June 19 - 21, 1998 in Chicago
University of Illinois at Chicago
Chicago Circle Center (CCC)
750 S. Halsted
Pre-Congress Institute Day
Thursday, June 18th, 1998
12 noon - 5 p.m.
Black Feminist Meeting and Institute
Room 334-5 in Chicago Circle Center (CCC)
9 - 5 p.m.
Black University of Study and Struggle
Cornucopia Room, CCC
10 - 5 p.m.
Media, Culture and Activism,
Room 501-2, CCC
10 - 5 p.m.
Communist Contributions to Black Radicalism
Room 505-6, CCC
7 p.m. - 9 p.m.
Chicago CommUniversity is hosting a lecture by Michael Eric Dyson on The
Black Church and the Black Radical Tradition at The Carter G. Woodson
Library on 95th Street and South Halsted on the south side of Chicago.
Open to the public.
Preliminary Program
(Final program will be handed out with program packets at registration)
Friday, June 19th
12:00 - 2:00 p.m.
March in solidarity with Chicago Coalition for Public Housing 10 a.m.
groups will meet at Roosevelt and State Streets and march to Grant Park.
Rally at Grant Park at Jackson St. in SW area of the park. Group will
then march to another site after rally
2:00 - 5:00 p.m.
Housing Workshop with Cheryl Derricotte and Rick and Michelle
Tingling-Clemmons and other housing activists and experts from around
the country
2:00 - 5:00 p.m.
Meeting of BRC National Continuations Committee
6:00 - 9:30 p.m.
Opening Plenary
Introduction and welcome remarks
Inter-generational Dialogue on Culture, History and Politics Activists
will interview one another across generations
Opening the Evening
Poems by Sterling Plumpp & Music by Terry Callier
* Kathleen Cleaver & Van Jones * General Baker & Kim Diehl * Barbara
Smith & Kim Springer * Ahmed Rahman & Fanon Che Wilkins
Cultural Interlude: Keith Kelley: Funky Wordsmyths
* Angela Davis & Kashim Funny * Nelson Peery & Youth Activist TBA *
Amiri Baraka & Quraysh Ali Lansana
9:30 - 11:00 p.m.
Post Plenary Set: Chicago Coalition Black Lawyers' Co-Sponsor A Jazz
Reception for BRC Participants with Douglass Ewart Trio
9:30 p.m. - 2:00 a.m.
Post Plenary: Hot House Bash - Jazz and African/Caribbean Danceband:
AACM women's group SAMAMA and African highlife band GHANATA
Saturday June 20th, 1998
9:00 - 10:30 a.m.
Plenary: The current situation
Askia Toure, Tribute to Assata Shakur
Brenda Matthews, poetry
Manning Marable
Cathy Cohen
Marian Kramer
Makungu Akinyela
Zinzele Isoke
Jarvis Tyner
Humberto Brown
Sarah White
Tyree Scott
10:40 - 12:45
Workshop Sessions
"Beat 'em Down and Lock 'em Up": State Terrorism, Police Brutality and
the Prison Industrial Complex. From Rodney King in Los Angeles to Abner
Louima in New York to Jeremiah Mearday in Chicago, police brutality
continues to be on the rise in poor Black communities throughout the
country. The criminalization of Black poor and working class people has
not only led to increased political violence, but to an alarming growth
in what some have termed the prison industrial complex. About one third
of the Black male population between the ages of 18 and 35 is under the
control of the criminal justice system. The rate of Black women's
imprisonment is rising sharply as well. As jobs decrease and the 'get
tough on crime' slogan gains popularity, prisons are becoming a
profitable growth industry. The privatization of prisons are an even
scarier aspect of this growth. This panel will explore these
developments as well as campaigns, local and national, to oppose them.
