Remembering a Black Radical in a Barack Obama America
http://www.counterpunch.org/ture11122008.html
By BOKAR TURE and DEDRICK MUHAMMAD
November 12, 2008
Ten years ago, Nov. 15, 1998, Kwame Ture--formerly known as Stokely
Carmichael--died. He died as he lived, fighting against social
injustice, fighting with every bit of strength, intelligence and
charm that was in his body. He died challenging the embargo against
Libya and pledging allegiance and thankfulness to radical
organizations and leaders like the Nation of Islam, Castro's Cuba,
and African leaders Kwame Nkrumah and Sekou Toure, who all supported
him and more importantly supported the Black liberation struggle to
which Kwame Ture dedicated his life.
10 years later, Condoleeza Rice as Secretary of State returned from
an official state visit to Libya, which has been removed from the
West's list of dangerous radical nations. Just a few days ago, a
Black man with an African and Muslim name became President of the
United State, the same nation which listed Kwame Ture as a threat to
national security for his "Black Power" politics.
The question that we, a biological son and a political son of Kwame
Ture, reflect upon 10 years after the death of this historical figure
is: what does the legacy of this Black radical, Pan-African socialist
mean in 2008? Is there space for Black radicalism when a Black man
who emphasized moderation and advanced a post-racial politic becomes
president of the most powerful, predominately white nation in the world?
Our response is yes, for we understand that an "African" (as Kwame
Ture would say) in the most powerful position in the world doesn't
change the radical truth that African/Black people throughout the
world are still disproportionately disenfranchised and demand justice.
I trace my political ancestry to Kwame Ture when at the age of 12 I
came across the book "Black Power: The Politics of Liberation" by
Kwame Ture and Charles V. Hamilton. My mother had told me stories of
her interactions with then Stokely Carmichael and how his example and
kind words encouraged her, a white Southern woman, to participate in
the Black freedom struggle of the 1960s. The analysis of "Black
Power," of institutional and individual racism, highlighting the two
problems Blacks faced in America being Black and poor, has guided my
life work to fight against racism, economic inequality, and
injustice. It has led me to my current position at the Institute for
Policy Studies, where I study and analyze economic inequality and
disenfranchisement faced by African Americans.
Today I still look back to the writings of Kwame Ture to address the
reality that President-elect Obama will preside over: a nation where
Black people make 57cents on every dollar made by white Americans,
where Blacks have only 10% of the wealth of white America, and where
the Black community appears to be falling into an economic depression
as the whole country enters into a recession.
As a biological son of Kwame Ture, seeing the election of an African,
who has vowed to "share the wealth", reminds me of my father's work
and notable legacy. A little over forty years after Kwame Ture joined
dedicated citizens to suffer beatings and all forms of violence to
march for equal rights, the United States of America, a country he
vigorously criticized for its contradictions, has elected an African
American president of the nation. The efforts of civil rights leaders
and the thousands of unnamed brave souls who confronted the country's
institutions to live up to its constitution and its promoted image as
a bearer of liberty in the world, were not in vain.
Obama's election is a bittersweet victory for generations of
African-Americans who toiled through sub-human bondage, oft-forgotten
violence and blatant second class citizenship. His presidency is
important in terms of image and breaking centuries-old stereotypes,
but to claim that we have reached a post-racial America borders on
the absurd. As Kwame Ture wrote in 1966, "The reality is that this
nation, from top to bottom, is racist, that racism is not primarily a
problem of 'human relations' but of exploitation maintained - either
actively or through silence - by the society as a whole."
Thirty years later, in 1996 and in the same vein, Kwame Ture
questioned the qualitative effect the number of black mayors and
congressman had on the conditions of "Africans" in this country. The
contemporary Black/White social and economic divide, and the
passivity surrounding this considerable inequality, speaks volume to
the current validity of Ture's words in '66 and in '96. As he would
argue, the achievements of a single individual, president-elect Obama
in this case, are not indicative of the living conditions of the
masses of people of African descent - as those conditions are
generally lagging far behind that of White America. We hope that the
next four years will be a step forward, but the last forty years has
shown how the masses of Blacks can be left behind even while there is
increasingly a well publicized Black elite. Without a systematic
address of the racial wealth divide we believe this disappointing
trend will continue.
The space for the legacy of Kwame Ture and Black radicalism as a
whole is the same as it has always been. It is a space of struggle,
of challenging popular convention, and it is the space for those who
refuse to be silent in the face of injustice. 10 years after his
death, we both try to stand in the space made by people like Kwame
Ture and recognize that the legacy he represents is needed more than
ever before.
--
Bokar Ture graduated from the University of Virginia majoring in
Economics and African American Studies. He then received a Masters in
Development Studies from the London School of Economic. Bokar
currently works for the African Development Bank and resides in
Tunis, Tunisia.
Dedrick Muhammad is the author of the report "40 Years Later: The
Unrealized American Dream." He work for the Institute for Policy
Studies as part of the Inequality and the Common Good project.
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