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A BRIEF HISTORY OF BLACK NATIONALISM AND RBGs CURRENT ACADEMIC CONTRIBUTIONS

Compiled and designed by RBGStreetScholar (Marc Imhotep Cray, M.D.)

The Official Black History Mixtapes 2010 Press Booklet

Black nationalism (BN) advocates a racial definition (or redefinition) of black national identity, as opposed to multiculturalism. There are different black nationalist philosophies but the principles of all black nationalist ideologies are 1) black unity, and 2) black self-determination/political, social and economic independence from White society. Martin Delany is considered to be the grandfather of black nationalism.

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RBG=BLACK NATIONALISM

Inspired by the apparent success of the Haitian Revolution, the origins of black nationalism in political thought lie in the 19th century with people like Marcus Garvey, Elijah Muhammad, Henry McNeal Turner, Martin Delany, David Walker, Henry Highland Garnet, Edward Wilmot Blyden,Paul Cuffe, etc. The repatriation of black American slaves to Liberia or Sierra Leone was a common black nationalist theme in the 19th century. Marcus Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement Association of the 1910s and 1920s was the most powerful black nationalist movement to date, claiming 11 million members. Although the future of Africa is seen as being central to black nationalist ambitions, some adherents to black nationalism are intent on the eventual creation of a separate black American nation in the U.S. or Western hemisphere. According to Wilson Jeremiah Moses in his famous work Classical Black Nationalism, black nationalism as a philosophy can be examined from three different periods giving rise to various ideological perspectives for what we can today consider what black nationalism really is. The first being pre-Classical black nationalism beginning from the time the Africans were brought ashore in the Americas to the Revolutionary period. After the Revolutionary War, a sizable number of Africans in the colonies, particularly in New England and Pennsylvania, were literate and had become disgusted with their social conditions that had spawned from Enlightenment ideas. We find in such historical personalities as Prince Hall, Richard Allen, and Absalom Jones a need to found certain organizations as the Free African Society, African Masonic lodges and Church Institutions. These institutions would serve as early foundations to developing
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independent and separate organizations. By the time of Post-Reconstruction Era a new form of black nationalism was emerging among various African-American clergy circles. Separate circles had already been established and were accepted by African-Americans because of the overt oppression that had been in existence since the inception of the United States. This phenomenon led to the birth of modern black nationalism which stressed the need to separate and build separate communities that promote strong racial pride and also to collectivize resources. This ideology had become the philosophy of groups like the Moorish Science Temple and the Nation of Islam. Although, the Sixties brought on a heightened period of religious, cultural and political nationalism, black nationalism would later influence afrocentricity . Background Marcus Garvey

Marcus Garvey encouraged black people around the world to be proud of their race and to see beauty in their own kind. A central idea to Garveyism was that black people in every part of the world were one people and they would never advance if they did not put aside their cultural and ethnic differences and unite. Black people, Garvey felt, should love and take care of other black people. The principles of Garveyism are race first, self-reliance and nationhood. Race first is the idea that black people should support other black people first and foremost, self-reliance is the idea that black people should be politically and economically self-reliant (it was important to Garvey that black people develop businesses owned and operated by black people and that they patronize these businesses) and nationhood is the idea that black people should create a United States of Africa which would safeguard the interests of black people worldwide. To disseminate the UNIA's program, Garvey founded the Negro World newspaper and to encourage black economic independence, he founded the Black Star Line in 1919 as well as the Negro Factories Corporation. The UNIA also initiated the Universal African Legion, a paramilitary group, the Black Cross Nurses, the African Black Cross Society and the Black Cross Trading and Navigation Corporation. Garvey attracted millions of supporters and claimed eleven million members for the UNIA. Marcus Garvey, however, did not advocate that all black people should leave the United States to emigrate to Africa (a strong United States of Africa would protect the interests of all black people everywhere in the world so a physical migration of all black people in the West was unnecessary and, in some cases, undesirable). Although Marcus Garvey was an ardent supporter of racial separatism (he encouraged black people to separate themselves from whites residentially, develop their own all black businesses and schools, and preached against inter-racial marriage as 'race suicide'), he made it clear that he held no hostility towards whites and believed in the equality of all human beings. Garvey set the precedent for subsequent black nationalist and pan-Africanist thought including that of Kwame Nkrumah (and several other African leaders) the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X and most notably, Carlos Cooks (who is considered the ideological son of Marcus Garvey) and his African Nationalist Pioneer Movement.

