Author: Chief Radical

Black Radical Congress Freedom Agenda

Chief Radical

Black Radical Congress Freedom Agenda

Most people may have thought that black radicals was or is a new concept or idea.  It is not! Black radicals is a terminology that was developed during the Civil Rights Movement in America during the 1950s 60s and 70s.

During that time many black men and women became “radical”  in their own personal fight for liberation. They were radical for justice for the colored people in America,  especially those of African or negroid descent. They fought not only for themselves and for their people but also for the world.

Really, for the world?

Yes! 

The world cannot exist unerringly while people are being oppressed. The bottom will always fall out of such an establishment.  Many of the black radicals of the past that were not assassinated or vanquished from the country, found another type of life.

They witnessed and lived through the extremely oppressive and excessive force of violence, drugs, and family destruction to enter the black community. They saw a different type of demon rearing itself in all black communities.

This demon was a psychologically disastrous, misleading educationally, sociologically deprecative, and biologically deadly in their war against the black man woman and child.

Because of this, different organizations were put together to keep the fight for freedom and equality alive. One of which was an organization called the Black Radical Congress or BRC.

Focusing on Increasing Social Justice

They were founded in 1998 in the wonderful City of Chicago. They were a grassroots network of people and organizations all of the African descent. The BRC focused on urging for a wide range of continuous increasing social justice.

They also stood in the gap for racial impartiality and economic fairness for all people in the United States (especially black people).The organization began with 2000 different participants and their first agenda was something called the freedom agenda.

While we (#blackradicals) are pulling most of this information about this organization from Wikipedia, you can still find traces of articles online by doctorate-level scholars who participated with the BRC. We are not sure this organization is still together or if it has been disbanded.

Black Radical Congress and the Freedom Agenda

This article aimed to shed light on the ideology of black radicalism and black radicals in the past. Our current website, blackradicals.com, is not a new idea of progressing and strengthening black presence and equality. Many before us have put in work of immortalizing past works and empowering the current and future black radicals.

All of this will maintain and increase social justice and equality of blacks in America and all over the world. This has been and is an ongoing fight for equality, globally! Keep the fight, become a black radical inwardly!

If you know anyone or anything in addition regarding the Black Radical Congress, please contact us.

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First Black Woman Astronaut in Space Mae Jemison

Chief Radical

First Black Woman Astronaut in Space Mae Jemison

Dr. Mae Carol Jemison was born October 17, 1956, and she is certainly a black radical. Dr. Jemison is a US engineer, physician, and NASA astronaut. She became the first black woman to travel in space when she went into orbit aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour on September 12, 1992.

A Decatur, Alabama native, Mae Carol Jemison was the youngest child of her parents, Charlie Jemison and Dorothy Green-Jemison. Her dad was a maintenance engineer supervisor for a charity organization, and her mother worked as an elementary school teacher, teaching English and math at the Beethoven School in Chicago.

Early on, Mae was deeply interested in the sciences. In college, Mae studied the physical and social sciences and learned to speak two languages, Russian and Swahili. She earned a degree in chemical engineering, as well as, in African studies.

First Black Woman Astronaut

After college, she studied medicine for four years and became a practicing medical doctor. She is an extremely intelligent and determined individual with radical nature.

Jemison was one of 15 astronauts chosen by NASA out of more than 2,000 applicants to go on her first space expedition. When she was younger, not only was Dr. Martin Luther King an inspiration, but Jemison says that actress and vocalist, Nichelle Nichols, who played Uhura on Star Trek, was also a “guiding light.”

Jemison became the first Black woman astronaut in space in 1992. She was a Mission Specialist on the shuttle, Endeavour, where the mission was a joint event between the United States and Japan. Dr. Mae also had the honor of being America’s 50th shuttle effort. On this flight, Jemison worked with another scientist on two bone-cell experiments. These experiments also included investigating weightlessness and motion sickness.

