Black Radical Congress [Mission]

From the Black Radical Congress, 16 March 1998

Our Mission

Black people face a deep crisis. Finding a way out of this mess requires new thinking new vision, and a new spirit of resistance. We need a new movement of Black radicalism.

We know that America’s capitalist economy has completely failed us. Every day more of us are unemployed and imprisoned, homeless and hungry. Police brutality, violence and the international drug trade threaten our children with the greatest dangers since slavery. The politicians build more prisons but cut budgets for public schools, day care and health care. They slash welfare yet hire more cops. The government says Working people must pay more taxes and receive fewer services, while the rich and the corporations grow fat. Black people and other oppressed people have the power to change the way things are today But first we must unite against the real enemy.

Now is the time for a revival of the militant spirit of resistance that our people have always possessed, from the Abolitionist Movement to outlaw slavery to the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s, from Black Power to the anti-apartheid campaign of the 1980s. Now is the time to rebuild a strong, uncompromising movement for human rights, full employment and self-determination. Now is the time for a new Black radicalism.

If you believe in the politics of Black liberation, join us in Chicago in 1998 at the Black Radical Congress-. If you hate what capitalism has done to our community - widespread joblessness, drugs, violence and poverty—come to the Congress. If you are fed up with the corruption of the two-party system and want to develop a plan for real political change, come to the Congress. If you want to struggle against class exploitation, racism, sexism and homophobia, come to the Congress. The Black Radical Congress is for everyone ready to fight back: trade unionists and workers, youth and students, women, welfare recipients, lesbians and gays, public housing tenants and the homeless, the elderly and people on fixed incomes, veterans, cultural workers and immigrants. You!

Sisters and Brothers, we stand at the edge of a new century. The moment for a new militancy and a new commitment to the liberation of all Black people, at home and abroad, has arrived. Let us build a national campaign toward the Black Radical Congress, setting in motion a renewed struggle to reclaim our historic role as the real voice of democracy in this country. Spread the word: Without struggle, there is no progress! Now’s the time!

