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Title: Mapping our Legacy
Author: Afrofuturist Abolitionists of the Americas
Language: en
Topics: black anarchism, anarkata

Afrofuturist Abolitionists of the Americas

Mapping our Legacy

Black liberation is a living lineage. All of us inherit it and all of us

can be part of it. Like with any people's tradition, we have to go back

and fetch the history of Black freedom struggle, and place ourselves

within this beautiful heritage of resistance, in order to begin

understanding how we roll and why.

Black Anarchic Radicals, aka ''Anarkatas,'' trace our revolutionary

trajectory all the way back to precolonial Africa, to some of the

communal, gender fluid, ecologically sensitive, and egalitarian

societies indigenous to the Motherland. But more immediately, how we

move is traced to lessons learned from the Black Panther Party (BPP),

the Street Trans Action Revolutionaries (STAR), and the Black Liberation

Army (BLA) in the mid-to-late 20th century.

The Black Panthers (or BPP) began in Oakland with Huey Newton and Bobby

Seale, building off the influence of Malcolm X and the militant energy

of the Black Power movement that became more prominent after Martin

Luther King was assassinated by the US and many cities were torn apart

by riots from the Black masses. Their history is deep and worth more in

depth study, but the basics are that they highlighted the need for armed

resistance in Black liberation, and that they challenged the Capitalist

economic system and US aggression against global oppressed people. The

party structure needed to move away from its masculinist and

hierarchical set-up, however. These characteristics were what made the

BPP vulnerable to the divide-and-conquer tactics the feds played.

Through counter-intelligence and infiltration programs, the colonizer

took advantage of gender violence, ego-driven beef, and personality

clashes in the Party to decimate its unity. Despite this, the BPP was

well known and influential, for not just their speeches and guns, but

their community survival programs, for providing free breakfast and free

education and medical testing and other forms of care, and for their

work in solidarity with many other movements. This inspires Anarkatas.

Street Trans* Action Revolutionaries (or STAR) began in NYC with Marsha

P Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, a few years into the Black Power era,

building off the trans-led and working class street organizing which

confronted the pigs at the Stonewall Riots. Their history is deep and

worth more in depth study, but the basics are they brought to light the

need for anti-capitalist and racial liberation organizing that

prioritized the needs of houseless, queer/trans or gender variant

communities of color. STAR was still in the process of developing their

politics and their community programs, but unfortunately faced alot of

betrayal and backlash from more Assimilation aligned folk in the gay

movement at the time. STAR had a holistic view of liberation, and was a

groundbreaking outgrowth of on the ground queer/trans abolitionism and

struggle in anti-war and other movements at the time. The cooption of

the impact made by the movements STAR came out of at the hands of

assimilationists posed a huge challenge to Marsha P Johnson,

Sylvia Rivera, and other revolutionary street queens and QTGNC rebels at

the time. Despite this, STAR made an impact in the lives of many Black

and Brown gender variant youth, reclaiming empty properties and

collaborating with other orgs to help provide housing for young

queer/trans Black and Brown folk. They hosted parties and used political

education as well radical organizing and protest and sex work and

prisoner support and even ritual and African spirituality as ways to

sustain the revolutionary community building they did. This inspires

Anarkatas.

The Black Liberation Army came out of the Black Panther Party and larger

Black Power era. Their history is deep and worth more in depth study,

but the basics are they formed in order to provide a clandestine/illegal

and militant or underground organ that supported and defended above

ground revolutionary activities happening at the time through armed

struggle and guerrilla methods. Certain tactical mistakes, but also

conflicts in the radical movement, along with media narratives that were

boosted by treacherous Black boujie leaders to villainize Black

militants, all served to weaken the BLA's impact/relevance—removing the

necessary community support that would have allowed their escalated

efforts to flourish better. These forces isolated as well as exposed

revolutionaries and got them jailed or killed. Despite this, the BLA

reappropriated funds from the agents which rob and disservice the

people, such as banks, and like robin hood, would redistribute those

moneys to the people's liberation movement. They also moved in a more

decentralized fashion and some of them sought to challenge the sexist

nature of the larger Black Power movement at the time. This inspires

Anarkatas.

