Reprinted from my former blog, "Leapfrog: leaping beyond His Story"
A response to Korngay's call for New Black Movement"[Francis] I read your article ("Resurrecting a Black Movement in the Age of Obama") at BlackAgendaReport.com and found it to be, like many of the articles dissiminated by Glen Ford and his crew, insightful and on point.
I write with a few questions and suggestions about ways in which to position the call for a new Black Movement.Your sentence about developing an "interlinked duality of pursing a nationalist cum-communal nation-building agenda within the context of a broader re-democratizing process," is perfect way to understand the challenge and opportunity that we Black folks have to put our own house in order. When I'm on the road carrying the White man's water in my capacity as a professional political operative, I often get into good conversations with the various Black folks that I come across, people that are interested in our progress and hence, somewhat jaundiced about participating in a political process that offers Black people nothing but platitudes and an invitation to more sacrifice.
When I talk to these sophisticated Black people, I candidly tell them that none of these candidates or parties have our best interest in mind, that I am working for them because it gives me an opportunity to come into direct contact with other conscious Black folks. I tell them that the Democratic party, for me, is simply an organizing tool, a resource that we can use to identify and cultivate a cadre of Black folks in cities across America that could constitute the infrastructure of our own A-A nationalist ascendancy.
From this experience, I can say that generally, Black folks know what time it is. They know that following behind the Democrats and/or Republicans is a trip to no where we want to go. The biggest stumbling block to our own organizing is money. There is no way around this. The biggest stumbling block to raising money for a Black movement is Black middle-class fear of being tagged as Separatist, or Black radicals, which congers up the negative imagery of the government assault (post-reconstruction and COINTELPRO) on the Black freedom fighters of the past. Black folks simply don't want to experience the discomfort of being odd wo/man out socially, economically or politically.
Although, we can all recite statistics that show we are already odd man out across the board, enter the discussion about re-democratizing the system. Reminding folks about checks and balances as the bedrock of democracy. We Black folks owe it to civilization to get our act together because as one leg of a three-legged stool, our infirmity has thrown the world out of balance. The other two great legs of civilization - Whites and Asians - are handling their business. Without a strong Black nation, civilization is in jeopardy of spinning out of control like a unbalanced washing machine.
Couched in such terms, African-American Nationalism isn't soscary. We are not simply trying to replace a system of White supremacy with a Black one. We are trying to make it impossible for It to destabilize the world through its aggression and greed. And certainly the Progressive Agenda is the perfect non-threatening vehicle for Black folks to hitch a ride in on the road to our own redemption.
However, there is only one way to approach Black survival: our own economic infrastructure. Without the ability to employ ourselves and to fund our own freedom, we will not be able to shake loose from our terminal dependence on everything White.
Fortunately, the Internet is enabling the kind of direct contact that heretofore could only be had with the support of corporate advertising. And while the "Corporatocracy" (from "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man", by John Perkins), controls just about every aspect of our economic life, there remains, I believe, an opportunity for us to regroup and build this economic infrastructure out of the economy of our own existence.
Now, while the "Economy of our Existence" is defined as our images and stories, our physical perculiararities (hair, skin, body type), our cultural proclivities in music, dance and language, the Internet, with information as its stock-in-trade, gives us the opportunity to begin with information: our images and stories are commodities that have value as media content. The time is right to build an information infrastructure that serves the survival needs of Black people, worldwide.
Now is the time for us to create the media and get it to our consumers directly. Even something simple like printing Black Agenda Reports (BAR) every week and handing it out at Black pedestrian hubs in our dense cities like Harlem could be a starting point. Putting information that is relevant in the hands of what I call the "cultural grassroots" (Black resisters of White supremacy), would reinforce the inclination for resistance in these folks, and embolden them to further action because such an effort, along with follow up organizing, would let these folks know that they are not alone, hence, counteract the mainstream propaganda that makes resistance seem so lonely and impoverished.
Naturally, in talking about building an information infrastructure, the distribution apparatus is the beginning. We would go on to create web-based content, and direct to consumer distribution of news, information and entertainment. Becoming the source of regular information that relates to Black people directly and specifically would be the most powerful way of developing the capacity to ascribe value to our goods, services and ideas, which is the only way that we will truly be competitive.
###
Showing posts with label self-sufficiency. Show all posts
Showing posts with label self-sufficiency. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Friday, March 7, 2008
Who is Ready to Stop Talking?
