On Wednesday 27th November, the UK branch of Afrocentricity International, have scheduled a screening of the film Resurrecting Black Wall Street: The Blueprint, produced by Dr Boyce Watkins (https://jus-tickets.com/events/afrocentricity-international-uk-presents-resurrecting-black-wall-street-the-blueprint/?fbclid=IwAR1uY1UZHaUmyMMKW7bNgB2mB_2I1kZ4Qci98QcO_yx7-kIHvkgIwhpofcs).
With the centenary of the fateful events of the Greenwood area of Tulsa, Oklahoma (monikered ‘Black Wall Street’) a mere eighteen months away, it might be useful to remind ourselves of one of the more remarkable achievements of Afrikans in the USA, just a couple of generations out of chattel enslavement.
By 1921, ‘Black Wall Street’ had a population of 100,000 that boasted luxury shops, restaurants, grocery stores, hotels, jewellery and clothing stories, movie theaters, barbershops and salons, a library, pool halls, nightclubs and offices for doctors, lawyers and dentists. Greenwood also had its own school system, post office, a savings and loan bank, hospital, and bus and taxi service. (1)
The average income for a Black family was well over what minimum wage is today and the dollar circulated 36 to 100 times in this tight-knit community. In fact, a single dollar might have stayed in Greenwood for almost a year before leaving the community. In the USA, a dollar can circulate in Asian communities for a month, Jewish communities for 20 days and white communities for 17, but according to reports from the NAACP, it leaves the modern-day Afrikan community in six hours. One wonders if the so-called ‘Black Pound’ would even last an hour in the UK. (2)
Although Greenwood benefitted from the oil rush that happened at the urn of the century, its make up was very deliberate. On of the early residents O.W. Gurley, a wealthy Afrikan from Arkansas, moved to Tulsa and purchased over 40 acres of land that he made sure was only sold to other Afrikans. (3)
However, predictably, the intervention of white terror saw it all come crashing down in an eighteen-hour spree on May 31 and June 1, 1921. White mobs aided and abetted by ‘law enforcement’ laid siege in an orgy of looting and destruction, including dropping bombs, that left three hundred dead and eight thousand homeless. (4)
Efforts to rebuild Greenwood ultimately proved futile, unable to survive a white onslaught of a different kind – desegregation. Author Christina Montford reveals:
“In the initial years after the riot, surviving residents began to rebuild the once-vibrant city. It thrived again until the desegregation of the 1950s and ’60s began to entice the Black people of the time to live elsewhere, causing Black Wall Street to never again be what it once was.” (5)
Of the many lessons we can glean from the Afrikan community in Greenwood a century ago an important one is that is was a by choice consciously self-determining, albeit within the circumstance of a white supremacist republic. Thus, any attempts to resurrect this model must be full cognisant of what made it (or indeed any other self-reliant formation) work. In this regard, the place to start then is not money. This is something the late warrior theorised Amos Wilson in his book Blueprint for Black Power:
“…the rather superior organisation of family, kinship and communal groups and resources of the White Americans and various immigrant groups have facilitated their political and economic exploitation of the Afrikan American community. Besides the fact that the organisations are based on family-kinship, community and ethnic relationships, they are based more profoundly on cultural identity, values and attitudes. A culture generates effective power when it aligns its subcultural, social and individual units, especially its family and communal units, in such ways that they can most effectively create and exploit its human social and material resources to its own advantage relative to its environment and other groups and cultures.” (6)
In other words what Ancestor Wilson is saying is that what other people have, that we lack and what also enables them to consolidate themselves and even dominate us is that they have their own agency. Therefore, until Afrikans, consciously establish our own agency, based on our own world view, we will be powerless to resist the dictates of others. This is where Afrocentricity comes in.
In an essay called Afrocentricity and the Critical Question of African Agency, Dr Ama Mazama, one of the current mainstays of the Afrocentric Movement has written a cogent summary of why Afrocentricity is such a necessary imperative and it worth quoting at length. In the section titled The Afrocentric Methodology for Liberation: The Exercise of African Agency, she writes:
“It is out of great concern for African disenfranchisement and marginalization in the intellectual arena, as well as other spheres of life, that Molefi Asante developed the theory of action and liberation known as Afrocentricity, which he explained most recently as seeking to “obliterate the mental, physical, cultural and economic dislocation of African people by thrusting Africans as centered, healthy human beings in the context of African thought.” The purpose is to “escape from the anomie of fringeness.” Asante believes that it is only in the process of reassuming in a most conscious manner our sense of historical and cultural agency that we, Africans, can hope to put an end to our invisibility, debilitation and powerlessness. Asante’s rhetoric of liberation, through which he attempts to create and reclaim space for African people, therefore stresses the African as actor and victor. In fact, “the Afrocentric idea is unthinkable without African agency,” explains Asante who defines agency as “an attitude toward action originating in African experiences”. More specifically, “An agent, in our terms, must mean a human being who is capable of acting independently in his or her own best interest. Agency itself is the ability to provide the psychological and cultural resources necessary for the advancement of human freedom “. The Afrocentric African is acting, not acted upon, for she is no longer satisfied to be “the dark toy/ in someone else’s carnival/ or in someone else field/ the obsolete scarecrow” (Césaire, 1957; my translation). Instead, she stands strong and tall in her own center.
