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Mae Jackson is a New York City based writer, poet, dreamer and doer whose record of activism on behalf of her people stretches back to SNCC. A founder of Art Without Walls, an art program for the children of imprisoned women, she is well acquainted with the difference between surface change, and fundamental, revolutionary change.
Here are a few minutes of her address to the crowd at May 31, 2009 event memorializing the early 20th century Harlem activist Hubert Harrison, in which she lays out a clear understanding of whose lips move when our First Black President speaks. Referring to some of Barack Obama's widely acclaimed orations at the Democratic convention, atop Lincoln's tomb, and other places, she tells us
“..those wonderful speeches made by the young man from Chicago were actually crafted, that's written, by three young white men 25, 26 and 31 years old. We got the unfortunate opportunity once again to see the world through their eyes. Obama was the spokesperson. Same as when you buy a painting, that doesn't make you the painter...”
She explains how the establishment turned took the politics out of activism, neutralizing and de-politicizing young political activists by turning them into “community organizers."
On the 220th anniversary of Haitian independence, we reprint the speech given at the first Solidarity Conference of the Peoples of Africa, Asia, and Latin America by Haitian revolutionary, Paul…
The Democrats' rising star Gavin Newsom offers more of the same: Zionism and militarism.
"When I Grow Up" is the latest work from BAR's poet-in-residence.
In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their books. This week’s featured author is Nessette Falu. Falu is an Assistant Professor of African and African Diaspora…
The current Black political leadership in the country is filled with puppets, content with acting in the service of the empire. This misleadership class works to undermine international solidarity…