We go directly to 60s/70s organizations such as the BPP, BLA, and STAR

because during that time mad uprisings and riots and movements were

popping off all over the world all at once to destroy the white power

structure. Sylvia Wynter teaches us that this worldwide challenge was

part of a broad anti-colonial upheaval, even it was eventually

suppressed or coopted by the Man. Collectively, the movements of the

mid-to-late 20th century broke down various forms of white power over

the economic, cultural, environmental, as well as racial and

gender/sexual levels of human life. Six of the major results from that

time period that we still live with today are flag independence for

formerly colonized nations, as well as civil and workers' rights

(including for disabled and queer/trans folk), environmental

protections, community welfare programs, and a change in consciousness

toward Black self love, toward a drive for self-naming/self-defining,

and an understanding that all Black people globally are united as one

people. This inspires Anarkatas.

But the fight is not over. Surface level changes in the laws/politics

and even cultural consciousness of global society have failed to fully

guarantee us freedom, even if we have a few measures of safety. Over the

last few decades, we have begun to experience a wider and wider gap

between rich and poor all over the world, and mass environmental

destruction, as well as steady genocides against our people through the

corporations, prisons, police, hospitals, schools, and the military.

Representation of our people within white systems/media has not promised

us anything worthwhile at all, and often times our representatives

betray the interests of the collective for their own benefit. And

xenophobic narratives continue to be sown in our communities in order to

divide us so we can throw our most vulnerable siblings under the bus and

betray each other. Many legal protections are often denied anyway and

even being rapidly taken away. All of this has left our people and the

entire planet vulnerable to death and destitution. And meanwhile, the

liberatory traditions that were so impactful in the 60s/70s, are still

being suppressed and marginalized—labelled ‘terroristic’ and suffering

widespread repression.

Every time the enemy has tried to crush our lineages, however, our

ancestors have found a way to revitalize them. When our Afrikan

ancestors were violently invaded in the Motherland Afrika, and some were

made into chattel/property for European capitalist/colonizers, we fought

in our homelands to keep alive our people's legacies so that we would be

able to work out our own problems and control our own destinies.

Anti-colonial and national liberation movements find their origin then.

When the Man forced us into slave ships and shackles, we fought on the

seas, hijacked the vessels, or even jumped into the oceans in pursuit of

freedom and autonomy. Anti-slavery movements find their origin then.

When we were brought to the Americas and other places, forced to work in

brutal conditions to build societies that hate and exploit us, we still

fought and fought and escaped and created independant social

lives/structures. Maroon communities, religious/spiritual organizations,

proto-anarchist initiatives, and early Black feminist as well as Black

queer resistance—all of these find their origin then.

Each time a roadblock came, we would find a new way to apply our

heritages of resistance in a way that adapted to new

challenges/conditions. In Brazil, for example, as the kkkolonizer sought

to suppress our combat/fighting styles, Afro-Brazilians found a way to

keep their martial arts training alive through capoeira. To develop

capoeira, our ancestors had to discover how to get around the fact that

fighting was outlawed. They did it by using dance to revitalize and

disguise their fighting systems. Similarly, in the US, as the

kkkolonizer sought to suppress our musical communication/ritual styles,

Afro-Americans found a way to keep our rhythm-based spiritual systems

alive through the ring shout. To develop the ring shout, our ancestors

had to discover how to get around the fact that religious congregation

was outlawed and drums were banned. They did it by using coded songs and

their bodies out in the bush/woods to revitalize and disguise their

spiritual/communication systems. In both instances, something new was

born in order to adapt to new challenges, all while keeping our lineage

of resistance alive. While the legacy was being crushed, it was not and

never has been, static or dead. Anarkatas keep this same energy.

