WWP celebrates Black History in South

The Durham branch of Workers World Party on Feb. 25 hosted a Black History Month film screening of “The Black Power Mixtapes, 1967-1975,” followed by dynamic political discussion. The 60 people in attendance were mostly from the Black cultural Hayti district and North Carolina Central University — formerly North Carolina College for Negroes.

This Swedish-made film contains documentary footage from the height of the Black Power movement in the U.S. and features interviews with revolutionary leaders like Kwame Ture (aka Stokely Carmichael), Bobby Seale, Angela Davis, Huey Newton and others, along with contemporary artists and activists. Many of the interviews and footage that are included appear for the first time in this film, as they were discovered only recently.

Several scenes show banners in support of the Black Panthers carried by Youth Against War & Fascism, at that time the youth arm of Workers World Party. This is a must-see film for activists and revolutionaries, especially in the U.S. South, who want to gain a better understanding of the Black Power movement and the implications it has for our struggle today.

After the film, Workers World Party activist Lamont Lilly led a political discussion about the pressing issues of today and shared historical information on the role of the party in supporting the self-determination of oppressed peoples. He described WWP’s support for Robert F. Williams, who fought against racist Klan terror in Union County, N.C., in the 1960s, and also for the Deacons for Defense and Justice in Louisiana.

Tameka Graham, a member of United Electrical Workers Local 150 — the North Carolina Public Service Workers Union, spoke about struggles of her Black-majority union fighting for collective bargaining rights for public workers and the passage of a Mental Health Workers’ Bill of Rights.

Eva Panjwani, a member of the youth organization FIST — Fight Imperialism, Stand Together, talked about the work FIST is doing to fight racist resegregation of schools, threats of war on Iran, attacks on immigrants and more. Dante Strobino spoke about Workers World Party’s history in forming the Prisoner Solidarity Committee, which did work in North Carolina, Virginia, and all across the country in the 1970s in defense of Joan Little, an African-American woman who killed a white jailer as he attempted to rape her in Beaufort, N.C., in 1975.

In the discussion, several people raised issues affecting their community. Yao Lloyd McCarthy from World Africa Diaspora Union spoke about his support for WWP because of the party’s firm internationalist stance, and also about the legacy of Marcus Garvey and A. Phillip Randolph. Indiana, a student at Durham Technical Community College, described how the system mis-educates youth. She said lots of work must be done to overcome that. There were several other good comments from the floor and a lot to follow up on.