Clarkisha Kent Profile picture
Mar 8, 2018 24 tweets 8 min read Twitter logo Read on Twitter
So, I'm SUPER excited that everyone is enjoying my Nakia piece that I wrote for @WearYourVoice. And in that same vein, I am so, SO excited that #BlackPanther has inspired a lot of conversations on Pan-African and revolutionary thought.
That said though, this is a gentle reminder that the Erik Killmonger/Malcolm X comparisons do not *quite* work.
I say this because boiling down Malcolm's work & critical thought to him just being "violent" & uber militant foil to a de-fanged, de-politicized, & deified MLK Jr is not only the stuff of White liberal wet dreams (DID I STUDDER), but it is also qwhite, QWHITE off & has no basis.
But it ain't new. This has been a common philosophical & political sin committed by folx w/ a very shallow understanding of our ancestors & what they stood for. Reducing them to mere caricatures of themselves & barely 2D folx who had the nerve to walk the planet not too long ago.
And yes, I'm talking about shallow comparisons like that piss poor comparison of MLK Jr./Professor X vs Malcolm X/Magneto. I call it piss poor because that's often where it stops. There's never a critical push to analyze exactly what is meant by this comparison.
And this comparison has always been accompanied by an asterisk* for me because it is predicated on the fact (lie) that Malcolm & Martin's ideologies where vastly different than the others/the complete opposite which is just not true if you can read. Big if. But an If nonetheless.
Case in point: Malcolm didn't advocate for sensless violence. Nor did he have an affinity for it (unlike our boy Erik). Nah. His embrace of violence was rooted in the idea that Black folx have as much as a right to use it as anyone else when *it is firmly rooted in self-defense*.
Dassit. Like, actually. Those are his thoughts on violence.
And on top of this, Malcolm was a STAUNCH anti-imperialist. And anti-capitalist. Like, real talk. The further away he got from the Nation of Islam, the more vocal and critical he got about the United States and its hegemony.
And this criticism INCLUDED denouncing the US and its not-so-subtle pattern of installing military bases (I call them "empire satellites") ALL OVER THE WORLD in the name of "freedom and democracy".
And, in the mid-1960s, Malcolm was hellbent on trying to shake the fish scales from Black Americans eyes and attempting to get us to reject the anti-communist rhetoric that America was spoon-feeding to us.
Because he knew, as most of us do, Black liberation had to be tied to the liberation of other oppressed peoples across the globe to truly be sustainable and successful (think Palestine--so if you ain't know, #FreePalestine).
This extended quote from AAIHS sums it up BEAUTIFULLY:
"This was not simply a political crusade. In Malcolm’s view, a total psychological reconstruction was necessary. African Americans, he maintained, had been conditioned to “defend our master.”Confronting the consequences of African-American identification w/ Western culture was--"
"--essential. Most 'responsible Negro leaders' accepted the equation of U.S. capitalism and democracy and heeded the unwritten prohibition against criticizing American foreign affairs. Political maturity meant abandoning those shibboleths and adopting a new mentality."
"'Don’t let anybody who is oppressing us ever lay the ground rules,' Malcolm commanded."
So with that being the case, Malcolm would have n e v e r endorsed Erik's plan to form a global Wakandan Empire (or his violence against women). That's some "we're building our own house with our massa's tools" logic and he would have throughly rejected it.
So the next time you see this comparison pop up (or that nonsensical comparison between Malcolm and Martin), I want you to chuck this bit of knowledge at the perpetrator.
Our ancestors are, were, and have ALWAYS been more complex than we give them credit for. And they deserve to have that complexity be considered and not hand-waved for someone's boo boo agenda.
On Malcolm X, Self-Defense, and Violence:

bostonreview.net/race/chad-kaut…
On Malcolm's Rejection of American Imperialism and Capitalism:

aaihs.org/malcolm-x-and-…
TL;DR: Ya McGraw-Hill textbook lied. Again 🤷🏾‍♀️
In case you missed my Nakia piece:

Cc @threadreaderapp, unroll this please.

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More from @IWriteAllDay_

Oct 8, 2018
In my latest, I snarkily talk about all the reasons why #ColumbusDay is wack, ahistorical, and why it totally shouldn’t be a thing anymore.

essence.com/culture/christ…
Besides the “holiday” being an affront to our Indigenous siblings, it is also in line with America’s ever-present tradition of simultaneously celebrating White mediocrity and depravity and tbh, return to sender please 😐
In addition to this, if you *HAVE* to celebrate a “Christopher” today, there are others available, who aren’t directionally-challenged nincompoops.
Read 5 tweets
Oct 5, 2018
Hi. It’s true that America’s White supremacist “education” (re: propoganda) system purposely obscures & omits all kinds of Black stories. AND it’s true that the technology/social media boom at the turn of this millenia has given us access to an unprecedented amount of information
~Both things~ can be true. Because nuance lol
So I think it’s unfair to be all like “omg stop dragging him” when all folx are really doing is telling him to open a book, Google something, or leave his bubble to learn something new. I don’t think that’s an unfair thing to ask of someone who professes to know better?
Read 4 tweets
Oct 3, 2018
YETIDE IS BACK ON MY TV 😍

#ThisIsUs
(Looking good boo

@YetideBadaki 😁!!!)

#ThisIsUs
...When does Kate get to chew on some scenery that doesn’t include any mention of her being fat? 🤔

#ThisIsUs
Read 4 tweets
Oct 1, 2018
.@Bossip these mofos at it again. Biting you shit 😤
.@Buzzfeed I demand to know what White intern tweeted this 😖
“Dragged to smithereens”. The caucaci—
Read 4 tweets
Sep 30, 2018
I hate how this question is a thing too (i.e misogynoir & colorism) but the older I get, the more I realize that it’s not because the asker is seeking validation (eff y’all, BW are dope), but more so because bigotry in dating is an immense time waster & who got time to waste?
Listening to Dawson yesterday remembering some things that Toni Morrison has explained about racial trauma/race-specific gaslighting, I am reminded that the most violent thing about racism is not just the actual violence but the joy & the *time* that it steals away from us.
And BW in these asking scenarios (even when it comes to BM) find ourselves asking this question because we already have 502052950204 things trying to tug at our very precious & not-infinite source of energy & we definitely do not want to & wasted time & affection to that list lol
Read 7 tweets
Sep 28, 2018
*snorts*

As you are saying this, Debra, media outlets are still having a field day with male survivor Jimmy Bennett for even *daring* to come forward about being allegedly assaulted by Asia Argento.
What is with y’all and lying about the believability of male/non-women survivors? Like patriarchy doesn’t also chew them up and spit them out for being ~weak enough~ to be assaulted???? Hmm? What gives?
This ~superior victim~ thing that White women have going on is not the wave and it is precisely the thing that keeps undermining the efforts of #MeToo/#TimesUp and tbh, y’all need to let that shit go because if it that isn’t base narcissism, IDK what is.
Read 5 tweets

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