Family Reunion June 19, 2009 Join Us!

as the south goes . Periodical from Project South: Institute for the Elimination of Poverty & Genocide Volume 17, Issue 1, Spring 2009 Juneteenth Family Reunion June 19, 2009 Join Us! In this Issue: Feature article on race, colonialism, and liberation in the twenty-first century Updates: - Youth Community Action Program - Our Membership programs - The next US Social Forum As the South Goes . is a biannual publication of Project South. table of contents Editor & Layout: Stephanie Guilloud 9 Gammon Avenue Atlanta GA 303015 Feature Article 404.622.0602 Remembering Colonial Legacies . 3 www.projectsouth.org Youth Community Action Border Movement Assembly . 5 staff Youth Speak Truth . 6 Christi Ketchum Bowman Reportbacks . 7 Executive Leadership Team Stephanie Guilloud Executive Leadership Team Membership Program Midnite Schools . 8 Emery Wright Executive Leadership Team Juneteenth Gathering . 9 Fredando Jackson Communications & Outreach US Social Forum Coordinator Report & Updates . 10-11 Taliba Obuya Development Associate & Membership Coordinator Organizational Updates Celebrating our Board . 12 Celebrating Alice Lovelace . 13 board Welcoming Taliba Obuya . 14 Shields Scott - Co-Chair Atlanta, GA Membership Form on page 15 Angela Winfrey - Co-Chair Join Project South in 2009! People’s Institute, GA Trap Bonner Moving Forward Gulf Coast, LA Evan Milligan Equal Justice Initiative, AL editor’s note Brenda Hyde In February, we held an Open House for our local mem- Southern Echo, MS bers and supporters in order to share our strategic di- rections in this critical moment. We are excited to share Genaro Lopez Rendon our work and vision with all of our friends and family Southwest Workers Union, TX through this biannual newsletter. This issue includes updates about our programs and organizational shifts as Suzanne Pharr well as an in-depth article discussing the roots of racism Knoxville, TN and active solidarity in the twenty-first century. This feature article continues an ongoing conversation on our Sandra Robertson histories and liberation struggles. Enjoy! Georgia Citizens’ Coalition on Hunger - Stephanie Guilloud Free Puerto Rico Free ourselves Remembering Colonial Legacies in the 21st Century By Emery Wright tionally. The Puerto Rican independence movement is a great place to start. This article is the first in a series of feature articles addressing how From Palin’s Alaska to Pinochet’s Chile, this entire hemi- colonialism affects our liberation struggles in the US. Additional sphere is rooted in a post-colonial occupation of indig- articles will examine relationships between the colonial legacy of enous land. Over the last 100 years, much of the colo- Mexico and the immigrant struggles in the US today as well as nized world (Africa, Latin America & Asia) have fought an extensive examination of the internal colonial legacy of Black for liberation and emancipation through anti-colonial America in the South as it relates to the 2010 US Social Forum struggles in terms of national independence. However, in Detroit. the “revolutionary” war that won independence from “So when did Racism come?” I had been asked this ques- Great Britain and established the USA was neither revo- tion before. The same honest, frustrated, and earnest ex- lutionary nor anti-colonial. Colonial settlers broke from pression on the young person’s face begged for an answer their colonial parent to establish a that made sense. “They came and got sovereign nation-state led by the set- us from Africa, we were brought here We often overlook the roots tlers. In fact, the newly independent and enslaved, the civil rights move- of European colonialism USA would go on to establish its ment happened, but where in there in the Americas and the own colonies throughout the western did Racism come?” The question dif- way these roots manifest hemisphere including on the island fers slightly based on who’s asking. politically today. of Puerto Rico. The imperial project This time a high school youth mem- to colonize Native land, through land ber at Project South was asking. In order to answer her theft and attempted genocide, leaves significant questions question, we have to remember the long history of the for social movements located in the US unresolved. United States and its colonial legacy. In this same vein, the Black experience in this hemi- Racism is a commonly used, catchall term that connects sphere descends from the largest and most brutal forced enslavement, generational poverty and exploitation in a labor project in modern World history. The imperial- simple word to talk about the complex issues we face in ist project to create and maintain an internal colony of our daily existence as part of the Black experience within Black labor pre-dates July 4, 1776. The United States so- the United States. Generally, we remember that slavery lidified the British, French, and Spanish colonial process happened in the US, but we only vaguely remember the in the Americas, taking more Native land and continuing imperialist project to colonize North and South