BlackLabourWhiteWealth Part1

Part 1
BLACK LABOR,
WHITE WEALTH
The Search for Power
and
Economic Justice
Claud Anderson, Ed.D.
PowerNomics Corporation of America

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a publication of
Publishers
Copyright August 1994 by Claud Anderson, Ed.D.
We gratefully acknowledge permission to reprint the following: Quotes from

1Wo Nations: Black and White, Separate, Hostlle, Unequal by Andrew Hacker
1992, Charles Scribner's Sons; Quotes from Pf.ura1 But Equal by Harold
Curse 1987, Quill - William Morrow; Quotes from The Politics of Black
Empowerment by James Jennings 1992, Wayne State University Press;
Quote from Effects of Black on Blacks' Perceptions of Relative Power and
Social Distance by Arthur S. Evans and Michael W. Giles 1986, Journal of
Black Studies; Quote from The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual: A Historical
Analysis of the Failure of Black Leadership by Harold Cruse 1984, Quill
Books; Quote from A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn
1990, Harper Perennial; Quote regarding Clarence Thomas from The
Washington Post by Jack Anderson 1994, The Washington Post; Quote from
Toward a Theory of Black Politics: The Black and Ethnic Models Revisited by
Leslie McLemore 1972, Journal of Black Studies; Quote from Black Men:
Obsolete, Single, Dangerous? by Haki R Madhubuti 1990, Third World
Press:
(continued on last page of book)
All rights reserved.

Publishers
P.O. Box 30536
Bethesda, Maryland 20814
301-564-6075
Edited by: Edward D. Sargent and Reginald B. Scott, Jr.
Anderson, Claud
Black Labor, White Wealth
1. African-American history 2. American history 3. Slavery 4. Blacks,
economic empowerment of 5. Race relations, economic aspects of
6.Race relations, political aspects of 7. Wealth, formation of in
America
ISBN 10: 0-9661702-1-0 ISBN 13: 978-0-9661702-1-4
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or trans-

mitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage
and retrieval system, without the permission in writing from the
Publisher.
Dedication
For My Youngest Brother, John Wesley,

Who I Love With All My Being.
I Will Always Keep In My Heart His Laughter,
Creative Spirit, Warmth and Caring Ways.
Acknowledgments
I must give special acknowledgment to my wife, Joann and my children

Paige and Brant, for their inspiration, advice and unwavering support.
I am also grateful to the many friends who encouraged me to write a book of
this nature and supported my effort. They willingly and unwillingly engaged
in endless discussions to help me analyze the complex racial issues that I
explore in this book.
I must also recognize and acknowledge the family in which I grew up for its
support and encouragement: my mother, Essie and my brothers and sisters,
James, Charles, Wesley, Bessie and Cleopatra.
For their reviews, critiques and practical suggestions, I am indebted to Hugh
Wells, Dr. Alfred Cooke, Dr. James B. Christensen, Dr. Noelle Clark, Miguel
Lawson, Dr. Hattie Washington, Celeste James and Karen James Cody.
3
Contents
Foreword 4
Introduction 5
1 The Nature of the Problem 8
2 Power and Black Progress 28
3 Impediments to Empowerment and Economic Justice 45
4 Why Whites Chose to Enslave Blacks 65
5 Why Blacks Cannot Emulate Ethnic Immigrants 86
6 White Bridges to Wealth and Power 107
7 A National Public Policy on Black People 154
8 Becoming Politically and
Economically Competitive in America 173
9 Cultural Foundations for Economic Power:
Black Artists and Athletes 207
Epilogue 220
Appendix 223
References and Notes 230
Index 241
4
Foreword
I tis not often that people of Dr. Claud Anderson's stature will take the
risk of stepping out from the pack. However, his book Black Labor,
White Wealth, breaks away from the pack. Dr. Anderson has written in a
straight forward manner about the sensitive issues of race and ethnicity in
America.
Many blacks and far too many whites still believe that blacks contributed
little or nothing to the creation of wealth and power in this country. Dr. Ander-
son forcefully proves the contrary. Of course, there are many people who
have heard of the cotton gin or blood plasma (as though these were the only
important creations of blacks), but few people of the world know of the his-
toric economic and monetary contributions of black folk. Black Labor, White
Wealth shows how the labor of black men and women from days of slavery to
the present helped to lay the wealth building foundation for this country.
One would think that such a feat would be enough for one book, but Dr.
Anderson didn't stop there. He was bold enough to ask and then answer the
$64,000 question: Since blacks originated from one of the oldest civilizations,
why are blacks still so far behind economically as compared to whites and
other immigrants? Again, Dr. Anderson reveals startling information! His ex-
amination of the methods whites used (and still use) to gain wealth and power
provides examples of ways that blacks can adopt to build bases of wealth and
power throughout the country. This book is provocative and powerful!
Tony Brown
Tony Browns Journal
5
Introduction
R acism against black people has been a virulent undercurrent in our

