HISTORICAL 2012 CHICAGO NBAC Conference NATIONAL BLACK AGENDA
National Black Agenda 2012
“Cultivating a sustainable non partisan coalition designed to implement a National Black Agenda.”
NATIONAL BLACK AGENDA CONVENTION VIRTUAL CONFERENCE THE NATIONAL BLACK AGENDA CHICAGO SEPTEMBER 2012 Robert T. Starks, PhD Chairman of the Issues Committee, National Black Agenda Convention Conference Chairman of the Taskforce for Black Political Empowerment Associate Professor of Political Science and Inner City Studies Director of the Harold Washington Institute for Research and Policy Studies (HWIRPS) Northeastern Illinois University Center for Inner City Studies R-Starks@NEIU.edu
IVA E. CARRUTHERS, PhD General Secretary, Samuel Dewitt Proctor Conference Professor Emeritus Northeastern Illinois University Submitted in support of the 2012 National Black Agenda Conference Position on the elimination of mass incarceration of Black people PRISONS AS SITES OF RELOCATION FOR AFRICAN AMERICANS
HISTORICAL 2012 CHICAGO NBAC Conference NATIONAL BLACK AGENDA
National Black Agenda Convention Issues Update 2012
“Cultivating a sustainable non partisan coalition designed to implement a National Black Agenda.”
TABLE OF CONTENTS: I. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT & SELF-SUFFICIENCY
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II. HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
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III. POLITICAL EMPOWERMENT
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IV. INTERNATIONAL POLICY & DEVELOPMENT
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The National Black Agenda
September 2012
EDUCATION: A CALL TO EMPOWER A PEOPLE AS STATED IN THE PREAMBLE TO THE MILLION MAN MARCH MANIFESTO, OCTOBER 16, 1995. WE AGAIN DECLARE THE FOLLOWING COMMITMENT: “An Affirmation of Self-determination and Unified Commitment to Self-sufficiency through Economic and Human Development; Political Empowerment; and International Policy and Development by African-Americans in the interest of people of African descent throughout the African World Community (Africans on the continent, Africans throughout the Diaspora; and African-Americans in North America), our youth and future generations.” It has been nearly 80 years since the publication of Dr. Woodson’s seminal book, “The Mis-Education of the Negro,” which also laid out a “Program” for the education of our people. It’s been a dozen years since Dr. Hilliard’s, “The Maroon within Us,” followed by SBA: The Reawakening of the African Mind,” re-infected our minds with the realities of our problems as a group and what we must do to solve them. Barbara Sizemore in a speech entitled, “Black People Still Don’t Get It,” (available for all to see and hear on YouTube), masterfully unpacks the problems of our group and with precision, tells us what we must do to solve them. These scholars and countless other ancestors have identified the problems plaguing the Black community; they have spoken passionately about the need for us to work with a sense of urgency to save our children. We know what we must do to save our children and, in fact, ourselves. It is time for us to take this knowledge, without apology, and use it to mount a national advocacy campaign for our children. Baba Hilliard teaches that, “the role and purpose of education is to allow each generation in society to rationally guide and systematically guarantee that it reproduces and refines the best of itself and by so doing, pass on to the next generation its accumulated wisdom, and the knowledge and skills necessary to develop, maintain and participate in the s
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EDUCATION: A CALL TO EMPOWER A PEOPLE We cannot assume responsibility for the raising, socialization and education without engaging in continuous acts of collaboration. This obviously involves working with those within and outside our group to achieve our goal. Our challenge is not only learning to work together; but using our own “cultural” context, to coalesce with others around our personal interest: our children, wherever they are being schooled and educated. We stand on the presumptions embedded in the The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the UNESCO World Education 2000 Report issued in Dakar, Senegal which affirm, “education is a fundamental human right” and “an indispensable means for effective participation in the societies and economies of the twenty-first century.” Also, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 30, states: “In those States in which ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities or persons of indigenous origin exist, a child belonging to such a minority or who is indigenous shall not be denied the right, in community with other members of his or her group, to enjoy his or her own culture, to profess and practice his or her own religion, or to use his or her own language.” We stand in solidarity with the conveners of the National Black Education Agenda who have declared that our charge, therefore, is: To advance a national movement that advocates education as a human right and acts on behalf of African American/Black children and their families; to hold ourselves, these United States of America and all other countries that are signatories to the University Declaration of Human Rights accountable for guaranteeing that all Black children, wherever they are, have access to quality schools, services and resources without discrimination, including quality educators and truthful curricula, and to facilitate effective participation of parents and students in matters involving education policy and related decision making processes, so that our children can be equipped for collective survival and group self-determination, as well as individual advancement, by means of academic and cultural excellence. Page 4
The National Black Agenda
September 2012
IN SUPPORT OF THIS COMMITMENT, WE ARE PLEDGED TO THE FOLLOWING STEPS:
On the occasion of this 2012 NATIONAL BLACK AGENDA CONVENTION CONFERENCE Chicago, Illinois, October 2012 the following is a statement of what we want to happen as a result of this historic event. We are asking that the two major National Political Parties in their national conventions include the agenda items in this document in their party platforms and carry them into the legislative agenda of the Congress. As well, we ask that the three most important sectors of the Black community (Black elected officials and allies, the Black Business community, and Community Leadership in cooperation with the overall community) join forces in scrutinizing this agenda and working in an orchestrated manner to make sure that it is implemented. In reality, our existence as a functioning and prosperous community depends upon the actions outlined below. We look forward to your feedback and your cooperation in implementing the policies and actions outlined below.
