An Essay on AfroSpear Nomenclature: What We Call Ourselves and Why.

I was humbled and horrified today to learn that my opinions and advocacy were at or near the center of a controversy last week over at the AfroSpear Think Tank, an AfroSpear blog run by men and women whom are my brothers and comrades. The controversy involved the nomenclature of the AfroSpear.

With great love and respect for everyone who commented and participated, I'd like to say the following about the AfroSpear/AfroSpear/AfroSphere/Blackosphere nomenclature and organizational issues. Sometime ago at MyDD, I posted a Whitosphere vs. Blackosphere graphic and article that, I believe, got many of us thinking about the need to do our own thing in a self-determinant and independent way. Blackosphere & Whitosphere: Silence is Never Golden
This article was picked up and discused by Field Negro and his readers and other Black bloggers.

Then, while Googling the word “Blackosphere," (or my own name, I can’t remembers which), I realized that my conception of a "Blackosphere" was not merely theoretical but there was actually a vibrant community of Black bloggers that I could join, as an alternative to continuing to waste my time trying to educate people in the whitosphere. White News vs. the Blackosphere (March 28, 2007)

Is the term "Whitosphere" a Fair Descriptor for the White Blogosphere?
As Field Negro, Asabagna, Exodus Mentality, TheFreeSlave, I and many others began thinking out loud and writing about how to formalize and concretize the nascent organization of our Black self-determination bloggers movement, I began to hear from Asabagna, Field Negro and Exodus Mentality that we needed ONE NAME going forward, instead of using the names Blackosphere and AfroSpear and AfroSphere going forward.
Is Your Blog Part of the Afrosphere/Blackosphere Movement?
In order to facilitate the coalescing of the movement, by whatever name, I agreed to stop using the Blackosphere name name for Black bloggers and instead use the AfroSpear name. Thereafter, I helped to design the logo that we use and began assiduously recruting new members for our group, as has everyone else, and quite successfully, I think.

I knew that the AfroSpear Think Tank would be one cell within the AfroSpear and I feared that I would not be invited to join its inner circle, since its inner circle is composed of bloggers with a history of common action and a comfort level with each other, and since individual cells cannot be composed of everyone in the movement. That's just reality.

However, in my mind the AfroSpear Think Tank was to be, and is, but one cell among the many that will develop as we jjoin together with individuals who share our passions to work upon our particular areas of interest under the general umbrella of the AfroSpear.

So, here is how I would define the terms "Blackosphere," "Afrosphere," "AfroSpear," "AfroSpear Nation," AfroSpear Think Tank and "AfroSpear Circle":

(1) The Blackosphere can be defined as is "those regions on the Internet that are primarily composed of Black people - just like Black neighborhoods are neighborhoods composed of Black people," including Democrats, Republicans, leftists rightists, religous people, atheists, agnostics, gays and straights, women and men, many of whom couldn't care less about politics. If we are Black and in the Black area of the Internet, then we are in the "Blackosphere." If we are Black and in a white area of the Internet, then we are in the "whitosphere."

It takes no particular political commitment to be in the Blackosphere, because we are relegated to the Blackosphere by the imposition by whites of "blog-apartheid," wherein we are not allowed to participate fully if at all in white blogs. Whites redlining and creates the Blackosphere. Because the Blackosphere includes people who exult in being Black and people who are ashamed and apologetica about being Black, there is no consistent culture of the Blackosphere any more than there is one culture shared by Blacks in the Democratic and Republican parties. Being in the Blackosphere is the result not of choice, in many cases, but of whites steadfast and meticulous segregration.

(2) The "AfroSphere" on the other hand, is the term that we have developed over the last few months to mean "Blacks on the internet, at Black blogs and websites, working for Black cultural, political and social self-determination, renewal and advancement and sharing generally similar goals, even if they do NOT know one another and and have NOT become part of an organization to pursue these goals in unity and collaboration. Being part of the Afrosphere reflects a choice to pursue the goals of Black self-deterimination, but without necessarily have joined any particular group to do so as part of a collaborative.

(3) The "AfroSpear" is our international, consciously and purposefully organized collaborative of Black bloggers and websites who develop online and offline organizations, forums, newspapers, messaging groups, chat rooms and other media to organize and mobilize the international Black Diaspora to pursue goals that will enhance and further our well-being, in all of the cities, towns, countries and continents where we live, throughout the world. Being part of the "AfroSpear" requires that one have both adopted the goal of Black self-determination AND have decided to participate actively in this particular group to pursue these goals. Becuase the term AfroSpear has a very precise meaning, it necessarily includes substantive criteria for membership and its definition also requires that some people can only be non-members, because their views, advocacy and/or societal and cultural position simply have nothing to do with or are clearly adverse and contrary to the goals of Black poltiical, cultural and economic self-determination.

