THE EMERGENCE OF BLACK ACTIVISM AFTER A COUPLE DECADE OF HIATUS

The black activist scene was allowed to wither away gradually by the black community for various reasons. I think the biggest tragedy in the 20th century all the way into the 21st century was to down play the importance of activism. The African community globally has duped itself into thinking that activism was some how stoking tensions and called for needless attention to the detriment of African people. I have seen various African people who will rather pretend they are invisible for various reasons. The failure to understand the seriousness of what is happening around the world and have allowed their communities to reside in the twilight.

For centuries activism became the strategic deterrence that African people where able to develop in preventing senseless attacks on their communities. As time passed by, there where certain individuals that emerged with ulterior motives of their own about the need to push back on external assaults on our communities. Every society has a standing army for a reason which is to protects its sovereignty. Forming strategic partnerships and alliances is part of the ultimate aim of building strength where weakness resides.

The strategic partnership and alliance coalition building to push back on racism and other forms of discrimination has been around for a longtime but Dr. King put it in full gear during the civil rights era. It paid off big time and the civil rights bill was passed which ultimately made racism and other forms of discrimination illegal but also served as a platform to effectively litigate against racism. The civil rights bill is a master bill but as time goes by, the millennial generation seems to be downplaying the importance of the legislation.

Millennial activists and organizations formed in the 21st century such as black lives matter if they expect to be effective will have to study the success and failures of the past. This will allow them to properly evaluate the seriousness and magnitude of the work to do especially after a period of pause. Millennials are now paying a price for being careless and not taking activism serious enough and treating it more like a subject that should only be part of the conversation when terrible things happen. Such as a sudden rush to protest during the Trayvon Martin case and Michael Brown case which is no different from other events that may not have received attention for various reasons.

So the question becomes why did other issues get the publics attention and somehow others fell by the wayside. Perhaps its indicative of how we seem to have forgotten about how important it is to protect our freedom, peace,security and dignity. The issue of activism in American life is a conversation that warrants a serious discussion at this point given how the 2016 campaign and election process played out. Activists are like the night watch in Game of Thrones meant to guard the realms of mankind and that is a responsibility to be taken seriously.