Astronaut in Space Mae Jemison

In 1993 Jemison founded her own company, the Jemison Group that researches, markets, and develops science and technology for daily life. Jemison also founded the Dorothy Jemison Foundation for Excellence, named in honor of her mother.

Jemison has vocally credited her parents as the best scientists, mainly because they asked the most and best questions. No topics were not allowed the time and space in her upbringing, which really helped Dr. Mae in arts and sciences.

She believes the future of science and arts, especially for black youth, depends heavily on the leadership, guidance, and positive influence parents give to their children. Far too often, parents run their children from science because average parents often do not understand science.

Engage.

The reason we are enjoying the internet and all the technologies we have today is that of the scientific seeds that were planted 30 years ago. We, adults, are responsible for continuing to plant these seeds. The first black woman astronaut in space, Dr. Mae Jemison, a black radical, and educator.

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Dr. Mae Jemison Speaking (Click Play)

 

Dr. Cheikh Anta Diop Biography

Chief Radical

 

Cheikh Anta Diop born on December 29th of 1923, was a historian, anthropologist, physicist, and politician who studied the human race’s origins and pre-colonial African culture. In 1946, at the ripe age of 23, Diop decided to go to Paris to study. He originally thought to study mathematics as his major of study.

Dr. Diop only later decided to enroll to study philosophy in the Faculty of Arts of the Sorbonne. He earned his first degree in philosophy in 1948 and quickly enrolled in the Faculty of Sciences, where he received two diplomas in chemistry in 1950.

According to Diop’s personal writings, his body of education in Paris included studies in History, Egyptology, Physics, Linguistics, Anthropology, Economics, and Sociology. He was very well-rounded and educated individual. Not only an educator, Diop had been politically active.

He was involved in the Rassemblement Démocratique Africain (RDA), which is an African nationalist organization that was led by Félix Houphouët-Boigny. Dr. Diop was the general secretary of the RDA students in Paris from 1950 to 1953. Under Diop’s leadership, the first post-war pan-African student congress was organized in 1951.

Dr. Cheikh Anta Diop Bio Story

Diop’s understanding and main theory of Africa were that the political strife for African liberation would not be successful without the civilizing role of the African being acknowledged. This he believed began with ancient Egypt. He singled out the contradiction of “the African historian who evades the problem of Egypt“.

Black Africa: the economic and cultural basis for a federated state is one of Cheikh’s books and is the on that best expresses Diop’s political aims and objectives. In Black Africa, Diop argues that only a united and federated African state will be able to overcome the crying issue in Africa, which is its underdevelopment conflict. He proposed to establish a single African language, which should be used across the continent for official, educational, and cultural purposes.

cheikh anta diop black radical

Struggle of Official Recognition

His initial doctoral dissertation submitted at the University of Paris, Sorbonne in 1951, was based on the premise that ancient Egypt, with all the glory of the past pharaohs, was an African civilization.

This dissertation was rejected by “white” Eurocentric educators. Regardless of this, Diop’s dissertation was finally published by Presence Africaine; and it was under the title Nations Negres et Culture in 1955 (which won him global recognition).

Diop pushed to have his doctorates granted again, and two additional attempts were turned back once again. It wasn’t until 1960 when he entered his defense session with an array of sociologists, anthropologists, and historians; that he triumphantly carried his argument.

Dr. Cheikh Anta Diop Biography

It took nearly a decade of enormous and arduous effort, but Diop finally won his Docteur es Lettres! In that same year, 1960, were published two of his other works; the Cultural Unity of Black Africa and Precolonial Black Africa.

In 1966 at Dakar, the World Festival of Negro Arts honored Diop.

He was honored as “the black intellectual who has exercised the most fruitful influence in the twentieth century.”

Diop passed in 1986 on February 7th. He is remembered as a towering Sudanese black radical, educator.

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Medgar Evers Life Story

Chief Radical

Medgar Evers Life Story

Medgar Evers was a civil rights activist who organized voter-registration efforts, demonstrations and boycotts of companies that practiced discrimination. Born in Mississippi, he served in World War II.

