In the Remembrance of Our Slain Freedom-Fighting Ancestor Al Hajj Malik Al Shabazz (Malcolm X)

by Kenny Anderson

May 19^th is Malcolm X birthday – a Black Holiday celebrating his life and legacy. In paying tribute to Brother Malcolm X I took quote excerpts from Brother Malcolm’s speech "The Ballot or the Bullet" delivered at King Solomon Baptist Church, Detroit, Michigan - April 12, 1964. In Malcolm’s speech quotes he provides us with the wisdom and principles of Unity & Black Nationalism as the basis for self-determination to achieve Black Power today. 

Brother Malcolm’s wisdom quotes provides clarity today in the midst of dead-end Black religious debates saturated on Youtube between Christians, Muslims, Nation of Islam, Moorish Science Temple, Hebrew Israelites, Kemites, etc. These constant self-righteous religious sectarian debates fosters disunity creating confusion on who the primary enemy is which aids the overall divide and conquer strategy of white supremacy!
  

Let us reflect deeply on Brother Malcolm’s following quotes:

“I am a Muslim minister. The same as they are Christian ministers, I'm a Muslim minister. And I don't believe in fighting today on any one front, but on all fronts. In fact, I'm a Black Nationalist freedom fighter. Islam is my religion but I believe my religion is my personal business. It governs my personal life, my personal morals. And my religious philosophy is personal between me and the God in whom I believe, just as the religious philosophy of these others is between them and the God in whom they believe. And this is best this way. Were we to come out here discussing religion, we'd have too many differences from the out start and we could never get together.”

“So today, though Islam is my religious philosophy, my political, economic and social philosophy is Black nationalism. As I say, if we bring up religion, we'll have differences, we'll have arguments, and we'll never be able to get together. But if we keep our religion at home, keep our religion in the closet, keep our religion between ourselves and our God, but when we come out here we have a fight that's common to all of us against an enemy who is common to all of us. “

“The political philosophy of Black nationalism only means that the black man should control the politics and the politicians in his own community. The time when white people can come in our community and get us to vote for them so that they can be our political leaders and tell us what to do and what not to do is long gone.”

“By the same token, the time when that same white man, knowing that your eyes are too far open, can send another Negro in the community, and get you and me to support him, so that he can use him to lead us astray, those days are long gone too.”

“The political philosophy of Black nationalism only means that if you and I are going to live in a Black community and that's where we're going to live, 'cause as soon as you move into one of their soon as you move out of the Black community into their community, it's mixed for a period of time, but they're gone and you're right there all by yourself again.”

“We must, we must understand the politics of our community and we must know what politics is supposed to produce. We must know what part politics play in our lives. And until we become politically mature, we will always be misled, led astray, or deceived or maneuvered into supporting someone politically who doesn't have the good of our community at heart. So the political philosophy of Black nationalism only means that we will have to carry on a program, a political program, of reeducation to open our people's eyes, make us become more politically conscious, politically mature. And then, we will - whenever we are ready to cast our ballot, that ballot will be cast for a man of the community, who has the good of the community at heart.”

“The economic philosophy of Black nationalism only means that we should own and operate and control the economy of our community. You would never have found—you can't open up a black store in a white community. White man won't even patronize you. And he's not wrong. He got sense enough to look out for himself. It's you who don't have sense enough to look out for yourself.”

"The white man, the white man is too intelligent to let someone else come and gain control of the economy of his community. But you will let anybody come in and control the economy of your community, control the housing, control the education, control the jobs, control the businesses, under the pretext that you want to integrate. Nah, you're out of your mind.”

“The political and the economic philosophy of Black nationalism only means that we have to become involved in a program of reeducation, to educate our people into the importance of knowing that when you spend your dollar out of the community in which you live, the community in which you spend your money becomes richer and richer, the community out of which you take your money becomes poorer and poorer. And because these Negroes, who have been misled, misguided, are breaking their necks to take their money and spend it with the Man, the Man is becoming richer and richer, and you're becoming poorer and poorer. And then what happens? The community in which you live becomes a slum. It becomes a ghetto. The conditions become rundown. And then you have the audacity to complain about poor housing in a rundown community, while you're running down yourselves when you take your dollar out.”

“And you and I are in a double trap because not only do we lose by taking our money someplace else and spending it, when we try and spend it in our own community we're trapped because we haven't had sense enough to set up stores and control the businesses of our community. The man who is controlling the stores in our community is a man who doesn't look like we do. He's a man who doesn't even live in the community. So you and I, even when we try and spend our money on the block where we live or the area where we live, we're spending it with a man who, when the sun goes down, takes that basket full of money in another part of the town.”

“So we're trapped, trapped, double-trapped, triple-trapped. Any way we go, we find that we're trapped. Any every kind of solution that someone comes up with is just another trap. But the political and economic philosophy of Black nationalism; the economic philosophy of Black nationalism shows our people the importance of setting up these little stores, and developing them and expanding them into larger operations. Woolworth didn't start out big like they are today; they started out with a dime store, and expanded, and expanded, and expanded until today they are all over the country and all over the world and they getting some of everybody's money.”

“So our people not only have to be reeducated to the importance of supporting black business, but the Black man himself has to be made aware of the importance of going into business. And once you and I go into business, we own and operate at least the businesses in our community. What we will be doing is developing a situation, wherein, we will actually be able to create employment for the people in the community. And once you can create some employment in the community where you live, it will eliminate the necessity of you and me having to act ignorantly and disgracefully, boycotting and picketing some cracker someplace else trying to beg him for a job. Anytime you have to rely upon your enemy for a job, you're in bad shape.”

“Whether you are a Christian or a Muslim or a nationalist, we all have the same problem. They don't hang you because you're a Baptist; they hang you 'cause you're Black. They don't attack me because I'm a Muslim. They attack me 'cause I'm Black. They attacked all of us for the same reason. All of us catch hell from the same enemy. We're all in the same bag, in the same boat. We suffer political oppression, economic exploitation and social degradation. All of 'em from the same enemy.” 

“So this government has failed us. The government itself has failed us. And the white liberals who have been posing as our friends have failed us. And once we see that all of these other sources to which we've turned have failed, we stop turning to them and turn to ourselves. We need a self-help program, a do-it-yourself philosophy, a do-it-right-now philosophy, a it's-already-too-late philosophy. This is what you and I need to get with. And the only time – the only way we're going to solve our problem is with a self-help program. Before we can get a self-help program started, we have to have a self-help philosophy. Black nationalism is a self-help philosophy.”

