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This chapter demonstrates that Africans have been central to the shaping and the making of the Americas from its founding. The first antislavery societies were established the same year the Declaration of Independence was penned. From then to the present day, our nation has been consumed with the idea and the reality of race. This chapter will explore this shaping and making. More formally, this chapter will examine the system of racial triangulation created to keep the Africans in their places. Racial triangulation, the intended outcome of racial imperialism, has been associated with centuries of forced servitude, followed by the Civil War and Jim Crow laws, forced segregation, racial intimidation and terror, redlining, differential access to education and training, and finally, the cradle-to-prison pipeline. The Africans have repeatedly and consistently fought against each of these attempts to contain, restrain, and pervert their very being.
This chapter explores how the duality of existence, being both Black/African and American, creates a bipolar construction of both identities. It posits that this bipolar construction is also important in examining history. It must be examined from multiple angles, not just the colonizer but the colonized, not just the European but the African. Therefore “the bipolar construction of identity” emerged because of racial imperialism, African agency, and their reactions to being othered. The chapter expands on these notions by highlighting how racial imperialism created racial hierarchies in the colonized countries based on the ideological and presumptive beliefs of the colonizers toward the colonized. This chapter will explain how racial imperialism constructed and externalized the other. But rather than being mere reactive objects, the Africans are demonstrated to be active agents in their struggle to fight colonialization.
Black agency and resistance are the central themes of Chapter 4. In this chapter we will examine how Black agency, as witnessed in the Haitian Revolution, challenged racial imperialism and the how the U.S. and France responded, which resulted in the creation of a racial state. The most successful insurrection resulted in the Haitian Revolution, which resulted in the overthrow of European imperialism. Slave colonies were only successful to the extent that the enslaved were compliant. Such compliance was rarely, if ever, achieved, as rebellions and insurrections were frequent. Rebellions such as the Stono Rebellion in 1739, Prosser’s in 1880, Denmark Vesey’s plot in 1822, and Nat Turner’s Rebellion in 1831 are some of the most notable. But the one that struck fear in the French, Spanish, and British enslavers’ hearts, and those within the United States, was the one that began in 1791, known as the Haitian Revolution. The revolution, lasting 13 years, was the only successful insurrection led by self-liberated enslaved participants. The story, one of the largest slave rebellions in history, challenged European imperialism regarding the inferiority and docility of the Africans. We must examine these historical moments as they resulted in the French giving up their colonial possessions and ending slavery in the former colonies.
This chapter examines how self-empowerment and self-identification originated with and by Black people. The truth, I suggest, is a song by James Brown in 1968 when he declared, “Say it loud: I’m Black and I’m proud.” Go ahead, get your Funk on, make that move, and repeat after me, “I’m Black and I’m proud.” In this final chapter, we shall explore the rich music produced by Africans in America. In the process, we shall understand that this music was more than soul, gospel, hip-hop, or funk. African music was an assertion of being, a testament of faith, and a clarion call to the Universe – I am. These were songs of protest and process, anger and love, action and determination. They were songs that called out the racism faced by Blacks. But they were more than a complaint, as Brown asserted, “As Blacks, we demand a chance to do things for ourselves.” Self-empowerment and self-identification originating with and by Black people are not externally rendered but internally endorsed.
This book presents a comprehensive exploration of Critical Race Theory, offering a clear understanding of its origins, the way it has been problematized and its potential for societal change.
By examining the historical influence of imperialism and capitalism, the author critiques both liberal and conservative perspectives. Centring the voices of marginalized groups, the book highlights their position as agents of change who have been consistently rejected, ignored or attacked by both the right and the left.
Providing a unique perspective on Critical Race Theory, this book is a valuable resource for readers seeking to navigate the complexities of systemic racism and how to dismantle these systems.
This chapter begins by examining the musings of W.E.B. Du Bois. In the process, we argue that the double consciousness he identifies can be used to discover the “truth”. Specifically, it is argued that the history of America and Western imperialism is not one history but multiple histories. Further, these histories are best understood as parallel realities. So, concerning the Blacks, they found themselves creatures of two worlds. To be African and to be American, object and subject. Therefore, it is not a question of the European version of history or that of the African (or any other racialized group). Rather it is a question of understanding how both coexist and that what is truly “critical” about Critical Race Theory (CRT) is the ability to explore both roads, both realities. The chapter concludes by offering a set of CRT assumptions.
During the insanity of war, an unknown pregnant woman and her baby were killed as a massive missile attack destroyed the maternity ward where she and other expectant mothers were being treated. They join thousands who have died and millions who have been displaced as a result of what can only be called the egomaniacal desires of an autocrat. As a paranoid dictator, Vladimir Putin joins not only his predecessor, Stalin, but a list of others, such as Hitler, Idi Amin, Papa Doc, and Ferdinand Marcos. Like these other dictators, Putin has no concern for what will happen once he leaves the scene. Putin frankly doesn’t care, as he follows the script laid down by dictators who came before. One such example comes from 1757 when King Louis XV of France dismissed the stunning defeat in the battle of Rossbach. According to one account, Madame de Pompadour, equally unfazed, declared “après nous le deluge,” or “after us, the deluge.” Such dismal conditions are standard fare for failure among autocrats and dictators. Similarly, Putin exhibits a nihilistic indifference to the consequences of his actions. The reality is that this insane war was premeditated, conspicuous, and deliberately conceived and executed by Vladimir Putin. The truth is that Vladimir Putin is waging this war, has been planning this war, and has no intentions of ending this war until Ukraine no longer exists and its people have been annihilated. And this will serve no political, economic, or sane reason other than the inflation of Putin’s ego.
This chapter explores how Black men devised methods to counteract the Black male stereotypes created to convince him that he, not the system, was the problem. The vilest of these characterizations would be the ape, Coon, Jungle Bunny, Kaffir, monkey/porch monkey, zibabo, spade, spook, and of course nigger/nigga(h). Attached to these words are such stereotypical characters as Zip Coon, Sambo/Uncle Tom (Remus), Jim Crow, and Buck/Mandingo. And for most of this same period, there has been a constant rejection of these images as Black men and women have fought for the very soul of our community. Tracing these stereotypes to their origins helps us understand how and why they came into being and how and in what ways Blacks continually recreated their identities.
This chapter examines how Black women countered the proscribed and conscribed stereotypical identities created to keep them in their places. As pointed out, Black women’s identities have been prescribed and conscribed almost from the beginning of our nation. These representations of the African woman in America have rarely reflected the contributions to the American project. Even when there is an attempt to acknowledge their true histories grudgingly, it barely scratches the surface. Black women have blazed the trail, set the bar, and creatively constructed their identities and realities from the Revolutionary War to the Civil War, from the Industrial Revolution to the era of civil rights, and from “Hidden Figures” to “the Black Lives Matter movement.” This chapter acknowledges the various ways Black women have been both sterilized and characterized, yet they remain resilient, resistant, and rebellious, unsung warriors. Explored, therefore, will be the classic stereotypes that have attempted to racialize and minimize her. But this chapter will also explore their responses and active engagement in creating, sustaining, and maintaining feminine identities that are uniquely African, Black, and proud.
