Presentation for the Philadelphia Fightback/Education Not Incarceration Event

September 14, 2002

Black Feminist Responses to War, Racism and Repression

Assata Zerai

 

A.     Introduction

[Play The Artist Formerly Known as Prince’s “When Will We B Paid?” (#2) for 36 seconds—fade out by 40]

BRC Campaign

In September 2001 the BRC decided that its major campaign was to fight war, racism and repression. We have convened a series of fightback meetings with black progressive organizations in various regions covering the U.S. over the past year. The BRC has also created a document outlining our strategy for pursuing peace, reparations, and justice that sets the stage for our discussion tonight about responses to the war. It reads: 

“In the US … the majority of the people are confronted with the militarization and hysteria that has been unleashed after September 11, 2001. The establishment of an Office of Homeland Security along with the Patriot Act … are the first signs of the strengthening of the repressive agencies of the government … and the blurring of the lines between intelligence gathering and law enforcement. The unprecedented powers that have been given to the repressive organs erode the basic rights guaranteed in the Constitution while the massive rise in the defense budget lend more weight to the militarist elements in the leadership of the society....  The massive military budget at a time when there are cuts in education and the expenditure of six billion dollars on prisons serves to strengthen the forces of repression and violence. These developments have arisen in the wake of the new fight against ‘terrorism’. 

…The definition of terrorism used by the US government is (noticeably) broad and (many have noted that) the term terrorism could be used to criminalize anyone out of favor with those in power(.) (In fact,) this definition means that anyone who opposes a repressive regime can be called a “terrorist.”  Under this definition, any group that opposes the Homeland Security office and the anti terrorist legislation can be deemed a terrorist.”

 

The U.S. has been opportunistic in other ways in the ‘war against terrorism’, including but not limited to attempting to thwart the anti-colonial globalization movement. However, we do not accept the U.S. military’s definitions. We turn to our own history and culture to determine our stance on the current war(s).

 

The war on terrorism fits within a broader history of American-style war, racism and repression[1].

 

As we strategize our response to this war, we must look to the ways folks have questioned U.S. aggression against peoples of color around the war and worked in our communities to resist repression both related and unrelated to U.S. foreign policy in the past.

 

In this presentation, I hope to do 3 things:

 

a.       Historicize everyday people’s participation in anti-war movements.

b.      Think through ways to formulate our opposition so we can ensure concrete results.

c.       Discuss the importance of radical black feminist perspectives as we lay out our tasks ahead.

 

B. Historicizing Grassroots Participation in Antiwar Efforts

 

If we look to everyday people’s antiwar efforts historically, we see many examples of courageous women, youth and men fighting for not only an end to war but for a better way of life. Because our people are always experiencing the underside of American ‘democracy’, global capital or imperial tyranny they are in a political and moral position to say ‘no’ when others are either silent or in favor of the status quo. I would like to honor the work of our predecessors by sharing with you some of their stories. Please bear with me as I relate only an insufficiently small sample in the interest of time.

 

Black Communities and the Vietnam War

 

[Play Meshell N’Dege O Cello (#2) so it is audible for 32 seconds and then fade it out. Angela Davis quote: “I was a member of the communist party. I am not a member of the communist party anymore but I still consider myself very much a socialist. So we’ll get to that later. One of the reasons why war in Vietnam was able happen as long as it did was because of this fear of communism. And (some!) people pointed to the Vietnamese as their enemy. As if somehow or another if the country defeated this communist enemy in Vietnam, things were going to be OK at home.”]

 

It has been noted that the first strong sentiment against the Vietnam war in our communities, was articulated by black mothers in the south. Of course the Vietnam war was racist on many fronts. The military itself was organized to disadvantage black youth. (More than 20% of the U.S. combat casualities in Vietnam were Black soldiers.) The lives of these youth were symbolically less valued than their white counterparts. Black youth over represented the troops assigned on the frontline—they were subsequently those who were first to get shot. Black southern mothers were among the first to experience grief because it was their sons who came back in body bags. Vincent Harding, in a book entitled The Other American Revolution discusses the antiwar meetings and demonstrations of members of the black freedom movement. He specifically speaks of a leaflet that appeared in July 1965 in McComb, Mississippi,

 

“…bearing a fresh, unprofessional quality about it (that) appeared after the black people of McComb received word that one of their boys, a former participant in the movement there, had been killed in Vietnam. Readers were presented with ‘five reasons why Negroes should not be in any war fighting for America.’ These were:

