February 18,1992
Cover Story
Blacks Need To Learn Powe
Despite the Death and Sacrifices of the Past, African-An
By Charles McNair
Guest Columnist
"A slave who dies of natural
causes will not balance two dead
flies on the scale of eternity."
-Eldridge Cleaver, Black
Panther Party for Defense
Brothers and Sisters, I want to
share something with you.
Hopefully, my comments will
arouse some internal revolutionary
ethos that will compel you to become
activists in the true sense of the
word. I have been here for almost
four years now and regrettably, I
have not been involved in much of
the campus politics that affect our
lives everyday. 1 want to present to
you what 1 have seen and have
come to know what we, black
students at UNC, need.
Blacks have to stop being the
objects of American politics. We
need to be the subjects as well. We
need to be involved in the decision
making that affects our lives. This
is self-determination. The days of
waiting on a white liberal to
represent our views and interests in
government, to lobby for the legal
recognition of our civil rights and
to speak for us are long gone. Having
someone to constantly do these
things for you creates a detrimental
feeling of paternalism in both the
colonialized and the colonializer.
Today, the rising feeling of
conservatives is that “the blacks
have been helped long enough. They
should be able to stand on their own
two feet now; they have achieved
equality." I need not comment on
the statement of equality but I will
say this—we will stand on our own
two feet in spite of your constantly
kicking our feet from under us; and
when we cto...
A part of standing on our own
two feet is solidarity in voting. In
order to cast votes of unity, though,
the community’s individuals have
to vote. Sad to say, there is not
enough voter turnout from the black
community, especially on this
campus, for political optimization.
Reasons for not voting range from
scheduling conflicts to sickness to
apathy. In those cases where it is
impossible or proves an incredible
hardship to cast a ballot, it is
understandable. But when the
reason for not voting is general
apathy and, “1 don’t get into things
like that,” it is inexcusable.
Wake up my people! We live in
a democratic society where you
McNair
elect, by popular vote, the people
who represent vour interests. During
Reconstruction, southern blacks
flocked to the polls and elected
numerous blacks to office. They
cherished the right to vote because
it was withheld from them all of
their lives and they knew the
potential it held for improving their
lives. After Reconstruction and with
the advent of the Compromise of
1877, some blacks were lynched,
burned, and even chopped to pieces
for attempting to exercise the right
which we have today taken for
granted. The hunger for freedom
and justice led thousands upon
hundreds of thousands of blacks to
live in fear, to suffer deaths of loved
ones, to go homeless after their
house had been burned to the
ground, and to spend sleepless nights
watching for KKK raids. These
conditions contributed to young
black boys and girls growing up
believing that they were second-
classcitizens. Allof this was brought
about by white supremacists
reacting to black people’s cry for
enfranchisementand white liberals’
silence.
Today, it seems as if that
hunger to vote has turned into
indigestion. True, voting is a right
and we have the option whether to
exercise that right. This is a
conceded fact and is not disputed.
What I am saying is that every time
eligible black people do not cast
ballots, they do two things: l.)They
sends a message to conservative
whites that black people (notice that
even though voting is
an individual right it is
normally viewed in
terms of a group
phenomena) don’t
want to vote, are lazy
and apathetic, and want
someone white to
speak for them. To
these conservatives,
blacks appear to be
waiting for a
handout—to be the
object, rather than the
subject of legislation;
and 2.) They not only
spit on the countless
graves of those who
died trying to cast a
vote but also on the
thousands of black soldiers who
died fighting American wars under
the false assumption that fighting
for Uncle Sam and human rights for
others would insure their rights in
America, one of which is the right
to vote. A sad commentary on their
hopeful
disillusionment
is that many
black soldiers
were killed by
racists on their
return from
foreign theaters
of World War
I...while still
wearing their
uniforms!
Brothers and
Sisters, we must
exercise our
voting rights
because the old
adage is true, “If
you don’t use it,
you’ll lose it.”
I am not
writing to
condemn anyone or to point the
finger because all of us are guilty,
myself included. The time for
pointing fingers has passed. It is
now time for reassessing our
strengths and weaknesses,
organizing ourselves, and putting
into effect the power of the ballot.
We already have a sense of
community (which must be
strengthened) and implementing the
plan of effective bloc voting will
put us on the track to what Stokely
Carmichael and Charles V.
Hamilton call Black Power.
I should not have to define it but
nevertheless, there are those who
do not know what Black Power
means. Black Power and being pro
black does not mean being anti
white. It is not an eithei^r maxim.
It is simply being proud of your
African heritage, and wanting what
is best for your people, who are
African Americans. Everyone wants
what is best for his or her people,
even white people. Anyone who
does not want the best for his or her
people is a disgrace and a tumor to
that people. If you want what is best
for your people then that implies a
pride in your heritage because you
obviously feel that the community
is worth your time and resources,
i.e. you did not sell out and choose
to adopt someone else’s culture.
As stated earlier, being pro
black and pro-Black Power does
not mean being anti-white.
Diametrically opposing black and
Pife alreacfy have a sense of
community (which must be
strengthened) f and
iiqplementing the plan of
hloc voting will put us an the
track to K*at Stokely
Carmichael and Charles V.
Hamilton call Black Power.
white is a distinct Western and
Eurocentric idea which does not
apply to Black Power and pro-black
advocates. Blacks recognize the
plurality of America but we do not
want to melt and assimilate into
something we are not. To give up i
your identity for someone else’s is
to conccde that their identity is
supCTiw to yours. Pro-black thinkers
do not believe that their identity is
inferior, therefore they do not want
to assimilate. Maybe this is what
really upsets white supremacists.
Assimilation is a myth created,
perpetuated, and embossed on the
minds of some blacks by southern
whites terrified that all black men
wanted iheir women. These nnen
consequently developed, as Public
Enemy put it, a ‘Tear of A Black
Planet”
Some whites need to get it
through their skulls that it is not
reverse racism when blacks form
organizations that happen to be all
black or have some term denoting
their African heritage in it. These
structures were and are built because
black’s concerns and needs are not
being addressed in white structures.
More than likely, the membership
is open to anyone but it is whites’
unwillingness to join that keeps it
all-black. Why are they unwilling
to join? It is because they feel that
joining anything that is black-
oriented would be admitting the
inferiority and moral bankruptcy of
their own
system, and they
just cannot do
that Do you see
now where
blacks are
coming from
Mr. “reverse
racism?” We
have been told
from the time
that we were
bom that black
is wrong and
inferior. These
structures are
nurturing cells
used ^0
reeducate the
African-
American to the
fact that he is
not inferior.
There doesn’t need to be the term
“Eurocentric” on an established
structure such as the Rotary Club
because it is Eurocentric almost by
default An (rften used excuse used
by whites for not joining