Groundings With My Krip Brothers & Sisters
I want what Walter Rodney coined Groundings “grounding,” he referred to the practice of actively engaging with and learning from the experiences and perspectives of ordinary people, particularly within marginalized communities, to gain a deep understanding of their struggles and build a collective consciousness for social change, often drawing from the Rastafarian concept of “sitting down to reason” in a community space where ideas are shared openly and critically; essentially, grounding meant connecting intellectual analysis with grassroots realities to empower the oppressed through knowledge and action.
Key points about “grounding” in the context of Walter Rodney:
- Rooted in Rastafarian culture: The term “grounding” originates from the Rastafarian practice of “reasoning,” where people gather to discuss important issues openly and critically.
- Activist approach to scholarship: Rodney believed that intellectuals should not just study communities but actively engage with them to understand their lived experiences and contribute to their struggles.
- Focus on the marginalized: Rodney’s “grounding” practice primarily focused on connecting with Black communities in the Caribbean, particularly the working class and Rastafarians, to amplify their voices and perspectives. “(Source: The Revolutionary Legacy of Walter Rodney’s ‘Groundings’ on Walter Rodney’s concept and practice of ‘Grounding’ as Critical Pedagogy Kevin Okoth 13 June 2019) How to get this, groundings, among my Black disabled (Krip) brothers and sisters? I can say and write it, but it must go deeper but how especially from the poorest of the poor, Black disabled people worldwide? As an older graduate student, I have an opportunity, and I also see the limitation as I became more radical as I look at how academia has rejected Black academics when they were radical like Cedric J. Robinson (1946-2016) and Walter Rodney (1942-1980).
Of course, I also know that I’m not the only Black disabled scholar who is thinking and writing about kripping. Back radical thought, theory and terminology, but most importantly a Black disabled radical way of being. If groundings is a Rastafarian concept, then I look towards a disabled Reggae group, Israel Vibration to educate me and to krip it aka bring it into a Black disabled lens.
Although I’m used to organizing, writing, traveling on an SSI budget in an inaccessible worldwide society with their industries like the travel industry, it gets harder not only of age but a lack of financial support after mostly White funders realizes the radical side of research.
Yes, I do believe what once again what Rodney wrote:
Activist approach to scholarship: Rodney believed that intellectuals should not just study communities but actively engage with them to understand their lived experiences and contribute to their struggles.
“Poverty scholarship theory” created by Dee and tiny gray-garcia at POOR magazine, activist/artists like Piri Thomas, Kiilu Nyasha, Dee Garcia and more gave me the concept of Walter Rodney, Groundings! We know that Cedric J. Robinson, Walter Rodney, Manning Marble, W.E.B. Dubois, Zora Neale Hurston and Sylvia Wynter did their research that not only bumped up against the mainstream, enlarged the Black community and theory but left a foundation to build on.
This is how I’m looking at my graduate studies and cultural work. All I can do is continue what I’ve been doing on an SSI budget with my temporary graduate school monthly TA income and once in a while a few fellowships to cover my goal of kripping Cedric J. Robinson, Walter Rodney, Manning Marble, W.E.B. Dubois, Zora Neale Hurston and Sylvia Wynter and also lean on our Black disabled academic scholars like the late John Langston Gwaltney, Christopher Bell to today’s scholars like Lateef McLoed as I continue to try to put into action the title of this short essay, Grounding With My Krip Brothers & Sisters.
By Leroy F. Moore
11/23/24
