Black Consciousnesses

The rise of the BSU at the University of Washington was fueled by a powerful embrace of black aesthetics and a new re-conceptualization of blackness.

Students at the University of Washington began to take action by re-defining their blackness as an asset rather than a hindrance. Black students began to strongly identify with the black perspective because they recognized a need for a thorough understanding of their past. There can be no true understanding of history without the validation of black class struggle in America. [1]

“A black students is one who is not white in color or attitude. He is a person who is aware of his blackness, he has learned to think for himself, and he is a cat who is constantly searching for knowledge and understanding .” [2]

Defining Black Consciousnesses

White America continues to oppress black communities because it keeps their white privilege in check. By insinuating feelings of inferiority, black people have internalized their status as second-class citizens, allowing the white power structure to continue to remain in tact. The surge of black consciousness was both a nation wide and world wide up-rise boiling over from the frustration, pain, and alienation of living in a white racist society. Black consciousness was a liberation of the mind, it was the beginning of a movement for black power beyond the physical limitations of the black community because it included an actualization of the mind. [3] Influenced by Stokely Carmichael's cries for Black Power and Malcolm X's adherence to a third world liberation front, black students at the UW campus began to challenge the ugly reality of black history in America.

The American Ethnic Studies department at the University of Washington is a direct legacy of the BSU because this push for black studies encouraged other students of color to demand Chicano and Asian-American programs. [4] But the validity of Ethnic studies in general is always questioned because society is cautious when integration ideas and perspectives outside of the Eurocentric bubble. The idea of black studies and black consciousness was met with a lot of resistance because when people of color speak out, it is always painted as militancy or unnecessary aggression, triggering white fears surrounding any accumulation of power that could dismantle their privileged existence. But this fear comes from a misunderstanding of what black studies is all about. Black studies does not seek to impose black superiority, but rather explore the histories of people that have been overlooked and silenced for too long. Black studies allows people of color to find cultural and personal connections in their education, it allows them to find their roots. The black perspective unmasks the Eurocentric curriculum and offers a rich view of the world by providing alternative perspectives and practices of our humanity. [5]

Black consciousness was an understanding the that real work begins within the individual because there was a need for personal self-love and love for the black community. [6] Re-assessing their relationship with the world, black students embraced black consciousness by overcoming what Biko would call "spiritual poverty".[7] Bearing the weight of oppression and a broken psyche, the first step in self liberation is nourishing the defeated individual by re-writing history to find a sense of belonging. "A people without a positive history is like a vehicle without an engine. "[8] The system is nourished by the existence of anti-black attitudes, so black consciousness must be a dramatic shift in an attitude of mind and a way of life.[9] There must be a newfound sense of pride and dignity in black aesthetics and with the black community. The oneness that stems from African culture must once again make its way to the center of our humanity because Western capitalism has only created individualistic tendencies that benefit the white man. [10] If your mind is in prison, you can’t free yourself, therefore, black consciousness is no longer about reforming the system, but totally transforming it and re-awakening the sleeping masses. [11]

"OUR GOAL IS BLACK POWER. OUR ESSENCE IS BLACK HUMANISM"

- Seattle Alliance of Black Student Unions (March 31, 1971)

[1]Dave Doctor, "New Black Image Emerging" UW Daily (Seattle, WA) February 15, 1968. [2] BSU, “ The Purpose and Philosophy Of The Seattle Alliance of Black Student Unions” in the BSU Newspaper (Seattle, WA) March 21, 1971. [3] Marc Robinson, “The Early History of the UW Black Student Union” Seattle Civil Rights & Labor History Project, 2008. http://depts.washington.edu/civilr/BSU_beginnings.htm#_edn65

[4] Ibid. (p.5)

[5] Vincent Harding, “Black Students and the Impossible Revolution” Journal of Black Studies (Sep. 1970). http://www.jstor.org/stable/2783867?origin=JSTOR-pdf [6] Ibid. [7] Steve Biko, I Write What I Like (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2002), p. 28, 31. [8] Ibid. (p. 29). [9] Ibid. (p. 91) [10] Ibid. (p. 30) [11] ibid. (p. 32)