Report compiled by D I Gillam

In October 2005 Howard University hosted a conference by the Black Media Forum in order to address the image of Black (or African Americans as they prefer to be called in the US) people in the media and particularly to address the coverage of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina’s devastation. Howard University is located in Washington DC and was founded in 1867 by a US army general as a learning centre for both sexes and students of any racial background. It is quite prestigious boasting Thurgood Marshall, the first Black member of the Supreme Court, as one of its alumni. Today Howard University is the principle producer of African American PhD’s in the US and has earned the nick-name ‘Black Harvard’.

The organiser of this conference (which incidentally took place on the eve of the ‘Million Man March’ anniversary in the city) was a black activist and talk show host named Opio Sokoni. There was not a huge audience, certainly under one-hundred. Speakers included a Howard Law School Professor, a member of the Harvard Law School Criminal Justice Institute, a human rights attorney, a CEO of a radio network, various authors and broadcasters and publishers.

Among these was one Kamau Rashidi Kambon. Kambon had made a name for himself in the world of education, he was also a professor at one point specialising in ‘African Studies’. He is the author of several books, some of which deal with natural, healthy living, something he appears to be expert in. Kambon is the owner of a small book outlet called ‘Blacknificent Books’ dedicated to literature of interest to Blacks in general. His wife is the president of the Black psychology organisation in the US. Kambon is something of a health-freak, eating a strict vegan diet. Looking at him you might think he was some sort of African tribesman. He does not come from Africa however, he was born Leroy Jefferson and one can imagine that he adopted his image in order to get in touch with his African roots.

For four hours the conference was broadcast on C-SPAN which is the Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network. C-SPAN broadcasts non-stop coverage of government proceedings and public affairs matters.

The reason for pointing all this out, the location, the professional delegates, the C-SPAN coverage, is to press upon the reader that this event is to be regarded as serious. It was not some hot-headed sect or radical fringe meeting, but a sober gathering of note-worthy people at an establishment institution. The content of the conference can therefore be taken as a sober indicator of attitudes and feelings of the African American community.

As might be expected, many of the speakers expressed conspiracy theories that the American media was and is biased against them, a common theme was that the conspiracy of the White establishment went further and the goal was to actually harm the African American community in some way (at least two used the word ‘kill‘), some speakers were quite emphatic about this to say the least. This in itself is nothing particularly shocking. Much the same sort of thing is said by Nationalist groups for instance. What is surprising here though is that these views are coming from an event which is relatively main-stream, at least in an academic sense. Other topics included the task of growing a Black-based media network in order to gain control over how Blacks are perceived amongst themselves, and also the goal of encouraging Black businesses so as to become independent of White society. Fair-enough!! This is the goal of any self respecting people.

Right towards the end of the proceedings, when the speakers were making their final remarks, was when Kambon said the following after detailing a paranoid fantasy about a White plot to kill the Black race….“And the one idea is, how we are going to exterminate white people, because that in my estimation is the only conclusion I have come to. We have to exterminate white people off the face of the planet to solve this problem.”

The important issue here is not that one man made this comment, but the reaction of the conference to this comment considering, as has already been mentioned, the academic and professional nature of the event. As the above comment was made there was a ripple of applause, and no-one rebuked Kambon for the remainder of the time, which was about a quarter of an hour. Indeed, one speaker came out with what could be construed as a supporting statement straight after. Not advocating violence it has to be said, but certainly fuelling the delusion upon which Kambon based his ideas. Actually, the whole of the conference could be seen as a subtle build up of paranoia.

Opio Sokoni, although in no way countering Kambon’s remarks at the time was slightly embarrassed by them it would seem, and in his defence made a statement afterwards "No one could have ever known that this former North Carolina State University professor would go off the cuff and make such immoral and unproductive remarks. We were all taken off guard – especially since he had said earlier that black people were not niggers but imitation niggers. If this is the case, his comments were not pro-black but imitation Hitler.". It must be said however that watching C-SPAN no-one in the conference seemed shocked by Kambon’s remarks, if anything the gathering was quite supportive.

After the conference Kambon has only made one official statement, to the effect that he meant what he said. He cites the abuse of Black people down the ages to justify what he plainly regards self defence genocide against White people.

Forward to December 2006. Kambon is still running his book store and keeps away from the media spotlight. He does not appear to have been taken to task by the authorities for his outrageous public statements. Sean Hannity and Alan Colmes who are co-hosts on the Fox News network have for some reason unknown re-kindled the story. They have interviewed a succession of Black pundits about Kambon’s remarks. One of these, talk-show host Robert Redding Jr condemns Kambon’s call for genocide but calls the matter a non-issue a year later. Another, a New Black Panther activist defended Kambon and refused to condemn his words. These are two different reactions but important in different ways. The former shows the tendency to down-play anti-white racism (it would be superfluous to consider how a White person would be treated had the comments been made about Blacks), the later possibly reveals a disturbing attitude among black youth in America. At any rate, Hurricane Katrina has ripped the lid off more than New Orleans. It has exposed the terrible potential of race-conflict in modern America.

Notes

Also note the word ‘controversy’ in this article….controversial suggests an air of respectability!!