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The National Black Agenda
I.
September 2012
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND SELF-SUFFICIENCY
We are determined to join together as elected officials, Black Businesses, and the overall Black community to bring about Economic Development and Economic SelfSufficiency throughout this nation and the rest of the African World Community. We are determined and committed to Economic Development that will empower the masses of our people from the bottom up and not from the top down. Thus, we are committed to Parallel Development, i.e., development of the African continent and the rest of the rest of the African World Community parallel with the development o
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We demand the respect and legal sanction in legislation of this policy and actions at all levels of government. Conversely, we demand that all African governments respect and legally sanction in legislation this policy and actions as well. Since, the formulation of our social, economic and policy is based on Reciprocity, we define our development here in America and in the rest of the African World Community in reciprocal terms. We demand reciprocal respect and support from all of the nonAfrican public and private institutions we work with in these development efforts and any other efforts that we engage in from this point forward! Reciprocity and Self-Sufficiency for us means working to produce outcomes that will bring about the “greatest good for the greatest number�; promotion of both individual and group ownership and control of businesses, small and large; and the creation of a climate that necessitates mutual exchange and support by those businesses Page 6
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The National Black Agenda
September 2012
IN SUPPORT OF THIS COMMITMENT, WE ARE PLEDGED TO THE FOLLOWING STEPS: 1.
Ownership and Control. We are pledged to begin immediately to take the steps that will lead to Black ownership and control of Black communities throughout the African World Community and the goods and services that flow through them for the mutual benefit of all its members.
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Promotion of Black Small Business and Large Scale Business Enterprise. We are committed to the stimulation of small business ownership by Black entrepreneurs throughout America and the rest of the African World Community for the mutual benefit of all of its members. We are committed to small business development because it provides new jobs and stabilizes communities. Similarly, we are pledged to the development of small and large scale business ventures that operates throughout the African World Community.
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Cooperatives. We are committed to the establishment of small and large-scale cooperative ventures in America and throughout the African World Community for the mutual benefit of all of its members. This effort should include Housing Coops and Food Coops, as well as Credit Unions and other cooperative ventures that are determined to be necessary for economic Self-Sufficiency and unity in our communities.
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Economic Empowerment Trade Policy. We are pledged to the adoption of an Economic Trade Policy by all Black public officials, citizens and business leaders throughout the entire African World Community. Such trade policy should embody the principles of Reciprocity and Self-Sufficiency. Basically, this policy mandates that governments and private business, as well as, Black people trade with other Blacks in their communities as a First-Priority commitment throughout the entire African World Community.
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Community Hiring. We demand that all Black business owners, as well as all other concerns doing business in our communities in this country and throughout the African World Community hire indigenous community people first as a means of aiding the stabilization of these communities. Further, this mandate extends to all public officials and public institutions.
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The National Black Agenda
September 2012
6. Contribute to and Support of Black Organizations and Institutions. We mandate the automatic and systematic contribution and support of Black community organizations. Black liberation organizations, civil rights organizations, organizations devoted to the growth and development of our youth, churches and other deserving Black groups dedicated to the progress and development the African World Community. 7. Community Investment. We mandate as a First-Priority commitment, the investment of financial, political and human resources to the development of individual communities throughout the African World Community for the mutual benefit of all of their members. We are pledged to mandating investments that will ensure the growth and development of our community for generations. 8. Creative Methods. We encourage the exploration of creative methods of economic organization and development that hasten Reciprocity and Self-Sufficiency throughout the entire African World Community.
GOVERNMENT That a representative body of individuals from the organizations represented at the National Black Agenda Convention at this crucial time in our history meet within thirty days of this convention with Congressional leaders, the Congressional Black Caucus, President Barack Obama, State and Local Officials to construct a Comprehensive Economic Development Agenda and a process for its implementation for the rest of the 21 st Century that will include
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1. A halt to plans to disassemble Affirmative Action, Set-Aside programs and the Small Business Development Programs by the Supreme Court, as well as, federal, state and local governments. In fact, we are calling for an expansion of these programs as a means of economic empowerment and independence for our communities.
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The National Black Agenda
September 2012
2. A Comprehensive Urban Redevelopment Plan that will commit this country to the redevelopment of urban America’s inner cities such as Detroit planned with, of, and for its majority residents. We demand a commitment that goes above and beyond the Empowerment Zones, the Enterprise Zones, TIP schemes and the 1960’s styled Urban Renewal programs. We propose programs that will create true partnerships between government and inner city residents and unleash the vast entrepreneurial and development potential in these communities. 3. A halt to the wholesale privatization of public functions and institutions that destabilize Black employees who are over represented in public sector employment. In those cases where privatization proceeds, we demand full and equal participation in the dispersal of contracts by government at all levels for these functions. This means that we further demand: a.
An immediate halt to plans to lay off some 125,000 postal workers and close more than 1000 local post offices.
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An immediate rehiring of Black police, firemen, and teachers at the local levels through a major urban stimulus program.
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The immediate implementation of a Department of Justice and Department of Labor oversight program to insure that Black workers are given full and open access to jobs resulting from the recently passed federal transportation funding bill. We demand that Black workers be hired in all locations in all state and local areas where the funding is spent.