“What's so good about it – you can stay right in the church where you are and still take Black nationalism as your philosophy. You can stay in any kind of civic organization that you belong to and still take Black nationalism as your philosophy. You can be an atheist and still take Black nationalism as your philosophy. This is a philosophy that eliminates the necessity for division and argument, 'cause if you're black, you should be thinking Black. And if you're Black and you not thinking Black at this late date, well, I'm sorry for you.”

“So I say in my conclusion, the only way we're going to solve it: we got to unite. We got to work together in unity and harmony. And Black nationalism is the key. How we gonna overcome the tendency to be at each other's throats that always exists in our neighborhood? And the reason this tendency exists – the strategy of the white man has always been divide and conquer. He keeps us divided in order to conquer us. He tells you, I'm for separation and you for integration, and keep us fighting with each other. No, I'm not for separation and you're not for integration, what you and I are for is freedom. Only, you think that integration will get you freedom; I think that separation will get me freedom. We both got the same objective, we just got different ways of getting' at it." 

Beyond Berets: The Black Panthers as Health Activists

by Mary Bassett, MD, MPH

It has been 50 years since the Black Panther Party was founded by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale in Oakland, California. Today the organization is remembered for its black-clad, black-bereted members in disciplined formation, bearing arms. 

These are compelling images, but they in no way capture the organization’s historical significance or its lasting contribution to public health. These iconic images provide opportunities to tell unfinished stories.

Fifty years is a long time to wait to restore the Black Panther Party’s image to reflect its full and lasting legacy. This legacy should acknowledge that, in just a few years, the Party rapidly extended its initial commitment to armed self-defense against police violence to mobilization against a more ambitiously framed concept of violence. 

In this broader view, lack of adequate housing, education, and jobs were also forms of violence. And the Party proclaimed its obligation to act against these injuries as well. Protection came in the form of programs, not guns. 

In expanding its perspective beyond the problem of police violence to the far-reaching consequences of racism in everyday life, the Party aligned itself with progressive forces such as the civil rights and women’s movements in the United States, and liberation movements in Africa and Asia.

The Party took up the right to health. It would be a mischaracterization to see the Party’s range of activities as a cobbled-together, mismatched chimera—part paramilitary and part social work. 

Rather, its vision hewed closely to the fundamentally radical idea that achieving health for all demands a more just and equitable world. To model ways in which such a world might work, the Black Panthers opened free health clinics across the country. Eventually 13 were established.

The Black Panther Party clinics were part of a movement to deliver community-based health care that had roots in the civil rights movement, which gave rise to the Medical Committee for Human Rights.

In 1965, two physician-activists—H. Jack Geiger and Count D. Gibson Jr—opened the first US community health centers in Boston, Massachusetts, and Mount Bayou, Mississippi. Geiger and Gibson believed that health could not be fully achieved without addressing poverty.

The Black Panther Party took the argument one step further, articulating that the failure to address poverty (and oppression and unemployment and lack of adequate education and housing) were causes of poor health.

The Black Panthers emerged as champions of health as a human right: first for Blacks and later more broadly for the poor. Its first guiding document—the “Ten Point Program” issued in 1966—did not mention health. But by 1970, following a call from leadership to establish free clinics, the Ten Point Program was modified. 

In 1972, health was formally added as the sixth point:

WE WANT COMPLETELY FREE HEALTH CARE FOR ALL BLACK AND OPPRESSED PEOPLE

We believe that the government must provide, free of charge, for the people, health facilities which will not only treat our illnesses, most of which have come about as a result of our oppression, but which will also develop preventive medical programs to guarantee our future survival.

Additionally, the revised Ten Point Program now referred to “Black and oppressed people,” not just Blacks. Looking back, the Ten Point Program shares both language and sentiment with the US Declaration of Independence, from which it quoted, and with the African National Congress Freedom Charter, articulated in 1955 to guide the next nearly 40 years of its 80-year fight against South African apartheid. 

The Freedom Charter proclaimed that government would be responsible for free health care, both preventive and curative. The Black Panther Party was the second step on my path to public health. The first was a summer job after high school. I worked as a census taker in West Harlem, New York, in 1970, collecting data the old-fashioned way: going door-to-door. 

As a college student, I volunteered at the Party’s Boston Franklin Lynch Peoples’ Free Health Center in Roxbury, Massachusetts sited to block construction of a proposed highway. It took its name from a young man who died at the hands of police, reportedly shot dead while hospitalized.

I was not a Party member, but as a volunteer I was given assignments. The first was to schedule doctors, all of whom were also volunteers, to staff clinic hours. Later, I would learn that they were all well-regarded academics from prominent Boston-area medical schools. I am sure they were busy, but I cajoled, bullied, and begged.

Then I got a better assignment: to run the sickle cell screening program. The Black Panther Party learned that sickle cell anemia was a neglected genetic disease—neglected because most of those affected were of African descent. 

Although it had been described in 1910, it attracted little public attention and even less funding. Treatment was extremely limited, as it is to this day. There was a rapid screening test based on a simple finger stick, but the test was not widely employed. The Black Panther Party rectified this government failure to act by setting up a national screening program.

I recruited Boston-area premed students to perform the screening test. Panther members leafleted public housing buildings the night before, and each Saturday a group of a dozen doctors-to-be fanned out, wearing white jackets, to offer testing in people’s homes. 

Area hospitals provided follow-up for those who screened positive. The sickle cell screening program was a lesson in community health that has never left me. It was more than just a service—it was an organizing tool.

That more than a dozen Panther Party members remain imprisoned five decades later has more to do with this legacy of addressing systemic inequity than with the berets and guns that so effectively propelled these beautiful, young Black people into public view. 

In Stanley Nelson’s 2015 documentary “Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution,” a former leading Panther member Ericka Huggins noted smilingly, “We had swag.” They also unleashed a staggering government response, including the reprehensible intervention of J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI in the form of the now infamous COINTELPRO that saw the leadership arrested, jailed, and killed.

While the Black Panther Party eventually disbanded in 1982, it popularized a set of beliefs that identified health as a social justice issue for Blacks and influenced public health to this day. 

The Black Panther Party's militancy, blending science with community engagement, resonates today under the banner of #BlackLivesMatter. That health is a right, not a privilege, remains true. It is a proud legacy, one built by many, still unachieved, and still worth fighting for today.

White Supremacy Paternalism the Foundation of Race Relations and Black Approval Seeking Behavior - Our Need to Have Validation From the Oppressor, Its a Shame!

by Kenny Anderson

One key aspect of white supremacy is ‘paternalism’ the originating relationship from the slave plantation that Blacks both young and old were property defined, viewed, and treated as slave children of the slave master ‘white godfather’ (creator and destroyer). 