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Marcus Garvey's beliefs are articulated in The Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey as well as

Message To The People: The Course of African Philosophy

Malcolm X

Between 1953 and 1965, while most black leaders worked in the civil rights movement integrate black people into mainstream American life, Malcolm X preached independence. He maintained that Western culture, and the JudeoChristian religious traditions on which it is based, was inherently racist. Constantly ridiculing mainstream civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X declared that nonviolence was the "philosophy of the fool". In response to Reverend King's famous "I Have a Dream" speech, Malcolm X quipped, "While King was having a dream, the rest of us Negroes are having a nightmare." Malcolm X believed that black people must develop their own society and ethical values, including the self-help, community-based enterprises that the black Muslims supported. He also thought that African Americans should reject integration or cooperation with European Americans until they could achieve cooperation among themselves. Malcolm called for a "black revolution." He declared there "would be bloodshed" if the racism problem in America remained ignored, and he renounced any sort of "compromise" with whites. After taking part in a Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca), he recanted extremist opinions in favor of mainstream Islam and ["true brotherhood"], and was soon after assassinated during a speech held at The Audubon Ballroom, NYC. Upon his return from Mecca, Malcolm X abandoned his commitment to racial separatism; however, he was still in favour of black nationalism and advocated that black people in the U.S. be self-reliant. The beliefs of post-Mecca Malcolm X are articulated in the charter of his Organization of Afro-American Unity (a black nationalist group patterned after the Organization of African Unity).

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Frantz Fanon While in France Frantz Fanon wrote his first book, Black Skin, White Mask, an analysis of the impact of colonial subjugation on the black psyche. This book was a very personal account of Fanons experience being black: as a man, an intellectual, and a party to a French education. Although Fanon wrote the book while still in France, most of his other work was written while in North Africa (in particular Algeria). It was during this time that he produced his greatest works, A Dying Colonialism and perhaps the most important work on decolonization yet written, The Wretched of the Earth.. In it, Fanon lucidly analyzes the role of class, race, national culture and violence in the struggle for national liberation. In this seminal work Fanon expounded his views on the liberating role of violence for the colonized, as well as the general necessity of violence in the anti-colonial struggle. Both books firmly established Fanon in the eyes of much of the Third World as the leading anti-colonial thinker of the 20th century. In 1959 he compiled his essays on Algeria in a book called L'An Cinq: De la Rvolution Algrienne.

Black Power Black Power was a political movement expressing a new racial consciousness among black people in the United States in the 1960s and 1970s. Black Power represented both a conclusion to the decade's civil rights movement and an alternative means of combating the racism that persisted despite the efforts of black activists during the early 1960s. The meaning of Black Power was debated vigorously while the movement was in progress. To some it represented African-Americans' insistence on racial dignity and self-reliance, which was usually interpreted as economic and political independence, as well as freedom from European American authority. These themes had been advanced most forcefully in the early 1960s by Malcolm X. He argued that black people should focus on improving their own communities, rather than striving for complete integration, and that black people had a duty to retaliate against violent assaults. The publication of The Autobiography of Malcolm X (1965) created further support for the idea of African-American self-determination and had a strong influence on the emerging leaders of the Black Power movement. Other interpreters of Black Power emphasized the cultural heritage of black people, especially the African roots of their identity. This view encouraged study and celebration of black history and culture. In the late 1960s black college students requested curricula in AfricanAmerican studies that explored their distinctive culture and history. Still another view of black Power called for a revolutionary political struggle to reject racism and economic exploitation in the United States and abroad, as well as colonialism. This interpretation encouraged the alliance of non-whites, including Hispanics and Asians, to improve the quality of their lives.

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Uhuru Movement The Uhuru Movement is the largest contemporary black movement advocating black nationalism and was founded in the 1980s in St. Petersburg, Florida. Composed mainly of the African People's Socialist Party, the Uhuru Movement also includes other organizations based in both Africa and the United States. These organizations are in the process of establishing a broader organization called the African Socialist International. "Uhuru" is the Swahili word for freedom.

The Republic of New Afrika (RNA) A was a social movement organization that proposed three objectives. First, the creation of an independent Black-majority country situated in the southeastern region of the United States. The vision for this country was first promulgated on March 31, 1968, at a Black Government Conference held in Detroit, Michigan, United States. Proponents of this vision lay claim to five Southern states (Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina) and the Black-majority counties adjacent to this area in Arkansas, Tennessee and Florida. A similar claim is made for all the Black-majority counties and cities throughout the United States. Second, they demanded several billion dollars in reparations from the US government for the damages inflicted on Black people by chattel enslavement, Jim Crow segregation, and persistent modern-day forms of racism. Third, they demanded a referendum of all African Americans in order to decide what should be done with their citizenry. Regarding the latter, it was claimed that Black people were not given the choice to decide in regard to what they wanted to do after emancipation.