society for hundreds of years. In various forms, it insinuates itself
into all aspects of our lives. Yet, it is not an acceptable topic for discussion
anywhere, neither the conference room nor the living room, especially across
racial lines. It is as if we believe that if we ignore the facts of racism, they will
not exist. That is not the reality. It is time for a serious dialogue and a change
in black strategies.
Neither the dialogue nor the strategies can be emotional or superficial. In-
stead, they must be based on facts and knowledge and considered for the
purpose of understanding, not just the symptoms that we see all around us,,
but also how things came to be as they are and how as blacks we can reverse
our misfortunes and strengthen ourselves as a racial group.
It is critical that we strengthen our group, because while as individuals
some of us may hold high-ranking positions in corporate America, govern-
ment agencies and our own businesses, and some of us may reside far from
the scenes of black despair, all blacks are identifiable members of one racial
group. Furthermore, as a racial group, we are powerless, impoverished and
increasingly unable to compete in America. And whether they intend to or not,
those outside of our group see us as one group.
The predominantly marginal living conditions of black America did not
happen by accident. They resulted from much forethought and planning by
whites. European whites who came to this country in 1607 were the first
power group in America. They wielded power in a manner that is natural to
6 Black Labor, White Wealth
the human race. They had a chance to start a new government in a country
filled with resources and potential for wealth. They seized a unique opportu-
nity to structure a government and a system to their sole advantage. To secure
their advantage and increase their power, they subordinated and exploited
another race of people - blacks.
The purpose of this book is to illuminate and examine the strategies and
techniques that were used by whites to accomplish their goal of solidifying
power and privilege. Once black Americans understand the strategies and
techniques that whites used to build their power, they can use those same tools
to build black empowerment.
The history of slavery and the struggles for equality serve as a guide for the
future. While the dire conditions of black Americans can be traced back to
measures that colonial governments used against blacks, it does not end there.
We have further handicapped ourselves by some of our own beliefs and be-
haviors. Our dogged pursuit of integration is one example. In so doing, we
have destroyed our communities, diluted our numerical strength and become
dependent upon others. We have been further handicapped by our inability to
practice group economics in a capitalistic democracy.
We have always been a key capitalistic element in the national empower-
ment plans of others - as a source of free or cheap labor. Yet, we have never
had a national empowerment plan of our own. We have never used our collec-
tive intellectual resources to create a national plan with explicit policies and
strategies for our own economic and political gain. Black Labor, White Wealth
provides useful information and a conceptual framework to stimulate thought,
discussion and planning toward that end.
Chapter One describes and analyzes the present day conditions of black
America and establishes links with the antebellum condition of slaves. Chap-
ter Two discusses concepts of power and focuses on the ways groups acquire
and institutionalize power. Chapter Three describes the social and economic
impediments to black empowerment, including certain behavior patterns and
ideological beliefs that diffuse and weaken our sense of direction and unity.
Chapters Four and Five explain why blacks were selected for enslavement
and why we cannot change our conditions by emulating Asians, Hispanics or
other ethnic and racial groups that immigrated into this country.
Chapter Six tracks the nature and development of black-white relation-
ships in connection with the wealth-building process. Using comparative tables,
\
charts, illustrations, drawings and visual timelines, this chapter covers five
Introduction 7
centuries of social practices and devices that created wealth and power imbal-
ances between blacks and whites. Chapter Seven explains the national public
policy that has guided institutions in their manipulative use of blacks. The
conditioning and supportive systems for controlling and keeping blacks a pow-
erless minority are also discussed.
Chapter Eight explains why certain major problems will converge within
the next generation to make blacks a permanent underclass, unless black
Americans take immediate preventive actions to avoid this catastrophe. To
that end, Chapter Eight offers practical courses of action that blacks can take
to achieve community cohesiveness, change detrimental social-psychological
behavior patterns and to develop a new type ofleadership that will help black
America develop itself into a competitive group in a rapidly developing plu-
ralistic society.
Finally, Chapter Nine describes the concept of building vertical businesses
or structuring a system of businesses around an area of black dominance,
such as the music industry. This chapter also includes discussion of sports,
another area where blacks have a strong dominance, which, if properly lever-
aged, could create vertical business opportunities.
Some readers may think this book is too pessimistic, because it doesn't pay
homage to the positive aspects of black-white relationships. Others may ques-
tion a book on black history that does not highlight the individual successes of
black people. But such black achievements have been recognized and dis-
cussed by many other writers. This book breaks new ground by offering a
hard and honest look at how to best resolve a 400-year-old problem that black
and white, conservatives and liberals would like to wish away or bury beneath
debates on less complex issues, such as abortion, sexual harassment, or a
balanced budget amendment. Black Labor, White Wealth is written to re-
engage the reader emotionally and intellectually in the profoundly unresolved
black/white race issue.
The purpose of this book is not to criticize any group of people, but to
analyze history and propose a reasonable solution. All too frequently, blacks
are admonished to forget slavery. But to do so would be foolhardy especially
at this time, because the major problems facing black America are rooted in
slavery. Thus, we must squarely face that tragedy and learn from it, lest we be
doomed to be shackled by it forever.
Dr. Claud Anderson

1
The Nature of the Problem
"It isn 't that they can 't see the solution.
It is that they can't see the problem. "1
T he Los Angeles, California riot had subsided, but the acrid smell
of burned wood and tar still hung heavy in the early morning
air. A local television reporter scanned the crowd and spotted a familiar
black community activist standing by a burned-out grocery store. Sens-
ing a good sound bite, the reporter asked for an interview. The bright
lights came on and the reporter began:
Three decades after the Civil Rights Movement transformed the nation,
why is the black community dissatisfied? Why have they rioted and de-
stroyed their own neighborhood? What is the problem?"
The activist cocked his head and in a voice mixed with anger and indig-
nation, responded, "Surely, the gains of the Civil Rights Movement in the
'60s were important, but they turned out to be superficial and largely
symbolic. We can sit at lunch counters and vote, but economically, civil
rights gains took more from us than they gave. Some blacks got impor-_
tant big-paying jobs in white businesses or government. Sure, we have
our Colin Powells and Oprahs, but the black masses were left behind. So,
The Nature of the Problem 9
rL you see, integration came at the expense of the black community. Now
things are worse than ever.
We have more killings and crime, more school dropouts and drug users.
Integration killed our communities. We have no black economic structure
to solve the problems of our community. Our black churches and families
are weak and struggling. We have yet to gain control of our communities
and our destinies. The Vietnamese, Koreans, Indians, Iranians and Mexi-
cans are putting up profitable businesses in our neighborhoods. And we
are still hopelessly vulnerable to every danger - from police brutality to
violence and poverty. The next time we go to the Supreme Court, instead
i
of integration, maybe we should seek 'separate but equal."'
The white newscaster forced a smile and said, "But, with all the civil
rights laws and blacks who have been elected to public office, surely things
are better for blacks. What happened to the dream that Dr. King spoke of
so eloquently more than 20 years ago?"
Exasperated, the activist shook his head and walked away. At home he
waited for his interview to appear on the evening news. He had tried to
explain the causes of black peoples' pain, confusion, disappointment and
anger. He cursed himself for not talking about black peoples' tiredness.
How tired they were of being the world's underdog. Even so, he hoped the
world would be watching and listening. As the riot coverage aired on
television, he saw close-up shots of the faces of distressed blacks. Loot-
ers scrambled in the background. He heard an elected official saying now
was the time for healing and a coming together among blacks and whites.
f He watched, but his interview never aired. The words of the reporter played
again and again in his head, "Surely things are better for blacks."
As the black activist pushed the off button on his television set, a chip-

per weatherman concluded the news, saying, "Sunny skies tomorrow."
The Problem and Its Root

