Back to Black: Black Radicalism and the Supplementary School Movement

294 Pages·2011·1.75 MB·English

by  Andrews, Kehinde Nkosi

Back to Black:
Black Radicalism and the
Supplementary School Movement
Kehinde N. Andrews
A thesis submitted to Department of Sociology
The University of Birmingham School of Government & Society
For the degree of: The University of Birmingham
Doctor of Philosophy October 2010
University of Birmingham Research Archive

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Abstract

Black radical politics are comprehensively defined and the aim is to understand how such a
political ideology can be used to overcome racial inequalities in contemporary Britain. A
Black radical challenge to mainstream racial theory within the academy is outlined, along
with an interrogation of the principle limitation of Black radical thought, that of essentialism
and cultural authenticity. To illustrate how a Black radical approach can be understood, the
position was applied to inequalities in schooling. Black radicalism argues for a Black
independent education. Black supplementary schools are spaces organised by concerned
members of the Black community and offer extra teaching of mainstream curricula and also
Black studies. These are presented as potential spaces for Black radical independent
education. A Black supplementary school was selected as a case study, where a critical
participatory ethnography was undertaken. The researcher spent 7 months working as a
teacher in the supplementary school, collecting extensive fieldnotes. Experiences in the
programme revealed strengths in the relationships, diverse curriculum and empowering
nature of the environment for students. A number of challenges also arose including
structure, coordination and decline in attendance. Overall, the potential for a Black radical
independent education exists within Black supplementary school movement.
Acknowledgements

Firstly, thanks must be given to all those involved in the Lumumba Saturday School,
including the parents, teachers and students. Without your cooperation and support, this
thesis could not exist. A particular thanks to Menelik for facilitating my access to the
programme and to Kemi and Kamili for all the hard work put into the Lumumba Saturday
School. It is volunteers like yourselves who sustain the movement with your dedication,
passion and commitment.
I would also like thank my immediate family, who each proof read different chapters of my
work and gave invaluable advice. Thank you for taking the time to go through my thesis and
edit my sometimes frightening grammar! Special thanks to Nicole for having the patience to
go through chapters and sit with me, painstakingly editing the work, giving me advice and
supporting me throughout the process.
Special acknowledgement also goes to my parents for providing the Black radical outlook
that is presented throughout. Without access to your book collection and your inspiration, this
piece would not exist.
For Nicole and Assata
Table of Contents
Introduction 1

Chapter One Black Radicalism 17
Defining Black radicalism 17
Limits of Critical Race Theory 38

Chapter Two Critique of “Race From Above” 52
Race from above 53
Misstep of “political blackness” 60
Critique of the postmodern position on race 72

Chapter Three Authenticity 80
Black radical authenticity 81
Black cultural authenticity 93

Chapter Four A Black Radical Independent Education 110
Black independence 111
Black radical critique of schooling 116
Black radicalism and supplementary schools 131

Chapter Five Towards a Black Sociology 139
Black sociology and critique of the mainstream 141
Limits of action research 149
Method 160

Chapter Six The Lumumba Saturday School 168
Background 168
The research process 169
Research diary 170

Chapter Seven Lessons From the Lumumba 229
Successes of the programme 229
Challenges facing Black supplementary school 243

Conclusion Black Redemption vs. Black Liberation 253

References 265

Introduction
There shall be no solution to this race problem until you, yourselves, strike the blow for
liberty
Marcus Garvey1

