Afrocentricity International Announces Release of 2019 Black Institutional Giving Challenge
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 1, 2019
Afrocentricity International Announces Release of the Black Institutional Giving Challenge, a year-long African renaissance agenda, ahead of the Historic 2019 Black History Month
#Give28
Nationwide — 2019 marks a year of reflection and meditation, as Black people across the country commemorate 400 years of subjugation under British-American rule. As we reflect on the significance of this moment, the black race in America is confronted with a challenge of epic proportions. Before us lies an America that is unyielding in its racial oppression, and the burden of injustice is ever present in Black American life. Faced with this 400-year reality, the question becomes, where do we go from here, and what legacy will we leave to our descendants? Will they be the heirs of a fruitless struggle to reform white America, or will we gift them a cultural estate that reflects a new Black America, replete with self-sustaining Institutions to protect their inheritance?
To determine the path forward we must first look back, to draw from our history, the lessons that will carry us into the future. In this regard, there is no greater example than the lessons taught to us by the emancipation generation. Born into slavery, this generation laid a foundation that their descendants rest on ’til this day. Having experienced the cruelty of chattel slavery, these ancestors resolved to never be enslaved again. In their wisdom, they recognized that absent of strong, and independently financed, institutions, they’d have no means to safeguard their liberty, and their freedom was but a temporary status.
Call to action — The movement to build Black Institutions was abandoned by the talented-tenth, in favor of integrating Black Americans into the institutions of the dominant society. In his 1940 autobiography, Dusk of Dawn, W.E.B. Du Bois laments that “such institutions were funded and developed… against the advice and best thought of the [Negro] intelligentsia. The upper-class Negro has never been nationalistic. He has never planned or thought of a Negro state or a Negro church or a Negro school. This solution has always been a thought up-surging from the mass, because of the pressure which they could not withstand, and which compelled a racial institution or chaos.”
The masses of black people have always intuitively understood the necessity to build, fund, and create our own institutions. This was the sticking point that led to the departure of Du Bois from the NAACP. He recognized, during the great depression, that Black people would need to establish their own separate institutions if they were to survive the economic collapse, and he urged the association to support his new program for “economic defense.” He later wrote, in his naivete, “It was illogical to expect that white philanthropy would be willing to support the economic program which I had in mind.”
In 2019, Black Americans are confronted with a similar reality. Not only should we be concerned with the economic collapse of America, we must face the fact that we are living through the slow collapse of the American empire. What institutions will we have to protect Black Lives from the harvest of hate an empire in decline is sure to reap? The answer is none, if we haven’t built them and funded them, to ensure our survival.
Afrocentricity International is calling for a revival in Black Institution building. Starting February 1, 2019, we’re asking the community to #Give28 ($2.80 | $20.80 | $28 | $280 | $2,800 | $28,000 etc.) to support the economic revival, and strengthening of Black institutions, across America.
Give to support
Black Disaster Relief funds | Black Agricultural Initiatives | Black Independent School Initiatives | Black Self-Defense Programs | Black Spiritual Reclamation Initiatives | Black Land Acquisition | Black Wellness Initiatives | Historically Black Colleges & Universities | Black Political Prisoners | Black Museums & Cultural Centers | Black Think Tanks | Black Independent Media
“The Negro should never completely surrender himself to the institutional life of other people… To live on the achievement of others is to really admit the superiority of others, and the inferiority of self.”
– Marcus Garvey
About Afrocentricity International
Afrocentricity International supports the economic, cultural and educational elevation of African people in an effort to create cultural consciousness. The motto of the organization is “Unity is our Aim, Victory is our Destiny!” May each one in the world be free from oppression and free to exist on their own terms for if a few try to oppress the majority, and try to suppress it, insanity and violence are bound to be present in the world. Afrocentrists, in the spirit of Maat, seek peace, harmony, justice, order, balance and truth.
National Media Contact:
Wahida Ama
media@aiphilly.org
