Even in the midst of the rising tide of struggle in which we are now engaged against racism in its openly violent and hideous forms, as well as its disguised and hidden aggressions, it is good to sit down and meditate on meaningful things, i.e., things that matter—things like life, love, truth, justice and struggle.
And it will and must be a future forged in struggle, and self-consciously committed to human freedom, racial and social justice, world peace and ultimately the well-being and flourishing of the world and all in it.
Continuing to reach back and reflect on the ground on which we stand, the essential and upward lifting work we do and the righteous and relentless struggle we wage, this is a statement I wrote for our 40th anniversary and posted on our Us website. It is no less real or relevant today and merits critical consideration as we continue defiantly forward in the midst of the backward yearning, yelping and rightwing madness that surrounds us.
In this month of heightened homage and increased attention to the life and legacy of Min. Malcolm X, El Hajj Malik El Shabazz, it is important to do so placing rightful and repeated emphasis on his commitment to the liberation of our people and all the downtrodden and oppressed peoples of the world, especially the dark peoples of the world with whom he felt a special kinship of shared humanity and interrelated struggles.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke his first public antiwar speech, “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence,” in front of 3,000 people at Riverside Church in New York City.
Garvey says that the first need is for men and women committed to and ready for the demands of history and struggle
The year 1965 began on an ominous and unsettling note—the assassination and martyrdom of Malcolm X, the Fire Prophet. Even in the white and winter cold of February, it was a sign of the coming fire. Indeed, it pointed toward the fiery fulfillment of prophecy which Malcolm, himself, had predicted. It was there, too, in the title of James Baldwin’s classic, The Fire Next Time. And it was the topic of countless conversations around the country. Baldwin had taken his title from a line in a Black gospel song which says: “God gave Noah the rainbow sign, no more water the fire next time.” And this, for us, was the fundamental time of turning when the fire would be this time.
African liberation is part of the overall struggle for human liberation