Alright! We've heard the statistics, we've read the bad news, now who is ready to get something started?
This is a call to start a Self-Sufficiency Movement. It has to be about the dough-re-us! Which means that we have to begin to put in place an infrastructure that allows us to communicate with each other immediately, and this infrastructure has got to lead to an ability to finance our activism, and eventually put people to work. Information is money. It's called "content", and we've got to begin harvesting the content of our lives for the purpose of ensuring our survival.
I figure that there are about one million Black folks out there that are ready to take action, and another one million that will get on board once the ball is rolling. We are starting with information because without relevant information about how we are living today, we can't build a cohesive effort to ensure our survival. This isn't going to be about selling Avon, or telling people how they should wear their hair. This has to be about increasing our competitiveness and decreasing our dependency.
The first step is to create a consciousness about our conditions around the country and the planet. No, I'm not talking simply about writing smart articles about what ails us; or conducting a high profile "State of the Black Union" talkfest SPONSORED by everybody but us. I'm talking about creating content that breaks down, community by community, how we are really living. What this will do is lift the heavy burden of self-blame from around our individual necks. It will expose the sharecropping relationships, the misinformation about the origins of certain publicly hyped successes, and put the lie to the pervasive idea that Black folks ain't trying. Most importantly, an information infrastructure that disseminates the truth about our real condition will encourage and support the many warriors that are out there on the front line because it will bring all of those individual efforts together in a way that inspires collective action.
This doesn't have to be depressing. There are plenty of folks out here trying hard to do for self. We simply don't hear or know enough about who these people are and how their efforts will contribute to our self-sufficiency. Stories about P.Diddy are useless. The story behind the success of films like Sankofa, or Daughters of the Dust, are much more useful because they talk about the reality of doing business for ourselves and how to plow through the inevitable roadblocks, information that would scare the pants off the advertisers in Black Enterprise.
The kind of information I'm talking about won't be brought to you by Palmolive, or Verizon. It is a different game when you aren't relying on corporate sponsorship; Tavis Smiley, Tom Joyner or Spike Lee aren't going to tell you about that aspect of their success because they've become successful feeding us corporate sponsored Blackness. The system of White supremacy needs them niggas as much as they need Sprint to pay their bills, and Time Warner/Comcast, et al, to carry their broadcast signals. Tavis and company's job is to provide a safe catharsis for the frustrations of the vast Black middle class that toils away in low paying jobs, sending their kids to low performing schools that prepare them to replace their parents in those low paying service and administrative jobs, as well as to encourage the next generation of "Black elite" that see themselves in those panelists that populate the stage, to continue pursuing this corporate soma (the social anesthesia from the book, a Brave New World).
I ain't hate'in. I'm simply putting it out there so that those of you who think you're ready will know what type of efforts are really just part of the problem. Likewise, those of you that think this is a "kill whitey" movement, don't waste your time. We as a people are about life. This movement will simply be about the prosperity of OUR lives. We don't have time for all the misplaced anger. We don't have time to get caught up defending ourselves from the Black and White folks that would love to get us sidetracked with that retrogressive discussion.
In this blog, I've talked about different aspects of the problem, and some of the tactical things we can do to get started. I encourage you to read through the articles, and follow some of the links. The first thing is to simply be counted. Raise your hand and say I'm in! And then let's get busy.
So whose ready?
This is a call to start a Self-Sufficiency Movement. It has to be about the dough-re-us! Which means that we have to begin to put in place an infrastructure that allows us to communicate with each other immediately, and this infrastructure has got to lead to an ability to finance our activism, and eventually put people to work. Information is money. It's called "content", and we've got to begin harvesting the content of our lives for the purpose of ensuring our survival.
I figure that there are about one million Black folks out there that are ready to take action, and another one million that will get on board once the ball is rolling. We are starting with information because without relevant information about how we are living today, we can't build a cohesive effort to ensure our survival. This isn't going to be about selling Avon, or telling people how they should wear their hair. This has to be about increasing our competitiveness and decreasing our dependency.
