Ashanti Alston, Black Anarchism, transcript of a speech given at Hunter College, NYC, on October 24th, 2003, sponsored by the Institute for Anarchist Studies and the Student Liberation Action Movement. Transcribed by Chuck Morse.
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Some of our ideas about who we are as a people hamper our struggles. For example, the Black community is often considered a monolithic group, but it is actually a community of communities with many different interests. I think of being Black not so much as an ethnic category but as an oppositional force or touchstone for looking at situations differently. Black culture has always been oppositional and is all about finding ways to creatively resist oppression here, in the most racist country in the world. So, when I speak of a Black anarchism, it is not so tied to the color of my skin but who I am as a person, as someone who can resist, who can see differently when I am stuck, and thus live differently.

— Ashanti Alston on Black anarchism

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Some of our ideas about who we are as a people hamper our struggles. For example, the Black community is often considered a monolithic group, but it is actually a community of communities with many different interests. I think of being Black not so much as an ethnic category but as an oppositional force or touchstone for looking at situations differently. Black culture has always been oppositional and is all about finding ways to creatively resist oppression here, in the most racist country in the world. So, when I speak of a Black anarchism, it is not so tied to the color of my skin but who I am as a person, as someone who can resist, who can see differently when I am stuck, and thus live differently." in the context of "Ashanti Alston, Black Anarchism, transcript of a speech given at Hunter College, NYC, on October 24th, 2003, sponsored by the Institute for Anarchist Studies and the Student Liberation Action Movement. Transcribed by Chuck Morse." to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "Black anarchism" (Quotes) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 19, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Ashanti Alston

About Ashanti Alston

Ashanti Omowali Alston (born 1954) is an anarchist activist, speaker, and writer, and former member of the Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army.