In the paternalistic society of the plantation the white male slave owners were the godlike fathers of their families and all of their slaves and their white wives were the slaves mothers.

On the plantation grown enslaved Blacks were ‘boys’ and ‘girls’ and if they were thought to be ‘super-loyal’ they were at best called ‘uncle’ and ‘aunt’; indeed grown enslaved children needed approval from their slave parents at all times!

The white slave-holding parents determined who were ‘good niggers’ (approved) and ‘bad niggers’ (disapproved). The white racist paternalists use the Bible as the text for Black approval seeking behavior - 'God approved slavery and disapproved disobeying the slave-master'.

Black folks are still viewed as dependent grown-children today and white fathers and mothers still knows what’s best in every aspect of our lives; they authorize, legitimize, credential, certify, verify, sanctify, employ, and approve us! White paternalism dictates what Black leaders we should follow; white paternalism knows best how we should even bury are dead!

White Paternalism and Aretha Franklin’s Funeral

Aretha Franklin’s funeral what was meant to be a final tribute to the Queen of Soul however it was labeled controversial by white paternalism media because it was disapproved.

The so-called controversies ranged from Bishop Charles H. Ellis III alleged groping of Ariana Grande and his 'Taco Bell' comment, Louis Farakahn being present on the stage, speakers highlighting racism – criticizing president Trump, to the eulogy of Rev. Jasper Williams, Jr.’s sermon about 'Black America Losing Its Soul'.

White paternalism wanted an approved funeral to focus solely on Aretha Franklin as the ‘Queen of Soul’, for whites she was 'their girl' so just focus on her amazing voice that entertained them; ex-president Bill Clinton said one of the main reasons he came to the funeral was he wanted to see what type of sharp clothes 'his girl' was buried in; whites didn’t want to hear anything ‘disapproved’ about Aretha Franklin the ‘Soul-Sista’ who supported the Black struggle against racism.

The white paternalists wanted to preapprove the Black folks who could attend Aretha's funeral. White paternalism was particularly outraged that Louis Farakahn was present at Aretha’s funeral despite the fact he knew her for over 30 years; they were outraged that Farrakhan was given a position of prominence sitting next to ex-president Bill Clinton.

White paternalism and some Black women did not like some of the comments from Jasper Williams eulogy; Williams was blasted because be said Black mothers could not fully raise their sons to be Black men; he was blasted for misogyny, bigotry, and the perpetuation of false science on race.

White liberal paternalists blasted Williams for blaming integration and the civil rights movement for ripping the heart out of Black micro-economies that once relied on Black-owned small businesses such as grocery stores, hotels, and banks.

What must become crystal-clear to Black folks from birth to death is that white paternalism - white liberals, white conservatives, white socialists, white pastors, white gays, white feminists, white anybody knows what’s best for us! Everybody and their mama had something to say about Aretha Franklin’s funeral - so did every race.

When whites have funerals, when Arabs have funerals, when Asians have funerals, when East Indians have funerals, and when Hispanics have funerals Black folks don’t really have nothing to say about how these funerals are conducted and who attends!

When whites bury their celebrities Black folks don’t really have nothing to say! Black folks didn’t really have nothing to say about republican senators John McCain’s funeral! Black folks aint gone have nothing to say about how Burt Reynolds funeral is going to be conducted!

White Paternalism and Black Approval Seeking Behavior

As Black folks are whole life since slavery we’ve been forcibly socialized and propagandized by white paternalism to seek their approval. Whether we want to admit it or not approval seeking is deep-seated in our minds and souls. This need for white approval is strong - it’s a self-limiting driving force in us; when we aren’t met with white approval we don’t feel accepted, safe, and protected.

I constantly hear many Black folks preface “I don’t want to sound racist” when addressing Black specific issues especially when whites are around; this preface really is an ‘apology’ to avoid whites disapproval, ridicule, or rejection; in so many instances we've become Black 'apologists' who continue to 'back-peddle' and 'moon-walk'!

Black approval seeking behavior is a need for ‘white validation’ which constantly erodes our self-worth, self-confidence, and self-determination. Black approval seeking behavior helps us to avoid seeing and addressing racist white oppression; it temporarily helps us cover up the unpleasantness of racism; this cover-up and denial tends to be distressing producing injurious health problems like hypertension and ulcers. Black approval seeking behavior results in shame-based living.

Approval Seeking Behavior and Shame-Based Living

Often today when I visit family, relatives, and friends and bring up any discussion of racist Black oppression, folks get immediately uncomfortable and defensive, some will even say I don’t want to talk about ‘that Black stuff’, some are even harsher saying I don’t want to hear that ‘Black shit’. I tell them you don’t want to talk about Black stuff because whites disapprove of it; but you talk about white approved Black shit like gossip and sports.

I tell them that you won’t hear white people say I don’t want to hear that 'white stuff' when it comes to their issues; you won’t hear Middle Easterners say I don’t want to hear that ‘Arab shit’. This attitude of 'not trying to hear no Black stuff' is shameful; shame in the sense of not addressing the varied problematic socioeconomic issues that we face due to racism; shame of not being responsible to ourselves; shame of not doing what we should be doing.

Unconsciously, Black folks are ashamed ‘covering up' - avoiding discussing their experiences with racism in the present or past; the roots of the word shame derives from a word that means ‘to cover’. Black shame is similar to wanting to hide our faces behind our hands, wearing a mask desperately trying to 'escape' from dealing with racism or 'pretending' that everything is okay. The more powerful our experiences of shame are, the more we need to hide those aspects from others and even from ourselves.

You won’t find 'disorders of shame' as a category in the DSM-5 (the official American manual for mental health diagnoses), and yet shame is probably the biggest single driving cause of most Black psychological problems - an ongoing source influence of 'internalize oppression'.

Excessive feelings of shame are at the heart of much Black psychopathology. It is concealed behind guilt; it fosters low self-esteem; it lurks behind anger; it fuels Black-on-Black violence; it can be disguised as despair and depression; its demoralizing and breeds apathy; it influences addictions and suicides.

Many Black people with shame develop an obsession with becoming someone other than who they are 'wanting to be white approved' – being validated in some form or fashion. Their entire life becomes a flight from self and a desire to merge with the ideal white image standard by altering themselves. They want to be free from Blackness and embarrassing traits, but can only hope to achieve this by cutting off a part of who they are.

Unfortunately, the distancing solution they are seeking - the problem they are trying to escape are two sides of the same coin. The more they pursue to become other than their Black self, the more they increase their judgment on who they really are. Shame and the pursuit of overcoming shame are thus often one and the same.