Panelists: Michelle Bonner, Akua Njera, Pat Hill, Keanga Taylor, Lennox
Hinds (chair)
Welfare Reform: The Assault on Black Women and Children. The Welfare
Reform Act of 1996 threw on million Black and Latino women into even
deeper poverty by forcing them off public assistance without the
guarantee of employment at a living wage. Developing a fightback
strategy is essential to defending the rights of African American women,
their children and the entire Black working class. This workshop will
discuss grassroots mobilization efforts led by Black women in the fight
for living wages, health care and other basic human needs. The welfare
rights struggle will be linked to other efforts for Black empowerment.
Panelists: Della Mitchell, Mildred Williamson, Maureen Taylor
(unconfirmed), Marian Kramer
Coalition Work. A sometimes complicated but necessary part of building a
movement for social change is linking various sectors of that movement,
building alliances that transcend region, race, culture, gender, and
generations. This panel will discuss the importance and the dynamics of
building principled coalitions, especially multi-racial coalitions,
labor coalitions and international coalitions and will outline some of
the history of coalition work as well as efforts underway to forge and
sustain broad based coalitions.
Panelists: Fannie Rushing, Charlene Mitchell, Phil Hutchings, James
Early (unconfirmed), Prexy Nesbitt
The Rich Prosper While the Poor Perish: Economic Justice, Employment and
Unemployment. Despite rumors of a healthy economy, tens of thousands of
poor and working class people are permanently un- or under- employed.
Many are homeless or a heartbeat away from it. Megabillionaires like
Bill Gates and media moguls like Oprah are held up as symbols of this
era. Much more common is the experiences of families forced to live in
shelters, workers losing their jobs as companies race the globe in
search of cheaper labor, and senior citizens working in the fast food
industry to pay for food and health care that the government is
ever-reluctant to provide. This session will explore the growing
economic disparity in our society, the reality of economic polarization,
and campaigns such as The Living Wage Campaign, organizing among former
welfare recipients, and the 28th Amendment Campaign, that seek to combat
growing economic inequality. It will pay special attention to the
problems confronting low income and working class women.
Panelists: Lou Turner, Rose Brewer (coordinator), Rukiya Dillahunt,
Sabrina Coleman, August Nimtz
Environmental Racism, Housing And Neighborhoods. From toxic dump sites
in low-income and disproportionately Black and Latino neighborhood to
issues of unsafe housing to global issues of environmental abuse, Black
people are disproportionately effected by these issues. This panel will
discuss local and global issues of environmental justice and
environmental racism.
Panelists: Connie Tucker, Angela Brown, Amina Baraka, Don Smith
(unconfirmed), Cheryl Johnson, Clancy Miller
We Demand Reparations: The Growing Movements for Self-Determination,
Redress and Freedom. The demand for Reparations goes back to the initial
European wars on the African continent to enslave and colonize Black
people. U.S. and European , capitalism-imperialism were built upon the
backs of unpaid and super-exploited Black labor. Since our initial
incarceration in the U.S., African people have always demanded, fought
for and died in the struggle for reparations - in the form of freedom
from mass imprisonment, land, cash and other material resources, and the
right to self-determination (ability to repatriate, separate or
integrate). Panelists will discuss past and present organizing efforts
to popularize and win our long overdue reparations; and how BRC
participants can get involved in this movement.
Panelists: Jahahara Armstrong (coordinator), Ahmed Obafemi, Adjoa
Aiyetero
Feminism and the Black Liberation Agenda. How do issues of patriarchy,
sexism and gender inequality relate to the Black community? Stereotypes
about "lazy, promiscuous" Black women were the battle cries for the
attack against welfare. Those who sought to dismantle welfare and other
services to the poor, did so in part by tapping racist and sexist
stereotypes about poor Black women's sexuality. Some of these
stereotypes date back to slavery. Unfortunately some of these negative
attitudes about Black women exist inside our community as well. These
violations occur on the job, in the home, in prisons and institutions
and on the street. These session will address gender issues as they not
only effect women but ways in which narrow definitions of manhood and
macho violence -- endanger the lives of black men as well.
Panelists: Linda Burnham, Dianne Harriford, E. Frances White, Leith
Mullings, Kagendo, Lynette Jackson (coordinator), Kali Gross, New
Afrikan Women's Committee (unconfirmed)
Our Children are Not Expendable: The Struggle for Quality, Accessible
Education. There is a crisis of public education in this country.