The newscaster's assumption is shared by millions of Americans. We
ask each other what has gone wrong in the black community? What's
wrong with blacks? Why can't they act like other ethnic or racial groups
in America? Talk shows seek the answers from leading black personali-
ties, who, when asked about the problems of black America, mouth well-
worn platitudes. Perhaps they are fearful of raising the ire of mainstream
America or perhaps they are simply naive.
Nevertheless, the solutions these blacks urge address only the symp-
toms aftlicting black America, not the causes. The root of the problem
within black America is not teenage pregnancy, drugs, the decline in fam-
ily values, anger, rap music, unemployment or even the epidemic of vio-
lent crime. These are only symptoms of the deeper problem.
The root problem in black communities across America is race and the
unjust distribution of our nation's wealth, power and resources. One race,
)I the descendents of white Europeans, seemingly has checkmated blacks'
I efforts to improve themselves. Whites live in privileged conditions, with
nearly 100 percent ownership and control of the nation's wealth, power,
businesses and all levels of government support and resources. White so-
ciety has a monopoly of ownership and control.
This monopoly of control resulted directly from centuries of abusive
exploitation and expropriation of the labor of a darker race, black Ameri-
cans of African descent. Though black Americans reside in the richest
nation on earth, their standard of living is comparable to that of a Third,
World nation. Blacks own and control less than two percent of the wealth,
power and resources of the nation, so they have little control over their
lives and the conditions in which they are forced to live.
Both the disparity between white and black living conditions and ineq-
uitable allocation of resources are centuries-old problems. They are a
major legacy of the "peculiar institution" called slavery. It was that social
system that a white patriarchal society consigned blacks to live in the
most inhumane conditions, doing the harshest labor, without just com-
pensation. The dominant white society felt that by stripping the black
slave of his humanity, all of his worldly possessions, his personal free-
,... dom, and keeping him hopeless that blacks would be forever non-com-
petitive and powerless. Needless to say, the dominant society's experi-
ment in social engineering worked.
The living conditions of a people, enslaved or free, tend to reflect their
status and power within the larger society. Conditions in black America
are no more or less than what was planned for them centuries ago. Solomon
Northrup, a free black who was kidnapped into slavery, but later escaped,
described the living standards of slaves in 1841 as befitting beasts of the
field. He wrote about extraordinarily dehumanizing conditions that stripped
slaves of their individuality, their labor and often their lives.
Slaves lived in dilapidated, damp, dark cabins, and their worldly pos-
sessions consisted of a few rags. A small board and a stick of wood,
served as their beds and pillows. There were no physical, financial, nor
psychological comforts for them, and worst of all, slaves were intention-
ally kept without hope. A slave's life was committed to producing wealth
and comfort for white masters. 2 The slaves suffered in silence, but rou-
tinely asked in their prayers and work songs, "When will life get better
for us, Lord?" Their descendants collectively still await an answer.
Legal and extra-legal measures were taken to keep both the free blacks,
like the slaves, in a dependent state and excluded from enjoying the fruits
of a nation that their labor was building. Free blacks were forced to sur-
vive or perish off of the marginal resources that extended into their com-
munities. One of the first lessons that free blacks learned was that with-
out money and power, freedom for a black-skinned person was freedom in
theory only. They were still bound by their conditions and non-white skin
color. The larger society kept them bound by making black skin color a
badge of inferiority and degradation. Blacks who escaped the plantations .,
were not permitted to escape the boundaries of their own flesh. In reality,
the socioeconomic conditions for blacks outside of slavery were only
slightly better than those within the slavery system.
Being free for a black person meant being quasi-free. A black was free
as long as he could prove he was free. And even then he had only a mar-
ginally greater choice concerning how he lived compared to his enslaved
brethren. In 1841, while Solomon Northrup lamented the terrible condi-.
tions of more than four million black slaves, approximately 386,290 quasi-
free blacks throughout the North were being subjected to "Jim Crow"
practices, a multiplicity of local ordinances and social sanctions that pro-
hibited them from sharing fully in an affluent American society. They
were forced to survive in poverty and social decay. In the shadows of the
American dream, blacks' freedom was little more than a cruel and sadis-
tic joke.
Local ordinances and social sanctions in the North and South restricted
free blacks from earning competitive incomes (See the Appendix). Their
labor was sold for just barely above the cost of slave labor. Without suf-
ficient income, few were able to secure decent food, health care, or hous-
ing. They remained legally free but sought safe havens in large urban
areas in the North, such as Philadelphia, Cincinnati, and Boston. The free
black populations in and around these or any other large cities rarely
exceeded two percent of the total population. These blacks lived off low
quality food and had few worldly possessions.
According to Leonard P. Curry, author of The Free Black in Urban
America, 1800-1850, more than a third of the black population in cities
like Boston lived in blind alleys, cellars and lofts. Their poor and unsani-
tary living conditions created rampant health problems and shortened their
life spans. Curry further stated that in 1855 Boston's City Register, Dr.
Josiah Curtis found that the death rate among blacks was 99 times higher
than whites' .3 Today, 150 years later, the mortality gap between whites
and blacks has narrowed only a little. Social pathology and inferior living
conditions, not genetics, continue to control the life expectancy of blacks.
In the mid-1800s the living conditions for free blacks were so desperate
that nearly 50 percent had no choice but to seek some form of public
welfare. In order to survive, large numbers of blacks publicly acknowl-
edged that they were in a helpless state and were incapable of feeding,
protecting, sheltering and educating themselves and their children. Many
black families became so desperate that they voluntarily re-entered sla-
very to survive. Others turned to public charity.
But nearly every black who sought some form of public relief was re-
fused. They were chastised for being uneducated and were called lazy and
irresponsible for bearing children that they could not support. Curry indi-
cates that in Cincinnati, a typical northern urban area, out of 3,269 cases
in which the city granted relief to the needy only 10 recipients were black.
And the assistance offered these fortunate black recipients was only for
their own burial expenses.
Public assistance tended to be distributed to whites only, including able-
bodied male immigrants, while aid was denied to black widows with small
children. 4 With the exception of a small number of abolitionists, domi-
nant society was indifferent to the living conditions of free blacks. Rather
than blaming white racism and slavery, white society blamed blacks for
their conditions, even though the conditions were not unique to Cincinnati
or Boston.
Similar horrendous conditions existed throughout the North and even-
tually gave rise to what became urban black ghettos that symbolized the
conditions of blacks. The Emancipation Proclamation and subsequent
Constitutional Amendments legally freed all blacks and granted them citi-
zenship, but without social and economic resources these newly granted
rights amounted to little more than paper rights.
The government refused to compensate blacks for their prolonged ser-
vitude by providing them with the necessary tools and resources to transi-
tion from a dependent labor class to independent, competitive citizens.
: : . : : r themselves. They coul\d. seek public ~sistan; A

Instead of aiding blacks, whites expected and urged the newly freed slaves
QO ortJ~ ~
~ <:) c/I \'<\ eie.V'I\- ''v\. '::)

Since free blacks could not find work, were denied public assistance
and often could not leave the country, they had no choice but to accept
what the dominant society offered them: sharecropping, which was only
but another form of servitude controlled by white plantation owners.
No Light at the End of the Tunnel