Moreover, Black shame may lead a Black person to make negative attributions about other Blacks that are disguised attempts to restore a positive self-view or hide negative self-perceptions in order to escape shame's self-diminishing effects. Thus a Black person attempts to bolster their own view of themselves by finding flaws in others so that they become the ones who are shameful.

This view of flaws in other Blacks also has collective self-sabotaging consequences; it fosters doubt and distrust that undermines racial 'Unity' preventing us from uniting to struggle for 'political self-determination' and 'economic self-reliance'.

Countering Black shame-based living is the process of transforming daily who one is and how one feels about oneself; it doesn’t come from changing who one is, but rather from truly embracing, knowing, becoming, developing, actualizing, and honoring who one is.

Countering Black shame-based living is to reject white paternalism and rid ourselves from approval seeking behavior by becoming unapologetically Black and self-validating!

Aretha Franklin: Not Just the Queen of Soul But Also a 'Soul-Sista'

by Kenny Anderson

Aretha Franklin the legendary Black musical icon recently passed away at the age of 76 in Detroit, Michigan. From my perspective Aretha Franklin was more than a singing legend - the ‘Queen of Soul’ she was also a ‘Soul Sista’ – a talented Black woman who raised her voice and supported Black freedom.

Soul Sista Aretha learned supporting Black freedom from her father Reverend Clarence L. Franklin who was a good friend of Martin Luther King Jr. Franklin pastor of New Bethel Baptist Church (Detroit, MI) organized the 1963 ‘Detroit Walk to Freedom’ ahead of Dr. King’s March on Washington. 

Also in 1963 Reverend Franklin with the cooperation of Reverend Albert Cleage of the Shrine of the Black Madonna Church held an organizational meeting of new younger Black Power groups at New Bethel.

This new generation of younger Black leaders in Detroit demanded a much more rapid dismantling of the traditional racial hierarchy. These groups consisted of GOAL (Group for the Advancement of Leadership), UHURU (founded by Wayne State students who used this Swahili word for their organization); the Detroit chapter of SNCC (Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee) and RAM (Revolutionary Action Movement). 

These groups demanded control of the institutions that determined the fate of Detroit's Black communities. Several of their leaders, especially Robert F. Williams of RAM and the SNCC leaders advocated using violence if necessary to secure Black control of Detroit.

In 1969, Reverend Franklin allowed the Republic of New Africa (RNA) to celebrate their first organization anniversary at New Bethel Church. The RNA’s meeting was adjourning about midnight when two Detroit police officers saw a dozen or so apparently armed men in camaflogue walking in front of the church. They stopped to investigate aggressively and an encounter occurred resulting in one officer being shot to death and the other officer was wounded but managed to call for back up. 

Twenty minutes later, 50 Detroit police officers attempted to enter New Bethel; the commanding officer claimed the police were fired upon as their tried to enter the church. Once they broke down the door, the police claim they came under rifle fire from the altar and sniper fire from the loft. These claims were disputed.

The police arrested 142 inside the church, found 9 rifles, three pistols and ammunition. Reverend Franklin instantly alerted Blacks who had risen to positions of power: State Senator James Del Rio and Recorders Court Judge George Crockett. 

Judge Crockett was not certain that the Detroit police would treat the Blacks arrested well so he went to the lockup and established a temporary court room where he began releasing those who were arrested, either on small bonds or on personal recognizance. 

Judge Crockett released many but not all of those arrested, including some that had tested positive for nitrate burns. Judge Crockett also criticized police procedures and thus invalidated their right to hold those arrested at New Bethel. Reverend Franklin never apologized for the New Bethel incident. Indeed, he said that RNA would be welcome to meet at his church again, but he would prohibit guns.

Aretha Franklin and Black Freedom

Growing up with a father like C.L Franklin it’s not surprising that Aretha Franklin would often use her talents to help further the civil rights movement and Black freedom, even going so far as to tour with Dr. King and fellow singer/activist, Harry Belafonte. Reverend Jesse Jackson said:

“When Dr. King was alive, several times Aretha helped us make payroll, on one occasion, we took an 11-city tour with her as Aretha Franklin and Harry Belafonte and they put gas in the vans. She did 11 concerts for free and hosted us at her home and did a fundraiser for my campaign. Aretha has always been a very socially conscious artist, an inspiration, not just an entertainer. She has shared her points of view from the stage for challenged people, to register to vote, to stand up for decency.”

In 1967, Aretha Franklin released “Respect,” arguably one of her most famous songs that became an anthem for the racial and gendered political movements of the time. In her memoir Aretha ‘From These Roots’ she stated: 

“Respect reflected the need of a nation, the need of the average man and woman in the street, the businessman, the mother, the fireman, the teacher - everyone wanted respect. It was also one of the battle cries of the civil rights movement. The song took on monumental significance.” 

When Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968 Aretha Franklin sang “Take My Hand, Precious Lord,” at King’s funeral. Dr. King once stated that “the ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” 

In 1970 one of the most prescient examples of Aretha Franklin’s character and commitment to Black freedom was her controversial support for jailed revolutionary activist and scholar Angela Davis offering to post her bail. Davis was a member of the Communist Party and accused of assisting in a courtroom takeover in Marin County California to liberate imprisoned Black revolutionary George Jackson that ended in four deaths. 

Aretha Franklin got a lot of flack from supporting Davis but she did not back down! In an interview with Jet, Franklin advocated for not only Davis but for Black liberation, Franklin stated:

“Angela Davis must go free! Black people will be free! I’ve been locked up for disturbing the peace in Detroit and I know you got to disturb the peace when you can’t get no peace. Jail is hell to be in, I’m going to see her free if there is any justice in our courts, not because I believe in communism, but because she’s a Black woman and she wants freedom for Black people. I have the money; I got it from Black people they’ve made me financially able to have it and I want to use it in ways that will help our people.”

Aretha Franklin will forever be remembered as the legendary Queen of Soul, a six decade career during which she won 18 Grammy awards and the first woman to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. 

The white mainstream media will blow up and reinforce Aretha Franklin’s singing legacy reducing her simply as the ‘Queen of Soul’, but the conscious Black community must promote and celebrate Aretha Franklin’s other loftier legacy as a ‘Soul Sista’ who used both her voice and celebrity platform to advocate for Black freedom.

Michigan African-American Leadership Summit Affinity Groups

by Kenny Anderson

Mutual assistance and self-help have been cornerstones of the African American community historically, W E. B. Du Bois called them "the first wavering step of a people toward organized social life." 

The development of mutual aid societies were the result of material necessity under slavery; they represented an organized desire for freedom and self-determination.

