![]() It was almost like he did this before in a past life. knew that this relationship wasn’t always going to be smooth, but he embraced me even though we disagreed tactically on things. And since the Black grassroots had a certain level of je ne sais quoi in the areas of organizing the race consciousness in our people, they would come to us to get a lead on how to help our people deal with a system that they too still deal with despite having a few commas in their bank accounts. So much so that one could influence the other in their respective fields. In his radical politics, a leader could be someone who had a particular talent that you admired and respected them and their point of view on it. ![]() He understood that even leaders needed leaders. Now that’s real accountability, he said while he leaned back with that Harlem swag sitting in his chair. He said that we also couldn’t just push bad politicians to vote better but to also remove and replace them with people right from the movement itself. did push us to vote, but he also spoke to the current and historical failures of the Democratic Party while not leaving out the same critiques of the Republican Party as well. ![]() He saw it and spoke to it, so matter-of-factly that every time we spoke, he brought it up as if to say, “no matter what you young peoples’ 21st century strategy is, this part gotta be in it.” And to be clear, for the class over race Negros who bring too much theory and not enough practice to the Black freedom table: You end up derailing and delaying our freedom by always presenting a problem to every solution and not the other way around. But if just the right number of our best and brightest came to lend their expertise back to our people, then we could really free ourselves. B knew there wouldn’t be many celebrities there. Harry Belafonte meets young protester Lowkey in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014. did what we all wanted from the “celebrities” of that era to do: Pull up and build with us. but globally, if just one of y’all Negros would’ve dedicated just a couple hundred bands on Ferguson then Black people would be halfway free right now. But for how many successful, influential and rich Black people we have in not only the U.S. But it wasn’t.Ī few did come in that way and not for a photo op. And not to drag the point further down the street, but with all the Black studies academics, Black gun enthusiasts, Black conscious community members and anyone else in between, the pulled-up gang offering all kinds of assistance to the struggle should’ve been strong. Hell, considering the number of doctors, lawyers, politicians and business-minded people we got and didn’t come, it’s a shame. A few came, yeah, but not nearly enough considering how many rappers, athletes and musicians we got. Then, the other protesters started to come in, one by one until the “official” meeting began. Our meeting ended with some elite-level storytelling riddled with history, politics and charisma that should be on the big screen one day. did hit me with a National General Strike scenario that sounded like something that could work now, but we were still working out the kinks. It was amazing to see my boy Sol hold his own in debate with Mr. Then, Danny Glover would come in with that global perspective that took our vision to a whole other level. Then he asked me, “Well what is labor doing?” And I responded, “Doing enough to look like you’re fighting but not doing enough so the winner won’t fight you next.”Įvery civil rights strategy he fired at us, I countered with an upgraded 21st century version of it. He would tell us a 1963 tactic and we would come back with a Ferguson tactic. As that raspy, stoic tone came right out, he wanted to talk strategy like a general being sent in to instruct us on what our orders were. was smooth in the beginning just like I heard him sound on TV before. I think he learned from doing this a time or two or more. But I think we all knew that this was his meeting. I mean, his wife and his daughter, Gina and Raoul Roach would come in from time to time to listen, learn and get clarity. It ended up just being Rev, Danny Glover, my barber/movement brother Sol and THE Harry Belafonte, in attendance. He invited others, but I showed up first. ![]()
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