Increasingly more funds are being spent on jails than schools and we are
told that many of our children are "unteachable". At the same time
colleges and universities are abandoning African Americans and closing
their doors to students of color. On yet another level parents are
blamed and in some cases jailed in response to juvenile truancy
problems. This session will analyze the situation, explore how parents,
students and teachers can fight back against this reality.
Panelists: Debbie Bell (coordinator), Brenda Randolph, Maria Ramos, Doug
Gills, Rose Saunders, Monique Washington
Civil Rights, Affirmative Action and the California Initiative. The main
purpose of the workshop is to underscore the general assault on key
components of a progressive/radical/left strategy for democratic social
transformation, i.e., the political role of the working class and its
institutions, the national and racial questions, and the importance to
African Americans of building strategic alliances among peoples of
color. A brief give a brief overview of the initiative process will be
given, its history and significance and how these propositions endanger
the struggle to build a radical presence in the Black community will be
discussed.
Panelists: Fran Beal (coordinator), Phil Hutchings, Karenga Hart, Cheryl
I. Harris, Amaha Kassa
Global Issues are Black Issues: Framing our Struggle as International
and Anti-Imperialist. US foreign policy towards Africa, Asia, Latin
America and the Caribbean has always been fueled by greed and racism. An
extension of the oppression of people of color in the US has been the
pursuit of policies of domination and control elsewhere. This panel will
not only critique US policy but will also explore some of the strategies
of resistance and liberation that have emerged within Black and other
oppressed communities around the world, often in conjunction with larger
struggles for freedom and justice. The session will focus on the Black
Diaspora but will draw the relationships with diverse struggles against
imperialism around the globe.
Panelists: Horace Campbell, Gerald Horne, Angela Gilliam, Cheryl Johnson
Odim (unconfirmed), Ilombe Brath -- (unconfirmed)
Organizing the South. The southern US has been a locus of Black culture
and struggle since the days of slavery. Historically, it is the region
where the largest Black population has been concentrated. Today
struggles in textile, tobacco, food production industries are key
battle-fronts. This panel will discuss the historic role of the Black
South in the larger history of black exploitation and the struggle for
black freedom.
Panelists: Ashaki Binta, Chokwe Lumumba, Ajamu Dillahunt (coordinator),
Royce Adams, Latosha Brown
Socialism and Black Liberation. From Amilcar Cabral, to CLR James to
Walter Rodney to Paul Robeson to Claudia Jones, Black activists have
embraced Socialism as a part of a vision for the liberation of Black
people around the world. If any group has suffered from the brutality
and injustices of capitalism, it has been people of African descent in
the US and Blacks worldwide. The break up of the Soviet Union, the
attempts to strangle Cuba and the difficulties of Socialist experiments
in the world create a situation today in which we have many questions to
explore in terms of how to create viable alternatives to capitalism in
the Socialist tradition. This panel will discuss how socialist and
communist organizations see these issues today.
Panelists: Joe Sims (coordinator), Ahmed Shawki, Cameron Barron, Denice
Miles, John Woodford (moderator)
Sustaining Community Groups And Institutions. --A powerful movement for
social justice needs healthy and effective organizations. This workshop
will focus on the elements which can make the difference between success
or failure, including alliance-building, leadership, organizing and
management skills, and resources. In small-group conversations,
participants will share practical tips and strategies, and brainstorm
about ways to strengthen African American grassroots organizations.
Panelists: Jerome Scott, Project South, Atlanta (moderator), Sharon
Powell, Van Jones, Jennifer Henderson, Judy Hatcher (coordinator)
12:45 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.
LUNCH
12:00 noon - 2:00 p.m.
