A lesson in Black Identity (The Black and/or African Diaspora)

Gordon, E. (2007). The Austin School Manifesto: An Approach to the Black or African Diaspora. Cultural Dynamics. http://cdy.sagepub.com/content/19/1/93.full.pdf+html

Living in a post-power movement society, we seem to struggle with defining our identities. Throughout the world-wide Black community, there are various sets of values, language and norms that create our cultural identities. Often we ignore these differences and attempt to conceptualize the Black identity in one box, not realizing that ignorance of these differences is the basis of racism itself. In an article titled “An Approach to the Black or African Diaspora,” Dr. Edmond T. Gordon (University of Texas) describes the new movement and definition of the term Black and/or African Diaspora. He states, “we have consciously chosen to employ the term African Diaspora to disrupt the traditional ways that Africa and its peoples have been reified as sites of savagery and underdevelopment… Instead, we seek to critically resituate Africa within both historical and contemporary global processes of racial formation and the politics of Blackness.” In other words, this term represents an entire race of people worldwide that share roots in many cultural perspectives while living in various countries. These roots represent a common bond through political and social progress, history, education and a number of other characteristics that define being Black in a country predominately owned by Whites. For example, American citizens who are Black share a similar history with Brazilian citizens who are Black, Peruvian citizens who are Black, Columbian citizens who are Black, and all of the [insert country here] citizens who are Black.

You’re probably asking yourself, “Why is this important so many years after the Civil Rights movement?” For the first time in African-American history WE have defined a term that is representative of our people. Much like for Mexican-Americans, the Chicano movement was instrumental in unifying the community and establishing a culture to maintain identity while occupying a new space. The Black Diaspora operates in a similar capacity. The forced migration of enslaved Africans in the US and South America, coupled with the dismantled history and culture of our ancestors has never provided an opportunity for us to define ourselves. Until now, Black Americans have been defined as representations of a White society. This new movement is based on representing our identity in the way WE should be represented.