Asante believes that it is only in the process of reassuming in a most conscious manner our sense of historical and cultural agency that we, Africans, can hope to put an end to our invisibility, debilitation and powerlessness. Asante’s rhetoric of liberation, through which he attempts to create and reclaim space for African people, therefore stresses the African as actor and victor. In fact, “the Afrocentric idea is unthinkable without African agency,” explains Asante who defines agency as “an attitude toward action originating in African experiences”. More specifically, “An agent, in our terms, must mean a human being who is capable of acting independently in his or her own best interest. Agency itself is the ability to provide the psychological and cultural resources necessary for the advancement of human freedom “. The Afrocentric African is acting, not acted upon, for she is no longer satisfied to be “the dark toy/ in someone else’s carnival/ or in someone else field/ the obsolete scarecrow” (Césaire, 1957; my translation). Instead, she stands strong and tall in her own center.
Agency is the activating principle that allows our center to be a true home, that is, a source of nurturing existential paradigms. Africanity is not to be confused with Afrocentricity. Being born in Africa, living in Africa, does not make one Afrocentric, as explained by Asante himself: “Only those who are consciously African, given to appreciating the need to resist annihilation culturally, politically, and economically, can claim to be adequately in the arena of Afrocentricity”. Again, one may be culturally exiled although living in Africa. This happens, for example, when one practices alien traditions, such as worshipping foreign gods, or defending and promoting alien concepts.
The source of agency, as defined Afrocentrically, is consciousness. Agency must be understood as an expression and a manifestation of consciousness. As such, it has particular attributes. For example, it is quantifiable: “What we can argue about in any intellectual discourse is the degree to which Africans are weak or strong agents, but there should be no question that agency exists”. The relative strength or weakness of one’s agency is directly correlated to the development of one’s consciousness. According to Asante, indeed, consciousness develops through time, as one’s awareness increases. Five phases are identified by Molefi Asante: skin recognition, environmental recognition, personality awareness, interest-concern, and Afrocentric awareness. While skin recognition represents the lowest form of consciousness, each subsequent phase is marked by enhanced consciousness and therefore increased agency.
In addition to being quantifiable, consciousness can also be typified. According to Molefi Asante, there are two types of consciousness, consciousness of victory and consciousness of oppression. Both types correspond to the levels of development identified above. Consciousness of victory represents the highest level, and consciousness of oppression a much lower one. In fact, only the first one qualifies as Afrocentric consciousness, for only a consciousness of victory is capable of being “stimulating in a progressive sense”. Asante thus continues “No Afrocentric person can ever have merely a consciousness of oppression, pain, and suffering. The present and the future must be lived victoriously. To be conscious of how difficult the European has made one’s life is to be conscious at a very elemental level.”
Another significant attribute of agency is that, while agency is a given, basic human feature, it can be exercised or given up. Asante talks about those Africans who “had denied, lost, or given away agency in order to become different from our historical selves.” The price for not exercising one’s agency is mental and psychological bondage, even accompanied at times with physical bondage: “When the Afrocentrist says that it is necessary to discover one’s location, it is always in reference to whether or not the person is in a centered or marginal place with regards to his or her culture. An oppressed person is dis-located when she operates from a standpoint, that is, location that is centered in the experiences of the oppressor”.
Consciousness being the source of agency, what determines consciousness (that is, Afrocentric consciousness) itself is our relationship with Africa. This relationship develops along a vertical and horizontal axis. In its vertical dimension, consciousness emanates from the quality of one’s relationship with one’s ancestors. Afrocentricity requires a “commitment” to an African “cultural base”, and ancestral veneration is undeniably a most important pillar of the African cultural base.
The person who fails to develop and maintain a relationship with their ancestors is most dislocated and bound to engage in destructive behaviours as they “will attack mothers and fathers, disparage the very traditions that gave them hope in times of hopelessness, and trivialize their own nobility. The person’s images, symbols, lifestyles, and manners are contradictory and thereby destructive to personal and collective growth and development. Unable to call upon the power of the ancestors, because one does not know them; without an ideology of heritage, because one does not respect one’s own prophets; the person is like an ant trying to move a large piece of garbage only to find that it will not move”.
