Democrat gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams is one of the co-founders of the radical black separatist group Students For Afrikan Amerikan Empowerment (SAAE) according to archived records obtained by Big League Politics.
While it has been reported that Abrams burned a Georgia state flag in 1992 as a student at Spelman College, the mainstream media has turned a blind eye to Abrams’ deep connection to the SAAE group, comprised of students from all-black colleges in the Atlanta area. A source with detailed knowledge of the group’s activities told BLP that Abrams was one of three original co-founders. (READ: Records Show Stacey Abrams Worked With Democratic Socialists of America).
Students For Afrikan Amerikan Empowerment, formed during the Rodney King crisis, was inspired by the Black Panther Party. Its mission statement during Abrams’ tenure stated that the group “shall employ any means necessary to free and protect our people from the evils of imperialism, capitalism, classism, racism, and sexism!” The group’s founders also made clear that “We do not wish to be ‘equal’ to, or necessarily integrated with any other group…We demand cultural autonomy! We demand freedom to practice our unique Afrikan traditions…” Recently the group has celebrated anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan, Malcolm X, and the Black Panthers.
Here is Students For Afrikan Amerikan Empowerment (SAAE) identifying Abrams as an “SAAE Founding Member” in a May 8, 2017 post on its Facebook page, which features support for Abrams’ gubernatorial bid.
SAAE explained in a 2014 post that Stacey Abrams was a founding member and “active leader” of SAAE through summer 1992, and then launched her local political career in the upheaval surrounding the Rodney King verdict.
Here is Abrams burning the Georgia flag with her SAAE comrades.
SAAE does not shy away from its radical heritage, stating outright that it was inspired by the Black Panther Party.
Here is a description of the group from its May 22, 2014 Facebook post:
“In the tradition of SNCC, the Black Panther Party and other student/youth/community movements that preceded it, SAAE sought to agitate, educate, organize and mobilize around what they believed to be critical issues related to freedom, justice and liberation for their generation. From mass marches, take overs of administration buildings to children’s breakfast and tutorial programs, from flag burnings, protest rallies, food co-ops to newspaper publications, from political education classes, gas mask sales, community self defense initiatives to Black P.O.W.E.R. political campaigns, members of SAAE and those connected to them sought to, as Fanon described, “discover their mission” and fulfill it.”
Here is a passage from the book Walking on Water: Black American Lives At The Turn of the Twenty First Century by Randall Kenan, which describes the founding principles of the group Abrams co-founded.
According to the book:
“The organizational principles for SAAE were quite simple. There were only four, a page long, published in each issue of The Liberator. It began: “We are first and foremost Afrikan people, the Alpha and the Omega!” The second principle says: “We are the masters of our fates and the captains of our destinies!” It went on to state that “liberation is the highest value,” and borrowed a phrase from Malcolm X, a phrase used nearly to death by SAAE’s members — “and shall employ any means necessary to free and protect our people from the evils of imperialism, capitalism, classism, racism, and sexism!” The third point condemned racism and its origins; and the final, perhaps most controversial pronouncement stated: ‘We do not wish to be ‘equal’ to, or necessarily integrated with any other group…We demand cultural autonomy! We demand freedom to practice our unique Afrikan traditions…”
Here is SAAE celebrating Louis Farrakhan in a Black History Month-themed post.
Here is SAAE promoting Malcolm X and Farrakhan on February 21.
Here is SAAE celebrating Black Panther Party icon Huey P. Newton.