St. John Tradewinds
Activist, Author, Former Black Panther Leader on Island for African Liberation Day
By Mauri Elbel St. John Tradewinds May 27, 2005
African Liberation Day, internationally-celebrated on May 25, gives focus to the need for unity among Africans around the world, and Elaine Brown, an author, activist and former leading member of the Black Panther Party made a trip to the U.S. Virgin Islands to speak in honor of the event. Brown was a keynote speaker, and one of only two women, to speak at the first celebration of African Liberation Day in Washington, D.C. in 1974. More than three decades later, Brown was also at the University of the Virgin Islands on Saturday, May 28, to speak in a panel discussion in honor of African Liberation Day.
“At UVI, I will be speaking about the liberation of African people throughout the world,” said Brown before the panel, explaining she believes the struggle is still ongoing. “Clearly, we are not free when we talk about the fact that the greatest concentration of poverty as well as AIDS in the world is in the continent of Africa,” said Brown. “These statistics are indicators of people who are not in control of their own resources or lives.” There is not much difference between the status of blacks living in the mainland U.S. to the total society as there is to the status of blacks living in the USVI to the total society, according to Brown. “We have to recognize the direct relationship we share with black Africans throughout the world,” said Brown. “As a black person, I cannot stand outside of my own history or reality,” said Brown. “We are not just individuals in this world, we are interdependent on each other.” Brown believes that millions of events occur in our daily lives to remind us that we do not live as isolated individuals. “My fortune and my future are a tie to that of other people; therefore, I have to feel the pain of other people, because they are part of who I am,” said Brown. Brown is coming to the U.S. Virgin Islands primarily because of her relationship with youth mentor Khalil Osiris, who has founded the after-school program Circle of Courage on St. John. “Khalil and I co-founded the National Alliance for Radical Prison Reform in 2002, to try to overturn some of the harsh laws in the country that have resulted in the United States having the highest incarceration rate in the world, 50 percent of which are black,” said Brown. Brown and Osiris formed the alliance in an effort to mitigate some of the harsh punishments under the law such as extreme sentences that have more humane and reformative alternatives, and to also help those being released from prison to make the transition from prison back into society. Brown said she supports Osiris’ work with the Circle of Courage, which strives to get young people to focus on their potential contribution to society as opposed to being outsiders of society. “Given my support of Khalil and what he is doing, it is only natural that I would come to the territory to celebrate African Liberation Day with him and (UVI political science professor) Dr. Malik Sekou,” said Brown. It is not inconsistent with Brown’s history to have a participation in African Liberation Day – as a leader in the Black Panther Party, she worked to form various coalitions with liberation organizations in Africa such as FRELIMO and PAC as well as ZANU in Zimbabwe. As the first and only woman to lead the Black Panther Party, from 1974 to 1977, Brown was involved with the organization for more than a decade before it was disbanded in 1979. “The Black Panther Party’s initial goal was the liberation of black people in America, but by extension, we understood that our goal was to work toward liberating all forms of oppression – from women, to colored, to whites, to handicapped to gays,” said Brown.
After joining the Black Panther Party, Brown was elected party chief in 1974, and helped to turn the organization into a supporter of women’s rights. “The Black Panther Party was the first and only black organization to see women’s liberation as part of our struggle,” said Brown. “Our struggle was to create the conditions for complete liberation of black people, but we also formed various coalitions with other struggling peoples,” said Brown, explaining the party’s main goal was to end all forms of oppression, regardless of a person’s race, status or gender. Brown’s experience in the organization made her aware of the external factors in the world and to this day compels her to work to make the world a better place. “With the eyes I gained in the Black Panther Party, I can never be blind, I can’t just ignore these things,” said Brown. “How can I not be shocked by hunger? Shocked by the people who are homeless?” wondered Brown. “I can’t; I am forced by my own history to make my contribution and try to make the world better than it is now, not just for Africans, but for everyone.” Although Brown is not a resident of the Virgin Islands, she recognizes the valuable opportunity for a dialogue with the people who live in the territory. “I am not a resident of the Virgin Islands, but I think that anytime we can have an exchange of ideas with other people, it is positive,” said Brown who believes Africans living in the Virgin Islands are no different from Africans in the U.S. or the continent of Africa in terms of their lives or relationship to the economy. “Africans are still very dependent on the majority white population; we have no independent base, which we need to be free,” said Brown. Brown said from the time Africans were brought from Africa in the 1600s and up until 1865, blacks in America only had one relationship to society, which was as slaves working for free. “And from 1865 until now, black people have lived in the United States as employees – we did not, and we still do not have a relationship to ourselves, only to our previous masters,” said Brown. Less than 1 percent of all business revenues in the United States come from black businesses, and at the same time, black people represent 13 percent of the population and 50 percent of the prison population, according to Brown. “Looking at those three factors, you see something is wrong with the picture – the black masses of people in general are still oppressed,” said Brown. “We are not statistically able to say that blacks are much better off in the U.S. than when the Black Panther party was in existence, and I would assert that we might be worse off.” Brown is the author of A Taste of Power: A Black Woman’s Story, her autobiographical memoir which recounts her life from the ghettos of North Philadelphia to her leadership in one of the most important civil rights groups in U.S. history, and the New Age Racism and the Condemnation of “Little B”, the story of Michael “Little B” Lewis, a 14-year-old sentenced to life in prison for a Georgia murder Brown says he did not commit. Today, as an activist, writer and popular lecturer, Brown is currently working on two main projects which are occupying much of her time. Brown recently finalized an agreement to co-author and publish For Reasons of Race and Belief, a biography on Jamil Al-Amin, formally known as H. “Rap” Brown, with his wife, Karima Al-Amin. She is also a candidate for mayor in Brunswick, Georgia.
