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let's talk about that "white people shouldn't lead the revolution" thing 
it's not saying white=bad. it's saying a white understanding, uninformed by Black and Indigenous and POC and Global South perspectives, should not be leading those communities into a new world that hasn't taken them into account.
so only woke white people, right?
not exactly.
not all BIPOC people agree on how a revolution should start, or conclude, or what the resulting new society should look like. plenty has been written about this, but it's not a white person's place to arbitrate those disagreements.
not exactly.
not all BIPOC people agree on how a revolution should start, or conclude, or what the resulting new society should look like. plenty has been written about this, but it's not a white person's place to arbitrate those disagreements.
one of the big draws of Anarkata-style Black anarchism, for me, is a radical focus on self-empowerment of marginalized communities, to build resiliency from the ground up.
Anarkata doesn't wait for a woke white understanding that got its perspective secondhand to lead marginalized people to the promised land. we go right to the ones whose autonomy has been denied. WE take care of us.
so what's a white comrade to do?
1. listen.
LISTEN LISTEN LISTEN!!!
if you're talking over a non-white person about lived experience or arbitrating a disagreement in their community, GO BACK YOU FUCKED UP
1. listen.
LISTEN LISTEN LISTEN!!!
if you're talking over a non-white person about lived experience or arbitrating a disagreement in their community, GO BACK YOU FUCKED UP
2. read non-white authors and theorists. a lot of questions you have were answered by Fanon and Du Bois and Davis and a whole slew of others. read them. what they haven't answered is being worked out on the ground by activists now.
also, all of these questions don't have to be answered for you to listen and help.
so what else can you do?
so what else can you do?
3. financially support Black people
a. with no strings attached,
b. without pushing your politics, and
c. without telling the internet for clout
do all three of these at the same time, every time
this also goes back to #1. if you're not listening, you're not helping.
a. with no strings attached,
b. without pushing your politics, and
c. without telling the internet for clout
do all three of these at the same time, every time
this also goes back to #1. if you're not listening, you're not helping.
4. don't recruit Black people to your side. YOU get on OUR side.
find Black activists and revolutionaries and see how you can help (see all three points of #3).
find Black activists and revolutionaries and see how you can help (see all three points of #3).
don't expect them to trust you right off, don't take it personally if they turn down your request to join, and don't act like you're doing them a favor. you're not.
if you're not in this because it's the right thing to do, go join the Democrats and expect a lot of hate from us.
if you're not in this because it's the right thing to do, go join the Democrats and expect a lot of hate from us.
long story short, this is about empowering communities who've had their power siphoned away for centuries. not by proxy, not through the filter of white leaders, not diluted by white votes in a mass direct democracy, not when the revolution says so. we do this directly and NOW.
if you care about us, you will care about how revolution will affect us and how it will need to work for us. that means you will get on OUR side instead of us joining you.
if you can't handle that, get out of the way, and don't expect our mercy. anyone who stands in the way of Black and Indigenous revolution is our enemy-- n@z¡s, white nationalists, liberals, and selfish white leftists will be indistinguishable. choose your company carefully.
so since this is still kinda getting engagement i'd like to post some places to start. i shouldn't be your only source for Black thought, but i'm happy to be a place to start.
Lorenzo Ervin wrote about what white MLs need to understand about using Black people as political pawns in their game of revolution: https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/lorenzo-kom-boa-ervin-authoritarian-leftists
"We will continue to survive without you and can make our revolution without you (or against you) if necessary; don’t tell us about ' protracted struggle'"
- Lorenzo Ervin
- Lorenzo Ervin
Ashanti Alston talks about why Black nationalism is important to Black self-determination, and how the question of whether a Black state should come about should be answered within the community, not arbitrated from without: https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/ashanti-alston-beyond-nationalism-but-not-without-it
here's the Anarkata manifesto-- Black anarchism explicitly rooted in Black traditions and struggles:
https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/anarkata.html
https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/anarkata.html
The Black Anarchism Reader is available for free online in multiple formats and provides a wide spectrum of Black thought on non-hierarchical movements and an explicitly Black anarchism: https://blackrosefed.org/black-anarchism-a-reader/
again: this is not all of Black thought on these topics. read these and others. understand them, make sure your action groups have too. where there's a discrepancy-- we are working it out among us. do not arbitrate that conversation from without.
listen, provide material assistance, fit in where you can and where you'd like to and where you're welcomed, and DO NOT SPEAK OVER BIPOC PEOPLE. we are not Pokemon or hands of cards. we will not be played against each other to soothe a white understanding.
