BREAKING COMMUNITY BARRIERS

One thing about lasting friendships, especially with those we consider our elders in the community, is that sometimes we can’t even remember how we met them.

Eventually, you grow fond of them; they are more like family members. You may refer to them as brother or sister, or your children refer to them as uncles/tips, aunts/titi, Baba/grandpa, or Ummi/grandma. Reflecting on this, I honored Brother Kamau R. E. Fields to shine the community spotlight. 

I found this article very challenging to prepare and write. As many other people as possible, I have pre-written what I wrote and followed it by having them review and edit. But with Brother Kamau, I wanted to try something different. Because his life experience is so extensive, I asked him to share what he wanted the community to remember of him.

He shared this list with me: Buffalo Media Maker, Buffalo ComeUnity Worker, Father, Friend, Teacher, Thinker, East High School, and UB Alumni. This might help you know him, but I needed something to CAPTURE you, my readers. I want you to FEEL the ESSENCE of Brother Kamau thru my article.

I was driving Brother Kamau home not long ago when he told me of when student riots broke out in the 70s while he was at UB. He and Brother Alberto O. Cappas shared neighboring offices, one that mainly Puerto Rican students used for organizing (which didn’t have an official name yet) and one that the Black Student Union used for ranking.  One student named Jameel Hassan (Harlem Prep, NYC) helped Cappas decide on PODER (Puerto Rican Organization for Dignity, Elevation, & Responsibility) for the organization, which means Power in Spanish.

Kamau also remembered that the two organizations broke the wall separating the two offices during the student riots! In a way, symbolically and physically, taking down an imagined barrier that divided so-called brown and black students. I dare even to say similar artificial barriers exist even today! It repeatedly happens in our so-called “Black” & “Brown” organizations or agencies.  This division is blatant but ignored. While I can’t pinpoint it precisely, I sense it has a tinge of politics attached. Correct me, elders, if I’m wrong.

One thing is for sure, and two is for certain. I would like to see a reunion of these two student organizations. Kamau could only give me a snippet of what he remembered at UB in the 1970s. He remarked that he had told Alberto that this story must be fully told. As this article is limited, I would want to explore other options for getting that story out and hope to interview others who can shed more light on what they remembered.

A symposium that can highlight the struggles during the 1970s and how we are different and/or the same to this day. I challenge the readers to appeal to others that may have been influential during this time to get this story to the forefront. This history is important, and I long to know it so that maybe I can help further tear down the artificial barriers between our communities. 

Brother Kamau has a poem; in it, he repeats “Working Together Works,” which is so on point. Then he had another thing he often says when expressing a trial you are facing: “Hurt people, HURT PEOPLE!” Read that 3 times.

I’ll invite you to close your eyes and imagine, just for a moment taking these two simple quotes to heart and mind. Then do that every single day. Imagine that these things can truly shift your perspective on all that troubles us as a community of many different cultures and backgrounds. Try it, you might like it!