In Cedric Robinson: The Time of the Black Radical Tradition, Joshua Myers explores the practices of organising black resistance and unpacking the complex forces that shape black life through an examination of the life, works and legacies of Cedric Robinson. The book offers invaluable insight into understanding the man behind the concept of racial capitalism and expresses hope at re-igniting how we view black resistance in the contemporary, writes Nyrema Baptiste.
Cedric Robinson: The Time of the Black Radical Tradition. Joshua Myers. Polity. 2021.
Black liberation in the United States is taught in snapshot segments, forcing the current activist-scholar to gaze upon movements like the civil rights movement or the black power movement as figments that existed at that moment for popular culture. This makes liberation look hollowed out, flattened and violent in its subjugation to the narrow lens of what anti-blackness imagines resistance to its existence means in its cultural fabric. Therefore, as we move forward in what black liberation looks like for our current social equality movements like Black Lives Matter, we must also understand the clear ideological framework of the past that is romanticised almost to the point of erasure. As we fictionalise slain leaders and those who managed to escape from racial, colonial violence, we are left with fragments of their memories. Memories that they have engraved into the ground and, if we look deep enough past the current fictitious identity of blackness in the US, into us as well.
Everything black activists, scholars, organisers are navigating today has been navigated before by brilliant thinkers who dug into their personal black lives for remembrance, inspiration and strength to understand and move forward in shaping black liberation in the US. Dr Cedric Robinson was one of those thinkers. Learning from various African leaders, brushing shoulders with minds like Walter Rodney and advocating for Malcolm X to talk on his university campus, Robinson embraced the history of black life, critiqued it and formed his understanding by unravelling what is perceived as the whole picture of black history in the US. From Robinsons understanding, to be in resistance means to dig deeper than surface-level history and to imagine the incompleteness of black life as our histories are gathered to become myths. So, if Robinson worked on strategically decentring the colonial push to make black liberation and black life mythological, then Joshua Myerss new book sees Robinson as a visionary whose work is rooted in the expression of what makes black resistance possible.
In Black Marxism: The Making of the Radical Black Tradition (1983), one of Robinsons most famous works, he stresses that as a scholar it was never my purpose to exhaust the subject, only to suggest that it was there. This subject is the origins of resistance to Western modernity and its shaping of black genealogy. So why are we taken on a historical genealogy of black life when the conversation of this book is wrapped around black resistance? In Cedric Robinson: The Time of the Black Radical Tradition, Myers, Professor of Africana Studies at Howard University and author of a recent history of the Howard University protests of 1989, tells us that it is to demystify our snapshot view of resistance. Theoretically resistance is like a language in the way blackness is. How we view black American history makes our current political language and culture of resistance incomplete.
Image Credit: Crop of np_rally_34.JPG by Doc Searls licensed under CC BY SA 2.0
Producing a concise book that acts as a foundation for demystifying Robinson and challenging how we view historical liberation organisations and movements, Myers introduces how black resistance is rooted in black life and the performance of active community participation in and out of academia. Furthermore, we are introduced to Robinsons other works and the conditions of black life that shaped his commitment to community and formed what made and makes the black radical tradition.
Myerss move to demystify Robinson and his work proves to be an insightful challenge as he familiarises the reader with Robinsons familial upbringing and draws out how it shaped the crafting of the black radical tradition. In the first chapter, Robinson is introduced to us by an antidotal retelling of his familys ancestral migration from Mobile, Alabama, to California. It is the story of many black families leaving, if possible, towns and areas so anti-black that even having a large black population did nothing to negate the racial violence enforced in everyday life. From this story, we begin to understand Robinson and his attachments to resistance and community, which Myers also engages through Robinsons early work, Black Movements in America. Myers analyses this text at the beginning of the first chapter, putting into motion the lineage of mass black political action through the migration of black folks from the South and midwestern states, also documented in Isabel Wilkersons The Warmth of Other Suns.