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The National Black Agenda
September 2012
4. A full audit and review of the United States Government’s foreign aid programs. Further, we demand a full restoration of all foreign aid to Africa and the rest of the African World Community and a Parallel Development Program that will allow for the parallel development of Africa and the entire African Development Community, as well as Black America. Thus, we demand that Black University and College Professors and experts, Business Experts, Students and professionals be given First-Priority access to jobs resulting from foreign aid to Africa, as well as, equal access to all jobs resulting from American foreign aid. 5. An African American Agricultural Rescue Program that will match African American farmers and agricultural experts with farmers, agricultural development programs, and university programs throughout the African World Community to solve the problems of hunger throughout Black America and the rest of the African World Community. 6. Immediate establishment of a Presidential Commission on Reparations by Executive Order whose membership will be 90 percent or more African-American that will study the process and strategy for the implementation of Reparations to Black Americans. This Commission should be appropriately funded and given six months to report back to the President. 7. An immediate moratorium on foreclosures and the establishment of an Urban Homestead Act that will allow Black urban residents to keep and/or return to their homes. And enable Black Urban residents to claim ownership the vast holdings of land owned by the federal government rather than allowing that land being claimed by corporate land grabbers. . This will require a comprehensive overhaul of the banking industry and closer monitoring of the mortgage industry. We demand that President Obama and the Congressional Black Caucus lead this legislative change.
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8. We demand that private foundations distribute at least 10 percent of their assets annually and allocate 50 percent of those funds to the redevelopment of the inner city and deposited in Black controlled banks and overseen by Black community leaders. 9. We demand a comprehensive overhaul of the federal and state income tax system to more equably allocate the tax burden to the 99 percent and tax relief for the 1 percent. Further, we demand that the public and private pension systems be overhauled to protect the retirement pensions of the 99 percent and prevent the predatory practices of private corporate raiders and public pension agencies. In order to equitably accomplish these changes, we demand that Black legislators, Black financial experts, and community leaders including Union leaders are included in the commission established to address these changes. 10. We demand the passage of Congressional legislation that will immediately halt the privatization of public functions by federal, state and local governments. 11. We demand a federal guarantee of more than 50 percent of all public and private construction contracts in Black communities and at least 35 percent in other communities. 12. We demand a federal guarantee that all Building Trades Unions practice parity and non-discrimination in training, hiring and the issuance of union credentials. 13. We demand that the federal government sponsor a national Forum to discuss Race and Racism, Tax Reform and Campaign as it affects the wellbeing of African-Americans.
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The National Black Agenda
II.
September 2012
HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
We are committed to the realization of an environment in which the masses of our people can aspire to and achieve the maximum of their potential. We seek to maximize our life chances and eliminate all artificial ceilings on the aspirations and opportunities for all of our people throughout the African World Community. We are convinced that our true potential cannot be realized within the context of the present societal arrangements and Eurocentric hegemonic domination. And thus, we seek to so the seed of a New World Order of our own conception based on the Pan-African principle of “the greatest good for the greatest number� that will allow Full and Complete Human Development bounded only by our own Self-defined and Self-imposed limitations. Just as we have called for Economic Reciprocity and Self-sufficiency, we now demand Social Reciprocity and Self-sufficiency within our individual communities throughout the African World Community because Social Reciprocity and Self-sufficiency provides the foundation for social stability, safety, security and Pan-African brotherhood.
IN SUPPORT OF THIS COMMITMENT, WE ARE PLEDGED TO THE FOLLOWING STEPS: 1. Strengthening of the Black Family. We are committed to the rededication of Black men and women to their responsibilities as providers, protectors, parents, and guardians of the legacy of African Culture. We believe that the key to this survival and strengthening of the Black Family throughout the African World Community is the stability and determination of the men and women or our individual communities to stand up and take control and responsibility for their individual behavior, their families and their communities.
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2. Black Adult Social Control of the Black Community. We mandate that all Black men and women throughout the entire African World Community take immediate control of our communities as a First Priority in an effort to reduce crime, increase parental responsibility and control of the direction or our children, and promote respect for our community’s traditions, institutions and people. 3. Creative and Innovative Education. We are committed to supporting legislative and private initiatives at all levels that strengthen creative and positive innovative approaches to the education of our people short of the continued privatization of public education, i.e., charter schools and vouchers that drain scarce financial resources from public education where the great majority of Black students will remain. We especially support the return of strong and committed Black men to classrooms and administration at the elementary and secondary levels. We are committed to Educational Reciprocity that has an African Centered foundation and is dedicated to the survival and progress of the African World Community as it First Priority. 4. A Commitment to Social Reciprocity. We are pledged to social reciprocity throughout the African World Community because we realize that the centrality of reciprocity is in the meaning of community, i.e., mutual respect and tolerance of each other, on the one hand, and mutual respect and tolerance of others outside of our communities as well. We are pledged to disagree and debate without declaring war on each other. We are willing to respect and follow leadership within our community when the best interests of the African World Community are being served; criticize and recall that leadership when it is no longer serving in our best interests.