America. enslavement for another century. Forced labor and social Within our nation’s collective consciousness, and even control moved from the plantation to the prison system, within our social movements, we often overlook the generational poverty, and exploitation of Black people. roots of European colonialism in the Americas and the The internal colonial project against Black Americans way these roots manifest politically today. The absence of persists today. remembering this “big picture” history leaves our society The Independence Movement for Puerto Rico is a cur- without clear answers to basic questions about ourselves rent example of a contemporary colony fighting for na- and our communities. tional liberation in the context of a larger global move- From conversations in prisons to college campuses peo- ment for social and economic justice. Social movements ple ask: ‘Why is it that we are in such bad shape? Why in the US can learn strategic lessons from acting in soli- do Black people living in the United States stay at the darity with this movement. bottom of employment and education and at the top of The US colonization of the newly independent island incarceration rates and impoverished neighborhoods?’ nation of Puerto Rico began in 1898. Spain, which re- The foundation of all Black liberation struggles in what leased Puerto Rico from being its colony two years ear- is now the United States from the 1600s to the present lier, ignored international law by “giving” the sovereign have asked and attempted to answer these questions. So- nation of Puerto Rico to the US as spoils from war. The cial movements have a responsibility in this historic mo- independence movement for self-determination in Puer- ment to understand how colonization and decolonization to Rico has been a fire burning inside and outside Puer- has everything to do with our liberation struggles to free to Rico ever since. Over the course of 2008 and 2009 ourselves. To engage in this struggle domestically, we must build solidarity with anti-colonial struggles interna- continued on page 4 continued from page 3 • The United Nations has a standing committee on co- Project South staff and members had the opportunity to lonial status and should be given responsibility to use its meet with representatives of the Hostosian National In- protocol to advance the decolonization process in Puerto dependence Movement (MINH) working for the libera- Rico. tion of Puerto Rico. In Atlanta, as part of a national tour, Community-Based Education Emely Alemany and Doris Pizarro spoke at two community meetings about their movement and introduced the • The process of colonialism and colonial status has a audience to a deeper understanding of this national lib- dramatic effect on the consciousness of the colonized. eration question in the context of broader class struggle. Puerto Rican people should lead a process of popular education at the grassroots to examine and discuss the Building relationships of solidarity between communities, process of imperialism and how it impacts Puerto Rican organizations, and movements in the US and in Puerto people. A widespread and deep understanding of the his- Rico will enhance our struggles and social movement in tory of colonialism itself among the Puerto Rican people this country. As US residents, we are directly affected by will be required for true sovereignty and self-determina- the US colonial project in Puerto tion to last. Rico, and we are accountable to the oppressive actions of our In thinking about how these government. A significant point elements and the concept of made by MINH in their pre- a decolonization process re- sentations included highlighting late to social movements in the financial costs of maintain- the United States, we have to ing a colony. Colonialism always remember how colonialism has been an expensive endeavor. developed over the course of Similar to foreign wars, the fed- this nation’s history. MINH argues that if Puerto Rico eral government spends US resi- st dents’ tax money on federal po- were to become a 51 State licing, investigations, and policies in the United States, it would of domination and social control be the culmination of the co- in Puerto Rico. As US residents lonial process. What does the we have a responsibility to stand culmination of the colonial with Puerto Rican people to Delegation from Puerto Rico Emely Alemany & Doris projects in the domestic US defend their right to self-deter- Pizarro speak on a panel with Ajamu Baraka of US of Native and Black peoples mination in whatever form that Human Rights Network and Akinyele Umoja from look like? What would be may take. Malcolm X Grassroots. the culmination of the process that sought to remove all In Puerto Rico, as in all anti-colo- Cherokee in the Trail of Tears from their land in mod- nial struggles, there is an advanced understanding about ern day Georgia, Tennessee, and North Carolina? What the wide-ranging impacts of colonialism on the colo- would be the culmination of an internal process to colonized.

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