People like Assata Shakur, CeCe McDonald, Kuwasi Balagoon, Miss Major,

Lorenzo Komboa Ervin, and Ashanti Alston are some of the people who have

given Anarkatas the understandings we need to fortify and revitalize our

revolutionary legacy so that we can overcome the challenges we face.

There are many other influences too, past and present, from throughout

the world wherever Afrikan/Black people live, breathe, and organize,

well known and unknown. They have gone by many names, taken on many

labels, advanced many movements. ''Anarkata'' trajectories are like a

cumulative outgrowth of of their diverse contributions (and a response

to their limitations).

What Anarkata is about, basically, is Black liberation through anarchy,

or anarchy through Black liberation. Periodt. Anarchy does not mean

“chaos” in the way we commonly think of it. As our comrade Jai Renee

Gwalchmai says, anarchy is about “dismantling... [a]ll Systemic and

Individual/Interpersonal Oppression.” The goal of Anarchy is to “move

ALL humanity to a place where everyone holds material equity of power,

resources, and humanity.”

[“With anarchy, the society as a whole not only maintains itself at an

equal expense to all, but progresses in a creative process unhindered by

any class, caste or party. This is because the goals of anarchy don’t

include replacing one ruling class with another, neither in the guise of

a fairer boss or as a party.”]

The formula for anarchic organizing is that individual autonomy and

collective interests are balanced. Boundaries exist which are suited to

the material needs and histories of the individuals and groups involved.

And the work is about facilitating a dialectical pursuit of

self-determination among and for us all, from the standpoint of the most

marginal.

Jai Renee Gwalchmai teaches us: “[Anarchy] doesn’t mean that Nobody

should be in charge, and that everyone gets to do whatever they

like....quite the opposite.

The symbol for Anarchy looks like this: ® The “O” around the “A” stands

for Order. Not chaos. The goal is a more horizontal democracy.... Every

Single Voice Counts, and Must Be Included and Heard. The disenfranchised

and marginalized must be given a seat at the table, and the power to

shut down those who have traditionally held the lions share of power and

privilege.”

Jai Renee Gwalchmai adds that because of this, anarchy requires a lot of

“Self Work”...because We ALL Hold Areas of Privilege. Some folks hold a

great deal more privilege than others....but if the goal is to move

forward to a place of material horizontal equity, then we All have work

to do. Some people don’t Want to give up their privilege and power,

because they don’t have a lot of it and to have less sounds like

death.... We all need each other....and when we don’t recognize that, we

all die in droves together.”

Furthermore, according to Jai Renee Gwalchmai, anarchy comes from an

understanding that “oppression does not happen horizontally.. ..it looks

like a cage, with the top Oppression (that of the Elites/Rentier Class

who are more often than not CisHet & White) maintaining the... social

system or set of connecting social systems built around domination,

oppression, and submission.”

It is because of this class-aware understanding of hierarchy, and our

critical outlook on how race and gender condition access and oppression,

that Anarkatas prioritize concrete and material change. We want to

understand our positions in society, and put an end to our social or

economic or racial or gender or sexual oppressions, so we focus on what

actions we have to take to meet our material needs and take our power

back. Anarkata is not just about lofty abstract ideals and a belief that

we all matter and have value or deserve freedom. A belief/ideal is not

enough to liberate anyone.

As our sib Jai Renee Gwalchmai reminds us, “action and actual

physical/visible change that happens in Real Time is how we move. We

want it Today...NOW....Immediately...ASAP. Making people wait for

equitable access to material resources, humanity, and sociopolitical &

socioeconomic power is the physical manifestation of oppression. We are

here to disrupt that....by any means necessary.”

In short, ''Anarchy,'' means 'without hierarchy' and implies a society

that lacks an unjust ruling class. Anarchy lacks any and all forms of

material exploitation and domination. Anarchy lacks any form of

social/racial/gender/sexual oppression. Anarchy is society without

chains or cages. Anarchy is a society where all power is taken up by all

the people (not just some ruling class). And, ''Anarkata'' is whatever

works toward this total liberation from inside the expanse of global

Black liberation and Pan African struggles.