He did this before going to work for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

Prior to his civil rights crusade, he fought in a different kind of battle. In June 1944, Evers’ unit was part of the massive, post-D-Day invasion of Europe, not to mention, he served in both France and Germany. This was until his honorable discharge in 1946. It was there he realized the harsh incongruency in America and the Jim Crow law.

Back in the States

In August 1955, a Chicago-born Emmett Till (just 14 years old and visiting relatives in Money, Mississippi) was kidnapped by a group of white men, after reportedly flirting with the wife of a local shopkeeper. Evers spoke up diligently about this matter, bringing him into the limelight.

During the early 1960s, the increased tempo of civil-rights activities in the South created high and constant tensions. And in Mississippi, conditions were often at the breaking point. On the morning of June 12, 1963, around 12:20 a.m., Medgar Evers arrived home from a long meeting at the New Jerusalem Baptist Church located at 2464 Kelley Street.

He was assassinated by KKK members.

On the 40-year anniversary of Evers’s assassination, hundreds of civil rights veterans, government officials, and students from across the country gathered around his grave site. This was at Arlington National Cemetery, they celebrated his life and legacy.

The Life Story of Medgar Evers

On June 15, 1963, Evers’s funeral was held at the Masonic Temple, with Charles Jones, Campbell College chaplain, officiating the service. In 1969, Evers’ brother Charles was the first black man elected mayor of Mississippi.

“Medgar and I said many years ago, if we ever end the violent racism in this state, it’ll be the greatest state in the world to live,” he tells Peeples. “And now, Medgar, I know you’re gone, but I’m telling you, son, it’s come to pass.”

medgar evers life story

Evers’s wife, Myrlie, became a noted activist in her own right later in life. She eventually serving as chairwoman of the NAACP. Medgar’s brother Charles returned to Jackson in July 1963 and served briefly in his slain brother’s place.

Medgar Evers a Black Radical

Evers was featured on a nine-man death list in the deep South as early as 1955; as a matter of fact, he and his family endured numerous threats and other violent acts. This made them well aware of the danger surrounding him because of his activism.

It takes a radical to face uncertainty, threats, and other misgivings in pursuit of freedom, justice, and equality. It takes a radical to face this and to continue to move forward.

This is why Medgar Evers is a true black radical.

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Chinua Achebe Things Fall Apart Radical Author

Chief Radical

Chinua Achebe Things Fall Apart Radical Author

The great Nigerian author, Chinua Achebe wrote a classic and literary powerful book that told a story of colonialism in a light that was not seen or heard of prior to. Caucasian European historians had dominated the field in telling the story of Africa from their isolated and often, biased point of view.

When Chinua Achebe published his book, Things Fall Apart, he told of the harsh reality of colonialism that nearly every country in the world, who’d been colonized (inappropriately) resonated with.

Because of this resonation, Achebe received countless letters, even from Korea regarding their ability to relate to the story. Korean women felt Achebe told their story. Revealing colonialism is a worldwide conundrum put in place by Caucasian (white) Europeans with evil intent.

the Radical Author of Things Fall Apart

Chinua Achebe Things Fall Apart Radical Author

A Black Radical in his own right, Achebe was a novelist, poet, professor, and activist. His first book or novel, Things Fall Apart, is considered the most read book in modern African literature.

Radical Author Follows His Heart

He won the Man Booker International Prize in 2007, for authors that is a big deal. Established in Igbo town in Nigeria and was a top student. He won scholarships to study medicine but ultimately decided to follow his heart and study English literature.

The Biafra war broke and he supported the Biafran independence, even presented himself as an ambassador.

Achebe believed colonialism was a vicious attempt to take a nation from the responsible elders and put it into the hands of the lesser responsible youth. This is where fight and struggle, violence, destruction, and war comes from. The destruction is perpetrated and staged by the oppressor.

