From Black Consciousness to Consciousness of Blackness

Abstract

This essay argues for a revision of Black Consciousness philosophy to make it more consistent with the requirements of South Africa’s constitutional democracy and relevant to the aspirations of young people in South Africa and the Global South. The philosophy was founded within an oppressive racist society, and while it defined blackness in terms of the legal oppression of Black people, those conditions no longer exist in South Africa. On the contrary, the South African constitution adopted both the inclusive view of Black people as Africans, Indians, and Coloureds, and expressly forbids racial or other forms of discrimination. The new political and constitutional setting thus demands a new articulation of blackness as a set of historical values that emanate from the experience of oppression. These values were expressed by Black intellectuals during self-reliant development and struggles against racism and can form the basis for reshaping racial identities in the Global South.