NAACP Speaker and Probable Racial Separatist Zaki Baruti Defends Calling Kenneth Gladney an "Uncle Tom"

Zaki Baruti is the name of the man who called Kenneth Gladney an "Uncle Tom" during an NAACP rally in support of Gladney's attackers (my own post about this here). After this rally was recorded and posted on the internet by the NAACP, Jim Hoft at Gateway Pundit posted the excerpt and it made its way through the blogosphere and onto the MSM's radar. Now with his fifteen minutes of fame in full swing, Zaki Baruti, aka Lavoy Reed, went on Fox News and was interviewed by Bill O'Reilly (video here). Once there, Baruti didn't disappoint and once again reaffirmed that it's okay to call black people beaten by SEIU attackers (one white and one black) an "Uncle Tom."

In the interview, Baruti said "I would say that most of the people would agree with that terminology of Uncle Tom being applied to him," and "I most definitely stand by the statement that was made with regards to Mr. Kenneth Gladney and stand very strongly with Rev. Elston McCowan [one of the defendants facing charges for attacking Gladney]." He then hawked his newsletter to the Fox News crowd. Classy...

Baruti's speech excerpt from the NAACP rally was this:

"Back in the day, we used to call someone like that, and I want to remind you, when uh... this incident occurred, I was really struck by a front page picture of this guy, which we called, a Negro. I mean that we call him a Negro in the fact that he works for not for our people but against our people. In the old days, we call him an Uncle Tom. I just gotta say that. Here he is, ironically the day after a young brother, a young man, I didn’t mean to call him a brother, but on the front page of the St. Louis Post Dispatch, ironically, he’s sitting in a wheelchair, and being kissed on the forehead, by a European. Now just imagine that as a poster's child picture, not working for our people.."

Although his unfocused, rambling speech and amateurish interview with O'Reilly may make it hard to believe, Baruti seems to have managed to make a career out of his racial activism. A small amount of research shows him to be an all too common, small-time racial activist. He is the "president/general" of The Universal African Peoples Organization (UAPO), an organization whose website boasts that they are "Develop[ing] programs to assist youth in preparing for the 21st [Century is the word presumably left off]." I guess they should get right on that-- I mean the 21st century is right around the corner. Their mission statement also says that they "are seeking at least 144,000 people who share our aspirations." When I was there the their web counter rang me up as #28,820 and I for one am not somebody that shares their aspirations-- so they still have a ways to go yet.

Baruti's resume posted at the website lists various standard Left-wing activist jobs-- student leader, political action chairperson, "Housing Activist," author (of two educational booklets), publisher of a newsletter, founder of an organization (the UAPO), co-chair of "Coalition Against Police Crimes And Repression," etc. Two of his boasts particularly caught my eye-- he was a "Delegate to African Anti-Zionism Movement - Tripoli, Libya 1989" and "Delegate to World Conference Against Racism - WCAR Durban, South Africa 2001." The second is the infamous Durban conference, a UN hosted meeting that basically devolved into a shameful, anti-Semitic rant. So, anyone care to bet that Baruti believes that Jews are trying rule the world and oppressing the black race?

Going by by the UAPO's published "Vision & Principles," Baruti's racial stances are pretty much standard racial separatism and racial collectivity, not unlike Ron Karenga, aka Ron Everett, the inventor of Kwanzaa (my Karenga/Kwanzaa posts are here: Part One and Part Two). In fact, the UAPO's platform reads to be rather similar to Karenga's "sevenfold path of blackness" as published in The Quotable Karenga.

According to Karenga the "sevenfold path of blackness is think black, talk black, act black, create black, buy black, vote black, and live black." With that in mind, let's take a look at the UAPO's platform section of their "Visions & Principles" web page.

"We will improve the lives of our people when we do the following:

"1. Develop, support, and expand the growth of African-American businesses. Increase the number of African-American skilled professional. Gain our share of the tax dollars and services generated by national, state, and local businesses. End redlining of the African-American community. Develop international trade ventures. [In other words: "buy black."]

"2. We seek to the quantitative/qualitative number of African-Americans to elected public offices in proportion to our population at national, state, and local levels. We seek the passage of legislation that would directly enhance the quality of life for African-Americans. [In other words: "vote black."]

"3. Support the development and expansion of independent African-American schools. Support African centered curriculum in the public schools. Control local public school boards with Afrocentric thinking people. Increase the literacy rate and level within our community. ["Think black," "act black," and "talk black."]

