The USA presidential election that pundits, somewhat predictably, are calling the “most important” in history/lifetime/a generation takes place on Tuesday November 3rd. (1)
The so-called Black vote either for discouragement/suppression or encouragement remains one of the key constituencies. (2) It has been the subject of fierce debate recent with certain high profile Black entertainers like 50 Cent, L’il Wayne Wayne and Ice Cube being linked in various ways to incumbent president Donald Trump to the palpable horror of some who view him as an existential threat to the race. (3) As a result Ice Cube’s Contract With Black America has receive considerable attention. (4) Rather less coverage has been given to other initiatives like, for example, the Black Is Back Coalition’s National Black Political Agenda for Self-determination. (5)
Such is the state of flux in the Black movement that some argue is a consequence of the “paralyzing stupor that Obamamania has induced in the Black polity” and from which the movement has yet to fully recover. (6)
An additional factor is the emergence of #ADOS (American Descendants Of Slaves) and Foundational Black Americans (#FBA). With high profile support from personalities like Dr Cornel West and Tariq Nasheed. One their key areas of focus is reparations, underscored with slogans like “Tangibles” and “cut the check.” They have also seriously interrogated the one-sided engagement in the political duopoly in favour of the Democratic Party that to date has yielded insufficient tangible results, favouring a kind of ‘permanent interests’ rather than ‘permanent friends’ approach. (7)
However, some characterise #ADOD as nothing more than a “Trojan Horse” or a “movement to hijack black identity and weaken black unity in America” due to its links with white supremacists, hijacking of legacies and identities and promotion of “anti-Blackness through anti-immigrant beliefs.” As such it advances a zealous American identity over an Afrikan heritage or Pan-Afrikan ideology even while drawing on the legacies of of those who were either avowed Pan-Afrikanist or whom it would consider to ADOS (or at least fully ADOS) including John Henrik Clarke, Queen Mother Moore, Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Kwame Ture and Omowale Malcolm X. (8)
Yet Omowale Malcolm X perceived the USA political scene with prophetic clarity almost six decades ago:
“I’m not a Republican, nor a Democrat, nor an American, and got sense enough to know it. I’m one of the 22 million black victims of the Democrats, one of the 22 million black victims of the Republicans, and one of the 22 million black victims of Americanism.” (9)
Malcolm X was advocating a Black Nationalist ideology, that was decidedly Pan-Afrikan in orientation. The adoption of such would the basis for meaningful political engagement and revolutionize the existing political discourse.
(1) Conor Friedersdorf (02/05/12) It’s Time to Retire the Phrase, ‘This Is the Most Important Election …’ https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/05/its-time-to-retire-the-phrase-this-is-the-most-important-election/256623/.
(2) Dan Sabbagh (29/09/20) Trump 2016 campaign ‘targeted 3.5m black Americans to deter them from voting’. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/sep/28/trump-2016-campaign-targeted-35m-black-americans-to-deter-them-from-voting.
(3) Ashley Terrell (31/10/20) Maxine Waters on Black Trump voters: ‘I will never forgive them.’ https://icecube.com/a-contract-with-black-america/
(4) Ice Cube (01/07/20) A Contract With Black America. https://thegrio.com/2020/10/31/maxine-waters-criticizes-black-trump-voters/
(5) Black Is Back Coalition (2020) National Black Political Agenda for Self-determination http://blackisbackcoalition.org/19-point-agenda/
(6) Glen Ford (01/01/08) 2007: The Year of Black ‘Media Leaders’ – Especially Obama. http://blackagendareport.com/content/2007-year-black-%E2%80%98media-leaders%E2%80%99-%E2%80%93-especially-obama. Ford adds: “Even committed Black progressive activists have jumped on the candidate’s bandwagon-to-nowhere.”
(7) Jessica Ann Mitchell Aiwuyor (02/01/20) Understanding ADOS: The Movement to Hijack Black Identity and Weaken Black Unity in America. https://ibw21.org/commentary/understanding-ados-movement-hijack-black-identity-weaken-black-unity/.
(8) Ibid. see also Ifayomi Grant (2019) Is #ADOS a Trojan Horse? Navig8or Newsletter
(9) Malcolm X (12/04/64) The Ballot or the Bullet, Detroit, Michigan. http://brothermalcolm.net/mxwords/whathesaid13.html.
We ask the question:
USA Election: For Who? For What?
1) Did the Obama presidency disarm the Black Movement?
2) Can Black USA Survive another 4 years of Trump?
3) Has the solid support for the Democratic Party helped our community?
4 Is not voting An appropriate strategy)?
5) Are some of the new reparations groups “Trojan Horses”?
6)? Is there a viable Black Agenda in the USA?
Our special Guest:
Sis. Nkechi Taifa: Sis. Nkechi is an activist, organiser and award-winning attorney. She is Founder, Principal and CEO of The Taifa Group LLC, a social enterprise firm whose mission is to advance justice. She also maintained a general criminal and civil law practice in the District of Columbia between 1987-1991, representing indigent adult and juvenile clients, and specializing in employment discrimination law.
She is also a founding member of N’COBRA, the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America. She was a contributing author to Black Reparations: American Slavery and its Vestiges; Reparations Yes: The Legal and Political Reasons Why Blacks Should be Paid for the Enslavement of Our Ancestors; and Decolonization U.S.A.
Sis. Nkechi, has been an elementary school teacher at NationHouse Watoto School from 1977-1980, and as founder and director of a Saturday School for youth during the 1970s. and the author of two books for children, Shining Legacy (1983) which highlights twelve Black heroes and heroines through moving stories accentuated with rhyme; and The Adventures of Kojo and Ama (1992) which contains seven wisdom-filled stories combining excitement, fun and suspense with lessons in pride and heritage. She performed spoken word with the group “BlackNotes” as part of its debut CD project, leading her original creation, “While Malcolm Preached, Trane Played.”