One hundred and thirty years after slavery, American society has be-
come more pluralistic and competitive, but blacks' marginal conditions
remain relatively unchanged. In some respects, they have worsened. The
socioeconomic inequalities that existed between whites and blacks during
and shortly after slavery are now structural.
For example, on the eve of the Civil War, records indicated that more
than 50 percent of free blacks were paupers; all free blacks collectively
held less than one-half of one percent of the nations 's wealth, with wealth
being defined as a great quantity of money or valuable goods or resources
within both the private and public sectors. A century later, in the 1960s,
an era considered by many as "great decade of progress for blacks," more
than 55 percent of all the blacks in America were still impoverished and
below the poverty line. And, blacks barely held one percent of the nation's
wealth. According to the 1990 Census, approximately 40 percent of all
black families are receiving public assistance and the number is increas-
ing, with more than 56 percent of all black female-headed households
beneath the poverty level.
Black unemployment has not significantly improved, in comparative
terms, over the last century. According to Curry, an historian, black un-
employment exceeded 40 percent in the 1850s. The National Urban
League's (NUL) 1992 State of Black America Report differed with the
U.S. government figures indicating that the hidden and true unemploy-
ment rate is approximately 28 percent for black adults and nearly 55 per-
cent for black youth.
The NUL's discomfort index further indicated that black unemploy-
ment worsened between 1960 and 1990, while economic conditions for
white society improved. Blacks' lack of progress was reflected in the fact
that blacks earned 5 3 percent of what whites earned in 1948. In the 1990s,
after nearly 50 years of civil rights activities and affirmative action pro-
grams, blacks earn 59 percent of what whites earn. Further, the 1990
Census indicated that black per capita net worth is $9,359 versus $44,980
for whites. s
Like their ancestors, blacks today have the same set of options. And
they still lack employment opportunities in public jobs or black businesses,
because most white businesses are inaccessibly in the suburbs. They still
are denied or expunged from public assistance rolls. And they have yet to
learn how to disappear. Many blacks have turned to crime. They are there-
fore criminalized in order to seek sustenance and wealth. And, just as in
the previous centuries, blacks continue to be disproportionately repre-
sented in the prison system.
Curry indicated that in 1850, for example, blacks constituted 60 per-
cent of all persons incarcerated in Maryland and half of them were under
16 years of age. During the same time period, in the states of New York,
New Jersey and Pennsylvania, blacks made up more than 50 percent of.
the prison populations. Today's prison rolls show similar percentages of
blacks. Approximately 38 percent of all black males in America are ei-
ther in prison, on parole or probation. Still, they are luckier than many of
their counterparts, who annually fall victim to the homicide crisis, which
each year claims more lives than the total number of American soldiers
killed in either the Korean or Vietnam Wars.
In the final analysis, black America remains trapped in a dire dilemma.
Some organizations have tried to call the nation's attention to the plight
of blacks. In 1990, a five-year report by the National Research Council
(NRC), a Washington-based research organization, indicated that the in-
finitesimal social and economic gains that blacks made during the 1950s
and 1960s largely ended in the 1970s. The Washington Post, in June 1990
summarized the study reporting: "There has been no significant black
progress for the last 20 years and a great socioeconomic gulf now sepa-
rates blacks from European and other ethnic groups in America." Unfor-
tunately, the NRC study received little media coverage or public response,
even from black civil rights organizations.
Most blacks are concerned about what is happening in their communi-
ties and to their race, even if the media and the power structure are not.
'
~-
They actively participate in the political process and complain to their
elected representatives about the worsening conditions, but the political
system seems unable to stimulate change. Harold Cruse, a black histo-
rian, believes that among those who do care about the black problem,
"Nothing is being done, because no one knows what to do about it. " 6
Considering the magnitude of black America's impoverished and pow-
erless state, Cruse is probably right. But, why is it that society does not
know what to do? Is it that the leaders of this society lack the knowledge
or resources to solve the problems of black America? Or is it that they

lack the incentive and commitment to create viable means for blacks to
empower themselves as a group? Why should this nation's leaders do
something to address the fundamental problems affecting blacks? The
answer is simple. The United States' superiority among the industrial and
agricultural world powers was achieved because of the exploitation of
blacks. This exploitation established and now maintains a privileged ra-
cial class whose wealth and power explains and legitimizes the system's
inequalities. Wealthy, conservative whites control both public and private
sector resources and tools that have kept blacks impoverished and power-
less in a racially competitive society.
Conservative Forces: The Bane of Black Society

Conservative social forces are the protectors of the status quo and the
"good ole days." After using government to amass wealth, power and
resources, conservative white power structures have long espoused
sociopolitical policies that reflect their "pull up the gangplank" mental-
ity. Powerful white conservatives profess commitment to capitalism and
insist that wealth stays in the hands of the private, wealthy class, which
has most benefited from the inequalities in the system. 7 They rigidly op-
pose any societal changes regarding race and resources. This places them
in direct opposition to and in conflict with blacks.
Conservatism, of course, comes from the root word to conserve or hold
on to what one has. In essence, the conservative attitude towards blacks
is, "If you do not have it, we are not going to let you get it." When consid-
ering what should be done for black people, conservatives have espoused
a role and solution for blacks that has not changed an iota since the coun-
try was founded. Conservatives believe in a natural ordering of human
beings and have always preferred that blacks play a servile role in soci-
ety.
In many ways, white liberal policies have been as injurious to blacks as
those of conservatives. Neither the liberals nor the conservatives have
offered any programs or resources for improving the overall socioeco-
nomic condition of blacks. While conservatives have consistently sought
to sink blacks' ship, liberals have simply rearranged the deck chairs on
the sinking ship, so that blacks would be more comfortable.
Conservatives and liberals have historically approached black issues
differently. Compared to ambiguous liberal approaches, conservatism is
typically straightforward concerning the issue of race. It is not difficult to

uncover conservative intentions in programs and public policies. Conser-
vatives boldly proclaim that their positions reflect the sentiments of main-
stream society as well as the principles of the first European settlers, who
established a self-serving system that made it easy for them to horde wealth
and power. It is this imbalance that conservatives seek to conserve. They
frequently say that blacks are poor because they have unacceptable atti-
tudes and behaviors and have failed to take advantage of opportunities,
because they are basically inferior human beings. 8
Over the past three decades, national opinion surveys have reported a
growing conservatism among white society. Undoubtedly, some of it is a
response to the growing uncertainty of the times. Societal clashes on such
issues as abortions, family values, immigration, taxation, gender issues
and crime have contributed to the popularity of conservatism. However,
the core issue of white conservatives springs from race. They oppose gov-
ernment policies and programs that hint at the redistribution of public
and private resources and power to benefit blacks. 9
Modem conservatism began its ascendance in the late 1960s as a white
backlash to the Civil Rights Movement, black power protests and urban
riots. The demands of the black protests for improved living conditions
through more wealth, power and community control shocked and fright-
ened white society, which responded as it frequently does in times of civil
turmoil and uncertainty. The privileged class appealed to conservatism to
reassert the supremacy of white authority and its exclusive claim to power
and wealth.
Breeding Black Conservatism

