Eyebrow-raising speeches are normally a rarity at the Penn Bookstore, but a black activist broke the mold Monday with a plea for equality.
Omali Yeshitela, chairman of the African People's Socialist Party and founder of the National People's Democratic Uhuru Movement, delivered a fiery speech to an audience of Penn students and community residents.
The longtime civil-rights activist said that blacks in the United States and Africa are largely disadvantaged economically and politically.
Yeshitela echoed the ideas of Malcolm X, saying that blacks must use "all necessary means" to gain equality today. For Yeshitela, the solution lies in economic development of black neighborhoods, a key goal of the Uhuru Movement.
Despite this approach, Yeshitela still believes that "revolution is the only solution. We cannot talk our way out of this."
The activist reached out to Penn students, saying that in this regard, "It is not the oppressed but the oppressor that can allow this revolution to pass."
"You have the choice. What side of history are you going to be on?" Yeshitela asked. "This is the essential question that we all must ask ourselves."
While addressing the crowd, Yeshitela received several nods of acknowledgement. Philadelphia resident Matthew Berliant agreed on the need to address the issue.
"I am fairly disappointed with white organizations and their supposed outreach to minority communities," Berliant said. "I believe in economic justice, especially in its relation to class and race in America," he said, adding that he believes this has not been achieved in American society.
African People's Solidarity Committee member Peg Shaw said that developed countries' inaction extends to Africa and its current crises.
Citing the political oppression in the Congo that has led to the death of millions, Shaw said that "we somehow ignore the horrors that people live under. We look at Africans and don't see ourselves in them."
Later in his speech, Yeshitela focused on the origins of inequality. Curious onlookers edged forward, especially when the activist touched on the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
"There was a highway of bones from Africa to America," Yeshitela said.
"It was this process of looting and pillaging Africans and other peoples that the rest of the world profited from," Yeshitela continued. "That oppression led to the consciousness of what we today call Europe."
For Yeshitela, that exploitation continues in the present, with the "parasite of capitalism" leading to the exploitation of Africa's resources by corporations.
"Where did this authority come from, to export capitalism?" Yeshitela said. "For [Iraqis], this idea of 'democracy' does not necessarily exist."