The Struggle Continues: Setting A Black Liberation Agenda for the 21st Century

Black Radical Congress * Endorsers of the Call

Larry Adams (President, Mailhandlers Local 300)
Royce Adams (Local 1291, International Longshoremen’s Association, New Jersey)
Akbar Muhammad Ahmed (Instructor of African-American history & political science, Cuyahoga Community College, Cleveland)
Abdul Alkalimat (League of Revolutionaries for a New America)
Makungu Akinyela (Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, Atlanta)
Lisa Anderson, Ph.D. (Lafayette, IN)
Sam Anderson (Network of Black Organizers, New York City)
Marlene Archer (National Co-chair, National Conference of Black Lawyers)
Taisha Ash (Southern International Education Committee)
Ogundara Ayoka (Tampa, FL)
General Baker (Auto worker, Detroit)
Amina Baraka (Communist Party, USA)
Amiri Baraka (Unity & Struggle newspaper)
Debbie Bell (Communist Party, USA)
Jean Carey Bond (Writer/editor, New York City)
Herb Boyd (Journalist/author, New York City)
Rose Brewer (Minneapolis, MN)
Lisa Brock (Chicago)
Humberto R. Brown (Afro Latino Network; Ida B. Wells-W.E.B. Du Bois Network)
Linda Burnham (Women of Color Resource Center, Berkeley, CA)
A.C. Byrd (Political analyst, Washington, DC)
Horace Campbell (Global Pan African Movement; Syracuse University)
James E. Campbell (Retired educator)
Dr. Trevor Campbell (Pomona, CA)
Mandy Carter (Durham, NC)
Michelle Tingling-Clemmons (National Welfare Rights Union, Washington, DC)
Rick Tingling-Clemmons (People’s Tribune, Washington, DC)
Cathy Cohen (New York City)
Lisa Crooms (Washington, DC)
Angela Y. Davis (Professor, University of California at Santa Cruz; Committees of Correspondence)
Michael Dawson (Chicago)
Rukiya Dillahunt (Black Workers for Justice, North Carolina)
Ajamu Dillahunt (Southern labor activist, North Carolina)
James Early (Cultural worker and political activist, Washington, DC)
Robert Ellis (Attorney, New York City)
Johanna Fernandez (International Socialist Organization)
Bill Fletcher, Jr. (Labor activist and writer, Washington, DC)
Gene Ford (News & Letters, Los Angeles)
Tyrone Freeman (Executive Director, Local 1985, SEIU, Atlanta)
Victoria Garvin (Veteran labor and community activist)
Angela Gilliam (Northwest Labor and Employment Law Office)
Doug Gills (Chicago)
Lewis Gordon (Brown University, Providence, RI)
Jim Grant (Black Workers for Justice)
Venus Green (New York City)
Arturo Griffiths (African-American Human Rights Foundation, Washington, DC)
Evelynn Hammonds (Cambridge, MA)
Peter Hardie (Roxbury Youth Works, Roxbury, MA)
Cheryl Harris (ITT Kent Law School)
Karega Hart (Labor activist & instructor, Oakland, CA)
Judy Hatcher (New York City)
Lennox Hines (International Association of Democratic Lawyers, North American Chair)
Askhari Johnson Hodari (Washington, DC)
Dan Holliman (Syracuse, NY)
Dwight Hopkins (Black theologian, Chicago)
Gerald Horne (Professor of African-American studies, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill)
Gerry Hudson (Executive Vice President, Local 1199—National Health & Human Services Union, New York City)
Lynette Jackson (African-American Agenda 2000)
Geoffrey Jacques (Poet; Managing editor, New Labor Forum)
Joy James (Boulder, CO)
Ajagbe Adewole-Jimenez (Freedom Road Socialist Organization, New York City)
J.J. Jobnson (DC 1707, AFSCME, New York City)
Robin D.G. Kelley (Historian, Africana Studies, New York University; Ida B. Wells-W.E.B Du Bois Network)
Marian Kramer (National Welfare Rights Union)
N’Tanya Lee (Ann Arbor, MI)
Clarence Lusane (Professor of Political Science, American University, Washington, DC)
Shafeah M’Balia (Black Workers for Justice; health care activist)
Julianne Malveaux (Economist & syndicated columnist, Washington, DC)
Manning Marable (Co-chair, Committees of Correspondence; Ida B. Wells-W.E B. Du Bois Network)
Togi Marshall (Washington, DC)
Tracye Matthews (Chicago)
David Maurasse (New York City)
Sania Metzger (New York City)
Denice Miles (Chicago)
Cbarlene Mitchell (Co-chair, Committees of Correspondence; staff, Local 371, AFSCME)
Anthony Monteiro (Assistant Professor of Sociology, Philadelphia College of Pharmacy & Science)
Robert Moore (President, Local 1199 EDC, SEIU, Baltimore, MD)
Saladin Muhammad (Southern union organizer, Black Workers for Justice)
Leith Mullings (Professor of Anthropology, City University of New York Graduate School; Ida B. Wells-W.E.B Du Bois Network)
Salim Muwakkil (Chicago)
Cheryl Mwaria (Ida B. Wells-W.E.B. Du Bois Network)
Prexy Nesbitt (Chicago)
Efia Nwangaza (Malcolm X Grassroots Movement)
Ahmed Obafemi (New Afrikan People’s Organization)
Cheryl Johnson-Odim (Evanston, IL)
Kenny Page (National Conference of Black Lawyers, Washington, DC)
Jonathan Peck (Chicago)
Roz Pelles (Washington, DC)
Nelson Peery (League of Revolutionaries for a New America)
Brenda Randolph (Africa Access, Maryland)
Maria Ramos (New York City)
Barbara Ransby (Chicago)
Aisha Ray (Chicago)
Adolph Reed (Labor Party, Chicago)
Palmira N. Rios (Professor, University of Puerto Rico)
Cedric Robinson (Professor of Black Studies, University of California at Santa Barbara, CA)
Jamala Rogers (Organization for Black Struggle, St. Louis, MO)
Don Rojas (Publisher, Black World Today, New Jersey)
Kathleen Saadat (Portland Rainbow Coalition, Portland, OR)
Bill Sales (Professor, Seton Hall University)
Sonia Sanchez (Poet)
Jerome Scott (Project South, Atlanta)
Joe Sims (Communist Party, USA; Editor, Political Affairs)
Barbara Smith (Albany, NY)
Kim Smith (Chicago)
Lasker Smith (Ecorse, MI)
Leona Smith (National Union of the Homeless)
Yicki Smith (Feminist Action Network, Albany, NY)
Keeanga Taylor (International Socialist Organization; City College Coalition Against Cuts, New York City)
Anthony Thigpen (Chairman of the Board, Action for Grassroots Empowerment & Neighborhood Alternatives, Los Angeles)
James Tim Thomas (Executive Director, Emergency Services Network, Alameda County, CA)
David Thurston (International Socialist Organization, New York City)
Lou Turner (News & Letters, Chicago)
Jarvis Tyner (Communist Party, USA)
William Watkins (Chicago)
Cornel West (Cambridge, MA)
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