Category Archives: Black Intellectual, Political and Ideological Issues
RACE, CLASS AND CIVILIZATION: ON MUNFORD’S RACE AND REPARATIONS
Clarence J. Munford’s Race and Reparation: A Black Perspective for the 21st Century is important both for what it says and who says it. Munford is a major, if not well-known, historian of the African Diaspora. This work thinks in … Continue reading
Time, Space and Race: On Clarence J. Munford’s Race and Civilization
RACE AND CIVILIZATION: Rebirth of Black Centrality (2001) is Clarence J. Munford’s sequel to Race and Reparation: A Black Perspective for the 21st Century (1996). He says of this current project, “I strive to weave together the scattered strands of … Continue reading
PAUL ROBESON A HEROIC FIGURE AND MARTIN DUBERMAN’S FAILED BIOGRAPHY
Paul Robeson was one of the extraordinary figures of our time. He was a man of exceptional intellect and perception, unshakable courage and boundless love for and generosity towards African Americans, working people and the colonized masses. His life and … Continue reading
OBAMA AND THE CRISIS OF NEO-LIBERAL BLACK INTELLECTUALS
Charles Pete Banner-Haley’s book From Du Bois to Obama: African American Intellectuals in the Public Forum (2010) is a history of African American intellectuals from the standpoint of Barack Obama ‘s presidency. From his Obama post racial dream-world, Banner-Haley tells … Continue reading
BEING AN AFRICAN IN THE WORLD: THE DU BOISIAN EPISTEMOLOGY
While completing research and studies at Harvard and the University of Berlin, W.E.B Du Bois boldly projected the possibility of subjecting to scientific scrutiny the problem of race in the modern world. He would contend, more forcefully over succeeding years, … Continue reading
SCIENCE AND RADICALISM: DU BOIS’ LEGACY
This essay was written and published in 1994 in the progressive journal Political Affairs. It attempts to show Du Bois as a radical thinker, socialist and ultimately a communist. At a time when many only wish to see Du Bois in the context of liberal reform , this essay seeks to show him as a radical opponent of racism and the economic system of capitalism. Continue reading
ARICAN AMERICAN NEO-CONSERVATIVES: FROM REAGANISM TO THE PRESENT
A small yet highly publicized group of right wing Afro-American academics and ideologues has in the last ten years appeared on the political scene. Among the most well known are Clarence Pendelton, Thomas Sowell, Walter Williams, Glenn Loury Alan Keyes … Continue reading
BLACK POWER, BARACK OBAMA AND PENIEL E JOSEPH’S DEFENSE OF AMERICAN DEMOCRACY
PENIEL E. Joseph’s DARK DAYS, BRIGHT NIGHTS: FROM BLACK POWER TO BARACK OBAMA is an interpretive narrative of how the Civil Rights and Black Power movements transformed American democracy creating democratic possibilities leading to the election of Barack Obama in … Continue reading
LET’S LOOK TO BAYARD RUSTIN FOR INSPIRATION
Note: This article was published December 2002 in The Philadelphia Inquirer. It appeared at a time when a controversy raged in West Chester PA over renaming Bayard Rustin’s alma mater West Chester High School after him. The controversy was multilayered … Continue reading
GIANTS AT THE WALLS OF JERICHO: THE LEGACIES OF DUBOIS, ROBESON, MALCOLM AND KING
Mass resistance of an unprecedented level will be required to reverse the current crisis, blunt the forces of racism and save Black folk from the ravages of capitalism. Martin Luther King over forty years ago, as the nation plunged deeper … Continue reading