"4. Institute community control of police departments and end racism within the judicial system. Support and expand educational, job training, and community-oriented programs within the penal institutions. Use community service programs as alternatives to incarceration for non-violent offenders.

"5. Develop greater emphasis on health care, knowledge, and accessibility. Support a universal assistance program responsible for providing a minimum standard of living to rebuild two parent and/or extended families. End homelessness. ["Live black."]

"6. Develop programs to assist youth in preparing for the 21st. We believe in the total equality and advancement of women within the private, public, and domestic sectors of our society. We also believe that all women should be respected and protected. ["Live black," again.]

"7. End all types of pollution, especially industrial, of Mother Earth, the water and air.

"8. Support and work diligently for the complete liberation of Africa, the Carribean [misspelling theirs] Islands, and other regions/countries in the world. Actively support the principles of non-interference in the affairs of other nations. ["Create black" in this case, black nations.]"

Karenga's antipathy for religion ("Jesus said, 'My blood will wash you white as snow'. Who wants to be white but sick 'Negroes', or worse yet-- washed that way by the blood of a dead Jew. You know if Nadinola bleaching cream couldn't do it, no dead Jew's blood is going to do it." page 28 of the The Quotable Karenga) is not shared by the UAPO whose motto is "One God! One Goal! One Destiny!" However Karenga's enthusiasm for racial separation and racial collectivity is evident throughout the UAPO's website. The Quotable Karenga says "There is no such thing as individualism, we're all Black," (page 1), " "If we could get a nigger to see how worthless, unimportant, and weak he is by himself, then we will have made a contribution," (page 2), "Individualism is a white desire; co-operation is a Black need," (page 5), and "Thinking Black is thinking collective minded," (page 5).

Quotes from Baruti's UAPO website, while not as inflammatory nor as blunt as Karenga, illustrate an agenda and mind-set likewise obsessed with collective racial identity."[W]e must unite based on their commonality which is 1) we are of African descent and 2) we are oppressed within America and throughout the world[ emphasis mine]," the UAPO declares. "Our goal is the liberation of our people spiritually, economically, politically, and culturally, whereby we will control our destiny," they say. "[T]he fulfillment of God’s will for us as people to have Freedom, Justice, and Equality, no matter where we reside and whereby we as a collective will fulfill our capacity to grow, develop, and expand to our greatest height of self-development [emphasis mine]." Candy-coated separatism.

Baruti considers Gladney outside the Black collective. This is why Baruti "didn’t mean to call him [Gladney] a brother," and "we call him a Negro in the fact that he works for not for our people but against our people."

In The Quotable Karenga Ron Karenga says "White people can't be Black peoples friend. A friend is your alter-ego and a reflection of yourself," (page 30). It is any wonder why Baruti can't stand seeing Gladney "sitting in a wheelchair, being kissed on the forehead, by a European."

Well, one has to wonder exactly what life experiences would drive Baruti to this separatist point of view. Karenga made it a point to blame racism and Whites for his separatist views. He writes: "We should not be blamed for talking separation. Racism in America has already decided this. We just want to be separate and powerful, not segregated and powerless" (page 18 of The Quotable Karenga).

Well, Baruti does have an encounter with racial discrimination that he describes (link is here). He writes: "DISCRIMINATION: The only personal instance of discrimination that has occurred to me happened in 1965 when I applied for a job with Union Electric. There were three positions available and I was the only Black of five finalists for these positions. However, I wasn't chosen. Thus, the slots were filled by the White applicants. Of course, I felt a twinge of racism, but being young, I did not pursue the issue."

So, Baruti didn't get a job once-- the obvious and only reason being that he is black... I guess. You know, I've been in a group of final candidates for a few jobs before... maybe the reason I didn't get the jobs was because I am married to a black woman. I mean, what other reason could there be?

At that same web page Baruti also says "meeting the leader of the Libyan Revolution, Muammar Qadafy, is a parallel to the other [greatest] personal achievement [publishing two booklets]." This trip was made possible by "being blessed with a 10-day, expense-paid trip to Libya, Africa."

So to recap, Kenneth Gladney is a black man reportedly beaten and called a "n*gger" by a white man and black man from the SEIU. The Missouri NAACP's response is to hold a rally for the two alleged attackers, a rally that demands the two be immediately exonerated. They invite Zaki Baruti, aka Lavoy Reed, the president/general of the UAPO, a group whose writings support racial separation, to speak so that Burati can call Gladney a "negro" and an "Uncle Tom."

The NAACP is building a community by supporting physical assaults and public name calling against those they decide do not belong. Does anyone else have a problem with this?