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One of the more direct applications of radical black action is protesting, and it has deep roots in Black Marxism. Whether it be peaceful, violent or something in between, protests disrupt the norm. They grab attention, they cause destruction, and they bring attention to issues society would rather sweep under the rug. The disruption is not a byproduct, but an intentional outcome. There have been times when asking for equality had not been an option, actions spoke made demands that could not be ignored. Radical change cannot come without radical actions.

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In order to challenge the master narratives of history that normalize and legitimize racialized capitalism, sometimes you have to go digging through history yourself. Fortunetly, there are resources out there that can help your own " torchlights" of history. To that end, here are some great YouTube Channels to check out:
- Home Team History
- The Originn of Everything
- Last Week Tonight

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When followed up with clear and lasting calls for change, protests are a tried and true way of fighting for change. Even in this strange world of COVID-19, protests are an important way to make your voice, and the often silenced voices of others heard. The key here is to find ways of protesting safely.

Here are some guidelines that the ACLU provides on how to protest safely: https://www.aclu.org/news/free-speech/how-to-protest-in-a-pandemic/

This image (from the ACLU website) is of water protectors on a Sioux reservation in Montana continuing their efforts to resist the construction of the keystone XL pipeline while trying to stay socially distanced. While joining the struggle in person may not be an option for you, it is worth taking the time to learn more about this particular protest. There are ways of supporting it remotely.

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The Most Important Part of Taking Action is Taking it Together

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The Most Important Part of Taking Action is Taking it Together

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Although there are a million little things that we can do every day to nudge things just a teeny tiny bit closer towards a more equitable world, none of these things will work in a vacuum. No one person can possibly undo systemic inequity.

The key to truly systems shattering, earth shaking radical action is collective action. Do what you can in your daily life to make the change you want to see in the world, but the most important thing you can do is find ways to take part of sustained collective action.

Join clubs. Find book clubs and interest groups that want to engage in social change. Capitalism turns us all into cogs in its machine. Try make yourself into a piece of a very different system.

It is also important to keep in mind that this is not the only chapter in the story of your life. There are pages ahead, and if you are in a position where you cannot do much right now, it is okay to plan for the future.

You can make today's dreams a part of tomorrows realities, especially if you start making plans now.

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Although calling your representatives is the best way of getting their attention, not all of us are well-suited to that technique. Fortunetly, there is an app for that as well.  Resistbot can help you send messages to your representatives via text.

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As trying as the world of politics may be nowadays messaging your political representatives is still one of the best ways to make sure that the legal change that you want to see in the world happens. Even in the age of the internet, calling your representatives is still the most effective way of reminding your representatives of what you want their priorities to be.

Fortunately, the age of smartphones does make this a little easier. Apps like Represent Me can help by compiling a convenient list of all your representatives and their contact information.

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Ultimately Radical Black action calls us to take action beyond the confines of capitalism. However, this is not something that is going to change overnight. It is going to take the concerted efforts of a lot of people over a long period of time.

To that end, supporting locally owned businesses owned and operated by Black people is a way of diverting resources away from the top tiers of the racialized power hierarchy. EatOkra is a useful app for finding and supporting restaurants owned by Black entrepreneurs.

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One of the most persistent outcomes of commercialized racial capitalism, is the notion that once things have fulfilled their originally prescribed use, they are no longer of use and should simply be disposed of. I resent that notion. Overtime, one of my favorite hobbies has been transforming 2nd hand and recycled objects into costume/art pieces. This is my Kelpie costume that I made out of my old prom dress, cardboard boxes, recycled foliage, some odds and ends I picked up at 2nd hand stores. Kelpies are mythological shape shifting creatures that eat people.

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Journaling for Resistance and Persistance

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Journaling for Resistance and Persistance

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The ideas and conversations surrounding radical Black Action can often feel overwhelming and draining. However, putting your ideas down on paper and keeping track of them can be a great way to free up your mental energies. Personally, I like to keep a journal of my thoughts on the the systemic inequities I observe, the little actions of resistance I try to incorporate in my every day life and the acts of resistance I plan to pursue in the future. My favorite feature is my "Resistance Reading List," which you get a sneak peak of in the photo.

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Whose idea was it to dedicate large stretches of land, often very well lit land, to grass? At some point, somebody decided that big lawns were an excellent way to display one's social status, and soon, they became a part of every day life. However, Radical Black ideas challenge us to re-visualize these spaces as potential spaces of personal sustenance . Why grow grass when you can grow tomatoes or basil? From there, radical Black Action challenges up to tear up our turf in exchange for something new. In this picture, one of our classmates document's their endeavor to do just that - transform their front lawn into a front garden!