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The National Black Agenda
September 2012
5. The Establishment of Black Cultural Hegemony throughout the entire African World Community. We are pledged to the establishment of the principles of African Cultural Dominance within our individual communities. We are willing to reaffirm the uniqueness of our culture and take the best of its traditions and place them at the core of our social foundation. We are pledged to promote and support public and private initiatives that support Black culture and oppose anything and/or anyone that threatens that hegemony and respect the cultural expression of others. 6. A commitment to Social Change. We are pledged to social change within the African World Community as a First Priority, i.e., social change that is directed towards shifting the power arrangements that presently exist between the African World Community and the rest of the globe. Thus, we are determined to work for changes in the manner in which we relate as a group to the larger world. We are committed to changes in the basic structure of inputs and outcomes in the entire global society. We will pursue social change that will replace the global western cultural domination with tolerance and respect for all cultural expressions. 7. Support of Black Institutions. We categorically pledge support of all African Centered African World Community institutions that continue to nurture positive development in our communities. We fully realize the necessity of serious institution building as a part of the movement to build strong communities and foster positive Human Development throughout the African World Community and, thus, we are pledged from this day forward to make the full development of the human potential of our people First Priority.
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September 2012
TO THIS END, WE DEMAND THE IMMEDIATE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE FOLLOWING ACTION STEPS:
GOVERNMENT 1. A thorough review of all existing and proposed legislation that impacts upon the African American Family in order to determine what should be done to strengthen and protect these family units. This includes all welfare legislation, education legislation, and other community related legislation. In order to realize this mandate we demand that a federal commission be establish with 90 percent or more Black membership be set up to carry out this task and report back to the Congress and the President within a year of its institution. 2. A thorough review of all existing and proposed crime legislation and its attendant Jail-Industrial-Complex legislation that is directed towards the permanent and mass criminalization and incarceration of a third of young Black men. This would include the immediate decriminalization of marijuana, the most common charge that young Black males are charged with and incarcerated for as well as a federal law that would penalize police brutality of Black citizens including “mass stop and frisk” practices. “Since the nation’s founding, African Americans repeatedly have been controlled through institutions such as slavery and Jim Crow, which appear to die, but then are reborn in new forms, tailored to the needs and constraints of the time”1. Mass incarceration exacerbates the social and economic problem of inequalities in America. Alexander continues: “More than half the young Black men in any large American city are currently under the control of the criminal justice system is not just a symptom of poverty or poor chances, but rather evidence of a new racial caste system at work.”2
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At this historic moment, the reality of mass incarceration and the “New Jim Crow” portend a dire future for African Americans. The disparate rates of incarceration, the psycho-social criminalization of Black people, and the dehumanization of the physical embodiment of African peoples, especially black men and boys, must be a priority issue for the National Black Agenda.
Today the United States leads the world in incarceration rates, approximately 700 persons per 100,000 population. This rate is higher than the rate of China, Russia, and South Africa during the years of apartheid.
U.S. incarcerates 25 percent of all prisoners in the world and is only 5% of the world’s population.
13% of the U.S. population is African American but almost 50% of the more than 2 million people in prisons are black.
One-third of black men between the ages of 18 – 28 are in prisons, jails, on parole or waiting for their day in court.
Women with children are one of the fastest growing demographics in incarcerated persons and more than 7 million children have a parent under some form of correctional supervision.
The data shows that the War on Drugs has greatly contributed to the patterns of racialized and class mass incarceration in this nation. A trillion dollars have now been spent waging the drug war, and yet rates of drug addiction and abuse remain largely unchanged. The NBA must not only consider pubic expenditures in relationship to budgets and line items for the prison and corrections system, but how those budgets and line items, in proportion to other budgetary expenditures, 1 Michelle
Alexander, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
2 Ibid.
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September 2012
reflect an investment in what states and this nation value, i.e., more investment in inmates per capita than in school children. The NBA must not only consider the treatment of the individual inmates, but about the unrealized toll their numbers take upon the stability of families, communities and this nation. The NBA must not only consider what’s happening at a local, state and national level, but also how the current criminal justice practices and public policy trends towards the privatization of prisons is increasingly revealing and situating a system predisposed to international human rights violations. Prison privatization, along with fear mongering around “safety and security” “race and religious demographics and diversity” is intensifying issues of criminalization for people of color the world over. The NBA must take leadership in the public discourse and action agenda on mass incarceration, its impact at home and abroad. The last forty years have produced a penal system that is without precedent in American history unlike any other in advanced democracies. Prison populations have increased over 722% from 1970-2009. In four decades, the number of people sentenced for more than one year jumped from 196,429 to 1.6 million. 3 The intersection of race, criminal justice systems and human rights, with special convergence around immigration, racial and religious phobias, did not begin in this century, but can be traced back to several key policy frameworks, linked to American domestic and foreign inclinations for managing a changing global environment. 3“Gaming the System: How the Political Strategies of Private Prison Companies Promote Ineffective
June 2011: 5-6.
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6 B.F.
Skinner. Beyond Freedom and Dignity, (1971) 133-134.
