Black Radical Tradition

Black radical tradition, having grown from centuries of appalling oppression, systemic oppression, and unforgivable dispossession of lives, land, heritage, and identity, is a form of consciousness that represented both an intimate and public form of resistance. It dates as far back as the injustices it stemmed from and aimed to confront, and took various different expressions. As an outsider with limited capacity to understand the intricacies and depth of the marginalization, I have simply conceptualized the ideology as insisting on the dignity and humanity of all people.

Despite the appalling, systemic, and unforgivable power dynamic between whiteness and non-whiteness to the enduring, catastrophic detriment of people of color, it is not just the oppressed whose humanity is evoked but the oppressors as well. The elevation of the former is evident enough but it is framing the oppression as regressing the humanity of the latter that takes unparalleled empathy and courage to appeal to its elevation too. To tend to one’s oppressor’s humanity and dignity while being on the receiving end of centuries-long, relentless exploitation is a profound belief in equality and not just an inversion of the order. To view misrecognition, one where you paid a disproportionately higher cost, as a shared problem is profound love for the other. While it extracts and displaces, the resistance to it imposes a disproportionate cost for the oppressed too. The norm, perennially privileging Eurocentric standards, not only institutionally disadvantages those who don’t fit in but inflicts psychological trauma of having their existence invalidated. It is only those who exist outside of the norm, that do not benefit from it, that have the imperative and urgency to critically evaluate it. Not only is the burden double, the fight is fought on two fronts. Not only is it a fight without, of necessity and survival, against forces that threaten both life and livelihood, but it is a fight within, of falling prey to false aspirations and realities distorted by the veil. Not only should a non-white person toughen up against the world but heal their own selves against the world’s dehumanization. The nuances of the struggle don’t end here, though.

Not only does the norm have to be constantly evaluated for how inclusive it is, but so does the resistance to it for there are fringes to the latter too, within the paradigms of sexuality and gender. The Black prophets opened our eyes to the whiteness of the norm, the Black prophetesses opened our eyes to the patriarchy of the norm, and those that didn’t identify with either nomenclature opened our eyes to the heteronormativity of the norm. The way forward has always been inclusivity in and flexibility of our value systems and worldviews. We have to embrace everyone’s humanity, even, and especially, if it is different from ours. As rich as the tradition might be and as complex the social movements it spurs might be, the goal is fairly simple: to accept, dignify, and love everyone. The damage has been done but we must all heal collectively. Help thy brother, and sister and everyone in between, and do it now.