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"The movement for social, political and
economic justice is not for sale or trade.
People have dedicated their lives to the
struggle - getting old without pensions
and dying without healthcare. Gettin’ paid
in dollars or recognition cannot be the
motivating factors as to why people
are in these democratic spaces."
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Recently
we celebrated the birthday of our “shining black prince” Malcolm X.
Although taken down by an assassin’s’ bullet in the prime of his life,
the Black Liberation Movement and the global Human Rights Movement were
privileged to have witnessed Malcolm’s evolving political and social
development during his short but provocative life. Fifty years after
his premature death, activists and organizers continue to draw solace
and wisdom from Malcolm’s analysis of the system that impacts black
people’s relationship with America and with one another.
Malcolm X was as razor-sharp in his critique of Africans and those of
African descent who were obstructionist to our fight for dignity,
freedom and equality as he was of white America. He constantly called
out black folks who aligned themselves with the enemies of true
democracy and equality; they suffered unrelenting lashings from Malcolm
in his writings and speeches. Despite this criticism, Malcolm possessed
acute clarity that love and respect were key attributes that must
dominate the work by those fighting the oppressor but between the
masses themselves.
Last week, a group of young(ish) people took over the offices of
Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment demanding money for
their involvement in the Ferguson Uprising. An existing bank account
was activated to fundraise for Ferguson Uprising work with MORE and the
Organization for Black Struggle as the account stewards. The funds were
to cover particular expenses emerging from the work such as supplies,
food, equipment, travel, etc. The hostile take-over on May 14 resulted
in checks being written to seventeen people at $2750 each totally
nearly $50,000. (Notably, there were a few who took a principled stance
and refused a check.) The shake-down pretty much cleaned out a bank
account designed to support movement activities in a way that the local
social justice community never had the funds to do. Poof - it was gone
in a matter of minutes.
As someone who generally has no problem naming names, I am consciously
choosing to focus on the behaviors of the individuals so that our
fragile movement can draw important lessons from the situation. The
names and profiles of the individuals have been exposed in other spaces
and mediums. As has been asked of all the stakeholders in the Ferguson
work, the Gang of 17 must also be held accountable for their actions.
They must show how the monies they received, designated for movement
building, was used for organizing people to action and to build
community programs.
The situation reminded me of one particular speech where Malcolm
questioned how we as a people can be violent, aggressive in the
protection of a racist, global system but passive in the protection and
advancement of our own history and culture as well as in our political
and economic progress.
So, instead of targeting a small, social justice group in its one-room
office, would the Gang of 17 have been just as enthusiastic in
occupying the Monsanto World Headquarters in the name of human rights
until it handed over all of its financial assets? I doubt it.
Here are my insights about the incident:
It was an error in judgment for the heads of OBS and MORE to write
checks to a few individuals under these circumstances. There is no
rationale as to why this group was entitled to the monies over the
thousands of people who have been a part of the Ferguson Movement. I
don’t believe this was good stewardship of community resources. I would
say this even if I was not a signatory on the bank account (which I
was).
The movement for social, political and economic justice is not for sale
or trade. People have dedicated their lives to the struggle - getting
old without pensions and dying without healthcare. Gettin’ paid in
dollars or recognition cannot be the motivating factors as to why
people are in these democratic spaces.
The movement for social justice is built upon the work and sacrifice of
many before us; we stand on their shoulders as part of that continuum
of struggle. As a long-time organizer, I know our movements attracts
both hustlers and serious people to its mission. The majority of
participants fit into the latter category but if our movement is to
grow exponentially and become more sophisticated, we must find ways of
quickly ferreting out those who compromise or attempt to destroy the
spirit, integrity and progress of our collective agenda.
We need to do a better job of lifting up examples of productive
workstyles that strengthen our organizations and movements. We must
decisively and lovingly address the issues of white privilege,
patriarchy and homophobia as we work together. Our movement has not
been consistent or forthcoming in exposing immoral, unethical or
apolitical behaviors in our midst and addressing them in a proactive
and unifying way. This leaves room for provocateur actions where
negative setbacks are the same whether they are unwitting or deliberate.
And what of redemption? When wrongdoing and harm has been acknowledged
by those in our movement, there’s rarely a healing process that takes
into full account both accountability and personal salvation.
Restorative justice has a vital place in our movement, not just in the
corrupt courts system.
The Gang of 17 must be condemned for their despicable actions while the
movement must recognize the issues, lay out remedies and move on
solutions; it cannot be held hostage to the incident or its fallout. It
is critical that we understand that the way we resolve issues among
each other is very different from how we deal with the white, racist
power structure. This seems like a no-brainer but when incidents like
“cutthecheck” happen, we are forced to realize that there’s more
internal education that has to been done.
Our bigger challenges are to organize people and resources to take on
the systems of oppression and exploitation that continue to put a
chokehold on the working class. Such goals demand that we are willing
to be accountable to each other and that our organizations be
accountable to the movement.
The commitment is to lift up our humanity and to fight for
transformational change by any means necessary. Malcolm wouldn’t expect
anything less from us.
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 is published every Thursday |
Executive Editor:
David A. Love, JD |
Managing Editor:
Nancy Littlefield, MBA |
Publisher:
Peter Gamble |
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