Incarceration Policies.” Justice Policy Institute,
The National Black Agenda
September 2012
In 1971, the President [Nixon] emphasized that “you have to face the fact that the whole problem is really the Blacks. The key is to devise a system that recognizes this, while not appearing to." 4
In 1973, Escott Reid, former director of the World Bank, suggested new world policies would have to address the gulf “between the rich northern whites and colored southern poor.” 5
During that same period, Harvard professor, B. F. Skinner, predicted the “obsolescence of democracy and the overriding imperative need to move to a genetic meritocracy.”6
And by the 80’s advisor to five US presidents, Ben Wattenberg, argued in the “Birth Dearth- What Happens When People in Free Countries Don’t Have Enough Babies?” raised the question: “Will our values continue to dominate in a world where our populations shrinks: Shrinks to 9 percent? 5 percent? Shrinks even lower… Our economic and military power goes down… This view should not be seen as simply Western chauvinism.” 7
And in terms of theology, Bishop Earl Paulk, Atlanta said “Kingdom Theology” is a new and necessary theology….“What we’re doing is setting up a network by which we can spread propaganda…so that the systems of the world will collapse because of their inability to survive, and what will be left will be a system the church has built….a Christian culture that will have dominion over the world.” 8
So, while King and the civil rights movement was dreaming of a better world, others representing the powers and principalities had given up on the fundamental tenets of democracy, multiculturalism, religious freedom and even nation state sovereignty. 4 H.
R. Haldeman Diary, ( President Nixon White House Chief of staff, 1969-1973) (1971) 53.
5 Escott
Reid, Strengthening The World Bank, (Chicago: Adlai Stevenson Institute, 1973) 30.
6 B.F.
Skinner. Beyond Freedom and Dignity, (1971) 133-134.
7 Ben
J. Wattenberg, The Birth Dearth, (New York: Pharos Books, 1987) 7, 48, 98.
8 Earl
Paulk quoted in the Atlanta Constitution, (March 3, 1987) A4.
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Thus, the U.S.A. Today Report headline of May 17, 2012 was not so much new news as it was confirmation of Wattenberg’s old prediction and prescription: The U.S. had more births of children of people of color than they did children of white parentage in the history of the nation. The “Browning of America” was in full gear. And, mass incarceration has become an integral part of this complex issue. As the number one nation in mass incarceration, the U.S. created a system that was catalyzed by the War on Drugs and characterized by race, class, and a veiled caste system. The conscious, intentional, unconscious and/ or unintentional structures and images which perpetrate the system are no longer Aunt Jemima and Uncle Remus but they are still live and well in 2012. This systemic evolution underscores what Douglas Blackmon calls Slavery By Another Name. Bruce Western states that, “Crime is part of the content, but not the driving cause of our exploding prison population. The culprits are economics, politics, and vestiges of racism…The criminal justice system has become so pervasive that we should count prisons and jails among the key institutions that shape the life course of recent birth cohorts of African American men.” 9
9 Bruce Western, Punishment and Inequality in America. (New York, Russell Sage Foundation, 2006) 9, 31.
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Looking Forward and Next Steps It is evident that interrupting the growth of mass incarceration, reducing racial disparity in the system, and lowering recidivism rates need to be the foci of criminal justice advocates, practitioners in many areas, and of public policy makers at all levels of government. The Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference (SDPC) is engaged in implementing multiple strategies to interrupt mass incarceration and the policies that undergird it. This robust movement to end mass incarceration has already organized 18 states poised to implement the proposed SDPC hearings over the next few months and will engage esteemed groups of national leaders to prioritize this agenda. Alexander declares: “More than half the young Black men in any large American city are currently under the control of the criminal justice system is not just a symptom of poverty or poor chances, but rather evidence of a new racial caste system at work.� 10 A National Black Agenda must send a clear signal that the criminal justice system in the American democracy must adhere to principles of community safety, innocent until proven guilty, rehabilitation and restorative justice. More assuredly, the criminal justice system must also be bound by international standards of human rights. 3. We demand a federal commitment to the elimination of the drugs and gun trade throughout the inner cities of this nation and the rest of the African World Community. Initiation of legislative efforts that go above and beyond the pacification efforts that are presently in place and has resulted in the increase of the trafficking of drugs and guns in inner city communities and increasing murder rates. All legislative efforts must be matched by community-controlled efforts led by Black men in their indigenous communities. 10 Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness (New York: The New Press, 2010) 16.
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4. We demand an immediate review of all existing and proposed elementary and secondary education legislation that directly or indirectly impacts upon the education of African-American children to put a stop to the withdrawal of government support for public education at all levels. This includes an immediate halt to the privatization of public education through voucher schemes and charter schools. We demand a substantial increase in the funding of public schools and universal access to colleges and universities at an affordable rate of tuition. 5. We demand an expansion of the federally funded International Teacher Exchange Program at all levels and aid to educational programs in Africa and the rest of the African World Community. Further, we demand an expansion of foreign language training for students and teachers at all levels. African-American students and teachers must have equal access to these exchange and language training programs, especially those that are between Africa, the African World Community and the United States. 6. We demand that the federal government immediately pass legislation that will close the IT gap and digital divide between African-Americans and the rest of the nation. This includes increased IT hard and software in schools accompanied by well trained teachers who can help to close this gap. Further, we demand federal subsidies to make computers accessible for affordable to low and moderate homes and Wi-Fi for inner city and rural communities. 7. We demand an immediate federal program to practically and realistically eliminate viral and bacterial diseases such as AIDS and other deadly diseases in Black communities and the nation, as well as throughout the rest of the African World Community. Further, we demand that all state and local governments institute all of the provisions of President Obama’s Health Care legislation, including Medicaid and Medicare.