The first step is to create a consciousness about our conditions around the country and the planet. No, I'm not talking simply about writing smart articles about what ails us; or conducting a high profile "State of the Black Union" talkfest SPONSORED by everybody but us. I'm talking about creating content that breaks down, community by community, how we are really living. What this will do is lift the heavy burden of self-blame from around our individual necks. It will expose the sharecropping relationships, the misinformation about the origins of certain publicly hyped successes, and put the lie to the pervasive idea that Black folks ain't trying. Most importantly, an information infrastructure that disseminates the truth about our real condition will encourage and support the many warriors that are out there on the front line because it will bring all of those individual efforts together in a way that inspires collective action.
This doesn't have to be depressing. There are plenty of folks out here trying hard to do for self. We simply don't hear or know enough about who these people are and how their efforts will contribute to our self-sufficiency. Stories about P.Diddy are useless. The story behind the success of films like Sankofa, or Daughters of the Dust, are much more useful because they talk about the reality of doing business for ourselves and how to plow through the inevitable roadblocks, information that would scare the pants off the advertisers in Black Enterprise.
The kind of information I'm talking about won't be brought to you by Palmolive, or Verizon. It is a different game when you aren't relying on corporate sponsorship; Tavis Smiley, Tom Joyner or Spike Lee aren't going to tell you about that aspect of their success because they've become successful feeding us corporate sponsored Blackness. The system of White supremacy needs them niggas as much as they need Sprint to pay their bills, and Time Warner/Comcast, et al, to carry their broadcast signals. Tavis and company's job is to provide a safe catharsis for the frustrations of the vast Black middle class that toils away in low paying jobs, sending their kids to low performing schools that prepare them to replace their parents in those low paying service and administrative jobs, as well as to encourage the next generation of "Black elite" that see themselves in those panelists that populate the stage, to continue pursuing this corporate soma (the social anesthesia from the book, a Brave New World).
I ain't hate'in. I'm simply putting it out there so that those of you who think you're ready will know what type of efforts are really just part of the problem. Likewise, those of you that think this is a "kill whitey" movement, don't waste your time. We as a people are about life. This movement will simply be about the prosperity of OUR lives. We don't have time for all the misplaced anger. We don't have time to get caught up defending ourselves from the Black and White folks that would love to get us sidetracked with that retrogressive discussion.
In this blog, I've talked about different aspects of the problem, and some of the tactical things we can do to get started. I encourage you to read through the articles, and follow some of the links. The first thing is to simply be counted. Raise your hand and say I'm in! And then let's get busy.
So whose ready?
Monday, February 25, 2008
Organizing Agenda
What! What! Well, the "what" is all in the execution of a relevant vision. Below, is a proposal that was submitted to an organization that thought it wanted to be relevant. When it was time for the rubber to meet the road, they bitched up. And these were people that really thought they wanted to be "bout-it, bout-it". What it will really take is a pool of independent money, something like what George Soros has done in setting up MoveOn.org. And please don't say Oprah. This effort will require real money from people with money that get it; that understand that the Black male in America is on the endangered species list. Step on up!
"Good day,
As per our recent conversation, I am writing with a proposal for my role as organizing consultant. This proposal is intended to give you a broad overview of the campaign tactics (section III), and some of the “messaging” (sections I, II) that, in my reading, best seems to accomplish the goals of the ... campaign that you have currently initiated.
Goals
The ... campaign is at its core, a campaign to strengthen our people and our community. It is intended to make us strong, viable and interdependent partners in human progress.
The gentrification of ... has presented us with a survival challenge that begins with our homes, and our neighborhoods, and ultimately extends to our ability to economically provide for our own future.
Overarching theme: "Self-Sufficiency, Not Dependency"
The enemy is DEPENDENCY. The solution is building an Infrastructure of SELF-SUFFICIENCY.
Fifty years ago, we took on the challenge of Civil Rights because we understood that we could not prosper as a people within the matrix of Jim Crow. It was a system so embedded in our society, our psyche, that it affected every aspect of life in blatant and subtle ways. There was no peace to be made with Jim Crow.
The gentrification assault on our communities is one tool in a matrix of mechanisms that operate to target us as the most economically vulnerable people in America, and the World. We cannot protect our neighborhoods if we cannot buy our homes. We cannot buy our homes if we cannot find and keep jobs paying living wages. And in this global economy, living wage careers have been replaced by substandard wages and low-end, fly-by-night jobs. Black male out-of-the-workforce numbers in some of the top cities in America are higher than 50%; the impact that has on our ability to survive and prosper is measured in all the social indicators that point to a people under siege.