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Taking time for ourselves, for our mental health, for our happiness is an important way to keep ourselves grounded when we feel like the overwhelming reality of systemic inequity might just carry us away. Spending time with our furry friends is  good way to relieve stress and keep ourselves healthy and happy.

In this picture, a classmate shares an example of how her furry friend enhances her well-being.

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On of the most insidious influences of racial-capitalism is the idea of productivity. There is this ever present voice, the voice of the internal overseer, driving us to work, to work harder, to work faster and to get more things done.

For many of us, it can be incredibly difficult to ignore this overseer, tear ourselves away from our laptops and take some time for our own well-being. In an effort to pursue and honor her own well-being through these stressful times, one of our classmates began taking her dog on regular walks just in time to enjoy the sunset.

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The theories of intellectuals new and old can seem daunting, even impossible to implement in your own life. However, it can be as simple as planting an herb garden in your windowsill, or standing with your friends in solidarity at a protest. This unit is called radical black action, but you do not have to start a revolution to take action against capitalism, racism, and other oppressive agents. We hope that you have a newfound desire to take action according to the main ideas of mind, body and land. As we send you off on your journey,  we leave you with a few guiding questions to help you conceptualize our stepping stones as you construct your own path to radical Black action:

What kind of ideas do I need to explore? What kinds of ideas do I want to explore?

What kinds of personal acts of resistance can I incorporate into my daily life?

How can I take part in collective actions that challenge systemic inequity?

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Subsisting Outside of Capitalism, Growing a Garden

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Subsisting Outside of Capitalism, Growing a Garden

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In response to our conversation on Freedom Farming, one of our classmates decided to start growing a garden of her own. Soon, she will be able to sustain herself beyond constraints of capitalism and with out all the wasteful byproducts associated with food from the grocery store.

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•  How can individuals reach self-sustainability and reject capitalism while still keeping the realities of our everyday lives in focus?
• How can we nurture the land we live on instead of imposing dominion on the earth?
•  What are some ways we can achieve interconnectedness with our surrounding environment?
•  What are some ways we can distance ourselves from capitalism in our everyday lives?

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How can individuals possibly address the issues like racial-capitalism? These problems are on such an overwhelming scale, what can one person possibly do?

How can we re-envision the past?

How can we use the past the re-envision the future?

How can we bring societal issues to light without protesting? Is that achievable?

What lies outside of capitalism? Are there alternatives to capitalism?

How can we incorporate gender non-binary identities and stories into radical Black action?

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A woman is a worker that can be easily exploited, that works without pay in the confines of a household and often does not have citizenship. Capitalism casts women into the shadows of unpaid labor and effectively renders them invisible. Black women are cast into especially deep shadows. Black women’s labor and class in racial capitalism is made the counter to those of a white male. The centering of Black women’s histories in a Black Marxist lens is a particularly important lens for envisioning possibilities outside of racial capitalism. Gender non-binary narratives in the context of racial capitalism are important to, but scholarship in this area is very limited. Think of this area of thought as something under construction, an important growth area of Black Marxism.

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This image, of a bird pivoted to the right with its head facing left with an egg in its mouth, represents the West African principle of Sankofa.

As Monica White explains, sankofa is a philosophy of “investigating the past to understand the present as a basis of forging a future of our own making” (I).

This is an idea that you will see appear again and again in discussions of radical Black theory. You will also see it pop up throughout this map.

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Reclaiming the Past to Claim the Future 

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Reclaiming the Past to Claim the Future 

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The systems of injustice we see in our society did not come out of nowhere. Profit driven entrepreneurs claimed this land and planted the seeds of modern oppression. Our task is to reclaim the past with two goals in mind: exposing the foundations created by the architects of oppression and uncovering the torches that revolutionary ancestors have left behind. For generations, society has fought vehemently to erase Black history. It is time to remember the atrocities that have been erased from our common knowledge and expose them in a powerful act of resistance. In order to create a radical vision of the future, we have to create a radical vision of the past. History does indeed contain the “torchlights for revolutionary struggle.”

