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in defense of afrocentrism
Malcolm X often charged that the American educational system had robbed Black people of their history – of their “usable past.” Addressing a Black audience he once said:
“When we send our children to school in this country, they learn nothing about us other than that we used to be cotton pickers. Every little child going to school thinks his grandfather was a cotton picker. Why, your grandfather . . . was some of the greatest people who walked on this earth. It was your grandmother’s hands who rocked the cradle of civilization . . .
Our history and our culture were completely destroyed when we were forcibly brought to America in chains. And now it is important for us to know that our history did not begin with slavery. We came from Africa, a great continent, wherein live a proud and varied people, a land which . . . was the cradle of civilization. Our culture and our history are as old as man himself and yet we know almost nothing about it.”
We in Youth for Socialist Action think that Malcolm was right, and that in light of recent events, his words ring just as true today as the day he spoke them. With the recent across the board nation-wide attacks on bilingual education, ethnic studies and affirmative action, the question of racism and raciest ideologies in our education system has been thrust into the forefront. We defend Afrocentrism, the movement to reclaim the history of African peoples, because we as students and young workers demand an alternative to the Eurocentrist curriculum and attitudes that still dominate our high schools and universities. Afrocentrism constitutes a necessary and educated alternative to Eurocentrism. Its efforts to rediscover and proclaim the historic contributions of Africans and African-Americans is nothing but a healthy, progressive and necessary effort to reconstruct an accurate and non-prejudiced interpretation of history. It is from such a history that we can draw the necessary lessons needed to confront and destroy the racism of capitalism, and to construct a democratic and rationale society where as human beings we can grow and explore our full potential, together, and for the benefit of all people!
The statement above is a modified version of a flier issued by YSA in 1998 at San Francisco State University.
