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New School Still Chasing Old School

By Sasha Vann
Black College Wire

Sasha Vann

Man, I don’t know what it is lately. Hurricane Katrina came and aroused America’s skeletons. Now, the Duke rape charges in Durham, N.C., have the ghosts of 1960s civil rights injustices rising over the lives of the breathing. I think the past is trying to ask us something, like, “Is anybody ready to hold it down?”

Let’s think of who held it down back in the day: The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. The Nation of Islam. That old-school NAACP. A bunch of random yet bold people. And we most definitely have to give it up to the Black Panther Party.

The Black Panther Party, whose legacy has been mutilated and desecrated by FBI tactics and CIA infiltrations, stood for the American right to protect ourselves in the wake of injustice. These brave men and women are now dead, are in prison waiting to die, are fugitives, or seem to have completely given up on the struggle. I remember going to hear Bobby Seale speak at Duke University talking about what they did back in the day.

He’s barbecuing now.

So who’s up to bat? Looking around, I don’t see the Malcolms and Hueys or Marcuses; the Martins or Assatas or countless others. I see only Jesse and Al.

To be honest, I don’t know what these guys are doing.

I mean, you think about the baton being passed from one generation to another, and in some ways, it seems as though these guys are still chasing after the runners in front of them.

The New Black Panther Party for Self-Defense is another runner in this marathon. Just a few weeks ago, its members came to Durham to help organize the community to stand as a unit against the race and class issues that seem to be woven in and out of this huge blanket of scandal. I applaud their courage and determined voice to stand up for what they believe. They plan to stick around in Durham.

But there is still an air of uncertainty.

It’s a little flaky. Maybe it’s about the lack of media coverage, but I surely don’t hear anything about black leaders in New Orleans raising hell. With respect to the Duke rape charges, this case has been going on for more than two months and our so-called leaders are just stepping on the scene. And I mean fresh on the scene -- act one, scene one.

Two months gives anybody an extraordinary amount of time to strategize, organize, mobilize and then execute. But instead, people seem to be acting on impulse, like puppets on strings, being played by the media puppet master.

We have members of the New Black Panther Party in their black berets and combat boots trying to put together events in three days.

We have Jesse offering scholarships without considering that the woman is not in school now; she needs a serious prosecuting team and legal advisers.

We have a community of black people who have no idea of what to do, so they don’t do anything at all.

I guess people want to know what point I’m trying to make. Maybe there isn’t one. Maybe we should just accept things as they are or just commend those who are stepping up to the cameras when the lights come on. But in 2006, it’s going to take more than being able to display our frustrations to the world, a little more planning to unveil much of the covert racism and blatant sexism in this country. We can use the movements of the '60s and '70s as guides, but there has to be an approach more unique than what was implemented before to get serious results.

Mr. Seale, can you please put down the sauce and help us?

Sasha Vann, a history major at North Carolina Central University, is incoming assistant editor of the Campus Echo.

Posted May 22, 2006