Black conservatism is as old as black enslavement. But three decades
of popular white conservatism, coupled with the social and economic dev-
astation of black America, has attracted an increasing number of blacks
to the conservative political movement. Black conservatives represent a
potential danger to their race because of their alignment with white con-
servatives, who have always been anti-black. When black-white conser-
vative alignments occur, black conservatives become a liability to blacks
and an asset to whites.
By mouthing the social and economic views of white conservatives,
black conservatives convert confusion of their personal racial identity to
a confusion in the minds of black people about the real issue facing them.
Black conservatives operate under misleading colors. As an old farmer

said, "They run with the hounds while pretending friendship and brother-
hood with the rabbits." The confusion caused by their schizophrenic be-
havior provides a public cover for anti-black attitudes and activities and
makes them appear as nothing more than white racists in black face min-
strel makeup.
Becoming a conservative has historically provided personal rewards to
individual blacks, with few down sides, because of the powerlessness of
the black community to hold accountable those members who tum against
it. Blacks found that it was not difficult to establish beneficial relations
with whites once they accepted a subordinate position and committed them-
selves to placing the welfare of the white class first. Once that was agreed
upon, tacitly or otherwise, blacks were then entitled to various forms of
paternalistic protection, Christian charity, and meritorious recognition.
White conservatives then conferred special status and recognition to con-
servative blacks as exceptional or acceptable.
Accordingly, black conservatives who place their personal advance-
ment above the welfare of their race often gain significant personal and
financial benefits, recognition and access to power. They are anointed by
whites as "leaders" and touted as role models. In political and social situ-
ations, a black conservative is closely akin to Sambo in Harriet Beecher
Stowe's Uncle Toms Cabin. In an historical context, a Sambo was black
America's worst nightmare. The stereotypical Sambo was more than a
minstrel man, a buffoon, and a plantation "darkie." Sambo represented
the extraordinary success of social control, which was the ultimate goal
of a slavery conditioning process that transplanted a white mindset into a
black personality. 10
The Symbolic Betrayal of the Black Race

The term Uncle Tom is not an appropriate label for an individual who
is "white on the inside and black on the outside" and sells out his race by
placing his personal gains with whites ahead of the rights and gains of his
people. Contrary to popular usage of the label, the character Uncle Tom
was not the culprit in Uncle Tom s Cabin. Uncle Tom was a brave man
with dignity who cared about his family and race. The real villain was
another black slave named Sambo. He was totally committed to the white
master and used every opportunity to undermine the other slaves.
Sambo, in many respects, was like today's black conservatives. Sambo
always followed the white slave master, Simon Legree, and offered to
show him how to "tree the coons." It was Sambo who beat Uncle Tom to
death both for refusing to whip a black female slave or sell out his people.
Uncle Tom tried to empower his people by understanding and beating the
social and political structure wherever he could. Uncle Tom felt it was
important to get his people across the river to freedom. He risked his life
to do so. 11
The Sambo character personified a very successful social control cre-
ated by conservatives. He was such a successful phenomenon that the
concept he personified became a greater danger to blacks than Uncle Tom.
As blacks move towards structuring policies of racial accountability, it
will be very important for them to know who helps and who hurts the
race.
Sambo was the black slave character in numerous novels and movies
who was willing to pick up a weapon and defend his white master against
the approaching Union army or hide the master's silver from Northern
carpetbaggers. What is the difference between the fictional Sambo char-
acters and today's real-life blacks who join the conservative movement to
argue against affirmative action, black reparations and set-asides? They
declare that the world is now color blind and are opposed to any policies
requiring whites to share the socioeconomic burden that centuries of sla-
very and second-class citizenship have imposed on blacks.
Isn't espousing a color blind, race-neutral, melting pot society, a mod-
em way of hiding the master's silver? What are black conservatives con-
serving when black America is burdened by poverty, crime, unemploy-
ment, homelessness and other social pathologies?
Based upon historical treatment alone there should be a general an-
tagonism between blacks and conservatives. Though conservatives claim
that they are not racist, for centuries they have opposed programs and
policies to help blacks. Andrew Hacker, a white writer, provided insight
on this in his book, Two Nations: Black and White, Separate, Hostile,
Unequal. Hacker asserted that: "There persists the belief that members of
the black race represent an inferior strain of the human species ... Of
course, the belief is seldom voiced in public. Most whites who call them-
selves conservatives hold this view about blacks and proclaim it when
they are sure of their company." 12 Since white conservatives share their
true feelings only in the privacy of other whites, there is a strong possibil-
ity that black conservatives do not know how white conservatives truly
feel about them.
The Black-Jewish Alliance

It is often a conclusion of "popular history" that blacks and Jews have
always shared a strong alliance. However, in their struggles to escape
bondage and second-class citizenship, blacks have had few temporary
and no permanent allies. At various times, abolitionists, liberals and indi-
vidual Jews have provided visible support to black causes and sometimes
at great personal risk and expense. They have lobbied state and federal
legislative branches of government, contributed financial resources, pro-
vided surrogate leadership and given their lives to assist blacks. But, these
contributions were made by individuals and not by Jews as a class, reli-
gious or racial body of Samaritans .13 Prior to the 20th century, there were
no known recorded public commitments of Jewish organizations to help
blacks.
Beyond their good intentions, neither the abolitionists nor individual
Jews achieved great success in helping blacks due to major philosophical
flaws in their strategies. The flaw in the abolitionists' strategy was that
they did not recognize or treat slavery as the economic issue that it was.
They made the abolishment of slavery a moral issue, which it was not. As
a moral issue, the abolitionists appealed to the conscience of slaveholders'
concerning right and wrong. These appeals did not damage the
slaveholders' profits from slavery.
By not treating slavery as an economic issue, they, perhaps unwittingly,
supported slavery and undermined their own anti-slavery arguments. They
continued to use, rather than boycott, slave-produced products, such as
cotton goods, tobacco products, table foods, alcoholic beverages, iron
products, and jewelry made from gold and silver. They could have with-
held their monies from the shoe industry, insurance and shipping compa-
nies and other businesses that directly and indirectly made their profits
from black slavery.
After Reconstruction, the efforts of individual Jews to assist blacks
were flawed, because they encouraged blacks to do something that Jews
themselves did not want to do - assimilate into the broader white cul-
ture. Jews helped blacks to secure civil and voting rights, but these legal
rights, though important in principle, gave the appearance of making blacks
self-sufficient, when in fact, these gains could not appreciably change
blacks' wealth and power base. Worse still, the socioeconomic alliance
between Jews and blacks did not emphasize blacks' learning the self-suf-
ficiency skills and strategies mastered by Jews. 14
From the beginning of the alliance in the 1900s, Jews kept their prob-
lems and blacks' problems in perspective. Jewish problems came first.
Jews did not totally identify with blacks. Jews, fleeing persecution in
Europe in the first and second decades of the 20th century entered America
just as blacks were being forced back into "separate, but equal" worlds of
Jim Crowism. The majority of Jews were poor, liberal and alone. Some
were sympathetic to black problems and allied with them against racial
bigotry.
In the 1920s and 1930s, blacks returned the favor by aligning with
Jews against religious bigotry and oppression. The alliance benefited each
group and presented a common front against some common conservative
enemies. The alliance ultimately gave blacks access to high levels of gov-
ernment and the corporate world. In return for Jewish support, blacks
gave Jews carte blanche access to every aspect of black society. Jews
established neighborhood businesses that survived strictly off of black
customers. They advised black leaders on public policy matters. Jews
also built entire industries around resources that blacks controlled or
owned, such as sports, entertainment and music.
For nearly half a century, Jews were officially endorsed as the liberal
intermediaries between white and black America. 15 The alliance began to
break down as blacks became increasingly disenchanted with their lack of
progress and stagnant socioeconomic conditions. As the social fortunes
of Jews and blacks began to diverge, the relationship became more pater-
nalistic. Black organizations, such as the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the National Urban League
as well as independent black leaders were advised to pursue social inte-
gration, upward mobility within mainstream society and civil rights.
Black leadership was convinced that once blacks had obtained integra-
tion and civil rights, the quality of life would naturally improve for all
blacks. After all, the strategy worked for the Jews. As the society began
to soften its virulent anti-Semitism of the 1940s, Jews used their new
found mobility to secure wealth and power for themselves. However, a
decade after the 1954 desegregation decision and the Civil Rights Move-
ment, not only had black America's socioeconomic dilemma not been re-
solved, it was getting worse.
Blacks outside of the traditional civil rights organizations became con-
vinced that the only way to improve the conditions of black America was
for blacks to take complete economic and political control of their com-
munities, institutions and culture. 16 Many voiced anti-white sentiments
that frightened and threatened the white establishment. Through slogans,

