BLACK POWER
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Men who build, albeit unconsciously, a tradition of self-hate, 'build
a people who, hating themselves, will turn to destroying themselves,
incidentally destroying all others. Black men and women and youIig
people who cannot see and accept themselves as black, that is, for
what they are defined in our culture as being, build unwittingly for
doom.
Black men must see the good that God has given their glorious
condition of blackness. Black is good and white is good but they are
at their glorious best when white and black are to be found together
in equity conjoined. Even here, we must recognize that "something"
never coalesces with "nothing"; and that we as black people can at our
best take into a common humanity oply our unique integrity.
Black men have much to offer this nation's life, without which
the nation cannot save itself from its charted self-destruction.
Black men have the critical insights which only the long-benighted
can know. The historical role of the oppressed in every society has been
to bring a sense of cleansing and regeneration to the society which
has occasioned their oppression.
Black people must, therefore, become the "saving remnant" in our
nation's life. Failing this, black men doubtless do not deserve the free–
dom which they seek.
Black men alone are responsible for the .skewed relationships of
power which have helped bring our nation to the brink of major dis–
aster. In no circumstance-in our homes, our communities, our nation
and our world-where there are not equitable relationships of power
tension and extension can there be either morality or maturity. Black
men must take the initiative in developing for themselves Black Power.
Residual power must be utilized by distinct individuals and groups
in
order to relate with power and command to others.
It
is not an
end
in
itself. It is a necessary means to the end of cooperation, coalition
and the unity which God wills for man. In this respect, thoughtful and
responsible white people must take the initiative in facilitating the
development of Black Power.
Not only then must we develop new awarenesses concerning what
black men, what white men and what black men and white men to–
gether must do, but also we must come finally to understand some of
the present perils of change.
Those who have been accustomed to seeing others as children
tend to find it a traumatic experience when those whom they have
come to see as children seek apparently suddenly to stand on their own.
Parents are taken aback when their own children-whom they knew
