Lessons of Black Internationalism from Central America
20 June 2015
| Jeanette Charles
Lessons of Black Internationalism from Central America
Statement by the Chiapas Support Committee
Resistance to enslavement has been a defining characteristic of Black communities in the United States and across the Americas. From rebellions aboard slave ships, to insurrections on plantations, to maroon societies, African peoples and their descendants have challenged the horrors of white supremacy with remarkable resistance in the name of self-determination and self-defense.
The massacre at the Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina on June 17 further exposed the indiscriminate violence against Black people in the United States. The nine people murdered were targeted because they were Black. For Black organizers in the United States and throughout the Americas, the reality of white supremacist violence necessarily requires communities to seek out answers and strategies on how to build self-defense, safety and ultimately sovereignty.
Currently, an historic delegation is on the ground in Central America, made up of young organizers from across the United States, Honduras and Belize. As we exchange with African and Indigenous communities on the frontlines of revolutionary change in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and Belize we are witness to the shared realities our communities face. Ultimately, the connections between the US Black South and ancestral struggles for land in the Global South are far too apparent in the wake of this most recent tragedy.
News of the June 17 massacre and its historical significance for Black resistance harshly reminds us of these undeniable connections
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http://www.telesurtv.net/english/bloggers/Lessons-of-Black-Internationalism-from-Central-America-20150620-0001.html