For context, it was necessary to invoke “Anarkata'' in the Black freedom

struggle out of a recognition that our oppression is so volatile that

only non-hierarchical and non-masculinist organizations can make our

movements indomitable, ungovernable. ''Anarkata'' recognizes that the

oppression of the Motherland and its peoples is the basis of all modern

oppressions; that Afrika continues to be robbed by neocolonial rule and

caged by US military forces, which enriches capitalism and worsens

ecological catastrophe, threatening all lifeforms. Anarkata says we

therefore need an all-encompassing movement for Black people that builds

from the ground for the liberation of all. Anarkata says that liberation

cannot be skewed toward just straight men, or those in the US or who

speak English, or to those who are able-bodied, or those who are not in

prison or who are not forced to live on the streets, or even to just

liberation of humanity. In other words, we realize the need for another

age of widespread liberation movements, beyond borders and binaries, and

we know that centering Africa/Africanness is the only way to sit in the

heart and the horizons of what has become a truly planetary struggle.

What we suggest for beginning to align yourself with this narrative of

Black struggle is to find space either alone or with community to pour

some libations and say the following words:

“We pour one out for all our niggas: for the nomads, the ungoverned, the

refugees, the lil friends, the kinfolk, the pirates, the runaways, the

maroons, the insurgents, the gworls, the spiritual leaders, the

guerrilla warriors, the maGes, the street queens, the rioters. And all

the wild things Man cannot house.

And we pour one for all those who are forgotten and unprotected

All those who aren’t allowed to love or live as themselves freely

All those who fought and died for our freedom

For all our people wherever they are, and for our homeland, and for our

planet

For all beings, even those who are not human,

and for all the people everyone says are less than human

And for all people whose brains work different or whose bodies work

different

And for all those in prison or on the street

For all power to all the people. Ase”

This libationary is based on the Tradition section of the text Anarkata:

A Statement (which you can also watch on YouTube). Each of those invoked

in the libation are a different inspirational element for Black Anarchic

Radical histories. We suggest you research and study and learn from or

about who they are. Think about how to apply their contributions and

struggles to your development as Anarkata. Engaging with these

iterations of Black radical tradition (whether you use the ritual of

libations or not) is very important in allowing us to start moving along

an Anarkata frequency. Each one touches on a facet of our diverse Black

revolutionary heritage. We look back to those histories and

contributions, so that we can then honor a fight for all Black lives.

Take time to learn from these figures and formations as well as the

radical frameworks that have emerged because of them (Black feminism,

Queer/trans liberation, Pantherism, Pan Africanism, Black ecology,

Afropessimism/antihumanism, disability justice, prison abolition,

Anarkata). This is what we suggest so we can learn how we move forward,

so that our people can sharpen what it means to be the wild thing that

Man can never, ever again house, can never, ever again domesticate, can

never, ever again suppress, can never, ever again coopt.

Suggested resources

Look for me in the Whirlwind by The Panther 21

Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence

against Women of Color by Kimberle Crenshaw

Rapping With a Street Trans Action Revolutionary- An Interview with

Marsha P Johnson

War Against the Panthers: A Study of Repression in America by Huey P

Newton

The War Before by Safiya Bukhari

Assata: An Autobiography by Assata Shakur

Message to the Black Movement by the Black Liberation Army

Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson: Listen to the Newly Unearthed

Interview with Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries by Women at

the Center

African Anarchism by Sam Mbah and I.E. Igariwey

Black on Both Sides: A Racial History of Trans Identity by C. Riley

Snorton

The Black Liberation Struggle in Philadelphia by Russell Maroon Shoatz

We Will Return in the Whirlwind: Black Radical Organizations 1960-1975

by Muhammad Ahmad