In his 1940 memoir, "Dusk of Dawn," W. E. B. DuBois attempted to explain why he called on Black Americans to "close ranks" to support the U.S. effort against the Axis powers during World War I.

However, DuBois admitted that at the time, he "did not realize the full horror of war," and, just as importantly, he was deluded into believing that victory for the U.S. abroad would lead to victory for African-Americans at home.

With this revelation, DuBois realized that his logic for supporting the war effort was shaped by a central dilemma of African-American political strategy. "I was thinking narrowly of the interest of my group," wrote DuBois, "and was willing to let the world go to hell, if the Black man went free."

Dilemma persists today

African-Americans are steadfast in their support for Barack Obama even as his policies push us to the brink of disaster. Certainly, there is an understandable psychic or emotional need for African-Americans to support "their" Black president against the increasingly virulent personal racist attacks on him and his family. Those attacks are not only on the president but also on the entire Black community.

Yet at the same time, Obama, though a victim of racism, is also a perpetrator of U.S. imperialism. Under his rule, we have seen the expansion of the so-called "war on terror" and U.S. military aggression in the form of drone attacks, targeted assassinations, regime changes and threats of sanctions and war. Meanwhile, his approach to domestic economic and social policy – extending and intensifying many of the policies of the Bush regime – have savaged the U.S. Black community on every front, allowing the growth of the prison- and military-industrial complexes, the rise in deportations, and most recently, the erosion of civil liberties through the signing of the National Defense Authorization Act.

The U.S. Black political and intellectual classes seem delighted by the mere cosmetic elements of the Obama presidency – Al Sharpton on MSNBC, Barack being a wonderful husband to Michelle and father to Sasha and Malia, a Black woman major general, and a Black Attorney General – and are only outraged when this pristine image is sullied by the slurs and epithets of Republican racists. Important segments of the community have decided that they are willing to sacrifice their souls so that a few individuals can have a place in the imperial machine.

Breaking ranks

DuBois was more than willing to break ranks with the African-American establishment and take positions that were independent, radical, and unpopular – but ultimately humane and just.

Rather than continue to support the narrow racial patriotism promoted by the NAACP during the Cold War era, he sought new alliances across races, classes, and nations for the good of peace, disarmament, and anti-imperialism. Significantly, he stressed the internationalism that he knew was necessary for true global Black emancipation, arguing that U.S. Black survival depends on those of "West Indians and Africans, and all the colored races of the world."

In the face of gradual alienation from mainstream U.S. Black groups, DuBois joined ranks with other radicals such as Paul Robeson and the Council on African Affairs, as well as the Southern Negro Youth Congress. These groups were international and radically anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist, and saw the Black struggle for civil rights in the U.S. linked directly to the global fight against White racial and class supremacy.

"We American Negroes," DuBois would later say, "can no longer lead the colored peoples of the world because they far better than we understand what is happening in the world today."

Accepted reality

What we can learn most from DuBois are his consistent protest against the exploitation of empire, his acceptance of the reality that establishment Blacks would forsake him, and his willingness to find new alliances beyond the narrow confines of a stifling, pro-imperial Blackness.

These are important strategies to adopt as the world slouches toward hell and as our establishment Blacks continue to be imprisoned in an imperialist capitalism that cuts them off from the progressive and humanist movements of the day – and keeps us all from being free.

Dr. Jemima Pierre is an assistant professor at the University of Texas at Austin.