[Peace] RE: [Peace-discuss] Thoughts of an angry black man

[sparenti]

>Dear Mr. Tchiguka, I wasn't at the meeting you describe, nor have I been able 
to attend AWARE meetings for the past year. But I follow closely the meeting 
notes and the e mails. I was part of the initial bunch of people who started 
the group, and intend to rejoin AWRE in the fall. I know many of the people 
involved---but unlike you, I admire and respect them.

The points you raise in general are excellent ones, about the connection 
between anti-racism and anti-war work. This connection may indeed be the work 
of this century. Thanks for your articulateness. This leads me to be eagerly 
interested in what work YOU are doing in town, and whether we could hear of 
your projects? Please respond to this, as your language marks you as a person 
interested in the social changes you are so adamantly calling for.

The points are excellent---but the name calling, and the finger pointing, and 
the use-of-the-race-card in this letter---HMMM. Makes me wonder (and again, 
all I have is your language and your logic---since you know what you know, why 
were you so mad when you see that people are not talking and thinking and 
behaving the way you want? Why did you go to that meeting? What were you 
EXPECTING? Is there a group who IS talking and behaving the way you want?? Are 
the groups YOU'RE working with doing that?


I understand getting mad (I'm queen of mad!) but the disparity between your 
eloquent points and the BIG MAD MAN tone is pretty large. You sound more like 
an angry man rushing out the EXIT door(and rushing out the EXIT door is 
something men are good at) than an anti-racist involved in the long haul.


History---when a small group of people in town decided in Oct. 2001 to start 
this group and name it AWARE, it wasn't because we WERE necessarily acting on 
the connection between racism and imperialism, but because we WANTED to be. We 
felt the connection was MISSING--so the group decided to take it on. The name 
is more a command, an assignment-- "BE AWARE!! of the connection between 
racism and imperialism" than necessarily a description of a group of people 
already successfully doing that. And it's a BIG command, connecting racism 
with imperialism. (I'm glad to see that the current stalwart group of people 
have decided to still keep that name, that big lifetime assignment). It IS a 
work of a lifetime, ---so why did you rush out of ONE meeting, Mr. 
Tchiguka?(or have you been attending the weekly meetings? if so, then please 
excuse my ignorance).

Well, I'm genuinely interested in hearing from you, if your patience is still 
there. And to find out what you're working on. It's a small town.

By the way, I've saved the message from Bishop Desmond Tutu that he wrote back 
in March, about keeping our vision clear and hopeful in working in the global 
peace and anti-racism movements. No rushing to EXIT doors, this century. (If 
you didn't happen to catch that e mail, I can send it along to you).