 

1. No Mississippi Negroes should be fighting in Vietnam for the white man’s freedom, until all the Negro people are free in Mississippi.
2. Negro boys should not honor the draft here in Mississippi. Mothers should encourage their sons not to go.
3. We will gain respect and dignity as a race only by forcing the United States government and the Mississippi government to come with guns, dogs, and trucks to take our sons away to fight.
4. No one has a right to ask us to risk our lives and kill other colored people in Santo Domingo and Vietnam, so that the White American can get richer. We will be looked upon as traitors by all colored people of the world if the Negro people continue to fight and die without a cause.
5. (Urging black young men who were already in the army to follow the example of a white soldier who had gone on a hunger strike for a discharge, the leaflet said to parents,) write and ask our sons if they know what they are fighting for. If he answers Freedom, tell him that’s what we are fighting for here in Mississippi.”

 

I share this extended quote with you in hopes that you will be inspired as I was by the beautiful spirit displayed by the words in this leaflet. Everyday people’s anti-war efforts have stopped wars before. Grassroots movements can and will stop them again. Protest grounded in our communities takes root producing role models for others in this country. Of course we are familiar with Muhammad Ali’s famous statement “I ain’t got no quarrel with the Viet Cong.” When Ali refused to apologize for his statement, his next fight was cancelled. But thousands of other young men were also protesting against US involvement in Vietnam. By standing up to the government, Ali became a powerful symbol to people who were against the war.” Before Ali refused the draft, no major newspaper had spoken out against the war. But soon after, other anti-war protests began to make headlines.

 

There is No (Significant) Progress without Radical Black Feminist Struggle

 

As we work toward peace and justice, this impending victory needs a new methodology that will ensure a people’s victory and not just reconsolidate and reinvigorate some section of the ruling class.

 

Ghdy, an Eritrean People’s Liberation Front cadre shares her story that illustrates the need to rethink old ways of organizing. She says she went to join the Eritrean Liberation Front after the overthrow of Haile Selassie. However she and her other female comrades were met with resistance. She relates:

But we insisted and in the end, 60 women were taken to a training camp south west of Asmara.… There was only one month of military training. Since there was no political training, the attitude of men to women was unchanged; it was exactly as it was in society in general…. For example when you gave your report it would not carry the same weight as that from a man.… Again, although sexual contact was forbidden on pain of death because of poor discipline, there were cases of sexual harassment. Because there was no political education we also had no base for the future. Most leaders were intellectuals—they did not know the peasant cadres, they did not understand the problems of the masses, and the people did not understand them… (Wilson 1991: 59).

 

So here in terms of thinking about a new methodology, this cadre from the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front describes the shortcomings of the ELF, including the fact that the leadership was intellectuals only. Intellectuals contribute significantly only when they are in touch with human suffering. They must be organically connected to our under-resourced communities. Ghdy further points out the need for political education that dispels myths associated with gender and that challenges patriarchy. Without consistent conscientious struggle against this socialization, we will continue to reinforce the assumption that men should naturally dominate as well as the institutional subordination of women.

 

C. Operationalizing Our Opposition so we can see Concrete Results

[Play Susanna Baca (#1) for 24 seconds and then lower the volume—but keep playing it. Raise volume again at 1:25 and lower again at 1:48. Fade completely out at 2:12 

It is time to embrace a new model for exerting influence and changing history through social movement activity. This model needs to be collective and not hierarchical. This model must be inclusive of difference within our communities and not exclusive. This model needs to be one that seeks class and educational representation of our communities and avoids simply organizing the intelligentsia. This model needs to aim at nurturing the whole individual as she and he struggle to bring about internal growth as well as an external change in social relationships. According to Paula Giddings:

 

Skip reading this section: [“When four …students from North Carolina A&T State University almost casually decided to sit in at a Woolworth lunch counter in Greensboro on February 1, 1960, the act was far from revolutionary…. Few, would have predicted the spontaneous reaction to the Greensboro sit-in. Yet the sit-ins not only detonated a movement…but hurled an entire generation onto a radical path. [In less than a decade, students would become the catalysts of a movement that forced a nation to examine its most fundamental values.]”

