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TOM KAHN
tical machines, while the power and resources continue shifting to
suburbia and the Federal government. Like Booker T. Washington, who
urged Negroes to stay in the South and acquil:e handicraft skills when
industrialization and urbanization were the national trends, some "Black
Power" advocates may be described by future historians as Uncle Toms.
Finally, there are the elements of "Black Power" that clearly cannot
be absorbed. Whether one sees the ghetto uprisings as riots or rebellions,
they will be stopped. The right to overthrow a government may
be
proclaimed by revolutionaries, but the right to suppress rebellion is
claimed and, more importantly, exercised by governments. And
in
the
United States it would be suppressed with the support of the over–
whelming majority of the population and with a show of force com–
mensurate with the magnitude of the threat.
If
in addition to violence
and anti-white racism "Black Power" becomes identified with Maoism,
Castroism or support of the Vietcong, the threat will loom plausibly
larger in the sights of most Americans. How they react will ultimately
prove more important, like it or not, than all the finely woven inter–
pretations, redefinitions and elaborations of "Black Power" now being
offered. Unfortunately a democrat, no matter how frustrated, cannot
simply snub his nose at the sluggish and benighted majority; or, if he
does, he may win a few battles but will surely lose the war.
3 ) Within "Black Power" we may find a thousand subtle and tan–
talizing questions bearing on the human condition, but the overriding
question is what are we going to do. And the fundamental choice be–
fore us is this: will we undertake the massive social reform that is re–
quired to make room for the Negro on the basis of equality, or shall we
rather encourage the Negro community to turn inward, seeking internal
moral reformation and economic uplift within the bounds of segregation?
The latter approach, incidentally, is not only sanctioned by our
traditions but also lends itself precisely to the conservative piecemeal
approach to social problems that characterizes the "pragmatic" Amer–
ican spirit. Foundation grants can substitute for social investment by
government; planning can focus on clearly delineated little neighbor–
hood boxes, instead of on metropolitan and national arrangements. The
trouble with this, as Mr. Duberman points out, is that "many of the
basic ills from which Negro-Americans suffer ... are national phenomena
and require national resources to overcome," and that "whether these
resources will be allocated in sufficient amounts will depend ... on
whether a national coalition can be formed to exact pressure on the
federal government. . .."
4) What should be the character of this coalition, and what forces
should it comprise? The Black Power advocates feel,
in
Mr. Dubennan's
