BLACK POWER
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integrationists and as traditional supporters of civil-rights demands. The
article clearly recognizes (1) the difficulty of pinning a common defini–
tion and meaning on the term "Black Power"; (2) the role of the press
in adding to the confusion; (3) the need for black people to organize
for power; (4) the developmental nature of social change - i.e., how
relatively mild demands can (through the intransigence of society) be–
come legitimately more insistent; and (5) the underlying distrust many
Black Power people have for established decision-making authority.
Notwithstanding these accurate observations, Duberman still can–
not quite come to terms with the concept of Black Power. And he raises
some of the traditional cries heard around the country: is it an end in
itself? is it hatred of whites? does it condone violence? is it a result
of rising expectations or of ever-increasing pauperization? is it decentral–
ist? At times, the article would indicate much more sophistication than
these questions imply.
It
is very clear that the answer to where Black Power is going lies
largely in the response to be made by white decision-makers and their
constituents.
It
is for whites to say whether violence will continue and
wiII escalate. Duberman writes: "Thus,
if
one views the Garrisons and
Carmichaels as 'extremists,' one should at least place the blame for that
extremism where it belongs - not on their individual temperaments,
their genetic predispositions, but on a society which scorned or toyed
with their initial pleas for justice." What more need be said? The
major talk - the bulk of the articles, books and speeches - of whites
should be to each other on ways to break down the intransigence,
indifference and resistance, not on nit-picking with Black Power. The
crucial role for "white liberals" is to
infiltrate
the white community
(P.T.A.'s, Rotary Clubs, real estate boards, chambers of commerce,
neighborhood civic associations) and struggle to redirect racist thinking
and policy toward more equitable ends. Why isn't there much more
energy put into this? There is entirely too much time spent by whites
worrying about the stance taken by the black minority, when it is
clear that that stance is determined in large measure by the position
assumed by the white majority - what else could be the meaning of
Duberman's quote above?
Duberman's article falls victim to another major error. He uses
a lot of space focusing on the rhetoric of a few highly visible leaders
and on some written accounts of reporters. What Duberman and many
other social scientists and journalists and numerous "ghetto-watchers"
do not know is that there are many things of a constructive, Black–
Power nature going on in the black communities. These things are not
just rhetoric - in articles or on platforms - but are actual developments.