What is conceptualised here is that we do not truly understand how the lives of our families shape our political consciousness. The way Robinson details his familys resistance in leaving Alabama is often the reality of how anti-blackness structures our society and provides a response to the threat of death imposed by anti-blackness. That is how many have shaped their way of addressing the situation of oppression and resistance: the way they remember and speak on it highlights how meaningful these conversations are in understanding the roots of their conditions and how they organised around it. All around him were these people, his people. They know life, Black being, had required struggle (16). Myers analysis of Robinson is not surprising, considering the mapping Robinson undertook in Black Marxism to help us imagine a radical future rooted in understanding our history. In many ways, the first chapter of Myerss book sets up the theme of unlearning everything we know about resistance, about the figures and icons we are allowed to acknowledge, moving beyond the capitalist selling of it and reconfiguring what animates the spirit of the movement.
Making sense of these conditions is essential to understanding Robinsons work as an organiser because black liberation cannot simply be theorised: the answers that are sought will not be readily found in texts that may alienate those they aim to engage. Myers touches on this as another theme throughout the book, centring Robinsons focus on the practices of existence and liberation outside of Eurocentric political traditions, rather than just the concept of racial capitalism, which Robinson spent a chapter on in Black Marxism.
Myers connects Robinsons experiences and desires to the traditions within black popular culture as strategic tactics envisioning and challenging misconceptions. In Chapter Six, Culture and War, Myers briefly utilises Robinsons Forgeries of Memory and Meaning and outlines its impact on black film studies, connecting it to todays black resistance movements. Robinsons book broadens the conversation on what is gained and lost in the shaping and reshaping of black political aesthetics, especially in the media, as patterns form in understanding racial violence, resistance and the maintenance of black contentment. Black film exists only in the underground, its creation a subversive act. Whiteness as the grounds for reproduction of the American film industry has survived the contemporary cries for Black visibility and diversity (Robinson quoted on page 228). What, then, if the power maintained is anti-black? How do we understand how the past has been shaped by modernisation, even through the popular content that is digested by the masses?
A number of questions remain to be engaged in Robinsons work; however, more clarity on black life generates a framework that can display the limitations of past movements and our romanticisation of them. Anti-blackness is a systemic condition in the world; it is rooted in the past few centuries, and alongside it is a legacy of resistance shadowing it and being redefined. The end of Cedric Robinson: The Making of the Black Radical Tradition unearths a changing of the foundations of resistance organisation and how we frame our understanding of moving forward towards black liberation and the quality of black life in the United States. Still, for me, this book positions itself as a guide through Robinsons life and through the struggles of active resistance, which are not as clear-cut as special episodes on television, films or black-and-white images suggest, given the lived reality of black folks around the world.
Cedric Robinson: The Making of the Black Radical Tradition ultimately seeks to inspire faith in black liberation, through a black historical genealogy of a black leader whose work dealt with resistance to oppression. It assembles a mix of familiarity, individuality and togetherness woven into the lived experience of being black in Western society. Myerss book grieves the man and his work but it is also uplifting, taking into account how much Cedric Robinson has helped to shape the political landscape of black American life while also bringing into consciousness how little things have changed.
Please read our comments policy before commenting.
Note: This article gives the views of the author, and not the position of USAPP American Politics and Policy, nor of the London School of Economics.
Shortened URL for this post:https://bit.ly/3JnQEaT
Nyrema Baptiste University of EdinburghNyrema Baptiste is a PhD student at the University of Edinburgh. She completed an MA in International Affairs concentrating on Media and Culture at the New School. Her doctoral research centres around anti-blackness as a colonial structure within black popular culture. In particular, she focuses on how anti-black classism has reshaped black resistance in black pop-cultural spaces.