Some believe that Black Mutual Aid Societies were also influenced by African retentions of the West African concept of ‘Sou-Sou’ derived from the Yoruba word ‘Esusu’ which means a cooperative mutual arrangement. During slavery the ‘Underground Railroad’ was an abolitionalist Mutual Aid Society model for Black freedom.

After slavery Mutual Aid Societies sought to promote education and job training, especially for newly arrived African Americans, freemen and fugitive slaves. The earliest mutual assistance societies among free blacks provided a form of health and life insurance for their members - care of the sick, burials for the dead, and support for widows and orphans.

Blacks took pride in being self-reliant through Mutual Aid Societies; they understood clearly they could not rely on whites for aid including the American government; they clearly understood the Southern white motto of "Nigger root, hog, or die a poor pig." 

Through monthly membership dues, mutual aid societies dispensed sick benefits and funeral benefits while also serving as a network for jobs and businesses. Such groups promoted African-American political interests by supporting each other financially while constructing a sense of kinship.

Michigan African American Leadership Summit (MAALS) Affinity Groups a Contemporary Expression of Mutual Aid Societies

Affinity groups are simple; they are a vehicle for progressive Black people to do things together to advance self-determination. Things like organizing around specific issues, reading and discussing texts, building block-clubs, engaging in a demonstration, planning Black History Month or Kwanza activities, learning a skill together, or working on a publication.

The basic formula for Affinity Groups is talking and engaging with your like-minded folks; survey the particular situations you’re in and take action or form projects that are timely and relevant to your group. ‘Affinity’ means closeness, those who form an affinity group often already share ideas, strategies, and goals.  

An affinity group is an informal convergence of Black people who choose to struggle together, usually consisting of two to ten people; being small in number often allows for faster responses to spontaneous events as they occur.

The uniqueness of each group means that they follow paths of their own choosing, experimenting with actions that are specific to their shared skills and desires without seeking permission from a larger decision-making body.

When coordination is needed on a larger scale, affinity groups strategize and work together. One model for this is the ‘Affinities Coordinating Council’ (ACC) that can be established locally or statewide where affinity groups can converge for discussion, each appointing one person to temporarily represent their group. The ACC is not a decision-making body it's a recommendation entity, so it doesn’t come to any binding conclusions that each affinity group is expected to follow.

Our recommendation for unifying Affinity Groups is the MAALS ‘19 Basic Rules for Black Unity, Survival, and Progress’ that’s spelled-out on the left side of our blog site. 

People come together as an affinity group to act, not necessarily to grow the group through recruitment. An affinity group doesn’t even have to be political - they can focus just on Black health issues; they can exist for a long time or form temporarily to accomplish one task or many. 

If an Affinity Group weakens people can leave the group or choose to dissolve it altogether. There are no membership lists, and the organization of the group can be minimal.

If you are newly interested in Black self-determination or experienced and live in the state of Michigan MAALS encourages you to initiate an Affinity Group to address issues in your local area. 

MAALS Pontiac Heritage Influenced by Malcolm X Through Milton Henry

by Kenny Anderson

The Michigan African American Leadership Summit (MAALS) developed out of the Pontiac Black Activists League (PBAL) and the National African American Leadership Summit (NAALS). Some of us as MAALS leaders like myself and Quincy Stewart are from Pontiac, MI and We are mindful of our progressive Malcolm X influenced heritage through Milton Henry from Pontiac, Michigan.

Henry was an attorney and former Pontiac City Councilman and was a close associate of Malcolm X. Henry was a proponent of Malcolm’s philosophy - he was a member of the Malcolm X Society and GOAL (Group on Advanced Leadership).

Photo of Milton Henry and Malcolm X

Milton Henry interviews Malcolm X (April 12, 1964) discussing with him the Organization of African American Unity memorandum:

Milton Henry: Once again the GOAL Show microphones have with us our brother, Malcolm X. This time we are on the other side of the world. We're at Cairo, Egypt, where the independent African states have met in serious confrontation for the last week. One of the significant additions to the confrontation here was the presence of Malcolm X as a black American delegate to the conference of black peoples here in Africa. Malcolm, would you tell us something about the conference? First of all, we'd like to know about your appearance how did it happen that you as an American were permitted to appear at this conference of African people?

Malcolm X: First, I want to point out that we are sitting here along the banks of the Nile, and the last time I spoke to you we were in Harlem. Here along the banks of the Nile it's not much different from Harlem same people, same feeling, same pulse.

About my appearing here at the conference: At first it did create a great deal of controversy, and, as you probably know, apprehension on the part of the powers that be in America, because they realize that if any direct contact, communication and understanding and working agreement are ever developed between the 22 million or 30 million Afro-Americans and the Africans here on the continent, there's nothing we couldn't accomplish. When I arrived here, there was a great deal of publicity in all of the press over here concerning my coming. It was historic in a sense because no American Negroes had ever made any effort in the past to try and get their problems placed in the same category as the African problems, nor had they tried to internationalize it. So this was something new, it was unique, and everyone wondered what the reaction of the Africans would be.

It is true that at first there were stumbling blocks placed in my path in regards to being accepted into the conference, or into the meetings. But I'd rather not say what happened in specific details. Thanks to Allah, I was admitted as an observer and I was able to submit a memorandum to each one of the heads of state, which was read and thoroughly analyzed by them. It pointed out the conditions of our people in America and the necessity of something being done and said at this conference toward letting the world know, at least letting the United States know, that our African brothers over here identified themselves with our problems in the States.

Milton Henry: Now, Malcolm, I have read the speech [memorandum] which was presented. Basically, as you say, it did deal with the abuses that the American Negroes have suffered in America and it asked the consideration of the African states of this problem. Now, will you tell us, was this actually passed upon, and did any action come out of the Cairo conference with reference to the American Negro?

Malcolm X: Yes, a resolution came out, acknowledging the fact that America has passed a civil-rights bill, but at the same time pointing out that, despite the passage of the civil-rights bill, continued abuses of the human rights of the black people in America still existed. And it called upon I forget the wording; when I read the resolution it was 2:30 in the morning, under very adverse conditions; but I was so happy to read it. In essence, I remember that it outright condemned the racism that existed in America and the continued abuses that our people suffered despite the passage of the civil-rights bill. It was a very good resolution.

Milton Henry: In other words, this type of resolution coming out of a conference of thirty-four African states should certainly make the United States take a new look at the American Negro?

