ai
gane
ocie
'1
·0", eltie« er« crt e-
,,"'e� d,ill",olltul • H",e
eetors 01 Oil' ,0'" - ,".d
cOlllllk s olhe� - /ace ,e,­
Mill IIIIe".,lo,,,,elll. Tllo e
of, II ho 0,1c /illd Oil'
,a,c INc able 10 bll, un ad'
Ie • Neilll., Ihe COII,tS "0'
th' p,isolls cOlllribllle all,­
tlli" re e",blill, jllstiu 01
r./or",.';oll. The schools .re
IIII.ble - or IIIIWillill, - r,o
edllcate our childr.n lor Ille
re I world 01 our stru ,l.s.
eanwhile, the o/licillll, a,­
"oved tpide ;c 0/ drll,s
III,e.te ns 10 ;pe Dill Ih
millds Ilnd stren,ths 0/ ollr
best ,olin, arriors."
An accur te de cri plion of
the nate or the Black Nation in
19901
Actu lIy the e words were a
p rt of the Gary 0 claration w
- hich i sued a t the hi toric
aitonal Bl ck Political Con­
vention' in 1972.
Eight on years and several
lhous nd elected officials
later. for Africans in America.
it would appear that every­
thing h' changed nd yet
nothing ha ch nged.
ORM .. :R C� nd
BIPP activist Zoh rah Sim­
mon' put it in a recent article.
.. "the e two pole - en­
h need opportunity for a sm II
percentage and neglect and
ho tility toward the majority
,- capture the e 'cnce of
African American life in thc
United State today".
The onl y lhi ng that has
changed i' that a "'mall per­
centage" of African AmericanS
are now relatively well ofr.
Misery for the masses of
Afric n American ha
remained con tant.
Indeed in many respects tbe
condition of the Black poor
ha deteriorated ignificantly.
The American dream con­
tinues to be nightmare.
A cruel I t sk for inde­
pendent Black politics in the
9O·s i to recapture the vi ion
and vitality of the BI ck
liberation movement of the
6O'/s and 70·s and to rekindle
a fighting pirit of opposition
and resi tance to an unwork­
able American economic and
political y tem
As new generation or.
African American youth reach
for the b ton of leadership, it
is Critically important that they
be armed with th in ight and
underst nding of the goals and
mission of independent Black
politics they have evolved
over (he p t 25 years.
FOR THOSE WHO DO
not know their history are des­
tined to repeat it.
Fundem ntal to ·the under-
tanding of the mission of in­
dcpendcm Black politic is the
rcaliz: tion thai the American
political and economic sy tern
are rat lIy Ila cd and cannot
deliver on t'he dream of the
. ood Ii e for th mas e of
. BI people.
The Gary Declaration in
1972 wa very clear on this
point. If ••• 1111 Irlll, Blllck
po/ilic ", b"in /ro". thi
truth: The A""riclln ,]slem
doe not work for the "'GSS'S
of ollr peopl, and il callnol be
",aile to work itholll rlldical
IIIlId,,,,enlal chunge. (ltule,d,
this s, Ie". doe nol rellll,
worlc in lu"or ollh, hllmllnily
of all,Olle in America). "
Ind pend nl Black politic ,
therefore. must be a politic of
ocial tran formation. Black-
:.Chal�enge of Blae
politics cannot be about the
bu ine s of pre erving the
status-quo or imply strug­
gling to achieve po itions of
power for Bl ck face in old
places within the existing op­
pressive system.
"AFRICAN AMERICA S,
must come to ee them elves
as capable of leading a trug­
gle for a DC ociety, a new
Arne rica and a new world.
Again the Gary Decl ration
wa lis instructive on the chat­
leng f cing Africans in
America in this reg rd.
"Blllck politics ... "'" ac­
c,pl major respollsibilil, lor
Crill tin, both Ihe atmosphre
Gnd th« prolra", lor IIIn­
dt",enlal, Illr rall,ing chall,e
i A merie«. Such Il respon­
sibilit, is ours becllII , it is
our people who are most d.e,­
Iy hurt Ilnd rll"lI,ed b, Ille
pru,nt syste",s 0/ society.
T, I,.. Oil ibilil, lor I.ad­
i", '''e c .",e is ours be­
calise we liv« ill a societ,
wll,r'/ew ot r (people) reet­
I, belie'e in tile respollsibilil,
01 G Irlll, hll".ane . ocid, lor
allyon, .II,wller,. "
African American must
engage the e sential task of
providing both the vision and
values for the new SOCiety
which we must struggle to cre­
ate.
