By Molly Ashline, Staff Writer

One of the opening panels for the Conference on African American Culture and Experience (CACE) was entitled, “The Case for Black Nationalism.”

The panelists—Dominick Hand, Shanquel Spellman and Andrea Picou—are UNC-Greensboro seniors and members of Siasa, or the Pan African Coalition. Porsche Chiles, who is the assistant director for the Office of Multicultural Affairs, moderated the panel.

The intention of the panel was to disseminate information in order to convince the audience that only through a sense of Nationalism—or Pan-Africanism —could black people, all over the world, overcome oppression.

“If we set up a state…that is sovereign and can protect itself, that anyone from the diaspora can come and seek shelter or seek asylum then you can then be able to create power for yourself throughout the world,” Spellman said.

Spellman used the case of Israel to further explain his point.

The panelists also pointed out statistics evidencing the trend of institutionalized racism in the United States and locally.

“Out of a total of over 3,000 students suspended, over 2,000 of those students were black, so we can see that this oppression is not only for adults…it starts very, very young,” said Picou, citing the Guilford County School Suspension Statistics.

Along with institutional racism, Hand mentioned the vandalism of the African-American and African Diaspora (AADS) section. In 2013, a student at UNCG defaced the AADS section of the Jackson Library with racial slurs.

“There were some descriptions written in some of the books, and it was done by a freshman kid who actually believed in some of the [things] the Klan has done, and that is white supremacy,” Hand said.

All three panelists emphasized the continued prevalence of white supremacy and racialized politics.

“We live in a white supremacist system, which means all of our politics are created with a racial undertone not to the benefit of black people. They’re created to benefit white people to keep us in a specific place and to forward their development,” Picou said.

Another larger point in the panel’s presentation was the cycle of capitalism and racism.

“Capitalism has always been and will always be a tool of racism,” Picou said.

Picou went on to discuss redlining, which is a tactic in cities to isolate and restrict minority populations to specific neighborhoods. She used this not only as another example of institutionalized racism but also as a transition to talk about black consumerism.

“We have a buying power of $1.1 trillion…we are only what we can provide for this system in terms of our dollar,” Picou said about the relationship between black people and capitalism.

“By the 13th Amendment, if you are in jail, technically you are still a slave…we’re still used as free labor…and we’re used for capital,” Spellman emphasized after mentioning how more black people are in jail now than there were slaves at the height of slavery.

The panelists mentioned more statistics and encouraged black members of the audience to shop in intentional ways.

“The goal is to spend some of this $1.1 trillion spending power that we currently have in black businesses, using it to…to create our own things for our own people,” said Picou.

Not everyone in the audience agreed with a movement toward Black Nationalism.

One audience member said, “Pan-Africanism didn’t work…the problem with Black Nationalism is it lacks spirituality.”

The panel did address a cultural and spiritual underpinning of Black Nationalism, mentioning common language, pride and a move away from traditionally Western religions as methods of creating Black Nationalism.

“We believe that holistically, in all ways, that nationalism will improve our people,” Picou said.