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Tag Archives: African-American History
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MLK and Black Power
There is no sensible argument that can be made to counter W.E.B. Du Bois’ statement that “the problem of the 20th Century will be the color line.” If any criticism can be hurled at this Duboisian prophecy it is that it ends too soon and should have been extended far into the new millennium.
For many of our countrymen, it is Race that remains their rallying point. Even when aware of how variables such as class, gender, and sexual identity impact their lives, it is Race whose reign resembles that of King Cotton during this nation’s period of chattel slavery. Considering the centrality of Race in American lives, a reasonable argument could be made that there is no more frightening combination of words in the English language than “Black Power”. Above all other word combinations, Black Power and the philosophies flowing from it have proven to be reliable rallying points for those who support the concept as well as those that oppose even the mention of such matters. I am sure that you can imagine the polarization that occurred during the highly contentious identity politic driven 1960s when SNCC worker Willie (Mukasa) Ricks changed the ideological trajectory of the fight for racial equality in Greenwood, Mississippi when he taught sharecroppers “Black Power” slogans instead of the standard call for “Freedom Now”.
This moment was so impactful on the movement that not even movement patriarch Martin Luther King (MLK) Jr., was able to ignore its arrival.
The debut of “Black Power” slogans stoked increasingly paranoid Whites’ fears of roving revenge-minded attacks by young Blacks. This moment tells us far more about the psyche of Whites in this nation than it says about angry Blacks who have rarely responded to centuries of exploitation, denigration, and marginalization at the hands of an oppressor with organized counter-attacks. Most agree that when White America’s fears were heightened, it was MLK’s advocacy of non-violent civil disobedience that provided significant psychological comfort to White’s who were bracing for the arrival of vengeful blood-thirsty Black Powerites desirous of revenge for past transgressions.
It would not be a stretch to argue that in the paranoid mind of many Whites, MLK was needed to control “irrational blacks” who refused to accept their second-class citizenship status. King’s utility grew in the mind of White America every time a media outlet juxtaposed King against Malcolm X or some other expression of Black Power politics. Many Whites, and a few Blacks, naively considered MLK as a necessary evil capable of quelling Black Powerites.
Considering this nation’s penchant for displaying episodes of dementia regarding matters of Black liberation, I will take a moment to define what Black Powerites were seeking to convey during their calls for “Black Power.” The most accepted definition of “Black Power” during the volatile 1960s is provided by Charles V. Hamilton and Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) leader Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture). According to Hamilton and Carmichael,
Black power is concerned with organizing the rage of black people.…Black power (1) deals with the obviously growing alienation of black people and their distrust of the institutions of this society; (2) works to create new values and to build a new sense of community and of belonging; and (3) works to establish legitimate new institutions that make participants, not recipients, out of a people traditionally excluded from the fundamentally racist processes of this country.[i]
The concept of Black Power rests on a fundamental premise. Before a group can enter the open society, it must first close ranks. By this, we mean group solidarity is necessary before a group can operate effectively from a bargaining position of strength in a pluralistic society. Traditionally, each new ethnic group in this society has found the route to social and political viability through the organization of its own institutions with which to represent its needs within the larger society . . . the American melting pot has not melted. Italians vote for Rubino over O’Brien; Irish for Murphy over Goldberg, etc.[ii]
Over a half-century after its creation, this definition remains relevant as it still reflects the political realities facing a politically powerless and economically marginalized Black America.
The arrival of “Black Power” politics into the volatile 60s political economy was so significant that MLK realized that ignoring the matter was an incorrect action. Many would-be shocked to learn that the integrationist-minded “Prince of Peace” offered limited support for “Black Power” politics. According to Dr. King,
[t]here is nothing essentially wrong with power. The problem is that inAmerica power is unequally distributed. This has led Negro Americans in the past to seek their goals through love and moral suasion devoid of power and white Americans to seek their goals through power devoid of love and conscience…. [I]t is precisely this collision of immoral power with powerless morality which constitutes the major crisis of our times.[iii]
{Black Power activists} must use every constructive means to amass economic and political power. This is the kind of legitimated power we need. We must work to build racial pride and refute the notion black is evil and ugly. But this must come through a program, not merely through a slogan…The words ‘black’ and ‘power’ together give the impression that we are talking about black domination rather than black equality.[iv]
Black Power is a call for the pooling of black financial resources to achieve economic security.… Through the pooling of such resources and the development of habits of thrift and techniques of wise investment, the Negro will be doing his share to grapple with his problem of economic deprivation. If Black Power means the development of this kind of strength within the Negro community, then it is a quest for basic, necessary, legitimate power.[v]
Attempts to ignore MLK’s ideological maturation after the “March on Washington” dooms them to a limited understanding of both the Civil Rights patriarch and the larger struggle for “the liberation and salvation of the Black nation.”
