 126-132
(12) Frances Cress Welsing (1991) The Isis Papers, Third World Press, p. 7
(13) Baruti (2004) pp. 127
we ask the question:
Is today’s Black Leadership too patriarchal?
1) Was misogyny really endemic to the Black Power era?
2) What is meant by “narrow Nationalism”?
3) Is there a difference between Afrikan manhood and European manhood?
4) Is Afrikan culture free from patriarchy?
5)How do we develop a patriarchy/misogyny free manhood?
6) Are terms like patriarchy and misogyny useful?
Our very special guest:
Mwalimu K. Bomani: is the co-founder and co-director of Akoben Institute, an independent Afrikan centered full-time and after-school home schooling and tutorial program for middle and high schoolers. He served as Assistant Professor of Sociology at Morehouse College from 1991 to 2001. Over the last half decade, Bro. Baruti has also taught various Afrikan centered evening classes for adults at the Institute and online. Bro. Baruti is the author of eighteen self-published books including: Excuses, Excuses: The Politics of Interracial Coupling in European Culture, negroes and other essays, Chess Primer: An Introduction to the Game of Chess, The Sex Imperative, Homosexuality and the Effeminization of Afrikan Males, Asafo: A Warriors Guide to Manhood, Complementarity: Thoughts for Afrikan Warrior Couples, Mentacide and other essays, Kebuka!: Remembering the Middle Passage Through the Eyes of Our Ancestors, Eureason: An Afrikan Centered Critique of Eurocentric Social Science, Battle Plan, Notes Toward Higher Ideals in Afrikan Intellectual Liberation, Sesh: An Afrikan Centered Guide to Writing and Self-Publishing for Warrior Scholars, Nyansasem: A Calendar of Revolutionary Daily Thoughts, Yurugu’s Eunuchs, Centered: Building Afrikan Realities, IAW: A Warrior’s Character and Message to The Warriors. He is currently working on a book entitled Asylum which examines the insanity of european culture and Identity which will reconceptualize a number of sociological concepts in Afrikan centered terms. have ranged from Afrikan manhood, male/female relationships, european sexual insanity, interracial coupling to the Middle Passage. Bro. Baruti lives in Atlanta, Georgia with his wife of 28 years, Yaa Mawusi Baruti, also co-founder and co-director of their homeschooling program.