Open Mike for Performance Artists -- MC: Poet MARIO
1:00 - 2:00
Activist Author's Reception hosted by African American Cultural Center
and Local Bookstore
SATURDAY 2:00 - 4:00
Faith as a Weapon: Spirituality and the Role of the Church In The
Radical Movement. What are the lessons we can learn from Nat Turner,
Absalom Jones, Sojourner Truth, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr. and
other Black ministers as leaders in the struggle? What is the history of
spiritual motivation in the radical/liberation movement? How can faiThe
Radical Movement. What are the lessons we can learn from Nat Turner,
Absalom Jones, Sojourner Truth, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr. and
other Black mi
Panelists: Michael Eric Dyson, Cornel West, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Linda
Thomas
Black Radicalism, Black Workers and Today's Labor Movement. This session
will explore new possibilities for building united efforts for jobs,
equality and workers rights. Black Radicals, especially Black working
class radicals can play a decisive role in supporting an advanced agenda
of struggle for labor and a pro working class agenda for the African
American movement.
Panelists: Saladim Muhammad, Lou Moy, Frank Lumpkin, Jim Wilkerson,
Theresa Polk-Henderson, Jarvis Tyner (coordinator)
Youth and Student Organizing: Supporting those ". . .Who Have the
Courage to Run Against the Storm." On college campuses, in high schools
and in the streets, young people have historically joined with others on
the forefront of the movement to change the world. This has been true
from South Africa to the U.S. South. There has been a systematic
attempt, stepped up in recent years, to criminalize and imprison Black
youth; to vilify young people as gang bangers and so-called promiscuous
teens and to close the doors to schools, colleges and jobs. Young people
are fighting back against cuts in scholarships, attempts to eliminate
public universities, and attempts to put more and more working class
youth under the control of the criminal justice system. This session
will talk about those struggles and ways for youth to link up with one
another across the country.
Panelists: Jonathan Peck (coordinator), Kofi Taha, Clarence Lang, Tamara
Jones (unconfirmed), Malika Saunders
Fighting Homophobia - Lesbian and Gay Rights. Homophobia in the society
at large and within the Black community itself reinforces a larger
conservative agenda that celebrates a narrow definition of heterosexual
male-headed families, and helps to justify attacks on all oppressed
people. The same people who burn churches, lynch Black men and women,
and want to imprison socialists and communists, also want to persecute
lesbians and gays as a group. Some so-called Black leaders have defined
lesbians, gay men , bi-sexuals and trans-gendered people as external to
or excluded from the 'authentic' Black community. The politics of the
BRC, and the emphasis of this session, will be to turn that assumption
on its head. Panelist will articulate the ways in which homophobia, gay
bashing, and 'privileges' enjoyed by heterosexuals, and denied to
lesbians and gays, actually compromises the struggle for Black
liberation. So, it is homophobia and not lesbian and gay people which is
an enemy to a larger Black freedom movement. Activists will talk about
the history of Black lesbian and gay organizing and some of the
struggles and challenges going on today.
Panelists: Mandy Carter, N'Tanya Lee (unconfirmed), Deborah Benford
>From Mandela to Mumia: Political Prisoners Past and Present. Nelson
Mandela was at one time the most famous political prisoner in the world.
Less well known is the fact that over the years, this nation has jailed
hundreds of men and women largely because of their political beliefs and
opposition to the status quo. Today the case of Philadelphia activist
and death row inmate Mumia Abu Jamal has gained international attention
and support. Political prisoners released over the past decade include:
Ahmed Rahman, Dhoruba bin Wahad, and Geronimo Pratt, all imprisoned for
decades because of their involvement in the Black Panther Party. This
session will explore the cases of current and past political prisoners,
COINTELPRO, the Jericho 98 Movement, the larger reality of Black
political prisoners and movements to bring them justice.
Panelists: Ahmed Obafemi (coordinator), Hondo Tchiwa, Safiya Bukhari,
Kahri Akinsheye.