symbols and urban riots, black America informed the nation that, having
lost faith in the system, they had established alternative black leadership
and were committed to achieving black power.
By the mid- l 960s, religious attitudes and socioeconomic conditions had
significantly changed for Jews in America. They had become the wealthi-
est and most influential political group in the nation. They had been ac-
cepted into the dominant society, with practically unlimited mobility op-
portunities. They controlled a major share of wealth, businesses, profes-
sional and management positions, government influence and access to
institutions of higher education. Having made remarkable social and eco-
nomic achievements, Jews now had a philosophical base for becoming
more conservative. 17
The black power protests of the late 1960s moved many Jews closer to
right wing, conservative principles. Jews' increased conservatism was
reflected in their reversed attitude towards the role of government. Previ-
ously, "Jews and blacks were ... advocates for a strong governmental
role in combating discrimination, alleviating the plight of the poor and
aiding social mobility," according to Tom W. Smith. In a 1990 article
entitled, "Jewish Attitudes Towards Blacks and Race Relations," pub-
lished in the American Jewish Committee's Jewish Sociology Papers, Smith
wrote that both Jews and blacks encouraged government involvement to
improve the lives of the socially disadvantaged through progressive mea-
sures such as the New Deal policies.
From the 1930s to the 1950s, they used the legislative and court sys-
tems to pursue integration and broad intervention policies. 18 But accord-
ing to Smith's attitude survey, after blacks demanded specific govern-
mental assistance, Jews changed their minds about the role of govern-
ment. For instance, Smith reported that today: "A majority of Jews do not
favor government measures to help blacks, more government spending
for blacks or the use of busing to achieve school integration." In response
to the specific question, "Does the government have a special obligation
to improve ... [blacks'] living standards," more than 46 percent of Jews
were opposed and 26 percent were either neutral or undecided. 19
So, according to the Smith report, Jewish attitudes on the question of
the government's responsibility to assist a structurally handicapped group,
such as Jews were years ago, has now turned 180 degrees. At the start of
the 20th century, they were pro-government involvement. By mid-cen-
tury, they were opposed. Harold Cruse, in his book, Plural But Equal,
offers his explanation for Jews' turning towards conservatism and away
from blacks: "The opposition of Jewish liberalism to the threat of quotas
shows that when power enclaves are threatened, sociologically and psy-
chologically the dominant white society will instinctively oppose, limit,
and restrict ... [such changes]. In such manner are the avenues to social
and economic power effectively maintained. " 20
While some Jews opposed the vehicle of quotas and affirmative action
three decades ago, various Jewish organizations have worked to keep a
dialogue going with the black community. Others have continued to feel
alienated from blacks. Today, some Jews are upset because of the align-
ment of some members of the black community with the Nation oflslam,
which teaches that Jews have been just as oppressive and exploitive of
blacks as any other white groups. According to Smith, though there are
heated tensions between the two groups and the ties are not as strong as
they were in the early part of the 1900s, Jews have a more positive atti-
tude towards blacks than any other white group. Smith's survey further
indicated that the most conservative groups against blacks are Protes-
tants and Baptist fundamentalists. 21
Government's Conservatism Alienates Blacks