Dr. King’s always evolving political priorities have created “blind spots” for supporters and critics of one of the most important figures of Black America’s twentieth-century struggle for first-class citizenship. If nothing else, this moment serves as definitive proof of our collective need to study, study, and study some more. Failure to do so guarantees our inability to understand a past that serves as the foundation for a present that has yet to correct the misunderstood past.
Dr. James Thomas Jones III
© Manhood, Race, and Culture 2020.
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Reconsidering the post-March on Washington Martin Luther King Jr.
I deplore how society lays aside historical figures and their profound contributions to our society for 364 days out of the year, only to revisit them on an annual basis as if they are Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., is arguably the foremost victim of such antics.
As society sits poised for yet another MLK breakfast or program, I am going to expound on one of my most frequent refrains regarding Dr. King. The statement that I am referring to is my belief that the “I have a Dream” speech delivered on August 28, 1963, has proven in retrospect to be King’s worst moment.
The faces of the vast majority of people transform when they hear the above critique of Dr. King’s most memorable moment before an audience of 250,000 people. During robust lectures, I often follow that statement with brother Malcolm’s somewhat humorous quip that the A. Philip Randolph organized March on Washington “…was a circus, with clowns and all.”
Although I frequently use Brother Malcolm’s quip, I do not agree with his summation. Yet, I do harbor issues with this moment that have nothing to do with the content of Dr. King’s speech on this momentous occasion. My problem revolves around the reality that this moment was so big that most mistakenly freeze Dr. King in this moment and use it as a guide to understand his entire public life. Those harboring this belief are in grievous error. If one did not know any better, they could be led to believe that Dr. King was assassinated moments after his much-celebrated speech as the remaining portion of his life is rarely discussed. Unbeknownst to many, Dr. King’s prophetic voice was not silenced by an assassin’s bullet until 1968, nearly five years after his impassioned speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
Despite the flawed historical recollection of a gullible American public, Dr. King’s legacy did not end on August 28, 1963. Most would be shocked to learn that “the Prince of Peace” never stopped evaluating and growing ideologically during this volatile period of this nation’s existence.
Consider for a moment that when faced with growing White resistance in the wake of Lyndon Baines Johnson’s signing of the Civil Rights (1964) and Voting Rights (1965) Acts, Dr. King understood that Whites were unwilling to share political power or economic resources with anyone. This political climate led King to issue the following indictments toward both the nation and the movement he headed.
“[W]ith Selma and the Voting Rights Act one phase of development in the civil rights revolution came to an end. A new phase opened, but few observers realized it or were prepared for its implications. For the vast majority of white Americans, the past decade — the first phase — had been a struggle to treat the Negro with a degree of decency, not of equality. White America was ready to demand that the Negro should be spared the lash of brutality and coarse degradation, but it had never been truly committed to helping him out of poverty, exploitation or all forms of discrimination. The outraged white citizen had been sincere when he snatched the whips from the Southern sheriffs and forbade them more cruelties. But when this was to a degree accomplished, the emotions that had momentarily inflamed him melted away,
When negroes looked for the second phase, the realization of equality, they found that many of their white allies had quietly disappeared. Negroes felt cheated, especially in the North, while many whites felt that the negroes had gained so much it was virtually impudent and greedy to ask for more so soon.
The practical cost of change for the nation up to this point has been cheap. The limited reforms have been obtained at bargain rates. There are no expenses, and no taxes are required, for Negroes to share lunch counters, libraries, parks, hotels, and other facilities with whites…
Negroes of America had taken the President, the press and the pulpit at their word when they spoke in broad terms of freedom and justice . . . The word was broken, and the free-running expectations of the Negro crashed into the stone walls of white resistance.
Whites’ increasing resistance to racial equality in the public arena, let alone any degree of racial justice, forced King’s hand. In his search for a path to securing racial equality, MLK was forced to address the growing nihilism within the Civil Rights Movement that was most forcefully articulated by a rising tide of young Black Powerites. The shifting political winds were so significant that Dr. King felt compelled to issue the following statement regarding Black Power politics.
There is nothing essentially wrong with power. The problem is that in America power is unequally distributed. This has led Negro Americans in the past to seek their goals through love and moral suasion devoid of power and white Americans to seek their goals through power devoid of love and conscience…. [I]t is precisely this collision of immoral power with powerless morality which constitutes the major crisis of our times.
Black Power is a call for the pooling of black financial resources to achieve economic security.… Through the pooling of such resources and the development of habits of thrift and techniques of wise investment, the Negro will be doing his share to grapple with his problem of economic deprivation. If Black Power means the development of this kind of strength within the Negro community, then it is a quest for basic, necessary, legitimate power.
