Black Power

Black Power, the seemingly most well-known term that is often referred to when one is referencing the topic of Black equality in the U.S. While progression has occurred over the past years, many of the issues that continue to swarm the Black (as well as other minority) communities have yet to be genuinely addressed. The unjust violence of individual racism may have been overlooked from a general perspective, but many sociologists, such as Stokely Carmichael, the author of “Black Power: the Politics of Liberation in America”, have and continue to argue that the intolerable hand of “institutional racism” is still rooted to the Black community from making any true progress. As is the case in the nation as a whole, Blacks themselves do not hold much power, which leaves them in a state of not being able to exert much control over matters of social change. These very same things can occur when dealing with coalitions.

When a battle has been won and the remainings of some sort of social gain must be distributed, a significant power differential between Blacks and their allies will unlikely lead to a situation favorable towards Blacks. Most likely, this will merely lead to a state in which Blacks are overly-reliant on their coalition, and in their inability to stand independently, will replace one set of problems for another.

Liberal Democrats are perhaps the best example of how a group can appear to have interests and goals that coincide with Blacks, while at the same time being poor candidates in terms of long-term allies. The single greatest logical fallacy in the idea of finding liberal Democrats to be good allies for Blacks is in the fact that liberal Democrats are an active member of the system that Blacks wish to change. Members of the left wing seek what they believe to be good for America, and in the words of Carmichael; “[the assumption that] what is good for America is good for Black people [is a myth].”

For this reason, groups that are firmly entrenched, and operate from within, the American system would not make effective long-term allies for Black liberation. Groups such as this derive whatever power they do possess from the system itself, this creates a direct conflict with the interests of the Black community, whose core desire in social reform is to incite radical change in a system that doesn’t currently have a place to fit them within it. This would likely lead to an inevitable turn in which the more powerful member of the coalition, which would likely not be

Blacks, would end up carrying out their own interests while neglecting those of the Black community. In this vein of thought, what I find to be a key aspect of ensuring that the interests of the Black community’s allies properly align with their own is in properly defining the interests of the Black community themselves. Over the course of the past century, the efforts of the wide variety of Black activists have been far from united. While the ultimate goal of the group remains apparent, the differing ideologies and the resulting confusion would keep the prospect of forming useful allies off the books for some time. This is similar to the recent Occupy movement, who was, while large and motivated, not entirely cohesive in its message. In cases such as these, a team might be able to see the finish line, but it’ll only lead to trouble if the majority of them, let alone outside teams they’ve aligned with, can’t agree on at least a general course of action to get there.

Before Blacks can seek out, and make use of allies, they must first form an independent political concept, a personal political identity; another idea that Carmichael illustrates in “Black Power”. If Blacks were to organize themselves into an active political group for the purpose of inducing social change it would seem apparent that they could not logically operate in the same manner with which current large political organizations operate. For the same reasons that the liberal Democratic Party would not be effective in bringing about the change that the Black community needs, crafting themselves into a shape that properly fits into the system they initially set out to reform would ultimately lead to a net-gain of little to nothing.

Though it is uncertain exactly how a Black political force should organize itself, one thing is apparent, they must not seek to model themselves after the “White” political parties that currently exist, or the ones that preceded them. The option for a Black political organization to model themselves after the groups that have successfully obtained their goals in the American political system might seem attractive, but this is the very reason why they should not do so. This success that White political organizations have found in the American system is simply because it was designed to cater to them, and in their own actions they perpetuate this system. This simultaneously enables the system to continue its manner of excluding and subverting minority groups in order to maintain its proper “imbalance” of power.

This need is regularly illustrated in the careers of Black political leaders currently operating in U.S. politics. In a manner that occurs on a consistent basis, Black political leaders who attain a position of notoriety or influence are regularly assimilated into the integrated styles and leanings of the system. While the U.S. political system bends and flexes depending on the current holdings of power between the prominent political parties, it does not seek to truly reshape itself in any radical way except over extremely long periods of time. This is a trap that a Black political party hoping to induce change on behalf of the community they represent must not fall in. Once a Black political organization attempts to carve out a foothold on their path towards social change, the system will do everything it can to prevent a destabilization in the comfortable equilibrium it has obtained.

This very nature of the American system would likely be the greatest threat faced by an active and organized Black political organization. By properly defining their purpose, and motivating their constituents