Continued here:
- Cincinnati Artist Collective Creates Sculptural Series that Spells Out Black Lives Matter - Cincinnati CityBeat - May 5th, 2024 [May 5th, 2024]
- Police investigate decapitated deer heads found near Biden and Black Lives Matter signs - Washington Examiner - May 5th, 2024 [May 5th, 2024]
- Activist actor Kendrick Sampson cleared for trial against LAPD over Black Lives Matter protest - Courthouse News Service - April 2nd, 2024 [April 2nd, 2024]
- How Black Lives Matter is destroying public education - Washington Times - March 6th, 2024 [March 6th, 2024]
- Can Employers Ban Workers From Wearing Black Lives Matter Insignia To Protest Discrimination At Work? - Employee ... - Mondaq News Alerts - March 6th, 2024 [March 6th, 2024]
- City seeks to avoid trial over Black Lives Matter mural - Palo Alto Online - March 6th, 2024 [March 6th, 2024]
- NLRB: 'Black Lives Matter' insignia allowed New England Biz Law Update - New England Biz Law Update - March 6th, 2024 [March 6th, 2024]
- New research details negative consumer impacts of BLM support on major companies and brands - Phys.org - March 6th, 2024 [March 6th, 2024]
- Photos of Trump with His 'Black Supporters' Are Everywhere ... Can You Tell They're All Fake? - The Root - March 6th, 2024 [March 6th, 2024]
- Home Depot Barred Employee from Wearing 'Black Lives Matter' on Uniform. Did It Break the Law? - SHRM - February 29th, 2024 [February 29th, 2024]
- NLRB says Home Depot broke law in banning reference to 'Black Lives Matter' from worker's apron - The Atlanta Journal Constitution - February 29th, 2024 [February 29th, 2024]
- Church of England tells parishes to set up 'race action plan' put forward by pro-BLM bishop - The Telegraph - February 29th, 2024 [February 29th, 2024]
- The designer of the Black Disabled Lives Matter symbol on zines, parenting and solidarity - The 19th* - February 29th, 2024 [February 29th, 2024]
- NLRB rules Home Depot violated the law - HR Brew - February 29th, 2024 [February 29th, 2024]
- It's Protected: NLRB Finds Black Lives Matter Insignia on Employee Uniform Constitutes Protected Activity Under ... - Labor Relations Update - February 29th, 2024 [February 29th, 2024]
- DC Seeks $401 Million To Save Black Lives Matter Plaza Area - The New York Sun - February 29th, 2024 [February 29th, 2024]
- BLM Coloring Book Teaches Elementary Students the Nuclear Family is Racist - Daily Citizen - February 29th, 2024 [February 29th, 2024]
- BLM co-founder slams Taylor Swift fans as 'racists' and Travis Kelce-led Chiefs winning the Super Bowl as a 'r - Daily Mail - February 29th, 2024 [February 29th, 2024]
- New Ruling Says Home Depot Broke The Law When It Barred Workers From Wearing BLM Logos On Uniforms - Essence - February 29th, 2024 [February 29th, 2024]
- Home Depot Is Ordered to Reinstate Worker Who Quit Over 'BLM' Logo - The New York Times - February 22nd, 2024 [February 22nd, 2024]
- How parents talked about Black Lives Matter differed by race, UW study finds - The Seattle Times - February 22nd, 2024 [February 22nd, 2024]
- 'You have Black Lives Matter...all lives matter' says community nurse in Buffalo about making change - WKBW 7 News Buffalo - February 22nd, 2024 [February 22nd, 2024]
- BLM movement's social justice politics and 'queer, trans-affirming' lessons delivered to kids as young as 5 in NYC school - New York Post - February 22nd, 2024 [February 22nd, 2024]
- AAS 290 examines social media and BLM movement - The Michigan Daily - February 22nd, 2024 [February 22nd, 2024]
- Home Depot employee's rights violated in firing over 'BLM' drawn on apron: labor board - Fox Business - February 22nd, 2024 [February 22nd, 2024]
- Saratoga Black Lives Matter organizers respond to AG probe - Spectrum News - February 22nd, 2024 [February 22nd, 2024]