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8. An immediate halt to all federal funding of research and experimental genetic, medical, psychological and/ or chemical programs that are designed to test the biological basis of criminality that targets Black children. Further, we demand that the Federal Government reveal the nature and extent of all research and experimentation being done and has been done on African-American population or on any other African population anywhere else in the African World Community that is funded indirectly or directly by the Federal Government and the private sector. Lastly, we demand the African-American Community place scientific experts of its choosing on all Review Panels to review these projects and report back to the public within a year. All of those projects that are deemed harmful are to be immediately eliminated. 9. We demand an immediate halt to the dumping of toxic waste generated by public or private entities within Black communities, all communities within the jurisdiction of the U.S.A. or in any communities within the African World Community. 10. An immediate halt to state and local outsourcing of jailing and penal functions to private corporations that have systematically abused Black prisoners and cost those governments more money they would have paid by keeping those functions public. The Prison-Industrial-Complex drains needed public funds from scarce resources like education and health care. 11. We demand federal legislation eliminating the Death Penalty. 12. We demand federal legislation that will eliminate the ability of state and local governments to institute laws and regulations such as “photo ID� requirements that are designed to suppress the voter turnout of AfricanAmericans. 13. We demand federal legislation that will halt foreclosures and banking manipulation of mortgages that rob African-Americans of their homes. 14. We demand federal legislation that will target dying inner city communities in a comprehensive Urban Redevelopment Program that will revive cities like Detroit without driving poor Blacks out of those cities because they cannot afford to rent or purchase the gentrified housing. Thus, we demand a tenfold increase in the funding of low and moderate income housing. Page 22
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15. We demand federal legislation that will target the elimination of African-American unemployment and underemployment. Further, we demand a federal program that will reduce the increasing number of Black school dropouts. 16. We demand immediate federal legislation that will totally transform the U.S. banking system to prevent a future meltdown similar to that that occurred in 2008 and produced the recession that we are now suffering. 17. We demand federal legislation that will curb the globalization of jobs (outsourcing) and resources that deprive African-Americans of employment opportunities. 18. We demand federal legislation that will provide real and practical reentry of convicted persons back into the community after serving their time. This includes expungement legislation that will allow these persons to gain profitable employment. 19. We demand the immediate implementation of The Food Safety and Modernization Act that was passed into to law in January 2011. The implementation of this law will help to prevent the increasing number of food poisoning from produce and other foods. As well, we demand decrease in the amount of food and food products and drugs imported from China and India that is not strictly supervised in production. 20. We demand the passage of a comprehensive Federal Farm Bill that will give full compensation to all Black farmers who were deprived of equal treatment by state and county Farm Bureaus. Further, we demand the passage of comprehensive Federal legislation that will properly support those Black farmers who wish to remain in farming. 21. We demand an immediate halt to practices of police torture and the common resort to “stop and frisk” with regard to African American males and youth based on the presumption of “gang” membership. 22. We demand that the militarization of urban police departments and the deployment of “drones” to inner city communities for surveillance be subject to public scrutiny. These devices can be armed and are being supported by Federal grants to local police departments.
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III. POLITICAL EMPOWERMENT We define politics as a process whereby a society decides who gets what, when and how. We do not see politics as an end in itself. We see it only as a means towards an end. The end is the Empowerment of African People throughout the African World Community. Therefore, the Empowerment of one of us means the potential for the empowerment of all of us. We define Empowerment as Self-determination, Self-sufficiency, Reciprocity, and Independence. Further, we cannot confine our focus to the traditional formal aspects of politics alone. We are committed to fight to raise our politics throughout the African World Community to the level of Reciprocity of struggle and the struggle for Reciprocity because these two modes of participation represent the only paths to Self-sufficiency and Independence. Simply put, it is only when we have moved outside of the bounds of traditional and formal political structures and behavior that we have made the greatest strides. Thus, we must institutionalize the reciprocal aspects of our politics and realize that struggle is eternal for those who wish to become free and remain free. IN SUPPORT OF THIS COMMITMENT, WE ARE PLEDGED TO THE FOLLOWING STEPS: 1. Reciprocity. We are pledged to holding all public officials, groups, individuals and organizations, African and non-African that we support, accountable to us as a group. We define accountability as a mutual respect and mutual exchange of goods, services, support and input. Therefore, we cannot support: a. Any public officials, groups, individuals or organizations who do not hire Black people. b. Any Black public official whose loyalty is not first and foremost to the African World Community. That loyalty must stand above any political party, organization, institution, individual or group outside of the African World Community. Page 24
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c. Any public officials, groups, individuals or organizations who do not hire Black people. d. Any Black public official whose loyalty is not first and foremost to the African World Community. That loyalty must stand above any political party, organization, institution, individual or group outside of the African World Community. e. Public officials, groups, individuals or organizations that do not seek out Black community input for major decision-making and policy formations. f. Any public officials, groups, individuals, or organization that cannot operate on the basis of Reciprocity, mutual respect, mutual support, and mutual loyalty. 2. Bold, creative and innovative leadership. We are pledged to seeking out and promoting bold, creative and innovative leadership throughout the African World Community to carry our interests and programs into the political arena. We can no longer support incumbents solely on the basis of their incumbency. Thus, we will issue an Annual Audit of performance of all public officials elected and appointed as a means of ranking those persons that will objectively determine our support or lack of support in elections. The demonstration of bold, creative and innovative leadership on issues that are crucial to our survival and progress is a major criterion for our support. We can no longer settle for business as usual, because it is bankrupt and counter to our survival, progress, growth and development. 3. Vision. We are pledged to forging a bold vision of ourselves and the entire African World Community within the context of a new social order. We believe that Black Political Empowerment as we have defined it will, by its very nature signal a profound change in the present social order. Thus, we must not be afraid to envision a New World Order of our own imagination.