Health Care and AIDS. Health is an important site of struggle in the
Black Community. AIDS, mental illness and stress disorders, nutritional
deficiencies and rising rates of asthma, diabetes, cervical, breast and
prostate cancer, are all symptoms of what ails Black and poor
communities. While the demise of community based institutions and
support mechanisms have increased our community's susceptibility to ill
health and disease, the state and corporate capitalism have contributed
to the production of this ill health and continue to place obstacles in
the way of those attempting to eradicate or simply alleviate the
situation. The privatization of health care, government neglect, the
general defunding of the public sector, deregulation of corporations,
the character of US drug policy are all obstacles in the way of
restoring health in Black communities. Participants will discuss:
Universal health care; more community control of health care
institutions; greater investment and commitment to women's health,
maternal and child health, mental health, environmental justice,
reproductive rights. The health panel will discuss the state of health
in Black America and current struggles, and will discuss priorities and
targets for health care in the 21st century.
Panelists: Amadee Braxton, Bob Moore, Nadia Marsh, Lynette Jackson
(coordinator), Assata Zerai, Blanca Velez, Kim Smith
African American Empowerment & Alternative Electoral strategies. This
session will explore the potential and the limits of electoral politics
as an arena for struggle. Participants will offer insights about
patterns of Black political participation, experiences in campaigns, and
third party developments.
Panelists: Mike Dawson, Arturo Griffiths, Shafeah N'Belia, Larry Adams,
Bobby Rush (unconfirmed), Kenneth Jones, Jamala Rogers, (coordinator)
Media Fighting Back. Journalists and media workers will discuss the
negative impact of mainstream media, the ways in which racism , sexism
and elitism are promoted, and the power and potential power of
alternative media in forging political consensus and motivating people
to act. What people see on television or read in the paper often defines
the lens through which they see the world. Panelists will talk about the
impact of media on society and the black community in particular, and
ways to address this.
Panelists: Salim Muwakkil, Herb Boyd, Stan West, Laura Washington
(unconfirmed)
International Human Rights and Radical Lawyering. The issue of
international human rights and the push to have world bodies from the UN
to the world court take up these issues seriously has been a major
campaign among progressive lawyers. Many radical Black lawyers have
provided legal defense for movement activists, and have raised
fundamental challenges to the way in which the issue of crime is
treated, the racism in sentencing, especially the death penalty and the
underlying assumptions about fairness and justice in our society. An
important component of this work has been to link domestic struggles
with international ones. Legal activists and scholars will talk about
some key struggles they have been engaged in and put these struggles in
a larger political and global context.
Panelists: Sybil McPherson (unconfirmed), Lisa Crooms (coordinator), Gay
McDougall, Nkechi Taifa
Culture and History. This session will explore how radical historians
approach analyses of culture and how cultural artists, namely
filmmakers, approach representing history. Cultural performance and
other cultural interventions have been woven throughout the BRC program.
This session will highlight the work of radical historians and a
filmmaker in terms of how they frame their work within a radical
political perspective. The panel will explore the ways in which these
approaches can contribute to building a radical movement
Panelists: Robin Kelley, Lisa Brock, Louis Massai
Chicago's Black Radical Tradition: Living Legends and Future Leaders.
This panel will highlight the history of Black radicalism in Chicago
going back to the 1930's and 40's through the Civil Rights and Black
Power Movement eras and into the present. Organizers who played historic
roles in some of the major battles in this city's history will be
present. They will speak and interact with current activists: medical
students engaged in struggles around the attack on Affirmative Action,
and university workers organizing around labor issues on the city's
campuses. This session is an extension of the photo exhibition that will
be on display (in the African American Cultural Center) throughout the
Congress highlighting the long and rich history of Black radical
activism in Chicago, and the city's historic role in hosting gatherings
and serving as a model and center for national movements.
Panelists: Tim Black, Bob Lucas (unconfirmed), Ishmael Floury, Julie
Davis, Linda Ollins, Randy Evans
Black Studies in The 21st Century: A Computer Lab Internet Workshop.
This workshop will review the efforts being made to utilize the internet
in organizing to fight poverty and oppression of all kinds. The general
issue of cyber organizing will be taken up and plans developed to
promote the use of email and internet based web sites to organize the
Black liberation movement. The website of the BRC will be reviewed and
improvements proposed.
Panelists: Bill Sales, Rodney Coates, Debbie Hamilton, Ruben Patterson,
Abdul Alkalimat
4:15 - 6:30 p.m.