- Church officials call for community unity in wake of 'Black Lives Matter' flag thefts - Woburn Daily Times - February 22nd, 2024 [February 22nd, 2024]
- Letter to the editor: Black Lives Matter - Pierce County Journal - February 22nd, 2024 [February 22nd, 2024]
- Study: How parents talked about Black Lives Matter differed by race - Yahoo News - February 22nd, 2024 [February 22nd, 2024]
- The Summer of 2020: George Floyd and the Resurgence of the Black Lives Matter Movement - WREG NewsChannel 3 - February 22nd, 2024 [February 22nd, 2024]
- AG: Saratoga Springs BLM activist arrests violated rights - The Daily Gazette - February 22nd, 2024 [February 22nd, 2024]
- Labor board: Home Depot violated labor law by firing an employee who drew 'BLM' on work apron - The Atlanta Journal Constitution - February 22nd, 2024 [February 22nd, 2024]
- Statue of slave trader Edward Colston will be permanently kept at a Bristol museum nearly four years after it - Daily Mail - February 22nd, 2024 [February 22nd, 2024]
- UW study: How parents talked about Black Lives Matter differed by race - Herald Palladium - February 20th, 2024 [February 20th, 2024]
- A gunman killed and injured protesters at a BLM march. Why did police blame the victims? - The Guardian US - February 20th, 2024 [February 20th, 2024]
- BLM has reshaped how we think of Palestine - Middle East Institute - February 20th, 2024 [February 20th, 2024]
- Texas DA blasts governor's move to pardon man convicted of murder of BLM protester - Dayton 24/7 Now - February 20th, 2024 [February 20th, 2024]
- Black Lives Matter PAC Spent Most Of Its Money In 2023 Paying Its Own Treasurer For 'Consulting' - Daily Caller - February 16th, 2024 [February 16th, 2024]
- How parents talked with kids about Black Lives Matter differed by race - Futurity: Research News - February 16th, 2024 [February 16th, 2024]
- Vermont Conversation: What is happening to really ensure that Black lives matter? - VTDigger - February 16th, 2024 [February 16th, 2024]
- Abbott-Prompted Daniel Perry Pardon Review Underway Following Conviction for BLM Protester's Murder - The Texan - February 16th, 2024 [February 16th, 2024]
- Black Lives Matter flag raised at US Consulate - The Daily Herald - February 1st, 2024 [February 1st, 2024]
- Seattle pays off 'fiery but mostly peaceful' Black Lives Matter protestors in 2020 riot case: Rising - The Hill - February 1st, 2024 [February 1st, 2024]
- LAPD Raided Home Of Black Lives Matter Attorney And Took Unlawful Photos, Raising Concerns Of A Harassment ... - Essence - February 1st, 2024 [February 1st, 2024]
- Issa Rae says Black stories are 'less of a priority' for TV bosses after two of her shows are axed - despite s - Daily Mail - February 1st, 2024 [February 1st, 2024]
- 'Watchmen' Creator Alan Moore Donates Movie and TV Royalties to Black Lives Matter - The Mary Sue - September 21st, 2023 [September 21st, 2023]
- Book Review: Blood in the Machine, by Brian Merchant - The New York Times - September 21st, 2023 [September 21st, 2023]
- Uninvited and Unaccountable: How CBP Policed George Floyd ... - The Intercept - September 21st, 2023 [September 21st, 2023]
- Opinion | Why More Countries Are Adopting Feminist Foreign Policies - The New York Times - September 21st, 2023 [September 21st, 2023]
- How 'Swagger' Raised Its Game - The New York Times - June 28th, 2023 [June 28th, 2023]
- Is a Dukes of Hazzard reboot coming to Netflix? - Dexerto - June 28th, 2023 [June 28th, 2023]
- Why Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing Still Matters - MovieWeb - June 28th, 2023 [June 28th, 2023]
- The Fatal Tension at the Heart of Wokeism - TIME - June 28th, 2023 [June 28th, 2023]