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4. Problem Solving, Not Conflict-Management. We are pledged to the use of politics and government as a delivery system and a process for problem solving and not merely conflict management. Conflict management seeks to mediate conflict in order to postpone the inevitable consequences of that conflict. We cannot support any public official who adheres to this politics-as-usual position. We can only support those persons, groups and organizations that adhere to the use of the political process when it is appropriate as a delivery system and a problem solving mechanism. 5. Cautious Coalescence. We are pledged to a policy of Cautious Coalescence with groups, organizations, or parties outside of our community, only after we have determined that such a coalition is in our best interests. We must clearly define our position within such a coalition; determine the extent of our input; and calculate, to the extent we can, its outcome and the benefits we will receive. Simply put, we cannot engage in coalitions that do not have as their major modus operandi Reciprocity. Coalitions that operate in any fashion other than the principle of Reciprocity amount to a kind of “political rape�. TO THIS END, WE DEMAND THE IMMEDIATE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE FOLLOWING ACTION STEPS:
GOVERNMENT 1. The immediate construction of a Strategic Plan for the passage of the (John) Conyers Reparations Bill, HR 891 as a First Priority led by the Congressional Black Caucus and the White House. 2. A White House commissioned National Census Participation Conference to be held no later than 2015 to discuss the crucial issues surrounding Black participation in 2020 Census. This conference would address such questions as accuracy of the count; the implications of an inaccurate count on Black Political Representation and the disbursement of government resources; the methodology of the count; the racial and ethnic classifications to be used in the count; and, the people that will be conducting the count.
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3. The construction of a Strategic Plan to halt the attempts at reversal of Civil Rights legislation, denial of voting rights (especially the voter suppression laws in Republican controlled states), the denial of voting rights to ex-felons, and Affirmative Action laws in employment and schools. 4. The construction of a Strategic Plan to reform ballot access laws that severely hamper the ability of Black candidates and Independent Parties to get on the ballot. 5. We demand the passage of legislation that provides for the public financing of political campaigns and the elimination of the Super PACs, as well as, unlimited donations by corporations and millionaires. 6. A White House commissioned National Citizens’ Redistricting Conference to inform the citizenry of the importance and long range implications of redistricting. African-American citizens must become cognizant of all of the impacts of redistricting on their political future. Further, African-Americans need to know how they can go about legally appealing redistricting plans once they have been found to be detrimental to their interest. Lastly, this conference should begin to identify African-American redistricting experts and potential experts that will be able to work with and for Black communities throughout the nation.
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IV. INTERNATIONAL POLICY AND DEVELOPMENT We are African Americans, who operate within the confines of the American political system that neither respects nor recognizes our existence as members of the American community. Our material, political, and social conditions for the last 400 plus years in this nation provide living proof of this fact. We are a part of the American national character, but not a part of the national community. We are in, but not a part of America. Traditionally, we have fought for inclusion for the purpose of gaining political leverage to survive, grow and develop. One of the prices that has been demanded of our leadership for inclusion is our acquiescence to a definition of us as a people without an identity and without a link to our African homeland. We have been given the status of a disconnected people whose identity begins and ends in America. No longer can we entertain the notion of paying such a high price for inclusion. We see ourselves as a people with roots and links to our African homeland. We are an African people in America linked to all other African people within the African World Community. Our politics must reflect this reality. We must fight for the interests of African people wherever they may be – in America, the Caribbean, Africa, etc. Our politics must reflect an African Centered perspective which places Africa-Americans, Africa and Africans as a First Priority in international concerns, as well as, domestic concerns.
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TO THIS END, WE DEMAND THE IMMEDIATE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE FOLLOWING ACTION STEPS:
GOVERNMENT 1. An Independent and Prosperous Africa. We are committed to doing whatever is necessary to make sure that Africa moves throughout the rest of the 21 st Century as an independent and prosperous continent that exercises its sovereignty for the good of its own people and the rest of the people within the African World Community. The welfare of the African World Community is dependent upon the independence and prosperity of the African Continent. 2. African World Community Trading Union. We are committed to the establishment of an African World Community Trading Union by 2020 in which all of the people of the African World Community are joined together in a trade union that facilitates free trade and Parallel Development throughout the entire Community. 3. A United States of Africa by the year 2020.We are committed to the creation of a United States of Africa by the year 2020. This Continental Commonwealth would serve to further stabilize Africa politically, economically, and socially. 4.
A Free and Secure African World Community. We are committed to the total eradication of slavery, involuntary servitude, forced labor, child labor, uncompensated labor, child soldiering of any kind, as well as sex trafficking or sex slavery. We do not want to even experience the perception of any of these manifestations anywhere in the community. Further, we are committed to doing the things necessary that will bring about a secure African World Community absent of slavery of any kind.
5. An African World Community Free of Hazardous Waste, and Pollution. We are committed to ending the practice of toxic dumping and unchecked polluting in the African World Community by transnational corporations or governments. This includes biological and bacterial waste, nuclear waste, medical waste, chemical waste or waste of any kind.
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6. Intercommunity Cooperation within the African World Community. We are committed to the establishment of cooperative economic, political, social and cultural ventures within the African World Community.