Anti-black conservatism from 1980 to 1992 severed the fragile rela-
tionship that was beginning to build between blacks and government. The
government established new priorities that reversed most of the progress
made by blacks during the 1960s. It withdrew its marginal support of
blacks for political and racial reasons, just as it did during the Recon-
struction Period following the Civil War.
President Lyndon Johnson acknowledged the social and economic ineq-
uities of black life. Through his Great Society Programs, he sought to do
what government had failed to do during Reconstruction - to relieve the
depressed conditions of black America by redistributing opportunities and
self-development tools. But again, the larger society would not tolerate it.
There was a backlash against all programs and policies that suggested
wealth and power re-distribution between whites and blacks. Conserva-
tive whites opposed public policies that mandated busing, affirmative ac-
tion, quotas, equal housing opportunities, set-asides and racial prefer-
ences.
Conservatives insisted that their actions were not racist and that they
were committed to equal opportunities for blacks. The hypocritical dif-
ference between their rhetoric and actions was similar to the old line that,
"Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die." They pro-
claimed a belief in equality and parity for blacks, but they would not
accept the measures that were needed to bring about that equality and
parity.
Richard Nixon, the presidential successor to Lyndon Johnson, rode into
the highest public office in this nation on the conservative white backlash
to black power protests in the late 1960s. Shortly after his 1968 election,
his domestic advisor, Daniel Moynihan, sent out the first signal that the
federal government was ready to use its powers to put blacks back "in
their place" by blaming them, not racism, for the breakdown of the black
family and community as well as the widespread poverty and powerless-
ness that afflicted the black community.
The conservatives' national goal was to abandon the civil rights agenda
and move towards a "color-blind" society. In 1970, Moynihan issued his
infamous "benign neglect" memorandum that announced the new public
policy on blacks. The policy behind the memorandum moved attention
away from blacks, saying: "The time may have come when the issue of
race could benefit from a period of benign neglect . . . We may need a
period in which Negro progress continues and racial rhetoric fades. " 22
Moynihan's memorandum signalled that the old government policy of
using blacks as cheap labor was ending and the new policy would declare
blacks obsolete. Alphonso Pinkney, in his book, The Myth of Black
Progress, indicated that Moynihan's memorandum encouraged the sup-
planting of blacks with other ethnic groups. Moynihan wrote that "Greater
attention to Indians, Mexican-Americans and Puerto Ricans would be
useful." The government justified supplanting blacks by promoting the
myth that "black Americans were making extraordinary progress." The
nation swallowed the myth of black progress. Meanwhile, real change in
black America's condition never even got off the ground. 23
Most black Americans did not agree with Moynihan's assessment that
blacks had created their social ills through self-inflicted pathologies. And
blacks didn't accept the government's claim that they were making ex-
traordinary social and economic progress. "Making progress compared
to what and whom?" they asked.
History has taught blacks that they, not the powerful social and eco-
nomic system, are always blamed for their deplorable living conditions.
Dominant society's belief that the negative conditions of black America
are self-inflicted is based upon the fact that the conditions that blacks
endure are almost peculiar to blacks alone. White society has never been
enthusiastic about helping blacks nor has it permitted them to acquire the
tools to help themselves. Blaming blacks for their underclass status keeps
the larger society free from recriminations or obligations to blacks.
Ironically, if the deplorable conditions of black America were experi-
enced by white America for even a short period of time, the government
would not hesitate to declare a national disaster and activate emergency
assistance measures. But, since depressive socioeconomic conditions have
been peculiar to black America for centuries, no such governmental inter-
vention is to be expected.
The Death of the Black Civil Rights Movement

For everyone but the caretakers of old black civil rights organizations,
the Civil Rights Movement for blacks is dead. Civil rightism for blacks
had a brief life for the second time within a 100-year period, reached a
point of diminishing returns, then died a premature death during the late
1960s. All of the rights gained by the Civil Rights Movement have been
bequeathed to groups that are more acceptable to the larger society -
women, gays, Hispanics, Asians, handicapped and poor whites. The first
black civil rights efforts formally started shortly after the Civil War as
slaves realized that they had received paper freedom and unexercisable
rights. For nearly a century, they pursued their phantom freedom and
rights nationally by way of public forums, courtrooms, schoolhouses, union
halls and journalism.
In the 1954 Brown vs. the Board of Education desegregation decision,
blacks won a battle, but the decision had incalculable destructive effects
on the black community. During the subsequent civil rights protest pe-
riod, blacks stimulated a rush of new social movements by a melange of
social groups which piggybacked on black causes in their own quests for
rights and freedoms. This offended the larger society in general and gave
conservatives grounds to orchestrate a backlash. Since blacks were the
largest, most visible and least acceptable group, they became the primary
target of conservatives' angst.
The movement was drowned out by the new groups and out-flanked by
the conservatives. In the heat of various civil rights battles for control
over jobs, schools, housing, community services, businesses and tax dol-
lars, black leadership ran out of insight, social tools and strategies for
effectively dealing with the more subtle and less direct forms of racism
that cropped up.

As the other groups began to take away from blacks control of the civil
rights agenda, conservative political forces started using their govern-
ment and media power to diminish the black component of the Civil Rights
Movement. They successfully destroyed the legitimate base of the black
movement by diluting the movement beyond recognition. They identified
every group that could possibly perceive itself as aggrieved and made it
equal to blacks. Thus, the public perception of blacks was severely dam-
aged and distorted. The unique problems that they faced were made to
appear no more important than the problems faced by other, so-called
victims of discrimination.
The black Civil Rights Movement, though spectacularly successful in
many respects, had at least four major flaws that diminished the accom-
plishments of the movement and left critical imperatives for black America:
The movement's black leadership focused its entire weight of

resources on achieving integration. They believed, perhaps
naively, that by removing all the symbols of Jim Crowism and
acquiring access to various segments of white society, black
people would gain equality.
Black leaders failed to focus on neutralizing the forces behind

Jim Crowism or developing effective strategies for black America
to use in dealing with the problems that spring forth from the
maldistribution and racist control of wealth, power and resources
in America.
They failed to develop a long-term national plan with goals

and strategies, spelling out where blacks ought to be going and
how best to get there.
In addition, black leaders failed to construct a national network

of institutions to train new generations of blacks who could
successfully assume leadership positions and implement a
national plan for black empowerment.
The combined effect of these four major failures left the black Civil
Rights Movement with no place to go, no way to get there and no leadership
to take them.
A few visible black organizations managed to survive by becoming "po-

litically correct" and expanding their focus to include so-called minori-
ties, poor people, gays, women and abused children. They could not sur-
vive in the powerful conservative climate by continuing to target the prob-
lems of blacks alone. Although black conditions continued to need atten-
tion, most black organizations could not raise enough money to survive
by focusing solely upon their own people. The surviving black organiza-
tions remained visible by continuing to pursue the integration dream. It
would not have been necessary for black organizations to abandon their
own community if the Civil Rights Movement had established a sense of
community cohesiveness founded on group economics and group politics.
The National Urban League and the NAACP are still active, but they
have lost much of their influence and membership. The Student Nonvio-
lent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the Black Panther Party are
defunct. The Congress of Racial Equality joined the conservative ranks
of a national political party and the Southern Christian Leadership Con-
ference barely survives. This nation's political apparatus disabled many
of the civil rights groups by destroying or neutralizing black leadership:
Adam Clayton Powell and Stokely Carmichael were discredited; Martin
Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X and Medger Evers were assassinated; Rap
Brown, Eldridge Cleaver, Angela Davis and prominent members of the
Black Panthers were criminalized.
Many of the others were enticed into mainstream society. Consequently,
the large block of black leadership was eradicated, changed or disap-
peared after just one generation following the great movement. Having
failed to address the structural conditions of black America, the 1960s
left little structure upon which blacks could build. Instead, that colorful
era only left faded memories and soul-stirring songs.
The void created by the death of black civil rights presented the oppor-
tunity for a cadre of black neoconservatives to join the popular white
conservative movement and proclaim themselves and their new organiza-
tions the new black leadership. They were publicly blessed by the highest
levels of government and corporate America and they offered black
America political and economic ideologies that were taken right from the
conservative right-wing political bible. Their politically correct ideolo-
gies advocated less government and taxes, free market economies,
privatization of government services and race-neutral government poli-
cies. 24 Black traditional leadership, like the black masses, was ignored
by government and the media, except during times of racial disturbances
or anniversaries of the movement.
Conclusion
The problem of race and resources has been festering for hundreds of
years, but has yet to arise as the core public issue in America. Whites
have inherited the power and wealth of their ancestors through a social
and economic structure designed and weighted to the advantage of non-
blacks.
Blacks have inherited a legacy of permanent poverty and powerless-
ness. Black labor made the nation a strong, wealthy, international world
power, but nothing has been proposed to seriously bring about remunera-
tion, parity or fairness to black people. It is clear that blacks must both
solve their own problems and structure a national plan of action that puts
their priorities first and foremost. Self-empowerment is the only road to
economic justice, but it requires the support of a national policy and plan
of action.
2
Power and Black Progress