[Read!] “(Ella) Baker realized that the tremendous potential of the student movement was weakened by its lack of coordination…. She persuaded the SCLC to contribute $800 to underwrite a student conference to… pull the students together into one organization. ‘The SCLC, the NAACP and CORE wanted us all to become youth wings of their organizations,’ recalled Julian Bond, who was present at the conference. Ella Baker (national organizer for SCLC), suggested, however that the students form their own independent organization. She was concerned that they maintain not only their zeal, idealism, and independence, but also their inclination, (in her words) ‘toward group –centeredness, rather than toward a leader-centered group pattern of organization’. Their approach, she said ‘was refreshing indeed [to those of the older group who bear the scars of battle, the frustrations and the disillusionment that come when the prophetic leader turns out to have heavy feet of clay’].”

Paula Giddings. When and Where I Enter: The Impact of Black Women on Race and Sex in America (1984: 273-274).

 

The model promoted by Ella Baker is still relevant today. We need to continue to develop emancipatory nonhierarchical models for organizing that recognize the agency and critical insight of grassroots activists.

A Taste of Power

There are several ideas emanating from Black feminism that have practical application and directive power as we forge an antiwar movement in this post 9-11-01 moment in history. It is imperative that we learn from the mistakes, triumphs, and less-noted everyday experiences of the past in order to ensure that we victoriously stop the so-called ‘war against terrorism’, [including the U.S. imperialist aggression in Iraq.] In addition, our lessons from the past can guide us so that our antiwar efforts and successes will make palpable everyday people’s agency and make real our ability to change a socioeconomic and political system built off our backs and organized to disadvantage us. In other words, we need to make a taste of power work for our collective long-term interests.

My obvious assumption here is that we will win. I believe we have the ability to triumphantly stop this war in Iraq. As noted by one BRC spokesperson, we have a tremendous opportunity for victory because we can take advantage of the split in the ruling class. France, Germany, Russia and China question the U.S.’s plans to assault Iraq. Nelson Mandela and others point out that the U.S. is a threat to world peace. Mandela says that Bush’s decision to fight a war in Iraq “is clearly motivated by (his) desire to please the arms and oil industries in the U.S. (Newsweek September 2002). Even the sentiment of Americans is not unified around this war. Many point to the weapons industry itself as a source of terrorism. According to one opponent: “Tens of millions every year incur cancer because of toxic wastes it produces which poison our air, our water, and our land where we grow our food. As though this would not be enough, (weapons industry agents) work constantly to create regional conflicts (and fear) to justify the continued manufacture and sales of weapons of destruction.” (Charles Mercieca, President of the International Association of Educators for World Peace). While 90% of Americans reportedly supported a war in the middle east October 2001, only about 43% support a war in Iraq in August 2002, according to a recent CNN poll. [Walden Bello has recently stated:] throughout the world, there is widespread perception of lack of legitimacy of the U.S. economically and politically. The U.S.’s turn toward unilaterism is actually a sign of weakness. However human agency is the critical component. “The future must be won and must be constructed” (Bello 2002). I contend that Black women’s perspectives must be part and parcel of this new future.

 

D.    Black Feminist Challenges to War, Racism and Repression

 

[Play Cassandra Wilson (#2) for 60 seconds and then fade.]

 

The Personal is Political

 

I come to the anti-war movement as a woman of African descent, as a mother, as a member of the BRC and BFC and as a scholar-activist. The school of thought that best characterizes my life and my stance toward the U.S. military-industrial complex is black feminism. Black feminist thought is a broad compilation of both word and deed of black women in struggle.

 

Black Feminist Caucus

 

Our Black Feminist Caucus statement of purpose states:

 

“We ground our analysis in the experiences of Black women ‑‑women who bear the brunt of multiple oppressions in this society….. The people this society places last, we place first.”

 

“As radical Black feminists we see a holistic approach to liberation as necessary, one that

fights on multiple fronts simultaneously. We oppose imperialism; capitalist exploitation;

white supremacy; and national oppression as systems of oppression that assault the humanity of millions of women(, men and children) all over the world. We insist that the fight against patriarchy and homophobia is indivisible from the fight to eliminate all other systems of oppression and exploitation that intersect in all of our lives.”

 

Black Feminist Visions

 

To summarize: some of the contributions of black feminism to a new methodology follow:[2]

 

• Analytic: calls for understanding of multiplicative oppressions to be combated in our communities. We seek to understand domination to equip people to resist oppression and affect social change.
• Wholistic: views individuals as whole beings—all ‘selves’ must be embraced and nurtured. Political education is one tool that we can consider to foster internal growth and development as well as improved social relationships within the movement.
• Group-centered: aims at collective, non-hierarchical organization.
• Organically connected: representative of our multiple communities and rooted in everyday people’s experiences and desires; we must be focused on organizing among low and no income persons, individuals with varying educational backgrounds, and we must be tuned into other marginalized voices as agents who must be heard.