- Pat Robertson, broadcaster who helped make religion central to ... - The Associated Press - June 10th, 2023 [June 10th, 2023]
- Blackness and Ethnic Representation in Broadway Theater - MetroFocus - June 10th, 2023 [June 10th, 2023]
- Rhode Island Gov. McKee Calling on Textbook Companies to Resist ... - The 74 - June 10th, 2023 [June 10th, 2023]
- New Black Lives Matter tax documents show foundation is tightening its belt, has $30M in assets - The Associated Press - May 30th, 2023 [May 30th, 2023]
- New Black Lives Matter tax documents show foundation is tightening its belt, has $30M in assets - Yahoo! Voices - May 30th, 2023 [May 30th, 2023]
- Study on Black Lives Matter protests provides insight into the link between coalitional affiliation and moral elevation - PsyPost - May 30th, 2023 [May 30th, 2023]
- Opinion | America Has Become Both More and Less Dangerous Since Black Lives Matter - The New York Times - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- David Starkey in bizarre claim that left-wing wants to replace Holocaust with BLM - The Independent - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Black Lives Matter activist accused of owing the BFI 200,000 'spun web of lies' over other debtee - Daily Mail - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- David Starkey says activists including Black Lives Matter are 'trying to destroy white culture' - Daily Mail - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- I'm a Couples Therapist. Something New Is Happening in ... - The New York Times - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Countering organized violence in the United States - Brookings Institution - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Trio suspected of vandalizing Black Lives Matter banner on Susquehanna University campus - Sunbury Daily Item - March 11th, 2023 [March 11th, 2023]
- Too pretty to be Aboriginal: Meet the model who wants to abolish our beauty paradigm - Sydney Morning Herald - March 11th, 2023 [March 11th, 2023]
- New York City Said It Will Pay $21,500 Each To Protesters Who Were Kettled And Beaten By Police During Black Lives Matter Demonstrations - BuzzFeed... - March 4th, 2023 [March 4th, 2023]
- Dad of white boy forced to his knees and to say Black Lives Matter speaks out speaks out - Daily Mail - March 4th, 2023 [March 4th, 2023]
- Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action kicks off for thousands of U.S. schools - Fox News - February 7th, 2023 [February 7th, 2023]
- Barbara Broccoli & Phoebe Waller-Bridge Among 100 To Pen UK Government Letter Over Gross Violations Of Human And Womens Rights In Iran - Deadline - January 23rd, 2023 [January 23rd, 2023]
- The Agenda of Black Lives Matter Is Far Different From the Slogan - January 19th, 2023 [January 19th, 2023]
- Black Lives Matter May Be the Largest Movement in U.S. History - January 19th, 2023 [January 19th, 2023]
- After Raising $90 Million in 2020, Black Lives Matter Has $42 Million ... - January 19th, 2023 [January 19th, 2023]
- Mich. man who targeted Black Lives Matter supporters pleads guilty to ... - December 28th, 2022 [December 28th, 2022]
- I think they just saw a black girl: Author accuses bottle shop of racially profiling 12-year-old daughter - The Age - December 28th, 2022 [December 28th, 2022]
- Biden Admin to Drop Half a Million on Artificial Intelligence That Detects Microaggressions on Social Media - Washington Free Beacon - December 23rd, 2022 [December 23rd, 2022]
- Black Lives Matter's Alicia Garza: Leadership today doesn't look like ... - December 21st, 2022 [December 21st, 2022]
- Black Lives Matter: How far has the movement come? - December 21st, 2022 [December 21st, 2022]
- BLM has left Black Americans worse off since the movement began ... - December 18th, 2022 [December 18th, 2022]