It is indeed time that those interested in this nation securing racial justice re-evaluate MLK’s legacy by placing some attention on his post-March on Washington speech era. Such action is crucial for anyone seeking to expand their understanding of King, Black Power, and the pursuit of racial justice. Hopefully, you do not think that Dr. King was the type of man to waste any portion of his life. Trust me when I say if you think that about Dr. King, you need to re-evaluate your entire understanding of “the Prince of Peace.”
James Thomas Jones III
© Manhood, Race, and Culture, 2019.
How A Chance Encounter Increased My Understanding of The COINTELPRO: A Show of Respect for Timothy Hayes, Roderick Hughes, and Paul Stiner
I have learned that in this life, one never knows what the next moment will bring. I am sure that by the time we finish this race called life that we will be able to look back and attest to triumphs, challenges, successes, and failures. I pray that your recollections include a few people that impacted your viewpoints in a significant manner; the type of influence that makes you smile when you reflect on the wisdom that they graciously poured into you.
If nothing else, I hope that this post proves the importance of being open to the process of life because you just never know who you may meet.
Please bear with me as I attempt to smooth out a rather difficult story that revolves around two chance encounters that occurred nearly two decades apart, yet impacted my life in unimaginable ways. Although unconventional in nature, for any of this to make sense, I must speak about the most recent meeting before the latter meeting.
ENCOUNTERING TIMOTHY HAYES
It was a rather mundane day of social media engagement that exposed my “writings”, a derisive term that a brother named Timothy Hayes spewed my way. I remember the unexpected conflict as if it occurred yesterday.
Mr. Timothy Hayes issued a rather blunt rebuttal to a posting I made about Minister Louis Farrakhan. It may be the best-kept secret in the world that many writers, myself included, abhor criticism of our writings from what we view as a harsh, sometimes hostile, world. Any good writer will tell you that the writing process is akin to the birthing of a child and therefore our words are a never-ending representation of our being. So, I am certain that you will understand that “I felt some kind of way” when Mr. Hayes issued the following comment regarding the aforementioned posting.
Never has a man been so correct and so wrong at the exact same time.
Ouch!!!!!!!!!
As I am certain that you can imagine, this initial encounter turned into a drawn-out emotion-filled debate filled with many people who rushed to defend my post. In the throes of that impassioned discussion, I never imagined that I would later give thanks that my path crossed with Mr. Timothy Hayes.
Somewhere during the back-and-forth banter between several strong personalities, Mr. Hayes took center-stage in his signature prophetic style and offered an insightful political commentary that both illuminated his comment and amazingly won me over to his side.
My admiration and respect for Mr. Timothy Hayes skyrocketed to the point that I can unabashedly state that he is someone that I have come to admire. His expressions of wisdom are highly influential in the way that I view the world.
Over the course of several months, I learned that Mr. Hayes was a prominent member of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, a group that served as the topic of my Doctoral Dissertation and initial book. I privately mused that I have found my way to a person who possesses the ability to fill in so many of the gaps in knowledge about the Black Panther Party. Timothy Hayes actually stood with Huey, Bobby, Eldridge, Geronimo, Fred, Assata, and a litany of other Black Power Era heroes. And if that were not enough, this brilliant brother knew Brother Malcolm in a substantive manner; this was the catalyst behind his initial comment regarding Minister Farrakhan. In many ways, Mr. Hayes is a much-needed signpost that I needed to regularly consult.
So, I was not surprised when I read a recent posting by Timothy Hayes regarding why he does not celebrate Kwanzaa. What follows is an excerpt of the alluded to posting.
WHY I WOULD NEVER CELEBRATE KWANZA AND WHY YOU SHOULD THINK ABOUT IT …Today begins the so-called holiday known as Kwanza, a celebration that has no real roots in any African traditions, but many African Americans choose to observe it as an alternative to Xmas. That’s fine if it works for you. I however use this time every year to remember the lives of my two friends and fellow Black Panther Party members. John Huggins and “Bunchy” Carter. Who were killed on January 17th 1969 on the orders of a sadistic cult leader who also was a paid agent of the FBI.
This person Ron Karenga…known mostly today for inventing “Kwanza”…also was convicted of torturing two black women, Gail Davis and Deborah Jones, holding them for days beating them and at times using electrical cords and hot soldering irons burning them in private parts of their bodies. After serving only a short prison sentence, Karenga surfaced in Southern Calif. again with various Academic degrees he still can’t prove he earned.
Two members of the rival black nationalist group US (United Slaves founded by and controlled by Karenga ), brothers George and Larry Stiner were arrested for the shooting death of my friends…and convicted of conspiracy to commit murder and second-degree murder. Both were sentenced to life. The Stiners escaped from San Quentin prison in 1974. Larry Stiner lived as a fugitive in South America for 20 years and then surrendered. George Stiner is still on the run.
