Groundings

Dr. Charisse Burden-Stelly discusses the history and institutionalization of Black Studies, the often overlapping relationship between anti-communism and anti-Blackness, and the 'elision' of political economy in capitalist academia.

Moreover, she also talks about 'academic McCarthyism', academic celebrities, ideological battles, and the current state of Black Studies.

[cover image: student activist Don McAllister beaten bloodied and arrested by pigs during San Francisco State College protests, 1968]

Professor Johanna Fernandez introduces listeners to the Young Lords, a revolutionary Puerto Rican organization that radically shifted international discourse on Puerto Rican politics.

Fernandez recently publish The Young Lords: A Radical History, a groundbreaking and foundational new book which compiles 20 years of research to create the authoritative history of the Young Lords. In our conversation we discuss the roots of the Young Lords organization, how they transformed from a street gang to revolutionary socialist organization, the political and ideological motivations of the group, why they took a specific, relevant focus on health issues, and much more.

The poem you hear recited throughout the episode is titled "Puerto Rican Obituary", written and performed by the late Pedro Pietri, poet, activist, former Young Lord, and one of the founding members of the Nuyorican Movement.

If you enjoyed this episode, consider purchasing Johanna's book and support her work, and you can also support the host on Patreon as well.

We explore the philosophy and theoretical work behind the actions of Amílcar Cabral, African revolutionary from Guinea-Bissau who helped lead a succesful anti-colonial movement against the Portugese in Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde.

Reasearcher, writer, and organizer Zeyad El Nabolsy discusses Cabral's approach to culture and cultural liberation, dispels some eurocentric and racist myth surrounding Cabral's legacy, and looks at Cabral's relationship to Marxism.

You can find Zeyad's essays we reference here, as well as the essay by Blaut here which he mentions towards the end.

Intro/outro audio: Angela Davis on Amilcar Cabral, 1973

You can support me at Patreon.com/HalfAtlanta, and follow me on Twitter @halfatlanta.

Revolutionary Pan-Africanist writer, artist, and organizer Sobukwe Shakur gives a first-hand account of the history of the Black Art Movement, a movement which took place in the 1960s and 1970s and ran parallel to the Black Power Movement.

Sobukwe Shukur is a multi-media cultural worker, the host of the Revolutionary African Perspectives radio show on Georgia's independent WRFG station, a cadre and organizer in Nkrumah’s brainchild, the All-African People’s Revolutionary Party (A-APRP) and a former chair of the National Network On Cuba (NNOC).

The conversation begins with Sobukwe setting the context for the Black Arts Movement, one of global Black political consciousness at its height, before diving into first-hand experiences as a school student during the early 1960s before transforming into an organizer and cultural worker within the movement itself. In discussing the politics of the Black Arts Movement, he discusses how various ideologies existed simultaneously, at times in conflict, and how this was embraced and seen through the act of a multi-plural cultural revolution that took place. In the final third of the interview we discuss the legacy of the Black Arts Movement; how it has influenced us today compared to the Harlem Renaissance, and how Black arts of today reflect a deeply different dominant ideology being reflected in the art.

"the apocalypse" by Musa Springer, Protean Magazine, Nov. 3, 2020