Don't Let Jena's Momentum be Sidetracked by the Black
Misleadership Class
A Black Agenda Radio Commentary by executive editor Glen Ford
"The grassroots must conspire to circumvent established
Black misleadership, most of whom did the bare minimum - and some, nothing at
all - to make the Jena event happen."
One hopes that many plots were hatched in all those busses
taking demonstrators back home from Jena, Louisiana, last week Plots and conspiracies are in order, plots
among grassroots folks like those who showed up in Jena, and those who
organized local solidarity rallies in their hometowns to coincide with the
event. The grassroots must conspire to circumvent established Black misleadership,
most of whom did the bare minimum - and some, nothing at all - to make the Jena
event happen. Instead, as even the corporate media have noted, the crescendo of
protest over the persecution of the Jena Six was energized and sustained by a
few Black radio talk show hosts, lots of bloggers, and informal networks that willed
themselves to take a common direction. In the Jena gathering of many thousands,
the mass activists succeeded beyond even their own expectations. The plot
worked. Let it thicken and deepen.
All movements for change are conspiracies, by definition,
just as the oppressor conspires with his fellows to hold on to power and
privilege. But the plots hatched by the oppressed cannot succeed when mistaken
trust is placed in folks within the ranks who value their own petty payoffs
more than the liberation of their people. Just ask all the hanged conspirators
in doomed Black slave rebellions, most of which were sabotaged by informers in
their midst.
"The Jena demonstration was most notable for the flood of
youthful energy that has not been seen for many, many years, in Black political
affairs."
The lesson of Jena is that African Americans want to
confront the powers-that-be - if they are not diverted from that mission by a
greedy Black class that desires only to be deal-making power brokers. The
outpouring in Jena also demonstrates that Black youth are eager to change the
society in which they will spend the rest of their lives. The Jena
demonstration was most notable for the flood of youthful energy that has not
been seen for many, many years, in Black political affairs. Jena also
reactivated older folks who had despaired of the possibility of mass action,
but then dove deep into the current when they saw where the flow was going:
headed toward recreation of a Movement that was purposely aborted almost four
decades ago.
I am absolutely certain that profound, near-universal Black
frustration at the abject failure of Black misleadership to respond
effectively to the Katrina catastrophe played a central role in response to the
plight of the Jena Six - an outpouring of pent-up pain from a wound much more
recent than those evoked by nooses hung on a tree. At a gut level, Katrina
forced African Americans to face the fact that the established Black
institutions were not just ineffectual, but purposely so. Therefore
Black folks, especially the youth, moved on their own, rather than appeal to
the deaf ears of those who have refused to move for decades.
Power brokers will never permit Power to the People. They
have no interest in justice - only in their own material interests, and must be
kept out of the room when conspiracies for liberation are hatched. They are the
oppressors' first line of defense; they will kill the nascent new Movement in
its crib, if given the chance. Organize around them, not with them.
For Black Agenda Radio, I'm Glen Ford.
Glen Ford can be contacted
at Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com.
To listen to or download the MP3 file of this Black Agenda Radio commentary, click on the mic at left.
The late John H. Bracey, Jr. argued that Black Studies should be wedded to African liberation, not to the corporate-bureaucratic structure of the university.
The U.S. has declared China to be an adversary, but its economic prowess cannot be eclipsed by a nation that is addicted to provocation and war making.
This week’s featured author is Brian Jones. Jones is Director of The New York Public Library’s Center for Educators and Schools. His book is The Tuskegee Student Uprising: A History.
This week’s featured scholar is Moya Bailey. Bailey is an associate professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Northwestern University. Her article is “The Ethics of Pace.”