My friend John Huggins of New HavenConn. was a wonderful man who took me to Calif. With Geronimo Pratt to train in the Black Panther Party. Bunchy Carter was a reformed gang leader who brought the first peace to the street gangs of Los Angeles. Bunchy helped set up a free shoes program, a free health clinic, and one of the first shelters for battered women in the state of Calif. As well as the Free Breakfast Program and other free food programs in the Los Angeles area.. Rather than observe Kwanza the holiday invented by the sick sadistic traitor Karenga I remember the lives of my friends. I have no problem with people who chose to observe Kwanza…but I also believe that what you don’t know CAN hurt you.
MEETING RODERICK HUGHES
While traveling from Columbus, Ohio, to Houston, Texas, for a job interview at Prairie View A & M University I was forced to confront my fear of flying. As I stood along a wall awaiting what I considered the uncertainty of the pending flight, my mind busied itself with mundane tasks such as counting the squares on the carpet and how many people would board the plane. Of course, I counted how many Black people would be on this flight; there would be three of us (all males). I issued a quick petition to God to be seated next to one of the other brothers on the flight. As the familiar Gospel refrain goes, “He’s an on-time God, yes he is.” My prayer was granted, I sat next to Mr. Roderick Hughes.
Over the course of a few hours, I learned many things about Houston, Texas, and Prairie View A & M University from Mr. Hughes. Our conversation ended with a gracious “demand” that I take his number and if I did accept the job at Prairie View that I would contact him. I wrote his number inside of a favorite book and pledged to call him if I relocated to Houston.
I eventually accepted the job and contacted this brother at an opportune moment.
During an hours’ long conversation Mr. Hughes invited my family to his house to celebrate his newlywed status. On the assigned date, I found myself surrounded by a house full of people who were welcoming beyond belief. To my surprise, Roderick Hughes, a transplant from Columbus, Ohio, was surrounded by his bride’s family; none of his blood-relatives were present. As an introvert, I can tell you that a night of socializing is downright exhausting. My weariness was best displayed by my going into an empty living room and finding a comfortable position on a plush sofa.
Predictably, my respite was interrupted by a well-meaning brother, one of Roderick’s brothers-in-law, who wanted to know what I did. After sharing with him that I was an African-American Studies Professor who was attempting to convert my Doctoral Dissertation over the Black Panther Party into a publishable manuscript, this brother shared that he had some cousins who were members of the Black Panther Party. Of course this tidbit of information captured my attention. After a few pensive moments, he stated, “Wait a minute. Let me go and get my older brother, he would know better than me.” A few moments later, his brother Paul entered the living room and shared the following.
They weren’t Black Panthers. They were accused of killing two Black Panthers on the UCLA campus but they didn’t do it.
I listened intently to an all too familiar story that I’d heard innumerable times from Panther members involved with the Los Angeles Branch of the Panther Party.
Although I hated to interject, I interrupted Paul as he fleshed out the story in unbelievable detail. My question was a simple one.
“You’re talking about George and Larry Stiner.”
He responded with a nod of his head. His acknowledgment forced me to ask the simplest of questions for my personal sanity.
“What is your name!!!!!!”
His response was, “Paul Stiner.”
I listened intently to this new perspective on a story that I’d heard countless times from Panthers ranging from Elaine Brown to Bobby Seale. However, this version was a welcomed expansion that included unknown details.
According to Mr. Stiner, FBI Agents questioned his entire family regarding the incident and the shocking revelation that George and Larry Stiner, although convicted for the killing of Alprentice “Bunchy” Carter and John Huggins, never spent a night inside of a prison cell. In fact, according to the Stiner family, the parents of the convicted “killers” were allowed to stay with them inside of the correctional facility until the night that they “escaped” to South America. According to the Stiner family, the escape story was a fabrication by the U.S. Government.
Of course, my mind was blown by these new revelations that confirmed not only the underhanded tactics of the Counter Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO) but more importantly, it verified the need to listen to those living treasures who lived through history that persons such as myself will only read about.
The existence of persons such as Timothy Hayes and the entire Stiner family is a blessing that is, unfortunately, expiring as each of us are. It is important that we engage and listen to the wisdom that flows from those who came before us and are still able to share healthy slices of advice hewn from decades of participating in the struggle to uplift not only Black America but also those persons around the globe interested in the substantiation of humanity.
So, I take this brief moment to acknowledge persons such as Timothy Hayes, Roderick Hughes, and Paul Stiner for their graciousness to expand my understanding of a history that occurred prior to my arrival on this planet. I respect you and honor you with every thought that I write.
Dr. James Thomas Jones III
© Manhood, Race, and Culture, 2020.