Why was the BSU, ASA, CSA upset with my letter? What can I say about their criticisms and/or personal attacks concerning my opinion piece?
Why did I go to the Spectrum before coming to them? The Spectrum reaches thousands of students and many Africans every day. If I want to make sure the issues I have are addressed then why not go to the public which supports and pays for these organizations to exist? We all have a right to know African or not. Why must I get the tacit approval of the e-boards to voice my opinion about them? Let’s get this straight, as an African student and a UB student that pays for the Spectrum I can voice my opinion without anyone’s input or approval.
The next set of issues arises from a collective idea of "who are you to criticize us?" Some express a view that because our organization is not doing anything for Africans we cannot criticize them. First we are making history as UB first socialist organization in many years. Next we have an archive of our past work and activities that anyone can look at. As for the black community we are spreading the ideology for African liberation (Pan-Africanism in particular and socialism in general) which is more than we can say for the BSU which barely knows or educates its membership on its own ideology (go look up Pan-Africanism, aka Nkrumah-Toureism for yourself). Remember the truth is the truth regardless of who speaks it.
Why didn't I “reach out”? We have 30 weeks a year to spread the message on campus using limited resources have not time to come to every organization and have a long talk about revolutionary politics especially when they claim they are such already. Now when I seen that the BSU was a Pan-Africanist organization I felt that I could rightly make an assertion about them as I have grown up with Pan-Africanists myself. It's the BSU's responsibility to uphold THEIR ideology not ours to "reach out" and make them do it what they’re already suppose to do. As for ASA and CSA consider: how can you protect your culture without the political power to do so? African slaves learned this lesson the hard way.
Lastly the most damming criticism of my letter is that I outright lied about their activity. I said that they failed to do anything for the African community. They assert the fact that they have done community service, political work with Brown's Administration, do joint meetings with ASA and CSA and charity. The problem is that they are not giving us power which is what we need. We are not thinking on a “club” level or charity level but the level of revolution and power building structures. Once again Pan-Africanism is a revolutionary ideology and if the work is not primarily to destroy capitalism, the root of oppression (the conclusion of King, Malcolm, Du Bois et al) then you aren’t really doing anything ACCORDING TO THE IDEOLOGY. I hope that clarifies that issue. The BSU is giving our people a fish; I want to teach them how to fish.
To conclude, I’ll reiterate my requests from my previous letter. I want political education to happen in all our organization. Use African Must Unite or Class Struggle in Africa by Kwame Nkrumah as templates for the education I speak of. Also cease with this entitlement mentality. None of us are here because we were so great, but because of the struggle of our forbearers. Therefore cease thinking simply because you exist you can’t be criticized, that’s a logic fail. I also reach out to African students that they should hold their organization (including ours) accountable to their needs. There are many African students for instance who don’t join BSU because they think they don’t do anything. If that’s the case then go and take it over and make it work for the people, join some other organization, or start your own. Lastly I’d like to restate two things, “Truth is such wherever it comes from” and “Power only concedes to power”. I am speaking the first and trying to build the 2nd. The African organizations used to be revolutionary and now’s the time to make them such again. The voices of the people demand such.
Why didn't I “reach out”? We have 30 weeks a year to spread the message on campus using limited resources have not time to come to every organization and have a long talk about revolutionary politics especially when they claim they are such already. Now when I seen that the BSU was a Pan-Africanist organization I felt that I could rightly make an assertion about them as I have grown up with Pan-Africanists myself. It's the BSU's responsibility to uphold THEIR ideology not ours to "reach out" and make them do it what they’re already suppose to do. As for ASA and CSA consider: how can you protect your culture without the political power to do so? African slaves learned this lesson the hard way.
Lastly the most damming criticism of my letter is that I outright lied about their activity. I said that they failed to do anything for the African community. They assert the fact that they have done community service, political work with Brown's Administration, do joint meetings with ASA and CSA and charity. The problem is that they are not giving us power which is what we need. We are not thinking on a “club” level or charity level but the level of revolution and power building structures. Once again Pan-Africanism is a revolutionary ideology and if the work is not primarily to destroy capitalism, the root of oppression (the conclusion of King, Malcolm, Du Bois et al) then you aren’t really doing anything ACCORDING TO THE IDEOLOGY. I hope that clarifies that issue. The BSU is giving our people a fish; I want to teach them how to fish.
To conclude, I’ll reiterate my requests from my previous letter. I want political education to happen in all our organization. Use African Must Unite or Class Struggle in Africa by Kwame Nkrumah as templates for the education I speak of. Also cease with this entitlement mentality. None of us are here because we were so great, but because of the struggle of our forbearers. Therefore cease thinking simply because you exist you can’t be criticized, that’s a logic fail. I also reach out to African students that they should hold their organization (including ours) accountable to their needs. There are many African students for instance who don’t join BSU because they think they don’t do anything. If that’s the case then go and take it over and make it work for the people, join some other organization, or start your own. Lastly I’d like to restate two things, “Truth is such wherever it comes from” and “Power only concedes to power”. I am speaking the first and trying to build the 2nd. The African organizations used to be revolutionary and now’s the time to make them such again. The voices of the people demand such.
0 comments:
Post a Comment