Black people2 in Britain are subject to a series of historical racial inequalities.
Discrimination in the school system is well chronicled and has lead to continued lower
outcomes for Black students (Steven, 2007). Unemployment in the Black community has
been a persistent problem, and presently one in five Black men are unemployed (Stewart &
Hopkins, 2009). Black people are five times more likely than average to be arrested, and six
times more likely to stopped and searched by police (Home Office, 2002). Meanwhile, in
addition to the various barriers of access to society, if you are Black in Britain you are five
and half times more likely to be murdered than the average person in the population (Home
Office, 2006). There are various ways to view these inequalities. One approach could be to
see them as unconnected, almost random occurrences that say little about the nature of
society. After all, it is by choice that they have been selected and presented in this fashion, an
alternative could have been to display them as an aggregate of a range of inequalities based
on gender, faith and class. It is by choice that the focus was on a series of well defined
inequalities faced by Black people in Britain. Taking a position that there is a Black
community that suffers from racial disadvantage has typically been approached in two ways:
the liberal and the radical.
Black liberals view the collection of disadvantages as a problem of the system of
liberal society not allowing fair access to the Black population. The most famous Black
liberal movement was the struggle for Civil Rights in the United States, where Black people

1 In Asante (2002: pg.136)
2 Black refers to people of African ancestry, aka Negroes
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fought for access and representation in the mainstream of society (King, 1969). In Britain
there have been similar calls for access, for example a focus on recruiting Black police
officers (Sutton et al, 2007). The message from such strategies is that the system is changed
the more representative it is, and therefore by increasing the number of Black police officers
there should be a decrease in the disproportionality of arrests and unwarranted stops. For the
Black liberal then, the solution lies in gaining better access to mainstream society.
A Black radical approach in many ways takes the opposite view and argues that far
from being the solution, the mainstream is in fact the problem as it works to oppress the
Black population. Examples such as Black Power (Carmichael, 1971), Pan-Africanism
(Nkrumah, 1998/1963) and Rastafarianism (Campbell, 1997) all view Western society as
being structurally racist and promote the creation of independent Black organisations,
institutions and nations as the only solution to overcoming racial inequality in society. From
this position Black people need to come together as Black people in a wider Diaspora, to
create our own futures (Garvey, 1967/1923).
Black liberal and radical positions are on the face of it diametrically opposed, as they
view the mainstream in opposite ways: one as the salvation, the other as ―Babylon‖.
However, in terms of improving the conditions of Black people in the West, the two do not
necessarily compete and can support each other. For example, for Black people in Britain a
Black radical will aim to create independent organisations and institutions, however, this
must be done within the confines of living in the West. Black people having access to and
gaining success in the mainstream should bring benefits in terms of being able to create
independent institutions and support them. Black liberal campaigns are also supported by
more radical ones providing alternatives and broadening the debate. Martin Luther King and
Malcolm X are two of the most well known examples of the Black liberal and radical
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traditions, respectively, but Malcolm saw their work as complimentary. For example, when
speaking of Martin Luther King he explained,

at one time the Whites in the United States called him a racialist, and extremist, and a
Communist. Then the Black Muslims came along and the Whites thanked the Lord for Martin
Luther King (DeCaro, 1996: pg.253)

Further to this Coretta Scott King recounted a conversation with Malcolm in which he
explained that he did not visit the same area (Selma) to compete with her husband, but to
support him. As she recounts Malcolm said,

I want Dr. King to know that I didn't come to Selma to make his job difficult. I really did
come thinking I could make it easier. If the White people realize what the alternative is,
perhaps they will be more willing to hear Dr. King (Boyd, 2004: pg. 192)

So Malcolm is putting forward the proposition that Black radicalism makes the gains for
Black liberals more achievable by providing a less palatable alternative for the mainstream.
For Malcolm, Whites are more likely to listen to King with the threat of radical action on the
horizon. The combinations and interplay of Black liberal and radical positions make the two
essential in improving conditions for Black people in society, using approaches both in and
outside of the system.
In recent decades, however, the Black radical position has been losing purchase in
Black communities (Collins, 2006). The heyday of Black radicalism is seen as the seventies
(Joseph, 2008), and Black radical voices are no longer heard alongside the liberal.
Organisations within the Black community oriented around a radical ethos and programmes
have felt a marked decline in their support (Andrews, 2007). Black radicalism has lost
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