Contemporary African American history 1995–1999

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Black nationalist organizations hold historic summit in Atlanta
From Arm the Spirit, 16 September 1995. Representatives of nine Black nationalist organizations met in Atlanta, Georgia, August 18 and 19, 1995 for a summit meeting of a coalition which they named the New Afrikan Liberation Front. It was initiated almost two years ago by several well known political prisoners.
Summit Shows Discontent In Black Communities
By Sam Manuel, The Militant, Vol.59 No.47, 18 December 1995. A three-day meeting of the National African American Leadership Summit (NAALS) was a window on the widespread discontent in Black communities across the country, and the growing frustration with the ineffectiveness of traditional civil rights leaders and organizations.
Quote from Identity Crisis
By Salim Muwakkil, In These Times, 22 January 1996. But part of the reason that practitioners of identity politics have shunned the class-based politics of the traditional left is because so many old-line leftists have been hostile to their concerns.
Rally Against Klan Drive/Hollidaysburg, PA
The Philadelphia Inquirer,16 June 1996. Black and white oppose a Klan rally, but local politicians refuse to take a stand.
Divide and Confuse: Selling Nigeria to American Blacks
By Ron Nixon, 15 July 1996. How Black conservative interests exploit color in order to bring part of the Black community over in support of an oppressive government. Maurice Dawkins's P.R. blitz, with an assist from Black newspapers, makes Nigeria's rulers look good and drives a wedge into the Black community.
CPUSA replies to slander in NY Times
By Gus Hall & Jarvis Tyner, 18 December 1996. The New York Times tries to besmirch the long association of the U.S. Communist Party with the Black liberation struggle.
Honor society must admit student who rejects pledge
By Mark Paziokas, The Hartford Courant, 28 May 1997. A young Black heroine from Waterbury High School who thinks for herself rather than dully submit to the pressure of white propaganda.
Saudi Prince Bandar hands out the money even while many hate and laugh at him (but not usually for attribution)
From the Mideast Realities: Washington Scene (MER Flashback), 7 June 1997. A critique of the Urban League's effort to make all Blacks into conservative white capitalists.
Reclaiming integration
By Eric Foner and Randall Kennedy, The Nation, 4 December 1998. Integration has lately fallen into disuse or disfavor. Many leftists feel that integration fails to address deeply rooted economic inequalities; many African-Americans criticize it for dismantling a distinctive black culture and identity.
[Pssp!] What happened to the dream?
A poem by Rodney D. Coates, 1998. Too many have died; politicians, teachers, preachers, leaders—fools for a day, a week, or forever, continue to lie.
Beyond Color-Blindness
By Manning Marable, The Nation, 14 December 1998. If anyone talks about the increasing significance of race, the largely white male social democratic left warns against sliding down the slippery slope of identitarianism. Paradox that race-based organizing remains necessary to dismantle institutional racism.
The Five Dilemmas of Black Leaders
A dialog on the Black Radical Congress list, February 1999. Discussion of a position paper by Earl Ofar Hutchinson. Class Division, political concessions from the Democratic party, The challenge from the breed black conservatives, The anointing of the chosen leader, young Blacks.
Capitalism, Marxism, and the Black Radical Tradition
An Interview with Cedric Robinson, Perspectives on Anarchist Theory, Spring 1999. Robinson writes that the evolution of Black radicalism has not been conscious of itself as a tradition. He attempts to introduce a self-consciousness to this tradition. He explains why this is important now to the development of Black radicalism and radical movements generally?
Black Leadership and the Masses
By Rom Wills, Tuesday 29 July 1999. Black leaders, at least the ones that get the press, are more concerned with middle class needs and the needs of the corporate sponsors of their organizations. These same leaders virtually ignore the needs of the Black masses that include the marginally middle class, the working poor, and the poor. Yet these same leaders will seek out the masses when support is needed for a particular program.
No Piece, No Peace: Class Contradictions in the Resurging Black Freedom Movement
By Sundiata Keita Cha-Jua, August 1999. Two significant protests, in the hot humid plains between the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, centering on minority set-asides for Black contractors and jobs for Black workers occurred over the past month-and-a-half.
We must return to our values
By Ron Daniels, The Black Collegian, [22 August 1999]. The Dangers Of Skin Politics: A Key Challenge Facing African Americans. No issue in recent years divided Black America more than the nomination of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court. Despite suspicions about his commitment and record on civil rights, labor, and women's issues, some very prominent leaders in the African-American community supported his nomination because he is Black.
Along the Color Line; A dialog between generations
By Manning Marable, November 1999. Reflections on the tradition of democratic socialism in Black history and the continuing relevance of socialism to the struggle. Defeatism and the generational gap.
Calling All Black Organizers
By Bill Fletcher, Jr., November 1999. The prevailing ideology on many Black campuses which encourages entrepreneurialism. There is a political indifference and little sense of social class. Discusses the role of class consciousness in the Black experience.