This focus on the ancestors as the originators of consciousness is demanded by African culture itself. It is the ancestors who are primarily responsible for the welfare and the thriving of the community, by bestowing protection and guidance to the living. They ensure the flourishing of the community by blessing it with fertility. They are also the zealous moral guardians of the social order upon which the society rests. It is not exaggerated to state that the purpose of African life is to become an ancestor, since such a high status is reserved to those who have lived an ethical life, that is, abided by the community’s norms and traditions, thus effectively contributing to its continued and enhanced existence. In the African cultural context, one’s ability, personally and collectively exercised, to maintain harmony, peace and balance in life is largely predicated upon one’s relationship with the ancestors. This is why consciousness of self as an African necessarily entails, according to Afrocentricity, an active and respectful relationship with the ancestors. This is then also why ancestral veneration is posited as the ultimate source of Afrocentric consciousness, which translates into agency. Thus, Afrocentric consciousness is, in the end, a function of our relationship with our ancestors.
In its horizontal dimension, one’s relationship with Africa includes the embrace of the Pan-African community as one’s community since, in the African context, existence is conceived as first and foremost a social experience. The exercise of agency, as an assertion of African existence, is therefore also primarily a social phenomenon with intended benefits not just for the person exercising agency but for the whole community. In a political sense, collective consciousness and agency are linked to a commitment to Pan-Africanism. The latter, Asante observes, “is a political perspective and a political ideology as well as a social theory. The one does not negate the other. Actually when we speak of the political dimensions of the concept we are also talking about how Africans see themselves as social units” (emphasis added). As we engage in the transformation of our consciousness, as a collective rather than an individual affair, ‘we seek to break out of our isolation and distance and come closer to our African brothers and sisters.” (7)
One of the recent development in the Afrocentric Movement is the establishment of Afrocentricity International. Dr Mazama has described it thus:
“Afrocentricity International supports the economic, cultural and educational elevation of African people in an effort to create cultural consciousness. Its method is Afrocentric and Pan African, participating at the national and international levels in the creation of an advanced cadre of individuals whose aim is to bring into existence an African renaissance. Its members are committed to do all that they can to encourage the rise of African consciousness and the creation of the United States of Africa in order to give back to Africa its greatness and sacredness. The motto of the organization is “Unity is our Aim, Victory is our Destiny!” May each one in the world be free from oppression and free to exist on their own terms for if a few try to oppress the majority, and try to suppress it, insanity and violence are bound to be present in the world. Afrocentrists, in the spirit of Maat, seek peace, harmony, justice, order, balance and truth.” (8)
So Ancestors like O.W. Gurley, or Booker T Washington or Marcus Garvey may not have been Afrocentric in the way we currently define it but they were certainly staunch advocates Afrikan agency, which is why they were able to succeed. Conversely, this is exactly why proceeding without this foundation consigns our efforts to failure.
(1) Alexis Clark (16/09/19) Tulsa’s ‘Black Wall Street’ Flourished as a Self-Contained Hub in Early 1900s. https://www.history.com/news/black-wall-street-tulsa-race-massacre
(2) Christina Montford (02/12/14) Interesting Things You Didn’t Know About ‘Black Wall Street’. https://atlantablackstar.com/2014/12/02/6-interesting-things-you-didnt-know-about-black-wall-street/
(3) Ibid.
(4) History.com Editors (08/03/18) Tulsa Race Massacre. https://www.history.com/topics/roaring-twenties/tulsa-race-massacre?fbclid=IwAR2qMuOi8aGl8mehjOJCXVs8k8FcV0r1pnHvnQclxaoweJLeRkjdUttrpo4
(5) Montford. Op. cit.
(6) Wilson, Amos N. (1998) Blueprint for Black Power: A Moral, Political, and Economic Imperative for the Twenty-First Century, Afrikan World InfoSystems, p 58-9.
(7) Dr. Ama Mazama, Per-aat (27/06/14) Afrocentricity and the Critical Question of African Agency. https://dyabukam.com/index.php/en/knowledge/philosophy/item/136-afrocentricity-and-the-critical-question-of-african-agency
(8) Dr. Ama Mazama, Per-aat (01/09/14) The Mission of Afrocentricity International. https://dyabukam.com/index.php/en/afrocentricity-en/mission
So we ask the question:
What would it take to create a “Black Wall Street” in the UK?
- Is our approach to economics too focused on money?
- Do we currently operate with a “consciousness of victory” or a “consciousness of oppression.”?
- What role does spirituality play in Afrikan agency?
- What is the purpose of Afrocentricity International in the UK?
Our special guest is:
Bro. Shenuti Jegna: is an experienced community historian, organiser and co-ordinator of the Afrocentricity International UK Chapter. Bro. Jegna is the host of the Afrocentricity Bookman show every Sunday from 4pm to 6pm on Bless Radio.