GOVERNMENT IN SUPPORT OF THIS COMMITMENT, WE ARE PLEDGED TO THE FOLLOWING STEPS:
1. Federal legislation prohibiting the dumping of toxic waste in Africa and communities throughout the African World Community. We are pledged to seeing the U.S. Congress pass comprehensive legislation that will bring an immediate halt to unchecked polluting and toxic waste dumping in Africa in particular and the African World Community in general by American Corporations, as well as, public and private institutions. 2. Federal legislation that will eliminate the African debt and further prohibit American banks, as well as, public and private lending institutions from continuing the practice of exploitation and deceptive lending. 3. The Establishment of a White House Conference to examine America’s trade and economic relationships to the nations of the African World Community. This conference should arrive at practical and solid solutions to the lack of beneficial reciprocal trade between this nation and the nations of Africa and the rest of the African World Community. 4. Establishment of a Technology Transfer Program that will aid in the technological development of the African continent and the rest of the African World Community. Further, this legislation should eliminate Federal Aid programs that exploit the indigenous people and the dumping of useless and outdated technology by public and private institutions.
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5. Establishment of an expanded African, African American Cultural, Educational and Economic Exchange Programs between Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), public and private institutions and their counterparts throughout the African World Community. Further, this exchange program should include an exchange program between HBCUs and universities throughout the African World Community to increase agricultural production in those countries. 6. The passage of federal legislation that will outlaw the exportation of genetically modified seeds, food and food products to the African continent or any of the nations of the African World Community. 7. Establishment of an Investigative Committee to Determine the Extent of Slavery, Involuntary Servitude, Forced labor, Child Labor, Uncompensated Labor, Child Soldiering, and Sex Trafficking or Sex Slavery Existing in the African World Community and the passage of the appropriate federal legislation that will help to eliminate it, as well as, lobbying in the United Nations for sanctions against countries that allow these practices to continue in their countries. 8. Establishment of A Congressional Investigative Committee to Document the Conditions of African People in Latin America and to draft the appropriate legislation that will address the Human Rights and Civil Rights violations of peoples of African descent in those nations, as well as, lobbying in the United Nations for sanctions against countries that allow these practices to continue in their countries. 9. In the interest of fostering, and promoting socio-economic development and economic growth, we commit to, and call for support of The African Investment & Diaspora Act, H.R.656, sponsored by Congressman Bobby L. Rush which has had a legislative hearing but has not been marked up for movement to the House floor.
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H.R.656 Latest Title: African Investment and Diaspora Act Sponsor: Rep Rush, Bobby L. [IL-1] (introduced 2/11/2011) Cosponsors (26) Latest Major Action: 3/8/2011 Referred to House subcommittee. Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, and Human Rights. SUMMARY AS OF: 2/11/2011--Introduced. African Investment and Diaspora Act - Directs the President to appoint a Special Representative for United States -Africa Trade, Development, and Diaspora Affairs within the Department of State. States that the Special Representative should be a person of distinction, culturally sensitive to the underserved African Diaspora in the United States, with substantial experience in matters of trade or economic development and in matters relating to African Diaspora relations with Africa. Directs the Secretary of State to establish, within the Department of State, the Office of United States-Africa Trade, Development, and Diaspora Affairs, with the Special Representative as its head. Directs the Special Representative to establish five regional United States-Africa Trade, Development, and Diaspora Affairs public outreach, education, and liaison centers. Requires the Special Representative and the Office to: (1) promote U.S.-African trade and investment relations and foster socioeconomic development and economic growth; (2) design and implement public outreach, education, and liaison programs and activities intended to foster U.S.-African economic, technical, social, and cultural ties;
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(1) promote U.S.-African trade and investment relations and foster socioeconomic development and economic growth; (2) design and implement public outreach, education, and liaison programs and activities intended to foster U.S.-African economic, technical, social, and cultural ties; (3) facilitate and increase the number of international learning exchange, professional, training, and educational programs between Africa and the United States; (4) establish a publicly accessible database through which U.S. and African businesses, academics, and organizations can communicate and establish ties; and (5) consult with African governments, the African Union, African intergovernmental sub regional
or-
ganizations, public-private partnership entities, private businesses and foundations, nongovernmental organizations, and U.N. agencies with respect to matters of Africa-related trade, economic development, and African-African Diaspora relations. Contact Info for H.R.656 : Timothy Robinson Senior Policy Counsel & Legislative Director Office of Congressman Bobby L. Rush United States House of Representatives 2268 Rayburn Office House Building Washington, DC 20515 (202) 225-4372 (main) timothy.robinson@mail.house.gov
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Phone: 773-413-0244 Fax: 320-213-0244 E-mail: nbac@historic2012chicago.info Web: www.historic2012chicago.info Web: www.nationalblackagendacom
National Black Agenda Convention Chicago 3473 S. Dr. Martin Luther King Drive Suite 350 Chicago, Illinois 60616
Our mission is to create and mobilize a national campaign for better jobs, quality education, improved health care, more affordable housing, increased business opportunities and ownership, wealth equity, environmental justice, equity in government, and safety to diminish the culture of complacency and mediocrity in our communities.
The National Black Agenda 2012 Written By: Robert T. Starks, PhD. Dr. Iva Caruthers, PhD.
National Black Agenda Convention 2012. Historical 2012 Chicago NBAC Virtual Conference. 1st Ed. October 2012. No use or reproduction or distribution can be made without authorized consent of copyright holder.