Plenary -- Voices from the Battlefronts
Jamala Rogers, Bill Fletcher Jr., Abdul Alkalimat, Seth Oberman, Sam
Anderson, Safiya Bukhari, Barbara Ransby
6:20 p.m.
Cultural Intervention: Poet Michael War
8:00 p.m. Saturday
MAIN BRC CULTURAL EVENT
$10.00 admission
M.C. Common Sense
Poet Sonia Sanchez
Poet Amiri Baraka
Freedom Songstress Imani Uzuri with Greg Tate
Neo-Soul Singer Skaki
Oscar Browne Jr. and Maggie Brown
Open to Public
11:00pm
Post Cultural Event: HOT HOUSE DANCING with Brazilian Band
Sunday, June 21, 1998
(This portion of the program may be modified slightly)
Saturday's program was geared toward information-sharing, analysis,
consensus-building and dialogue about the issues that confront us and
the struggles we are involved in. Sunday's portion of the program is
forward-looking. We want to discuss specific ways we can build some
concrete projects, campaigns and struggles out this gathering. We also
need to explore what kind of goals are realistic and how they will be
implemented democratically.
8:00 a.m.
Spiritual/Cultural Remembrance
Local Drummers
Duriel Harris: Poet
9:00 - 9:30 or 10:00 a.m.
International Solidarity Speakers
10:00 a.m - 12:30 p.m.
Report Backs and Outcomes from Saturday Sessions
Overview Proposal on Future Structure of BRC
Panel Roundtable on Which Way Forward & Proposal for BRC National
Campaign(s)
12:30 p.m. - 1:15 p.m.
Working Lunch
(regional break out discussion sessions)
1:15 p.m. - 3:15 p.m.
Regional Break Out Discussions Continue
3:15 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Report Backs from Break Out Sessions
4:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Wrap Up and Closing Remarks
4:00 p.m:
Plenary Closing
Emily Hooper Lansana & Glenda Afua Baker: "Sistas in the Spirit"
For those who are staying for awhile, join us for Chicago Blues:
5:30 - 7:00 p.m. Post Conference Wind Down: Blues with L.V. Banks
-------------------------------
Black Radicalism and the Media - All Day Saturday, June 20th
(running concurrently with BRC sessions)
Speakers and screenings during Thursday Media & Activism Institute
Workshop Screenings & Discussion
10:30 a.m.-12:15 p.m. CommFilmWorkshop
*Flame* (Ingrid Sinclair, 85 minutes)
**********
12:30 - 1:45 p.m. Lunchtime Screenings & Discussion
*Oh Happy Day* (Charles Laughton, 7 minutes)
*Memory Tracks* (Jamika Ajalon, 7 minutes)
*Politics from a Black Woman*s Insides* (Yuko Edwards, 27 minutes)
*Badass Supermama* (Etang Inyang, 14 minutes)
**********
2:00 - 4:00 p.m. Workshop Screenings & Discussion
*Cycles* (Zeinabu irene Davis, 7 minutes)
*Edges* (Ayanna Udongo, 5 minutes)
*No!* (Aisha Simmons, 20 minutes)
*Comrade Sisters* (Phyllis J. Jackson & Christine Minor, 60 minutes)
2:00 - 4:00 p.m. Session: Black Radical Media
Panelists: Barbara Allen, Executive Director, Middle Passage
Productions;editor/engineer, WTTW
Portia Cobb, Professor of Film, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
Marcia Davis, Senior Editor, Emerge
Laura Harris, Professor of English, Pitzer College
Elspeth Kydd, Video Artist, Professor of Film & Video, University of
Toledo
Cornelius Moore, Executive Director, California Newsreel (Will Decide)
Louis Messiah, Scribe, producer of video on W.E.B. DuBois
------------------------------------------------------------------------ For more information or to register, contact Black Radical Congress, P. O. Box 5766, Chicago, Illinois 60680-5766 http://www.blackradicalcongress.com | abdul.alkalimat at utoledo.edu tel. (312) 706-7074