We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Friday, March 4, 2016

Mumia Abu-Jamal and Cornel West Uncensor Radical Black History

Click here if you wish to access the full introduction to a video in relation to a conference held in January in Philadelphia regarding the black radical political tradition as a way to celebrate Black History Month. I would like to draw your attention to two interviews conducted by Abby Martin of Media Roots with African-American scholars in the video below (included in the article): Cornel West (2:54m-11:33m) and Margaret Stevens of Essex College in New Jersey (11:34m-14:02m); and in addition to an excellent speech delivered by Mumia Abu-Jamal (17:29-23:04m) by phone from prison.
On January 10th of this year, hundreds of people from all over the country converged in Philadelphia to show this fire is still burning, despite all the attempts to extinguish it. Featuring interviews with Cornel West and others, and with speeches from legends like Mumia Abu-jamal and Angela Davis, Abby Martin provides a snapshot from the ‘Black Radical Tradition In Our Time’ conference held in Philadelphia.

at
Labels: , ,