Action -- Grow Self-Sufficiency Movement (The New "Civil Rights")
1. Who we are, what we stand for.
- research and communication strategy.
2. Rallying the Troops
- Methods: Boots on the ground, Mail, Phones, Events
3. Collaborating with other organizations with similar interest
- devising collective strategies and actions
4. Establish a communication infrastructure: cutting out the middle-man, speaking directly to our constituency
- recruitment and training of persuasion organizers
- develop web portal
- content production
- distribution
5. Movement Action Plan: taking control of the economy of our own existence: the difference between a tee-shirt store and ascribing value to our goods, services and ideas.
a) 21st Century Skills Institute (for illustrative purposes)
- teaching skills that will enable our constituency to compete in the worldwide economy
- teaching model based on activities rooted in the economy of our specific existence: images and stories; culture and beauty
The elements of the Action phase are sequential and contemporaneous, meaning that while a certain order of action is necessary, some of the elements will be on-going and will overlap with others. My consultant role would be to provide strategic and tactical advise, counsel and training. Which would include training organizers, helping to develop campaign literature, talking points, and other such content, communicating with potential collaborators, helping with recruitment and management of volunteers, developing and implementing a fund raising strategy, and auditing results. I estimate that it would take approximately six months to accomplish actions 1-4. The fifth action is an on-going program that will constitute the essence of the "how" we propose achieving our goal of "Self-Sufficiency, Not Dependency".
###
"Good day,
As per our recent conversation, I am writing with a proposal for my role as organizing consultant. This proposal is intended to give you a broad overview of the campaign tactics (section III), and some of the “messaging” (sections I, II) that, in my reading, best seems to accomplish the goals of the ... campaign that you have currently initiated.
Goals
The ... campaign is at its core, a campaign to strengthen our people and our community. It is intended to make us strong, viable and interdependent partners in human progress.
The gentrification of ... has presented us with a survival challenge that begins with our homes, and our neighborhoods, and ultimately extends to our ability to economically provide for our own future.
Overarching theme: "Self-Sufficiency, Not Dependency"
The enemy is DEPENDENCY. The solution is building an Infrastructure of SELF-SUFFICIENCY.
Fifty years ago, we took on the challenge of Civil Rights because we understood that we could not prosper as a people within the matrix of Jim Crow. It was a system so embedded in our society, our psyche, that it affected every aspect of life in blatant and subtle ways. There was no peace to be made with Jim Crow.
The gentrification assault on our communities is one tool in a matrix of mechanisms that operate to target us as the most economically vulnerable people in America, and the World. We cannot protect our neighborhoods if we cannot buy our homes. We cannot buy our homes if we cannot find and keep jobs paying living wages. And in this global economy, living wage careers have been replaced by substandard wages and low-end, fly-by-night jobs. Black male out-of-the-workforce numbers in some of the top cities in America are higher than 50%; the impact that has on our ability to survive and prosper is measured in all the social indicators that point to a people under siege.
Action -- Grow Self-Sufficiency Movement (The New "Civil Rights")
1. Who we are, what we stand for.
- research and communication strategy.
2. Rallying the Troops
- Methods: Boots on the ground, Mail, Phones, Events
3. Collaborating with other organizations with similar interest
- devising collective strategies and actions
4. Establish a communication infrastructure: cutting out the middle-man, speaking directly to our constituency
- recruitment and training of persuasion organizers
- develop web portal
- content production
- distribution
5. Movement Action Plan: taking control of the economy of our own existence: the difference between a tee-shirt store and ascribing value to our goods, services and ideas.
a) 21st Century Skills Institute (for illustrative purposes)
- teaching skills that will enable our constituency to compete in the worldwide economy
- teaching model based on activities rooted in the economy of our specific existence: images and stories; culture and beauty
The elements of the Action phase are sequential and contemporaneous, meaning that while a certain order of action is necessary, some of the elements will be on-going and will overlap with others. My consultant role would be to provide strategic and tactical advise, counsel and training. Which would include training organizers, helping to develop campaign literature, talking points, and other such content, communicating with potential collaborators, helping with recruitment and management of volunteers, developing and implementing a fund raising strategy, and auditing results. I estimate that it would take approximately six months to accomplish actions 1-4. The fifth action is an on-going program that will constitute the essence of the "how" we propose achieving our goal of "Self-Sufficiency, Not Dependency".
###
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