By now, for example, it should be clear that it is not possible to be part of the Afrosphere and AfroSpear unless one is a Black person. You cannot choose to be "Black," having Black ancestors. Either you do or you don’t. But you can choose to have a Black self-determination identity and you MUST do so, whatever that means, to be definitionally part of the AfroSphere and to be able to apply for membership in the AfroSpear.

What at the AfroSpear Think Tank is called the "AfroSpear Nation" is really the whole AfroSpear – the entire group of Blogs who have applied and been accepted to work together under the AfroSpear banner – the logo and AfroSpear name – for the shared purposes of the AfroSpear.

And so, I conclude that the term "AfroSpear Nation" is really synonymous with the term “the AfroSpear.” The term "AfroSpear" should be used instead of the term “AfroSpear Nation” in that context and useage, to avoid unnecessary duplication of terms and the resulting definitional confusion. In practice, all blogs that are admitted to the AfroSpear will be listed under the heading "AfroSpear Nation" at the AfroSpear Think Tank blog, and so these terms are really synonymous.

To avoid confusion, one of these synonymous terms should be dispensed with. The longer and less-known of these terms is the one that should be dispensed with and we should instead use the term "AfroSpear" instead of "AfroSpear Nation" to refer to the AfroSpear, including all collectively all of its member blogs and websites, organizations, organs and groups.

The role of the AfroSpear Think Tank really is central to our definitional discussions. The entire AfroSpear has to decide what its organizations, rules and governance structures are, and this is not a role that any cell within the AfroSpear can delegate to itself. I trust Asabagna, Field Negro and Sylvia explicitly and have great confidence in them. I have the greatest considence and trust based on the knowledge that neither they nor any other cell within the AfroSpear has endeavored to arrogate unto itself the leadership of the AfroSpear in a formal or structural sense.

We all lead to the degree that we inspire and offer direction to others, but it is the others’ free choice to follow us that makes us leaders and not any names that we choose for ourselves or unelected positions. In fact, it is Field Negro and Asabagna and Sylvia’s vision, dilligence and insightt that makes them leaders within the AfroSpear – not their positions within the AfroSpear organogram.

The AfroSpear Think Tank makes decisions for itself, the AfroSpear Think Tank, and then leads, with knowledge and inspiration, the rest of the AfroSpear in the same way that the rest of us do at particular moments and on particular issues -- not because of our organizational position, but because of the quality of our leadership.

The AfroSpear Movement has people serving very effectively and laudably in a variety of functions, thank goodness, but we have not formally elected or selected leaders for the movement overall and it is possible that we will never do so, lest our Movement become centralized and, therefor, easily decapitated.

We are a group that is governed democratically, I believe, and this means that all of our members everywhere are be involved in determining our governing structures, policies and procedures as we progress and grow. And at the same time we necessarily assume responsibilty for particular functions before any formal appointments can occur, and it is our ability to organize, coalesce, unify and lead others in the context of our assumed responsibilities that determines whether we are leaders or not. When we are leaders, we are leaders by acclamation.

If our movement grows successfully then, with time, the AfroSpear Think Tank led by Asabagna, Field Negro and Syvia will become of many, many generalized and specialized AfroSpear think tanks specializing in particular issues like voting rights, women’s rights, reproductive decisions, spirituality, etc.

I confess that I am a little bit flattered to learn that anything that I have said has been a topic of discussion, but I’m also mortified and horrified by the prospect that anything I have said might have sown discord, anger or hostility. If that has happened, and it may well have on many occasions, then I would like to take this opportunity to apologize to all of you.

When considering my role, you have to understand that Sometimes, I Wish I Were Dead. This influences my sense of urgency, the substance of my writing (psychiatry and health care), and my need to create a clear sense of relevance and purpose in the face of feelings of despondency and pointlessness.

To the degree that I am able to offer ideas and perspectives that are useful, I hope my ideas will continue to be discussed. But, if others find my challenges to be distracting, I am sure that they will continue their individual work in their own ways, because no one of us is so powerful that he or she can or should be able to stop or stymie any other individual or the work and growth of the international AfroSpear Movement.

Thanks for hearing me out and, if I've really angered or annoyed you, I'm sure you'll tell me. Better that than to abandon a movement for Black self-determination over over a personality or substance conflict with one AfroSpear blogger. We must always remember that our goal is to elevate "principles, not personalities."

One Love! One Nation Under an AfroSpear!