Editor’s Note: The following message was posted in February on behalf of the Ujima People’s Progress Party (UPP), which is currently building a Black Worker-Led Independent Political Party in Maryland.

Hi Friend,

Happy New Year maybe. 2020 was terrible, particularly for black people in the US. I think that actually having a happy new year would require serious personal and collective growth. Growth requires a critical evaluation of the past in order to avoid repeating mistakes and one makes plans for the future. In that vein of reflecting on the past, I want to share with you a short video (9 min) of Michael B. Jordan reciting a famous speech by the Chicago Black Panthers’ Chairman, Fred Hampton. I pulled out these three statements to give you a sense of the speech.

“We’ve got to face the fact that some people say you fight fire best with fire, but we say you put fire out best with water. We say you don’t fight racism with racism. We’re gonna fight racism with solidarity.”

“We say you don’t fight capitalism with no black capitalism; you fight capitalism with socialism.”

“I’m telling you that we’re living in a sick society. And anybody that endorses integrating into this sick society before it’s cleaned up is a man who’s committing a crime against the people. If you walk past a hospital room and see a sign that says “Contaminated” and then you try to lead people into that room, either those people are mighty dumb, you understand me… cause if they weren’t, they’d tell you that you are an unfair, unjust leader that does not have your followers’ interests in mind.”

Chairman Fred Hampton was assassinated in his bed by the Chicago PD at 21 years old. At that time in 1969, Chicago’s City Council and Mayoralty were controlled by the local, post-Civil Rights, Democratic Party as it is today. In my opinion, Hampton was right and still is today: Integrating into a sick society and its sick political values hasn’t paid off in fifty one years. Fifty one years later, we still don’t even have enough equality to be killed by police and hospitals at the same rate as white people. Fifty one years later, the median net wealth of black households is trending toward $0 dollars. Fifty one years later, the Democratic National Convention rejected the Movement for Black Lives’ proposal of the Breathe Act while the largest civil rights demonstrations in US history were in full swing. (Joe Biden and Kamala Harris don’t support the Breathe Act either.) I think that continuing to subordinate the political demands of black people, indigenous people and working class people to the priorities of capitalist, primarily white political parties is likely going to make 2021 as catastrophic for black people as was 2020. Asking Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi to support the Breathe Act (or anything that black people, poor people or the biosphere need) again is not a “strategy” that our leaders should have the audacity put forward in 2021.

Fortunately, this Kwanzaa, many of us spent some time reflecting on the principle of self-determination. Being self-determined would include coming to our own decisions about community safety, imperialism, capitalism, socialism, racism, ecology, etcetera and creating our own agendas. I’m part of an organization that’s working on this in our state. Ujima People’s Progress Party (UPP), a black, working class political party is planning a campaign to achieve ballot access in Maryland. If successful, UPP would become Maryland’s first, black, working class political party. (Roughly 30% of Maryland’s population is black.) No matter what state you’re in, any success that we have would probably produce positive spillover effects on independent, self-determining, black politics in your state. So I would be grateful for your involvement no matter where you live. If you’re not already connected to UPP and you support more choices for black voters, then hit me back and we’ll talk about the ways that you could consider supporting us.

…I hope that I’m communicating how imperative it is that black voters get greater ideological diversity on our ballots.

With the same old ideology in charge, 2021 is going to be as lethally anti-black as the last one. Black lives could matter, but they don’t because, fifty one years later, too many black leaders feel that a black political agenda is less important than the Democratic Party’s priorities. Too many black leaders feel that a back agenda is less important than the organized wealth of white liberals. Black lives will matter when black people link up, overcome our internalized racism enough to develop independent black power. Over 70 million voters just opted to re-elect the most overtly racist US President in recent history. And the incoming President won by trying to win over those same voters. If we don’t try something else, then in fifty one more years, my grandkids will have another lifetime of marching and asking America for equality to look forward to. Let’s try something else.

Happy new year “if you’re willing to fight for it”,
Thinq Tank