BlAcK RaDiCal Achebe Had Tough Times with Publishers

The black radical talks about his tumultuous relationship with publishers and with politics in general. He was loved all over the world where people appreciate a humanitarian, writer, fighter-for-the-people, and a voice for the oppressed. Enjoy this video of a true #blackradical.

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Malcolm X Explains Some of His Reasons for Departure​

Chief Radical

Malcolm X Explains Some of His Reasons for Departure

This is a sad implication and story from the great black radical Malcolm X. In the video above, brother Malcolm shares why he was slowly yet rapidly separated and out of the Black Muslim organization lead by the honorable Elijah Muhammad.

Malcolm addresses the fornication being presented by Elijah Muhammad’s son. In addition to this, the hypocrisy of the handling of the situations really frustrated brother, Malcolm. The hypocrisy dealt with the women. The secretaries for Elijah Muhammad were mysteriously coming up pregnant.Malcolm X Explains His Reasons for Departure

When they were found pregnant with no apparent husband, they were brought before the congregation, shamed and isolated.

Nevertheless, the men or man whom they’d been impregnated by were never brought forward, nor shamed. After this occurred with the fourth or fifth secretary, suspicions grew.

It can be presumed that the man impregnating these women was also paying them off to keep them silent. After a few years, when the number grew past seven women, two of the women rebelled.

They began spreading their story in the streets of Chicago, getting the attention of Elijah Muhammad’s own grown son.

Malcolm X Explains His Reasons for Departure

Elijah’s son gets the information to brother Malcolm. The man impregnating these women was indeed the “honorable” Elijah Muhammed. Brother Malcolm contacts Elijah, who admits to it, but gives Malcolm a reason why it was okay or necessary.

Obviously, with brother Malcolm becoming a whistle-blower for righteousness, and his whistle was blowing against the leader of the Black Muslim movement in America; this would cause troubles for the whistleblower. Brother Malcolm’s life became endangered by the very organization he was a part of to champion the black cause.

This is a disheartening story of the bonds being broken among negro people, yet it is a true one. What are your comments on the video?

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Marcus Garvey and the Powerful Black Nation

Chief Radical

Marcus Garvey and the Powerful Black Nation

Marcus Garvey had the desire to create a nation for the American Negro or black person. Along with uniting black Caribbeans and South Americans with their native African brothers and sisters. Garvey attempted some pretty big goals even by today’s standards.

Fellow black Americans often called him insane, whites and government officials said he was a lunatic. These labels are often placed on revolutionaries or “ahead of their time leaders,” who have goals so big people often faint. In the documentary, it is revealed that Marcus Garvey had an extreme ego.

A Powerful Black Nation

He did not take advice kindly or at all.  He was compelled in his mind to do things his way. This often alienated him from other black leaders and supporters. He started something bigger than himself and when this occurs, one can’t keep their hands on every detail, no matter how they wish and try.

Marcus Garvey loved reading and was inspired and motivated by his mother to be great. She even often referred to him as Moses that he would be a great deliverer for his people. At the age of 2, Marcus Garvey ran into Booker T Washington’s book, Up from slavery.

This book radically changed his life and perspective. He set out to change the world for black people. However, his early life wasn’t the best. A bad money manager, unstable in relationships, such as that with one Amy Ashwood, and a high ego caused many setbacks. Marcus Garvey Black Nation

Still, his overall objective remained. His ideas failed in Jamaica, but it would have new life in America.

He left for NYC. Garvey realized things were worse in America than it was in Jamaica and once he saw a massacre take place against black women and babies, he decided it was time for black people to fight back.

It was time out for taking a silent approach to racial conflicts.

Disunity of Black Was the Problem

He declared that whites take advantage of blacks because blacks all over the world are disunited. Garvey preached that he was the equal of any white man. He declared Africa’s images from whites were false. False images of cannibals, when in reality, Africans were intelligent, advanced, and very civilized. He declared blacks must unite.

This is the key to any black radical movement. I hope you enjoy this documentary and learn key notes from this black pioneer, and black radical.

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