Let's work!
Susan Parenti

===== Original Message From Tchiguka at aol.com =====
>Thursday, 3 July 2003
>
>To the Members of AWARE:
>
>AWARE's racism discussion Sunday, 29 June left me utterly disappointed and
>confused. Disappointed because the discussion is indicative of a pervasive
>attitude among most whites that race is a problem that only affects people of
>color; confused because antiracism is in your acronym, yet there is strong
>opposition to fulfilling that part of AWARE. I'm also confused because I 
thought the
>members of AWARE were progressives. I could not believe some of the comments
>that came out of the mouths of so-called progressives at the meeting, but 
I'll
>get to that later.
>
>I joined AWARE initially because I thought the members understood the
>interconnection between war -both domestic and international-and racism. I 
thought
>AWARE understood that in order to effect change, one must think globally and 
act
>locally. I thought AWARE understood the connection between the police state
>which exist in most chocolate cities in this country and the military state
>which exist in most Third World countries by so-called Western democracies. I
>thought AWARE understood the connection between American Indian reservations 
and
>Palestinian occupations. I thought AWARE understood the connection between
>skewed unemployment among the working and poor classes in America and 
sweatshops
>and slave labor in Third World countries.
>
>I was wrong about AWARE.
>
>I also joined AWARE because I truly believe in multiracial and multiracial
>exchange. And I still believe despite my negative experience with AWARE.
>
>Some people in AWARE are deluded into thinking that the antiracism part has
>been fulfilled. But as a member of a beleaguered, oppressed people, I can say
>that AWARE has not. Having speakers to discuss racism in a forum is not 
dealing
>with racism. Glancing references to racism in documentation is not dealing
>with racism. How is AWARE to "end racism" when the group is too scare to talk
>about it? How can AWARE fight against imperialism and colonialism when your
>mindset is similar to the oppressor?
>
>Not only has AWARE given the race issue a low priority, but also AWARE has
>given imperialism, colonialism, and globalization a low priority. This group 
has
>avoided serious critical analysis of the aforementioned issues lest sounding
>too philosophical, which leads me to the conclusion that AWARE is not a group
>of progressives, but rather a group of dilettantes and hobbyists. AWARE has
>been reduced to being baiters of the Bush Administration.
>
>As for the comments made by so-called progressives at the meeting, Morton
>Brussel made the comment that war is when you drop bombs on people. Although 
war
>can be defined in terms of armed conflict, it is not the only definition
>available. War can also be defined as any active hostility, contention, or
>struggle. Therefore, the attack on affirmative action, economic and wealth 
inequality,
>racial profiling, police brutality, inadequate health care, poor education, a
>burgeoning population of people of color in the prison industrial complex,
>etc., can be seen as a war. The antiwar movement has failed to recognize the
>continuing war on people of color. White activists continue to ignore the 
issues
>which speak to the experiences of people of color.
>
>Another comment made-I don't remember his name-was that there was no black
>response to September 11th or the war in Iraq. Representative Barbara Lee, a
>black woman, who was the only House member that voted against a resolution
>authorizing President Bush to use force against anyone associated with 
September
>11th terrorist attacks? Lee also spoke out against using force in Iraq. 
Remember
>Representative Elijah Cummings, chairperson of the Congressional Black 
Caucus,
>who tried unsuccessfully to meet with President Bush to address the war?
>Cornel West, Michael Eric Dyson, Angela Davis, Danny Glover, Harry Belafonte,
>Alice Walker, Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee, and countless other black people 
spoke out
>against the war. Black organizations including but not limited to the
>Congressional Black Caucus, NAACP, the Urban League, the Black Radical 
Congress, BAMN
>(By Any Means Necessary), and Black Voices for Peace also spoke out against
>the war.
>Even though blacks are much more likely to oppose the war that whites-three
>out of five blacks are against it, compared to one out of five whites,
>according to polls-seemingly black people were underrepresented in the 
antiwar
>demonstrations. This lack of attendance I believe is due to blacks rallying 
over
>other causes such as affirmative action. Instead of focusing on lack of black
>involvement in the antiwar protests, this question begs an answer: Why are 
whites
>underrepresented in demonstrations for social change led by people of color?
>
>Indifference to domestic issues was another comment made during the racism
>discussion. This comment is clearly a contradiction because indifference to
>domestic concerns implies indifference to international concerns. How can one 
not
>care about racism in our front and backyards and only care about the racism 
in
>another country? How can one not care about police repression in chocolate
>cities in this country and care about military repression in Afghanistan and
>Iraq?
>
>It is patent that AWARE neither has the imagination, understanding,
>motivation, nor courage to wrestle with racism from without and from within. 
And for
>this reason, I will no longer associate myself with AWARE in any capacity. I
>cannot in good conscience be aligned with a group too cowardice to talk about 
or
>confront their own racism.
>
>I think it is long overdue to change the acronym to an anti-war effort (AWE)
>or an anti-Bush effort (ABE), because this group is not serious about race.
>Holding on to an acronym which lacks substance because it sounds good or
>including race briefly in a mission statement does not make your group 
progressive;
>it merely makes AWARE hobbyists.
>
>I was told that I should be patient with this group. And my response to that
>statement is my patience has run out. How long will it take whites to
>understand that race is their problem, too? After 244 years of slavery, 81 
years of
>Jim Crow, and 51 years of black people becoming strange fruit on trees every 
2
>days, I think it is rather insensitive to require my patience.
>
>I was also told that I should stay in the group to be of guidance to hapless
>white people in AWARE. My answer to that question is this: I refuse to be
>white people's nigger. In other words, I'm not going to be a token. If AWARE 
needs
>me to inform white folk of the fact that we live in a racist society and that
>we need to do something about it, then your group definitely doesn't get it.
>
>For those individuals who are sincere about dealing with racism-you know who
>you are-nothing is tying you to AWARE. However, if you decide to stay with 
the
>group, continue to put the mirror in their faces. Forced them to confront
>their own racist sensibilities.
>
>Caveat: Do not believe that AWARE is an anarchist group, for there is
>definitely order in the chaos. Keep a close eye on Al, David, and Morton. It 
seems
>that they are the true power behind the throne. Please do not allow them to 
mold
>AWARE in their image. Down with patriarchy in AWARE!
>
>In closing, before you wonder why people of color are not joining AWARE,
>remember this: A black man was willing to work with white so-called 
progressives
>and your group let him down.