The UCI School of Social Sciences hosted a webinar, which was part of their “Anti-Blackness: Difficult Dialogues” lecture series, that featured guest speaker Errol A. Henderson on Feb. 10. Henderson discussed cultural revolution and the history of the fight for African-American equality through his latest book, “The Revolution Will Not Be Theorized: Cultural Revolution in the Black Power Era.”
Henderson, an associate professor of internal relations at Penn State University, began the webinar by introducing the fight against racism throughout American history to today. He defined racism as “the belief and practice and policy of domination, based on the conception of race … it has no basis.”
As a Black man, Henderson described his struggle growing up in modern-day America where white supremacy is “the most functional form [of racism].”
“Black folks are not here because of the good graces of white people. We planned, devised strategies and executed both to achieve our liberation,” Henderson said.
According to Henderson, the future is optimistic because of the brilliant minds of the younger generations who are willing to stand up to racism.
“We will encourage these young students to launch their own independent study and give us their analysis and their suggestions,” Henderson said.
Moving forward, Hendrson began the discussion of race.
“Races do not make civilizations, civilizations created race,” Henderson said.
Henderson then began to connect the events of the past to the current state of social injustice. “It hasn’t gotten much better,” Henderson said. The same modern issues brought up by Henderson also existed 60 years ago in the fight against racial inequality.
“[People will] ignore the problem that racism exists in the first place,” Henderson said.
“[Now it is] more urgent than ever to stand against persistent and systematic racism,” especially following the deaths of “Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Tony McDade and many other African-Americans at the hands of [our country’s] law enforcement officers.”
Henderson re-focused on messages given by civil rights leaders such as Martin Luther King and Frederick Douglas. He also examined the flaws in civil rights leaders like Malcolm X. According to Henderson, Malcolm X’s greatest flaw was his belief in reverse civilization: the belief that Black Americans were stripped of their African culture through enslavement and Jim Crow laws.
“[This] contributed to his failure to both identify and appreciate the historical role of the slave revolution in the U.S. Civil War, which was the only successful political revolution within U.S. body politic in U.S. history,” Henderson said.
In addition, Henderson commented on another flaw of Malcolm X’s movement: “neglecting to relate the Black cultural revolution and Black political revolution, which paved the way for critics of Black nationalism in the years to come.”
“Some [people] have no conception of progressive Black nationalism, especially the latter,” Henderson said.
According to Henderson, a true portrayal of unity in the fight for justice may be credited to the most successful slave revolt and Civil War event involving a mass of slaves backing the Union army against the Confederacy.
Furthermore, Henderson credited the creators of the Underground Railroad as key players in determining the outcome of the war, saying that “the Slave Revolution had been successful in destroying the socioeconomic system of chattel slavery and overthrowing the government of the Confederate States of America.” According to Henderson, this success was widely overshadowed because of the creation of white supremacy following the Civil War.
Henderson acknowledged the work of abolitionists such as King and Douglass, citing their work in the fight for equality.
“The fight against racism is far from over,” Henderson said.
According to Henderson, there are similarities between the 1960s Black Power Movement and the current Black Lives Matter movement. Henderson also said that King and Douglass, among others, influenced him to become a professor.
Henderson has published many other books including his most recent, “Scriptures, Shrines, Scapegoats, and World Politics: Religious Sources of Conflict and Cooperation in the Modern Era,” which was published by the University of Michigan Press in 2020.
The UCI School of Social Sciences in collaboration with UCSB Vice Chancellor for Diversity Bellinda Robnet plan to hold another event to continue their “Anti-Blackness: Difficult Dialogues” series on Friday, Feb. 26 from 12-1:30 p.m. This event will feature guest speaker Dr. Joyce Bell, a professor from the University of Minnesota, to describe her first book, “Black Power Professionals: The Black Power Movement and American Social Work,” which details the impact of the Black Power movement on the profession of social work. Information regarding the event can be found here.
James Huston is a Campus News Intern for the Winter 2021 Quarter. He can be reached at hustonj@uci.edu
