2204
FRED POWLEDGE
Carmichael wants neither domination nor exploitation, but "an effective
share in the total power of the society," as he and Charles V. Hamilton
defined it in their book,
Black Power: The Politics of Liberation in
America.
But many of the white liberals of yesterday, those who suf–
fered themselves to be arrested alongside Dr. King in the South, seem
to have given up without a fight.
There's a lot we could do. The Sheriff of Cook County wants a
posse for next summer's riots. Radical and liberal volunteers, black and
white, could turn it into a force for the preservation of justice, or at
the very least try to keep it from becoming Tuscaloosa North.
We could stop talking so much about coalitions and finally form
some, not one mimeograph machine that would purport to represent
every white and black American to the left of Strom Thurmond, but
dozens of coalitions that would have an influence over labor, business,
housing, the judicial process, medicine, what's left of the poverty
program, local politics, local school boards.
We need a coalition to keep an eye on the daily press, to make
sure it doesn't mistake Establishment handouts for actual accomplish–
ments; we need to keep two eyes and both ears on Robert Kennedy.
We need coalitions that can and will reward people like Mayor Lindsay
of New York when they do the right thing and that will embarrass
them when they do the wrong thing. We need a way, besides mass
resignations, to remind the American Civil Liberties Union that it need
not get hysterical and back out just when the other side starts
playing dirty.
We need coalitions in places like Newark. Almost half the popula–
tion of Newark is white ; do City Hall and the police headquarters
represen t even those
whites'
feelings about how a city should be run?
The Newark Community Union Project has been trying for years to
bring participatory democracy to Newark; why must it continue to beg
white liberals for the money it needs to stay alive?
Stokely Carmichael and his successor have not yet defined black
power in any specific, workable way, but that is no reason why decent
whites should sit on the sidelines and wait. Hundreds of black individuals
and organizations around the country are working right now to build
black institutions, ranging from small voting blocs with realistic horizons
to cooperative grocery stores; there are numerous opportunities for
whites to see if they can help without becoming obnoxiously paternalistic.
There
are
a couple of very good reasons why decent whites should
not excuse themselves from the black power movement. Riots, of course,
are one reason.
If
the white liberals retire for the duration, the con-