Malcolm X: Well, I have to say this that the United States has been looking at the American Negro. When I arrived here I did a great deal of lobbying. I had to do a great deal of lobbying between the lobby of the Hotel Hilton, the lobby of the Shepherd and even the lobby of the " Isis," the ship where the African liberation movement was housed. Lobbying was necessary because the various agencies that the United States has abroad had success fully convinced most Africans that the American Negro in no way identified with Africa, and that the African would be foolish to involve himself in the problems of the American Negroes. And some African leaders were saying this.

So in the memorandum I submitted to them at the conference I pointed out to them that as independent heads of states we looked upon them as the shepherds not only of the African people on the continent, but all people of African descent abroad; and that a good shepherd is more concerned with the sheep that have gone astray and fallen into the hands of the imperialist wolf than the sheep that are still at home. That the 22 million or 30 million, whatever the case may be, Afro-Americans in the United States were still Africans, and that we felt that the African heads of state were as much responsible for us as they were responsible for the people right here on the continent. This was a sort of a challenge to them and I think that most of them realize it today, more so than they did prior to the conference.

Milton Henry: Malcolm, I think you are to be greatly applauded because actually you were the only American recognized as a participant of the conference, and of course you had the badge which permitted you access to all of the rooms and so forth. The Americans here, including myself, did not have that privilege, but you had the privilege of actually being with the other black brothers. I had the feeling that there will be a great change in emphasis because you have been here, and because you presented our position the position of the black man in America so well, in a way that no one but an American could.

Malcolm X: One thing that made most Africans see the necessity of their intervening on our behalf was [their learning a bit of] the historic steps since 1939 in the so-called rise of the black American. It was the world pressure, brought about by Hitler, that enabled the Negro to rise above where he was [in 1939]. After Hitler was destroyed, there was the threat of Stalin, but it was always the world pressure that was upon America that enabled black people to go forward. It was not the initiative internally that the Negro put forth in America, nor was it a change of moral heart on the part of Uncle Sam it was world pressure.

Once this is realized as a basic fact, then the present American Negro leaders will be more aware that any gain, even in token form, that they get, isn't coming from any goodness out of Washington, D.C., or from their own initiative it is coming because of the international situation. And when they see it like this, in cold facts, then they will see the necessity of placing their problem at the world level, internationalizing the Negro struggle and calling upon our brothers and sisters in Africa and Asia and Latin America, and even in some of the European countries, to bring pressure upon the United States government in order to get our problems solved. And this was only the first of a series of steps that the OAAU has in mind to internationalize the black man's problem, and make it not a Negro problem or an American problem, but a world problem, a problem for humanity.

Milton Henry: I think of another real benefit from this conference, Malcolm. You are living in a very advantageous spot, because it so happens, as you intimated just a minute ago, that you are living with all of the freedom fighters from all of the liberated and un-liberated parts of the world down there on the " Isis" is that the name of the boat?

Malcolm X: Well, I don't know if I should say this, but it is true. The "Isis" a beautiful yacht that floats on the Nile River, was set aside for all the liberation movements that exist on the African continent. The leaders of these movements from places like Angola, the Angola freedom fighters; freedom fighters from Mozambique; freedom fighters from Zambia, known as Northern Rhodesia, which is just on its way toward independence; freedom fighters from Zimbabwe, known in America as Southern Rhodesia; freedom fighters from Southwest Africa; from Swaziland; Basutoland; and South Africa itself all of the representatives of these different groups of freedom fighters were housed on this yacht called the "Isis."

I was very honored to be permitted to be housed right along with them. Spending so much time with them gave me a real feeling of the pulse of a true revolutionary, and it gave me an opportunity also to listen to them tell of the real brutal atmosphere in which they live in these colonized areas. It also gave me somewhat of a better idea of our problem in America, and what is going to be necessary to bring an end to the brutality and the suffering that we undergo every day.

Milton Henry: I think that this is one of the advantages of a conference like the one we have just experienced. The fact is that it is important for people to get together to exchange ideas. Even apart from the speeches and the organizational activities which go on with the formal organization, it would seem that, as you indicated, the opportunity for the leaders of each of these parts of the world to get together becomes an invaluable asset to the total freedom struggle. Because without this, leaders very often feel they work by themselves; and with it, they can see the whole picture.

Malcolm X: Yes, this is one thing that I have learned since being out of the Black Muslim movement. It's difficult to look at a thing through the narrow scope of an organizational eye often times and see it in its proper perspective. If the various groups in America had been less selfish and had permitted different representatives from the groups to travel into foreign countries, and broaden their own scope, and come back and educate the movements they represented, not only would this have made the groups to which they belonged more enlightened and more worldly in the international sense, but it also would have given the independent African states abroad a better understanding of the groups in the United States, and what they stand for, what they represent.

In my opinion, a very narrow, backward, almost childish approach has been made by the groups in the United States, and especially the religious groups; very narrow minded. Whenever you belong to a group that just can't work with another group, then that group itself is selfish. Any group, any group that can't work with all other groups, if they are genuinely interested in solving the problems of the Negro collectively why, I don't think that that group is really sincerely motivated toward reaching a solution. This Organization of African Unity, this summit conference, is the best example of what can be accomplished when people come together and their motives aren't selfish.

Milton Henry: Yes, it doesn't seem that it should be so difficult for Negroes, if they are sincere, to get together.

Malcolm X: If they are sincere, it is easy for them to get together.

Milton Henry: Perhaps those leaders will be passed by now, in the events as they move forward. I am enthused about the OAAU, and I expect that there will be some very concrete things happening with respect to that organization that will make the so-called civil-rights movement just a thing of the past almost.

Malcolm X: Well, one of the main objectives of the OAAU is to join the civil-rights struggle and lift it above civil rights to the level of human rights. As long as our people wage a struggle for freedom and label it civil rights, it means that we are under the domestic jurisdiction of Uncle Sam continually, and no outside nation can make any effort whatsoever to help us. As soon as we lift it above civil rights to the level of human rights, the problem becomes internationalized; all of those who belong to the United Nations automatically can take sides with us and help us in condemning, at least charging, Uncle Sam with violation of our human rights.

Milton Henry: Yes, Malcolm, there is one other thing before we leave. What do you think of this city of Cairo?

Malcolm X: Cairo is probably one of the best examples for the American Negro. More so than any other city on the African continent, the people of Cairo look like the American Negroes in the sense that we have all complexions, we range in America from the darkest black to the lightest light, and here in Cairo it is the same thing; throughout Egypt, it is the same thing. All of the complexions are blended together here in a truly harmonious society. You know, if ever there was a people who should know how to practice brotherhood, it is the American Negro and it is the people of Egypt. Negroes just can't judge each other according to color, because we are all colors, all complexions. And as Mrs. W. E. B. DuBois pointed out, the problems today are too vast. Just as on the African continent, you have this wide range of complexions so much so that you can't call it a brown struggle, a red struggle, or a black struggle.

