PHOTO/LYNN ROSSI
Interviewed by Steve Teixeira
LOS ANGELES, CA — Melina Abdullah is chair of the Pan African Studies Department at Cal State LA, and a well-known activist. In January of 2015 she was part of an encampment outside the LA Police Department protesting recent cop killings of Blacks. She and fellow camper Sha Dixon were arrested for trespassing when they tried to deliver a list of demands to LAPD Chief Beck. “We are not a threat,” she told reporters, “We are two women who are armed with letters.”
One year later, Dr. Abdullah commented about the links between the struggle against cop killings of Blacks and the struggle to defend those economically at the bottom of America. “Black Lives Matter was birthed in 2013, and by the end of 2015 you’re seeing a Black student movement all across the country.”
“Young Blacks on and off campus are catching hell . . . the way they are assaulted, police killings. Young Black folks have targets on their backs and they know it. You can either walk around as prey, or be a lion and fight back. Students have talked about how the movements in the streets, like Black Lives Matter, have emboldened them.”
She added that while many Black students have a degree of economic security, many are poor and most have some personal connection to those suffering poverty. “Even the most middle class Black folks are tied to poorer folks because there’s not enough openness in the system for all to move forward”. But she added, “When we talk about police killings, the Black poor are occupied and terrorized to a greater degree…It’s really important that folks understand that liberation begins with those at the very bottom.”
She explained the perspective of her department as being that “We think of Black people as a group targeted for the most State violence. Blacks are killed at 8 times the rate of Whites. Black people are upwards of 70% of the L.A. Skid Row population, and have the highest rate of school suspensions, and highest imprisonment.” But she said this benefitted the class at the top, not all non-Blacks. “It’s important for non-Blacks to see that if Blacks can’t rise up, nobody is really secure.”
Malcolm said you can’t have capitalism without racism. If you aspire to the Black capitalist ranks, you’re separated from the Black masses, like Herman Cain, Ben Carson … freedom requires toppling capitalism.”
She pointed to billionaire politician Donald Trump as promoting the worst ideals of his class, to the detriment of the masses of all colors. “Trump appeals to the worst fears of those of us who occupy the bottom rung, like the poor White folks who are Trump supporters. He has Black folks saying, “build that wall” against immigrants, Whites saying, “they’re all terrorists” about Muslims, and wealthy Latinos saying “keep the rest out.” Everybody is pointing a finger at everyone else . . . but we never look up to who is making things so bad.”
