Interview with T'Challa Shabach

By Fiona Rawsontile, Aug 2016

Since I met Mr. Shabach, my opinions toward Black Americans have changed a lot. He is always thinking. He actively learns new things, follows the news, and discusses with others what he envisions as the better ways to solve the problems around us.

Fiona: Mr. Shabach, I just found out that you had spent several years mentoring youth when you attended college in Washington DC. Could you tell us more about the experience? 

Mr. Shabach: I felt like I very much became the man I am because of my experience in D.C. I know one day I will be back there. Yes I mentored for others and for myself. I tried to give people a little more knowledge or at least a different perspective than what they had before. I never judge people.  I just try to understand and show it back to them a different way.

Fiona: That’s a nice teaching philosophy. I heard you recently took two college courses in communications. Why are you interested in those topics?

Mr. Shabach: I took “Ethics” and “Human Communication and Culture” towards a degree in communications. My dream is to be a film director and writer, among other things. For me this is a safe choice. I can still pursue my dream while acquiring a legitimate skill. I tutored in English mostly I could edit. I did a lot of ghost writing for people. I wrote college essays for people all the time. At one point I was writing a Master’s level paper for someone on a subject I still don't understand, but I learned to turn technical jargon into simplified English, etc. 

Fiona: Is there someone in your family who has left a particular influence on you in terms of pursuing higher education? Do you consider yourself special?

Mr. Shabach: My mother. I favored her over my father. My mother has a Master’s degree in Public Health. She served in the United States Air Force and retired as a Colonel. She always stressed the importance of education. I believe I am special in that I was born with a gift for expression and I have a vivid imagination.  But we are all special in some way; it is a matter of how and when we use it.

Fiona: As a higher educator myself, I’d like to know what you think of the American academic system. What’s the one thing you think the US academia is really good about?

Mr. Shabach: The United States school system serves as a class divider by determining what you will do in life. Based on the surrounding land values, schools may have the latest technology or no computer room. Some children go to school without being fed. The public education system does not create functional citizens. It should provide lunch just like it provides the desk. To chain the ability of learning to the ability of eating maintains and frustrates the class divide.

I feel that the American public school system creates unprepared citizens and the college and university system creates debt slaves.

Fiona: I remember once saying to you that black people are good at sports and music. You immediately corrected me. Why?

Mr. Shabach: I see music and athletics as an avenue that we are pushed through to achieve meaning in society. Some of the most powerful and popular Black Americans are known from music and athletics, because that is where we are excepted---expected and frankly groomed historically. I want the other avenues that show the diversity of our skills to be exposed.

Fiona: So the first step is to eliminate stereotypes. What are the major changes you have observed with Black Americans in the recent years?

Mr. Shabach: I think that we have continued the progression of our self-awareness in this country. What you are seeing now is the latest generation bumping against the walls of white supremacy. I don’t think the economic or religious beliefs have changed so much. What’s different is the fact that we are more aware of the conditions of others like us around the country.

Fiona: In that sense, maybe we should view some of the conflicts around us as a positive sign. If you one day became a mayor, what would you do to foster equity and harmonies in our society?

Mr. Shabach: The first thing any community needs is opportunity. I believe that attracting new industries to my hometown will replace the ones that left long ago. We have much land but not capital to build on it. I have ideas that will allow new companies to use that land and low cost of living. I believe that the lack of harmony or, as America calls it, the race question stems from economic competition.

There are countless cities across America that have been burned at the hands of White Americans in the name of economic competition. My hometown of East Saint Louis, IL is one such town that suffered at the hands of white riots. The real history of the United States---not the watered down public education version---shows that much of the racial tension stems from economic competition. My race went from a position of being economically exploited to now being economic competed for the very people who used to make a living off of us.

When you understand that, then it is not hard to see where the violence and hate towards my race comes from and still persists today.  I am confident that is why black riots are highlighted the way they are---to cover the history of the white riots. It is easy to show a broken man off to the world for contempt, when you have been beating him privately. It is not complaining or making an excuse to say that the capitalist economic system depends on a permanent underclass and in numerous ways Black Americans have been made that underclass. The solution however goes beyond simply identifying the problem.

In my country the words "our jobs" creates a lot of tension; it shows just who thinks everything belongs to them. That is why I believe harmony is only obtained through prosperity that we obtain from ourselves. But not even this guarantees peace as the example of Black Wall Street in Oklahoma shows. A prosperous all-black town was destroyed by White Americans in a series of riots that lasted for days-again, in the name of economic competition. I am not saying that White Americans have the heart of the devil or that Black Americans deserve all the tears of the world. I am saying the strife and results you see between these two races is not the results or one group's superiority versus other groups’ worthlessness. You are watching the conflict between one group whose success hinged on the other, and the other group looking for success independent of the first.

I am not a segregationist, and I reject the notion that cities or areas have to be all one race or another. I have to sometimes think in the mindset of my race doing for ourselves, because that is the basis of any community, racial or otherwise. I want my city to one day embrace immigrants from all over the world. I want people from Palestine, China, and Cuba in the city of East Saint Louis, because I believe diversity and strength in the common goal of shared prosperity is the best defense against white supremacy.

I believe the current state of my race makes us natural allies to people who are fighting against unfair opposition and oppression. It is not that we are permanent victims---it is a reality that we are in a permanent struggle against an economic system that disallows us to make value for ourselves. There are many groups living and dead that have struggled against this very system, but we carry on getting stronger as we go. I am confident that one day we will truly buy our freedom and our image.

Fiona: Well, Mr. Shabach, you left me nearly speechless. "Harmony is only obtained through prosperity that we obtain from ourselves." The future of a group is, in the end, determined by the goals and efforts of the same people who form the group, not someone else. Thank you for sharing your wisdom with us, and I look forward to seeing your dreams come true.