Milton Henry: By the way, Brother Malcolm, before we close, did you receive any promises of assistance or help from any of the African nations?

Malcolm X: Oh, yes, several of them promised officially that, come the next session of the UN, any effort on our part to bring our problem before the UN. I think it is the Commission on Human Rights will get support and help from them. They will assist us in showing us how to bring it up legally. So I am very, very happy over the whole result of my trip here.

Milton Henry: So this conference has been an unqualified success from all standpoints?

Malcolm X: From all standpoints it has been an unqualified success, and one which should change the whole direction of our struggle in America for human dignity as well as human rights.

Milton Henry: Thank you very much, Brother Malcolm.

Malcolm X's Organization of Afro-American Unity is Still and Effective Model For Black Empowerment and Self-determination

The development of the Michigan African American Leadership Summit (MAALS) was heavily influenced by Malcolm X’s Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU); John Henrik Clarke and other Black nationalist leaders assisted Malcolm X in developing the OAAU. For the past 4 decades the OAAU has been overlooked as a progressive self-reliant political model.

In 2017 Black folks are still floundering ‘disorganized’ in the midst of the current white backlash personified in ‘Trumpism’. Indeed, we believe the OAAU is still a relevant and effective template for Unity, Black empowerment, and Self-determination. The following is an address by Malcolm X introducing the OAAU:

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June 28, 1964

We, the members of the Organization of Afro-American Unity, gathered together in Harlem, New York:

Convinced that it is the inalienable right of all our people to control our own destiny;

Conscious of the fact that freedom, equality, justice and dignity are central objectives for the achievement of the legitimate aspirations of the people of African descent here in the Western Hemisphere, we will endeavor to build a bridge of understanding and create the basis for Afro-American unity;

Conscious of our responsibility to harness the natural and human resources of our people for their total advancement in all spheres of human endeavor;

Inspired by our common determination to promote understanding among our people and cooperation in all matters pertaining to their survival and advancement, we will support the aspirations of our people for brotherhood and solidarity in a larger unity transcending all organizational differences;

Convinced that, in order to translate this determination into a dynamic force in the cause of human progress conditions of peace and security must be established and maintained;

And by conditions of peace and security, we mean we have to eliminate the barking of the police dogs, we have to eliminate the police clubs, we have to eliminate the water hoses, we have to eliminate all of these things that have become so characteristic of the American so-called dream. These have to be eliminated. Then we will be living in a condition of peace and security. We can never have peace and security as long as one black man in this country is being bitten by a police dog. No one in the country has peace and security.

Dedicated to the unification of all people of African descent in this hemisphere and to the utilization of that unity to bring into being the organizational structure that will project the black people's contributions to the world;

Persuaded that the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights are the principles in which we believe and that these documents if put into practice represent the essence of mankind's hopes and good intentions;

Desirous that all Afro-American people and organizations should henceforth unite so that the welfare and well-being of our people will be assured;

We are resolved to reinforce the common bond of purpose between our people by submerging all of our differences and establishing a nonsectarian, constructive program for human rights;

We hereby present this charter.

I. Establishment

The Organization of Afro-American Unity shall include all people of African descent in the Western Hemisphere, as well as our brothers and sisters on the African continent.

Which means anyone of African descent, with African blood, can become a member of the Organization of Afro-American Unity and also any one of our brothers and sisters from the African continent. Because not only it is an organization of Afro-American unity meaning that we are trying to unite our people in the West but it's an organization of Afro-American unity in the sense that we want to unite all of our people who are in North America, South America, and Central America with our people on the African continent. We must unite together in order to go forward together. Africa will not go forward any faster than we will and we will not go forward any faster than Africa will. We have one destiny and we've had one past.

In essence what it is saying is instead of you and me running around here seeking allies in our struggle for freedom in the Irish neighborhood or the Jewish neighborhood or the Italian neighborhood, we need to seek some allies among people who look something like we do. It's time now for you and me to stop running away from the wolf right into the arms of the fox, looking for some kind of help. That's a drag.

II. Self Defense

Since self-preservation is the first law of nature, we assert the Afro-American's right to self-defense.

The Constitution of the United States of America clearly affirms the right of every American citizen to bear arms. And as Americans, we will not give up a single right guaranteed under the Constitution. The history of unpunished violence against our people clearly indicates that we must be prepared to defend ourselves or we will continue to be a defenseless people at the mercy of a ruthless and violent racist mob.

We assert that in those areas where the government is either unable or unwilling to protect the lives and property of our people, that our people are within our rights to protect themselves by whatever means necessary.

I repeat, because to me this is the most important thing you need to know. I already know it.

We assert that in those areas where the government is either unable or unwilling to protect the lives and property of our people, that our people are within our rights to protect themselves by whatever means necessary.

This is the thing you need to spread the word about among our people wherever you go. Never let them be brainwashed into thinking that whenever they take steps to see that they're in a position to defend themselves that they're being unlawful. The only time you're being unlawful is when you break the law. It's lawful to have something to defend yourself. Why, I heard President Johnson either today or yesterday, I guess it was today, talking about how quick this country would go to war to defend itself. Why, what kind of a fool do you look like, living in a country that will go to war at the drop of a hat to defend itself, and here you've got to stand up in the face of vicious police dogs and blue-eyed crackers waiting for somebody to tell you what to do to defend yourself!

Those days are over, they're gone, that's yesterday. The time for you and me to allow ourselves to be brutalized nonviolently is passe. Be nonviolent only with those who are nonviolent to you. And when you can bring me a nonviolent racist, bring me a nonviolent segregationist, then I'll get nonviolent. But don't teach me to be nonviolent until you teach some of those crackers to be nonviolent. You've never seen a nonviolent cracker. It's hard for a racist to be nonviolent. It's hard for anyone intelligent to be nonviolent. Everything in the universe does something when you start playing with his life, except the American Negro. He lays down and says, "Beat me, daddy."

So it says here: "A man with a rifle or a club can only be stopped by a person who defends himself with a rifle or a club." That's equality. If you have a dog, I must have a dog. If you have a rifle, I must have a rifle. If you have a club, I must have a club. This is equality. If the United States government doesn't want you and me to get rifles, then take the rifles away from those racists. If they don't want you and me to use clubs, take the clubs away from the racists. lf they don't want you and me to get violent, then stop the racists from being violent. Don't teach us nonviolence while those crackers are violent. Those days are over.

