If there is one thing Black Radical Tradition has thought me, it is the importance of identity. Through out this course, through every reading and lecture, somehow, for some reason, the word that constantly buzzed my mind was the element of identity, the constant struggle towards achieving it, the non-stop effort to reclaim one’s sense of self. It rather intrigues me to dig into the very importance of race and the subjugation that has existed against ‘the Black’ or ‘the Negro’ since time and, subsequently, struggle to achieve a sense of equality.
Black Radical Tradition teaches the importance of struggle and the eventual revival it brings about. The mere fact that after more than a decade of struggle against the corruptive oppression of the advantaged white supremacist, the empowerment, the fearlessness and the approach to revitalize the self-worth the historically disenfranchised ‘Negro’ can attain through gaining an independent nation (Haiti). That activists such as CLR James can convince a people to let go of senseless violence and seek change through a constructive social innovation.
That the continued reiteration of the importance of ones identity and the push towards struggling to find one’s identity can indeed sculpt a renewed sense of self. That individuals such as Toni Morrison can motivate a people to avoid the denunciation of their white oppressor and map out a renewed and empowered sense of identity from within.
BRT offers me a belief that to gain equality and to gauge societal importance for a hegemonized race can be achieved through relentless struggle without violence. The mere fact that Martin Luther King Jr. evolved a sense of collectivization through construction and struggle rather than destruction. That to make a mark, a renewed approach to gain freedom and equality was the way to gain recognition.
Black resistance movement has taught me that through out the journey of black liberation, from suffering from abolition to gaining civil rights, from the responsive ‘Black Power’ to creating the non-violent recognition of ‘Black Lives Matter’; the struggle of any movement should not be to gauge hatred and abhorrence, but to promote the humanity within the black community and attain the level of dignity the white supremacist never could.
That the Black movement in general was the epitome of reclamation of identity from the corruptive elements of slavery, capitalism and white imperialism with the progressive maintenance of tradition, beliefs and values to bring about an exemplary form of activism that has brought a community to the forefront today.
It has made me realize that there is no mile stone, no stringent idea or manifestation of thought that couldn’t be overcome under a systematic movement and struggle to revitalize and reclaim one’s importance.
Decoloniality and Decolonization 