The following report was given by Eric Brooks, co-chair of the AAEC, at the National Committee meeting on October 31, 2021.

The African American Equality Commission (AAEC) is organizing itself around necessary tasks, within the context of Joe’s comments and the prior report to the AAEC, later published in the cpusa.org article “Moving the Party Forward on African American Equality” (“Moving”), including:

Developing an education and outreach committee to develop and distribute materials to address “Moving” goal #3, “Organize discussions around the country on the importance of outreach to the Black community and the struggle against racism.” In particular,

• developing a work plan around
  • Black workers in the context of Amazon Concentration
  • Black History Month, February 2022
• developing a draft statement on the centrality of the African American struggle within the context of the broader class struggle today
• developing a draft statement on critical race theory
• developing video materials including interviews with African American and other comrades engaged in struggles in the Black community
  • Two versions of a video interview with Jarvis Tyner are available and will be posted to youtube.com.
  • A video interview with a young Black female comrade from the AAEC is in production and will be released in November.
• develop an email list of Black journalists and publications, underway
• plan to schedule meetings with District Organizers and leaders in areas with key struggles and/or larger Black populations
• Provide a reading list on the history of the CPUSA in struggles for equality of the Black community
• Develop a card deck on Black struggle trivia for education and fun
• Pamphlets on issues to the Black working-class community and struggle
  • Under production is a pamphlet on community control of the police
• Plan for outreach to African American youth and working with YCL

To address “Moving” goal #6, “Develop a presence for the African American Commission, CPUSA,” we are developing:

• Regular People’s World articles
• A web link to the work of the African American Equality Commission
• Reviving the African American Equality struggle column in People’s World
• An article, “Community Violence Leads to Calls for 72-Hour Cease Fire in Indiana,” will be completed and submitted for publication early this week, linking the high level of violence in the Black community in Indianapolis, IN, with the economic and political oppression that undermines the health and safety of the Black community.
• A schedule for regular articles is being prepared
• Web links to our clubs operating in major Black communities

Technical blockers will be overcome to get the AAEC on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter, which is expected to be completed by mid-November.

The AAEC is meeting regularly on the second Tuesday of every month at 8:00 PM ET.

The AAEC Social Media committee is meeting regularly on the first and third Tuesdays of every month.

The AAEC will be formalizing the writing collective and adding regular meetings for collective editorial and production work in November.

The AAEC is supporting the Dec. 3, 2021, National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (NAARPR) Conference and will be sending five delegates.

Developing an AAEC approach to supporting unity of Black and white workers in strike actions.

Image: Fibonacci Blue (CC BY 2.0).

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