Black Radical Congress and "the Left"

[Rakesh Bhandari]

I don't think there is a black agenda-- radical, liberal or conservative.
Often the expulsion of all non-black others from such racially exclusive
conferences has the effect of isolating and thus dispiriting those blacks  
in favor of revolutionary proletarian politics. Just as
segregation allows whites to maintain vicious stereotypes about blacks,
the exclusion of whites and others renders them easily homogenized as a
racist unified  horde in the minds of blacks.  Once blacks are turned on
to themselves--which is to say they see themselves as a powerless minority
in a racist country--it becomes inconceivable that they could become part
of a fundamental material transformation of this country; it is inevitable
that they will slip into the nihilistic despair bemoaned by Cornel West. 
It's irrelevant whether this congress thinks of itself as radical; blacks
on to themselves can only request the govt to enforce anti-discrimination
statutes, request that the class biased laws of this country be enforced
in a less discriminatory way (blacks shouldn't be treated more brutally
than non blacks who commit the same crimes), ask corporations for more set
asides, etc. All this can *only* be accomplished by an appeal to capital's
self-interest; left on to themselves, blacks have to turn to capital for
support and thus tailor their agenda accordingly  Hardly radical. I think
a better radical congress would be one organized in terms of radical
opposition to the Democratic Party and  existing trade union movement
(Herbert Hill and  Evelyn Nakano Glenn could make their  case); blacks
could then find allies among other workers who have not been served by the
representatives of labor (Wojtek could talk about the failure of unions to
challenge job descriptions, qualifications, workload, pay, etc). Such a
congress has the potential to be radical. 
best, rakesh