While achieving total
clarity on the precise n ture of
a new ociety may be a differ­
cult and complex ta k, it
s ould be quite clear what we
stand in opposi lion to.
Independent Black politic
must fight against r cism and
exi m and cultural, ethnic and
rellgiou chauvini m.
Above all exploi tative
economic nd poliucal struc­
ture and yste m and the
value which breed raci m and
Ron
o nl
I
'Social
tran formation or
social .aestruction,
thos.e are o�r only
real choices. '
thi effort. It i ea y to .fall
prey to a Them v. Us
syndrome w en it comes to
"education"' and "economics".
What follows are cap ute
highlights of major categoriC
of the NNPA's po ilion pap r
along with a few of our com­
ment . The bulk of part one of
this two part column, as you
will note is primarily on
structure. As we mentioned,
this excellent po ilion paper
wa developed by one of th
be L
T e Literacy Proble a d
C lie e
"TOday, in our advanced
technological society orne
23 million adults are function­
ally illiterate. Another 35
million are semi-literate.
School are gr' duating stu­
dents bo are functionally il-
The NNPA's Literacy Program; Part One
real solution. -
From our vantage point.
we note tbat position papers
pertaining to Africans, and
.e pecially written by
African • are more rcadit y
received (by African) when
they Ie introduced in the af­
firmative.
Mi ery research, as we call
it. is too often the dominant
mode of research done on
African American com­
munitie . By misery research.
c are referring to an over­
abundance of tatistics that
paint a picture of despair. The
PA' . literacy program i
OT mi ery research, but
ratber a oJid program.
A econd concern of HIL­
TON: HIGHER EDUCATION
i. that U.S. African publish­
er • journalists and edu ators
not di tance tbemse)ve from
oppresison cannot be p rt of
the new SOCiety.
As M rtin Luther King put
it. ·When machine and com­
puter , profit motive and
properly right are considered
more 1 mport nt than people.
the giant triplet of raci m ..
rna riali m and milil ri m
are incap ble of being con­
quered" .
It is the commitment to 0-
cial iran formation and the
vision of a new ociety which
gives independent BI ck
politics it: progres ive ch rae­
ter. Without that commitment
and vi ion Black politic i vir­
tually indi tingui hable from
the b nkrupt politics a ual
which p rpetu tes the pre ent
'y tern which oppre e the
ma scs of Arric ns . ill
America .
"Social tran formation or
social dcstrucuon, tho e re
our only real choice."
Str' �egy, tactic, program.
evcrything else within the
scope or independent Black
politic. mU'1 procced from thi
dictum.
. !
"As n educator. Qne of the
highlights of attending the Na­
tion I ew 'paper Publishers
50th Annivcr ry Convention
in Chicago was the oppor­
tunit� to learn morc about the
po ilion or the African
American pre witb regardS
to thi nation Ii teracy itua­
tion.
Thi effort. coordinated by
one: of thi nation premiere
edu tor nd publishers Dr.
Ruth Lo\'c. will generate
much needed attention to the
cdu 'atinnal pli ht 0 young
fn an Ameri(;an children in
p' rtleu are
One of our biggc. t con­
cern. ho ever. i that tbe Ie
lhan po nlve Introductory
tone· of the PA' positio.D­
p per not overshadow the ub-
t nce of it. dee per aod
. po itive me. ag wjtb very
I ..
Ron Daniel erve a
Pre.'tident of the Institllte lor
Comlnunity Organization tpfd
Development in Youngstown_
Ohio. He may be contacted at
(216) 746-5747.
literate. Each year, orne two
million people are added to
the e eategorie . For African
American children and youth,
the situation is even graver,
with 40% of them falling in
the functionaJJy illiterate
ranse. In f ct� far too many
tudents fall farther and far­
ther behind, the longer they
remai n in school."
H:HE : A more positive
title for thi inlroduc.tion ee­
tion could have been The
Literacy Challenge and
An were The fi nal two par -
graph could have been lead
paragr ph bec u e they
imply confidence and action.
They read a follow :
"Tht Black Pre i a
potent force in communitie
throughout America. A
ucb, Black newspapc have
a ignificant role in stimulat-
ing intere t in reading, m tbe­
matic nd thinking kill .
Because the torie relate
to the world of the tuden ,
they are powerful in motivat­
in children and youth. Re-
earch leI I u that Blac
ncwspaJ?c are kept in home>
Ion cr �nd rc d repeatedly."
HJL�ON: HIGHER
EDUCATION i designed to
dialo� e. with college and
world readers. Ed"ca;ion ;
ongoilllf and certa;nly 1101
li,,,ited (0 .fchool cla$ rooms.
Let's talk. (714)899-0650.
I
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