 

Black women’s visionary pragmatism results from their social locations in the Diaspora. These are methodologies that are suggested by the experiences and unique angle of vision of black women who have worked for social change both in this society and elsewhere in the Diaspora. Unfortunately these suggestions, while often embraced in rhetoric, are not accomplished in the structure or members’ behavior in most black organizations today. Finally these suggestions, while I am touting them now as ‘black feminist contributions’ are really about a people-centered methodology that would improve the lives of women, men, and youth in our communities.

 

E. Conclusion

 

I conclude with one more quote describing what sounds like our situation today.

 

“At every point in the history of black struggle in America, the nation’s wars (have) had a profound effect on the life of the movement, transforming, diverting, intensifying, opening new avenues and understandings, shutting other channels of growth. The war in Vietnam was no different. At times it seemed like some huge, sprawling rock, growing in size and intensity everyday, smashing, crushing, destroying all hopes for justice and renewal in America. Sometimes its visage was that of a gigantic sponge, sucking in money, energies, lives and moral concern.”

 

Vincent Harding The Other American Revolution (1980:189).

 

This historic moment is both a moment of crisis and a moment of opportunity.

 

What you can do: We invite you to join the BRC and sign-up to join the BRC’s internal fightback committee. If you are already in an organization, you may wish to join with the BRC in a collective effort to fight war, racism and repression by working with our continuations committee formed during our regional fightback meetings over the past year.
Definitions:

 

Radical black feminism: fighting the following oppression simulateously; analyzing society in a way that highlights the multiple operation of the following oppressions…

 

Imperialism: political and economic domination of nations and oppressed peoples both in the U.S. and world‑wide

Capitalist exploitation: the exploitation of the majority ‑‑ poor and working people ‑‑ for the benefit of the few ‑‑ rich, ruling class and corporate elites; and the commodification of all aspects of human existence

White supremacy: the belief in the superiority of ‘whiteness’ as a racial category and the systemic domination of all people of color under this hierarchy

National oppression: the political, economic, and racial domination of Black people throughout the U.S.

Patriarchy: the assumption that men should naturally dominate the family and by extension organizations, institutions, and society

Sexism: the institutional subordination of women

Homophobia: fear, animosity, discrimination and violence against lesbians, gay, bisexual, and transgendered people

Heterosexism: the privileges, recognition and rights enjoyed only by heterosexuals and the assumption that heterosexuality is the only ‘normal’ sexual identity

 

Note: Definitions are listed in the Black Feminist Caucus Statement of Purpose

 

Sources:

 

Baca, Susanna.

 

Bello, Walden. 2002. “Globalization from Below: The World Social Forum”. Presented at University of Illinois. September 9, 2002.

 

Black Feminist Caucus. 2000. Statement of Purpose.

 

Black Radical Congress. 2002. Fightback Committee Interim Strategic Plan.

 

CNN. 2002. Poll. August 2002.

Davis, Angela speech quoted in Meshell Ndegeocello. Cookie: The Anthropological Mix Tape. 2002.

Giddings, Paula. 1984. When and Where I Enter: The Impact of Black Women on Race and Sex in America.

Harding, Vincent. 1980. The Other American Revolution

Mandela, Nelson. 2002. Newsweek Interview.

Mercieca, Charles. 2002. “Weapons Industry: Source of Terrorism”.

Pieterse, Jan. 2002. “Neoliberal Empire? From Neoliberal Globalization to War on Terrorism”. Presented at the University of Illinois. September 9, 2002.

The Artist Formerly Known as Prince and Angie Stone. 2001. “When Will We B Paid?”

Wilson, Amrit. 1991. The Challenge Road: Women and the Eritrean Revolution. Trenton, NJ: Red Sea Press.

Wilson, Cassandra. 2002. “Justice”

Zerai, Assata and Rae Banks. 2002. “Black Feminist Theory and Methods in Pursuit of Social Justice” in Dehumanizing Discourse, Anti-Drug Law and Policy in America: A “Crack Mother’s” Nightmare. London: Ashgate Publishing Limited.

Paper version: 9/14/02