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Originally Posted by Kefentse_Bandele  Let's see now, we have many organizations and individuals who fight for the civil and international issues of Black people. The issue of today is criticizing without self critique. I have listened as brothers and sista's alike complain about the direction and tactics of Reverend Al Sharpton and Reverend Jesse Jackson as well as the N.A.A.C.P. and the Urban League. My question to them is; what are your tactics? And why do they feel the need to come to your city to protest or fight for injustices? It's simple...it's because you are not there. |
I too have criticized, not because I did not believe that their intentions had never been pure. But I simply never trusted things when they seemed to get "fishy". For many, if the path is not completely grass rooted from start to finish, it is not right. I stepped away from this philosophy a while back when I was living in Florida. It was then that I realized that there are no pure tactics. We lost a lot of support from conscious brothers and sisters who did not realize it is damn near impossible to do everything grassroots because educating our people is just the beginning. Changes can be made within us, but there are bigger things to tackle.
The way I see things is that every group of people except for African people were and still are supporting their own. In Florida it was Cubans for the Cubans, Jews for the Jews, and African people simply consumed everyone else’s ideals and products without producing any pure philosophy for themselves, or product for themselves. I can remember a brother storming out of a meeting because of some local radio interviews and a local cable show interview that he felt he did not want to be associated with. Why are we turning to the tell lye vision people etc. Claiming that "we" are getting lost and simply criticizing the tactics we choose to use in order to continue our efforts. When another brother produced a documentary, a sister left because it included an interview with himself conducted by a white. She didn't realize how vital that interview was to the overall meaning of the documentary, all she saw was what she wanted to see, not the intentions that he was trying to bring about. I remember when I was like 12 or 13, I was sick and home from school. I just so happened to catch Donahue with Khalid Abdul Muhammad. A family member was very upset, claiming that he was wrong for saying this and wrong for saying that. Not realizing that not only was the brother valid in his details but not everyone is going to march peacefully. On the other hand, for a long time I had a “preference” for Malcom X over Dr. King because I he wanted our people to be peaceful when I felt they should have been displaying outrage and, he was a christian. I was ignorant in doing so, because I was not there and still gained so much from this honorable ancestor’s effort. I am sure Dr. King tried to utilize tactics that were safest for him and his supporters; and they were appropriate considering the overt racism and discrimination that was dominate. We have to realize that liberation can come in all shapes and forms. I may not agree with all of our black leaders but I try to look for the positive, rather then negative aspects of their efforts. Most of all, they need our support. If you can do better, then tell me, tell him...and let us get things started.