Tactics based solely on morality can only succeed when you are dealing with people who are moral or a system that is moral. A man or system which oppresses a man because of his color is not moral. It is the duty of every Afro-American person and every Afro-American community throughout this country to protect its people against mass murderers, against bombers, against lynchers, against floggers, against brutalizers and against exploiters.

I might say right here that instead of the various black groups declaring war on each other, showing how militant they can be cracking each other's heads, let them go down South and crack some of those crackers' heads. Any group of people in this country that has a record of having been attacked by racists and there's no record where they have ever given the signal to take the heads of some of those racists why, they are insane giving the signal to take the heads of some of their ex-brothers. Or brother X's, I don't know how you put that.

III. Education

Education is an important element in the struggle for human rights. It is the means to help our children and our people rediscover their identity and thereby increase their self-respect. Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs only to the people who prepare for it today.

And I must point out right there, when I was in Africa I met no African who wasn't standing with open arms to embrace any Afro-American who returned to the African continent. But one of the things that all of them have said is that every one of our people in this country should take advantage of every type of educational opportunity available before you even think about talking about the future. If you're surrounded by schools, go to that school.

Our children are being criminally shortchanged in the public school system of America. The Afro-American schools are the poorest-run schools in the city of New York. Principals and teachers fail to understand the nature of the problems with which they work and as a result they cannot do the job of teaching our children.

They don't understand us, nor do they understand our problems; they don't. "The textbooks tell our children nothing about the great contributions of Afro-Americans to the growth and development of this country."

And they don't. When we send our children to school in this country they learn nothing about us other than that we used to be cotton pickers. Every little child going to school thinks his grandfather was a cotton picker. Why, your grandfather was Nat Turner; your grandfather was Toussaint L'Ouverture; your grandfather was Hannibal. Your grandfather was some of the greatest black people who walked on this earth. It was your grandfather's hands who forged civilization and it was your grandmother's hands who rocked the cradle of civilization But the textbooks tell our children nothing about the great contributions of Afro-Americans to the growth and development of this country.

The Board of Education's integration plan is expensive and unworkable; and the organization of principals and supervisors in New York City's school system has refused to support the Board's plan to integrate the schools, thus dooming it to failure before it even starts.

The Board of Education of this city has said that even with its plan there are 10 percent of the schools in Harlem and the Bedford-Stuyvesant community in Brooklyn that they cannot improve.

So what are we to do?

This means that the Organization of Afro-American Unity must make the Afro-American community a more potent force for educational self-improvement

A first step in the program to end the existing system of racist education is to demand that the 10 percent of the schools the Board of Education will not include in its plan be turned over to and run by the Afro-American community itself.

Since they say that they can't improve these schools, why should you and I who live in the community, let these fools continue to run and produce this low standard of education? So, let them turn those schools over to us. Since they say they can't handle them, nor can they correct them, let us take a whack at it.

What do we want? "We want Afro-American principals to head these schools. We want Afro-American teachers in these schools." Meaning we want Black principals and Black teachers with some textbooks about Black people.

We want textbooks written by Afro-Americans that are acceptable to our people before they can be used in these schools.

The Organization of Afro-American Unity will select and recommend people to serve on local school boards where school policy is made and passed on to the Board of Education.

And this is very important.

"Through these steps we will make the 10 percent of the schools that we take over educational showplaces that will attract the attention of people from all over the nation." Instead of them being schools turning out pupils whose academic diet is not complete, we can turn them into examples of what we can do ourselves once given an opportunity.

If these proposals are not met, we will ask Afro-American parents to keep their children out of the present inferior schools they attend. And when these schools in our neighborhood are controlled by Afro-Americans, we will then return our children to them.

The Organization of Afro-American Unity recognizes the tremendous importance of the complete involvement of Afro-American parents in every phase of school life. The Afro-American parent must be willing and able to go into the schools and see that the job of educating our children is done properly.

This whole thing about putting all of the blame on the teacher is out the window. The parent at home has just as much responsibility to see that what's going on in that school is up to par as the teacher in their schools.  So it is our intention not only to devise an education program for the children, but one also for the parents to make them aware of their responsibility where education is concerned in regard to their children.

We call on all Afro-Americans around the nation to be aware that the conditions that exist in the New York City public school system are as deplorable in their cities as they are here. We must unite our efforts and spread our program of self-improvement through education to every Afro-American community in America.

We must establish all over the country schools of our own to train our own children to become scientists, to become mathematicians. We must realize the need for adult education and for job retraining programs that will emphasize a changing society in which automation plays the key role. We intend to use the tools of education to help raise our people to an unprecedented level of excellence and self-respect through their own efforts.

IV. Politics and Economics

And the two are almost inseparable, because the politician is depending on some money; yes, that's what he's depending on.

Basically, there are two kinds of power that count in America: economic power and political power, with social power being derived from those two. In order for the Afro-Americans to control their destiny, they must be able to control and affect the decisions which control their destiny: economic, political, and social. This can only be done through organization.

The Organization of Afro-American Unity will organize the Afro-American community block by block to make the community aware of its power and its potential; we will start immediately a voter registration drive to make every unregistered voter in the Afro-American community an independent voter.

We won't organize any black man to be a Democrat or a Republican because both of them have sold us out. Both of them have sold us out; both parties have sold us out. Both parties are racist, and the Democratic Party is more racist than the Republican Party. I can prove it. All you've got to do is name everybody who's running the government in Washington, D.C., right now. He's a Democrat and he's from either Georgia, Alabama, Texas, Mississippi, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, from one of those cracker states. And they've got more power than any white man in the North has. In fact, the President is from a cracker state. What's he talking about? Texas is a cracker state, in fact, they'll hang you quicker in Texas than they will in Mississippi. Don't you ever think that just because a cracker becomes president he ceases being a cracker. He was a cracker before he became president and he's a cracker while he's president. I'm going to tell it like it is. I hope you can take it like it is: We propose to support and organize political clubs, to run independent candidates for office, and to support any Afro-American already in office who answers to and is responsible to the Afro-American community.

We don't support any black man who is controlled by the white power structure. We will start not only a voter registration drive, but a voter education drive to let our people have an understanding of the science of politics so they will be able to see what part the politician plays in the scheme of things; so they will be able to understand when the politician is doing his job and when he is not doing his job. And any time the politician is not doing his job, we remove him whether he's white, black, green, blue, yellow or whatever other color they might invent.

"The economic exploitation in the Afro-American community is the most vicious form practiced on any people in America." In fact, it is the most vicious practiced on any people on this earth. No one is exploited economically as thoroughly as you and I, because in most countries where people are exploited they know it. You and I are in this country being exploited and sometimes we don't know it.