African American Separatism

This week I have chosen to look at the website/blog of The Black Fist Organisation http://theblackfistblog.blogspot.com/. From the profile it is obvious that this organisation supports separatism; their ‘battle cry’ is ‘Black Fist, Black Power, Black Nation’, this not only suggests that they want their own country but that they feel there is/should be a war between black people and whites.

Throughout the website there are references to Malcolm X, who is clearly their inspiration (like many separatists). The most obvious being that the author of the blog calls herself ‘General Nikki X’ therefore, like Malcolm X, using the ‘X’ to emphasise the loss of the true unknown African name; the fact that she has the title of General further implies a war between races. The most recent post in the blog is to commemorate Malcolm X. In this post it says

‘46 years ago today, we lost one of the greatest black men to ever walk the face of this earth and as long as I live I will always remember, teach and live by the principles of Bro. Minister Malcolm X as he taught and lived by which was:
- Black Love For Self.
- Black Unity Amongst Our Black Selves.
- Black Militancy and the principle of telling the white man to his face the truth about himself regardless of who likes it or not!’.

Therefore this shows that this African-American separatism organisation promotes the ideas of unity between black people, loving your black roots and actively (and aggressively) fighting for your rights.

I decided to also focus on the first ever post in the blog (posted July 24 2005) which describes the aims, purposes and ideals of the organisation. This post seems to stress that the only route forward is having a separate identity and emphasising African roots; this is completely opposite to African Americans who feel that integration is the answer like Martin Luther King Jr. For example, it says that the main aim is to

‘[Reunite] The Black Man and The Black Woman for a Strong Black Unit who "TOGETHER" will raise and nurture Strong Black Children. What equates into a "Strong Black Family"’.

This, with other similar quotes, suggests that black men/women who marry someone white is betraying the black community and that the only way in which black people can gain power is through separation. Overall, the tone of the post is quite aggressive. For example,

‘we believe in shining a light/shutting down No-Good Racist where they live, work and breed! And there will be those rare occassions when we must "deal" with our own "TRAITOROUS" black people so don't be surprised if or when your name is called out! We will not allow anything OR ANYBODY to get in the way of our freedom struggle’.