History of the RNA The Black Government Conference was convened by the Malcolm X Society and the Group on Advanced Leadership (GOAL), two influential Detroit-based organizations with broad followings. This weekend meeting produced a Declaration of Independence (signed by 100 conferees out of approximately 500), a constitution, and the framework for a provisional government. Robert F. Williams, a controversial human rights advocate then living in exile in China, was chosen as the first President of the provisional government; attorney Milton Henry was named First Vice President (a student of Malcolm X's teachings); and Betty Shabazz, widow of Malcolm X, served as Second Vice President. The Provisional Government of the Republic of New Afrika (PG-RNA) advocated/advocates a form of cooperative economics through the building of New Communitiesnamed after the Ujamaa concept promoted by Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere; militant self-defense through the building of local People's Militias and an aboveground standing army called the Black Legion; and respect for international law through the building of organizations that champion the right of self-determination for people of African descent. During its existence, the organization was involved in numerous controversial issues. For example, it attempted to assist Oceanhill-Brownsville in seceding from the United States during the conflict that took place there. Additionally, it was involved with shootouts at New Bethel
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Baptist Church in 1969 (during the one-year anniversary of the founding) and another in Jackson, Mississippi, in 1971 (where it had begun to start its occupation of the South on a single farm). Within both events, law-enforcement officials were killed as well as injured and harsh legal action was imposed against organizational members. The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) believed the Republic of New Afrika to be a seditious group and conducted raids on its meetings, which led to violent confrontations, and the arrest and repeated imprisonment of RNA leaders noted above. The group was a target of the COINTELPRO operation by the federal authorities but was also subject to diverse Red Squad activities of Michigan State Police and Detroit Police Departmentamong other cities. There is a new era for "The Republic". It is the party of THE BLACK PATRIOTS- a moderately conservative group of New Africans that believe in demonstrating compassion and prosperity for all people (most especially, NEW AFRICANS (former African-Americans). To form a more perfect union, the Republic of New Africa is the foundation to create change politically, economically, socially and culturally among the descendants of slaves in America. The critical difference in "The Republic" is the collective effort to strategically purchase land in centralized regions of the United States of America.

RBGs CURRENT ACADEMIC CONTRIBUTION

RBG NETWORK FUNCTIONS WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF OUR OVERALL COMMUNIVERSITY AND ORGANIZING AND UNIFYING CHARGE. RBG WORLDWIDE 1 NATION IS HISTORY , CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT, SOCIALIZATION AND COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY http://rbgnation.ning.com/ UNLOCK THE KEY IS ADVANCED POLITICAL EDUCATION AND ORGANIZATIONS MEMBERSHIP PORTAL http://bangout.ning.com/ SOUL PRESCRIPTIONS IS JAZZOLOGY AND HEALING POWER OF MUSIC STUDIES, AS WELL AS THE WRITINGS/TEACHINGS OF ELDER SCHOLAR AND REPORTER J R STANTON http://soulprescriptions.ning.com/

The time is ripe to heed the long-standing, and most often overlooked, calls for Afrikan Unity, Cultural Development, Education and Social Transformation. Such is what RBG most fundamentally represents. Contrary to the prevailing, misinformed assumptions, RBG (Black Nationalism / PanAfrikanism ) as an ideology, interaction and academic process is not a rabid assertion of Black supremacy. Unlike white Nationalism and American patriotism, RBG (Black Nationalism / PanAfrikanism ) and its proponents do not seek to humiliate, exploit, or oppress any person or people. Rather, RBG / (Black Nationalism / PanAfrikanism ) is a positive affirmation of the cultural, political, social, economic and moral identity and concerns of African people. In its most rudimentary forms, it reacts to the brutally violent and repressive conditions under which African people have and continue to live. White supremacy / racism creates an environment where whites are necessarily viewed with suspicion, but we are not anti-white. We are Afrikan/ Black on purpose and Black folks must first and foremost be beholden to each other. The most basic expression of RBG (Black Nationalism/ PanAfrikanism ) thought is that Black / Afrikan people in America and throughout the diaspora
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ORGANIZATION OF NEW AFRIKAN UNITY IS A MODERNIZED IMPLEMENTATION OF MINISTER MALCOLM'S OAAU AS WELL AS THE TEACHINGS OF PAC/NEW AFRIKAN PANTHAZ AND MARCUS GARVEY. AS WELL AS OUR COMPREHENSIVE NEW AFRIKAN IN AMERICA HISTORICAL TOPICS LIBRARY http://onau2x.ning.com/ CEMOTAP-COMMITTEE TO ELIMINATE MEDIA OFFENSIVE TO AFRIKAN PEOPLE IS THE PSYCHOLOGY SOCIOLOGY AND POLITICS OF MEDIA. http://cemotap.ning.com/ RBG STREET SCHOLARS THINK TANK FREE INTERACTIVE PUBLICATIONS / TUTORIALS (160) FOR BROWSING, STUDYING AND DOWNLOAD http://www.scribd.com/document _collections/2333990

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are bound by the common history and experience of historical chattel and present day mental slavery, suffering and death under the boot heel of white supremacy / racism. Most importantly, RBG is about self-reliance, self- respect and self-defense toward the total liberation and unification of all Afrikan people that desire to defend, define and develop in our own image and interest.

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