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Before Europeans reached the coasts of our country the land was lived with, rather than lived on. The idea of owning land is one that has strong colonial connotations. Imposing dominion over land is primarily a Western idea, one that has caused the suffering of many colonized nations. Alongside that, the Capitalist approach to using land is solely for exploitation of resources. This lesson challenges us to live with the land rather than simply "on." Farming can be an almost symbiotic relationship between land and people when the purpose is not to exploit as many resources as possible. Interconnectedness to nature is something that we should strive to achieve.

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Black Marxism is a key origin of the Black radical tradition, and Cedric J. Robinson is the father of modern Black Marxist writing. While we do not read any work from Robinson himself, we read many pieces of writing from other authors that grapple with his ideas.

You can find more info on these authors in the comments section.

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Requiring basic needs such as food, water and shelter keeps the average person firmly gripped by the influence of capitalism. Taking control of your food source and reducing the reliance on capitalism to survive is the core to achieving self-sustainability and independence. It is not uncommon for food to be used as a weapon against the working class, and reaching self-sustainability whether it be a garden, a few chickens, or a whole farm, can help one exist outside of capitalism. This individual agency is an incredibly powerful thing to have, and a community of such individuals drives success, action, and collective agency. It is a simple but effective way to reject capitalism and improve independence.

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Planting seeds of revolution means planting revolutionary ideas into the minds of the ordinary masses. Radicalizing people with concepts like Black nationalism and Black Marxism, urging them forward towards radical Black action. It is not a fast process, but educating the common person with radical ideas proves to be fruitful when starting a revolution or initiating radical action. Planting the seeds of revolution in the minds of those who seek to resist oppression almost guarantees action on behalf of the masses.

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In the words of Robin DG Kelley, “unless revolts involve the ordinary masses and take place on their own terms, they have no hope in succeeding”. This is why empowering the masses is a crucial first step to revolution and radical change. It is easy to unify those who are already radicalized, but empowering the average person is markedly more advantageous. They have experienced enough oppression under racism and capitalism that empowering them to resist systems of oppression takes little to no effort. It’s masses that hold the power to change social structures. Gathering their support and radicalizing them is a solid first step towards change.

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•  How can we empower ourselves and our communities to challenge social structures?
•  How can we refer to and utilize "blueprints" in our everyday lives?
•  In what ways can we start revolutions of our own?
• How can we reach our oppressors as individuals and contribute to making a difference?
•  How can we unify oppressed groups in this day and age utilizing social media, the internet, and other technologies past radicals did not possess?

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Food can be both a source of autonomy or an inhibitor. Growing and tending to your own land, achieving self-sustainability, and in turn rejecting capitalism are all ways that food and agriculture can help us reach some level of autonomy. Controlling personal food supply distances a person from capitalism and is a step towards self government.

For those who work in the food and agriculture industry, food is used against them. Agriculture laborers are under the full force of capitalism despite being in a similar position to people who grow their own food. Quotas, long hours, and low pay keep workers tied to capitalism rather than freeing them.

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Now,  the clear way forward has come to an end. However, we still have some guidance for you. In the preceding tiles, you will find a consolidated list of questions. Each of the stepping stones ahead provides an answer to one or a few of these questions. Let them be your guide as you chart your own path through these stepping stones of praxes (you may want to zoom out a bit to get a sense of the layout of these stepping stones).

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Constructing a building without a blueprint would prove to be rather difficult and the same goes for radical change. The revolutionary era has created what one might call a blueprint or a map of actions taken that have led us to where we are today. A blueprint is incredibly important to the present and future of radical Black action by showing us precedent. It provides the current generation with a starting point, guiding them in the right direction towards a more egalitarian future. We learn from past mistakes and recycle ideas that have worked in history, constantly improving in order to one day reach what people of the past had dreamed of.

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The authors we have studied in this unit are prominent thinkers from the past and present that advocate for the radicalization of Black communities against capitalism, white supremacy and injustice through action.

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Radical Black action refers to actions that work to fundamentally challenge and dismantle normalized systems of oppression and exploitation.

This map is a consolidated version of the many maps our peers have made for the Radical Black Action Unit.
In this map, we explore many theories regarding radical Black action and the ways in which we can extend these theories into our own lives. Beginning with this introduction, our map walks through the various authors of this unit, important theories from each lesson, and finally some “stepping stones” to guide you towards radical action in your own life. The main text boxes present the distilled ideas from each of the student maps. Therefore, they are not representative of the entire unit, but of what the students found most compelling. If you care to explore additional information about each idea, we include the quotes our peers chose, author bios and more in the comments of each post.