On Intersection And The Struggle For Freedom, Justice and Equality
There has always been a dialectical struggle between ideas vying for supremacy amongst activists within the context of the Black liberation struggle. The legitimacy of those ideas are usually determined solely on the merits of their usefulness in bettering the lives of the people they are intended to improve. But, unfortunately, this is not always the case. Some ideas have the benefit of being “legitimized” and promoted by the various propaganda instruments designed to serve the ruling class by helping to prop up its associated power structure.
One example of this phenomenon that can be easily seen today is the popular use of labeling anyone who does not embrace certain aspects of what some have identified as the only legitimate approach to struggle, a "Hotep". This strategy is proving to be a very effective means of quashing any dissent of the so-called “legitimate” struggle--or even a critique of it--as not even the most steadfast revolutionary wants to be associated with something that carries such a negative connotation. Never mind that the term is extremely derogatory and disrespectful to so many of our ancestors and their accomplishments in ancient Kemet!
Fortunately, it has become clear that the vast majority of the people throwing this label around are either jumping on the latest bandwagon of what has been promoted as the “new” progressive/cool "thing", or they are simply using it as a tactic to silence opposing views that do not align with their idea of what constitutes legitimate struggle!
The primary proponents of these tactics appear to be activists who consider themselves to be "Intersectional". None of the Black/African progress secured through the struggle for equality/liberation has ever come about through an Intersection of group struggle! In fact, it would be more accurate to say that every group out there attempting to align itself with the struggle of Black people knows that they can generally get much more mileage out of the pain and suffering of the Black masses than they can get out of the history of their own oppression! This desire to join together and struggle collectively ignores the fact that Black people rarely advance their own collective cause from the struggle of other groups. This is primarily because racism permeates the very fibre of every aspect of Black people’s existence, both prior to and subsequent to the integrationist goals of the Civil Rights Movement!
An important point to consider is that Intersectionalism is really just Integration re-packaged! Black people should have learned by now that there is nothing special about being able to drink from the same water-fountain as another ethnic group. In fact, a strong argument can be made that the African-American community has been severely harmed beyond repair by Integration! This is not to say that the struggle for Integration was not just or did not provide some remedy for societal wrongs, but Integration also led to a false sense of equality whereby one side honestly believed that it only needed to demonstrate a worthy-ness to being included while the other side was and still is unwilling to even honestly and openly discuss the issues that caused the problem in the first place.
Just as many of our leaders warned against the promises of Integration, I believe it would be a mistake to assume that Intersectionalism is the correct approach forward for Black/African people to achieve freedom, justice and equality. Not only does Intersectionalism not embrace the aspects of the Black/African Liberation Struggle that does not fit neatly into its definition of struggle, many of its proponents appear to have adopted a strategy that not only alienates this segment of the African-American community, but also attempts to destroy any credibility associated with it.
One example of this phenomenon that can be easily seen today is the popular use of labeling anyone who does not embrace certain aspects of what some have identified as the only legitimate approach to struggle, a "Hotep". This strategy is proving to be a very effective means of quashing any dissent of the so-called “legitimate” struggle--or even a critique of it--as not even the most steadfast revolutionary wants to be associated with something that carries such a negative connotation. Never mind that the term is extremely derogatory and disrespectful to so many of our ancestors and their accomplishments in ancient Kemet!
Fortunately, it has become clear that the vast majority of the people throwing this label around are either jumping on the latest bandwagon of what has been promoted as the “new” progressive/cool "thing", or they are simply using it as a tactic to silence opposing views that do not align with their idea of what constitutes legitimate struggle!
The primary proponents of these tactics appear to be activists who consider themselves to be "Intersectional". None of the Black/African progress secured through the struggle for equality/liberation has ever come about through an Intersection of group struggle! In fact, it would be more accurate to say that every group out there attempting to align itself with the struggle of Black people knows that they can generally get much more mileage out of the pain and suffering of the Black masses than they can get out of the history of their own oppression! This desire to join together and struggle collectively ignores the fact that Black people rarely advance their own collective cause from the struggle of other groups. This is primarily because racism permeates the very fibre of every aspect of Black people’s existence, both prior to and subsequent to the integrationist goals of the Civil Rights Movement!
An important point to consider is that Intersectionalism is really just Integration re-packaged! Black people should have learned by now that there is nothing special about being able to drink from the same water-fountain as another ethnic group. In fact, a strong argument can be made that the African-American community has been severely harmed beyond repair by Integration! This is not to say that the struggle for Integration was not just or did not provide some remedy for societal wrongs, but Integration also led to a false sense of equality whereby one side honestly believed that it only needed to demonstrate a worthy-ness to being included while the other side was and still is unwilling to even honestly and openly discuss the issues that caused the problem in the first place.
Just as many of our leaders warned against the promises of Integration, I believe it would be a mistake to assume that Intersectionalism is the correct approach forward for Black/African people to achieve freedom, justice and equality. Not only does Intersectionalism not embrace the aspects of the Black/African Liberation Struggle that does not fit neatly into its definition of struggle, many of its proponents appear to have adopted a strategy that not only alienates this segment of the African-American community, but also attempts to destroy any credibility associated with it.
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