"Blacks and power are the oil and water of American politics."
- Source Unknown
P ower plays a critical role in black-white race relationships in

America. Though we cannot see, taste or touch it, we can sense its
presence and attest to its strength and potency. It affects all manner of hu-
man relations. Power, in and of itself, is neutral. Only the motives and pur-
poses of the power users make power good or bad. It has been abusively
used to create divisions between black and white people around the world. A
racial and ethnic hierarchy disproportionately distributed nearly 100 percent
control and ownership of wealth, material resources, and privileges to whites
at the top of the social order, while blacks, assigned to the lowest level, were
disproportionately burdened with poverty, powerlessness and social exclu-
sion. The problems created by those power disparities spawned racial ineq-
uities that only power realignment can correct.
Dominant society used its power to label blacks lazy, ignorant and crimi-
nal, then enacted laws that denied them jobs, education and justice. And,
through the most insidious act of all, dominant society used its social powers
Power and Black Progress 29
to assign an intensely negative human worth to black skin color, that caused
millions of blacks to fear each other and hate themselves.
What Is Power?
Power is defined by Webster 3' Dictionary as the ability to bring about
fulfillment of one's desires and needs. Behavioral scientists add another
nuance to the meaning by including in the definition the notion of one entity
imposing its will on another. Along the same line, Thomas Sowell, an econo-
mist, defines the term power in a much broader sense, in his book, The
Economics and the Politics of Race, he adds the qualifier, that "Power is not
simply the ability to get something done, but to get it done despite the resis-
tance and opposition of others." It is this last definition of power that is used
in this book.
A true powerholder can enforce its decisions and will on the less powerful
by applying or threatening to apply penalties or force. Or, it can elect to
secure compliance to its wishes and decisions by providing or offering re-
wards. The final decision on the use of any particular form of social control
belongs to the powerholder. Those holding power have used it effectively in
organizing and controlling blacks to the benefit of the larger society. Power
has determined the quality of black life.
Social powers external to black communities have controlled and shaped
black peoples' lives and behavior for more than four centuries. The power
of dominant society determined whether blacks would walk proudly as free
bushmen of West Africa or toil in chains as slaves among the bushes of
America. Dominant society's power made blacks the economic locomotive
engine that drove civilizations around the world, but assigned blacks to the
caboose, so that they could not enjoy the fruits of their own labor.
Kinds of Power
To advance the self-interest of an individual or a group, humans use nu-
merous kinds of powers. The most common forms of power in black-white
relations are group power, institutional power, wealth power, numerical popu-
lation power, political power, and voting power. The dominant society uses
power mechanisms, such as government, private corporations, religious and
social institutions, to perpetuate its self-interests and secure and maintain
control of power-building resources. Black labor was a wealth builder and
therefore a power generating resource that dominant society greatly valued
and manipulated. To maintain the power generated by black labor, white

society used whatever means necessary to keep blacks powerless and un-
der control.
Group Power
The United States' constitutional spirit of individualism notwithstanding,
group power was the true and base origin of all rights in American society.
Group power is typically manifested when a collection of individuals orga-
nize and pool their resources to achieve common goals and shared benefits.
Such action is the primary instrument for securing objects of interest and
power.
In the founding years of this nation, European whites built their dreams of
becoming a wealthy aristocracy within a capitalistic democracy on the backs
of black slaves. The collective power resources of many people, nations,
religions, and organizations were aligned and concertedly used to exploit
blacks. Their strategy illustrates that group power requires general agree-
ment among the participating members on a core issue, but power evolves
from the group's collective motives and goals.
Institutional Power
Institutions arise and exist only by means of group behavior. Institutions
center their activities around fundamental social, cultural, academic, racial,
religious, or :financial needs. They permanently unite a group of people in a
cooperative task. Once decisions have been made by the larger society, in-
stitutions use their resources to confirm and explain why the larger society
made such decisions and occasionally, institutions are called upon to play
leadership roles.
Institutions can acquire a variety of powers due to their non-biological
permanency. If financially supported, they survive aging, political shifts and
drastic social changes. An institution's powers are in proportion to and may
be measured by its ability to create, store and circulate data, develop and
influence public policies, aggregate people around issues, network with other
institutions and organizations, and stimulate the development of leadership.
lt;istitutions that can do all of these things well become very powerful. The
greatest limitation of institutional power is the lack of transferability of its
powers to a particular individual, at a particular time, on a particular issue.
This institutional limitation promotes institutional leadership instead of charis-
matic personalities. Considering black America's dire dilemma, the forma-

tion of a network of intellectual institutions is imperative for building power
bases.
The Impact of Institutionalized Power on Blacks

The superior group power of whites influenced all the institutions they
built: government, schools, businesses, churches, and social organizations.
Institutions were the means of inculcating values that would perpetually
maintain the self-interest of European whites and their descendents. Thus,
institutional power has become a major factor in maintaining the power im~
balance between blacks and whites. Government was one of the most pow-
erful tools of the dominant society. Without the support and power of govern-
ment, the white society could not have enslaved and segregated blacks for
centuries.
Government, for example, enacted laws that forbade schools to accept
black children and made it illegal to teach a black person to read or write.
Initially, all formal religious denominations accepted the abuse of blacks and
even offered Biblical justifications for it. Through government, businesses,
churches and other institutionalized powerholders, white society controlled
the wealth, power and resources. They also controlled blacks, their primary
labor source.
Wealth-Power
Economic power has always been the greatest source of power for indi-
viduals and groups in America. Individuals who merge their political or fi-
nancial resources into a group can become very powerful in a capitalistic
democracy. For instance, Jews and White Anglo-Saxon Protestants (WASP)
have uncontested control over a disproportionate share of America's wealth.
Wealth gives them options. They use their wealth as political tools to open
doors to new economic opportunities for their respective groups; to punish
other groups and to block the doors of opportunity.
Obviously, all whites do not possess great wealth and power. But, because
of their strong sense of racial cohesion and their compulsive belief in keeping
economic resources within their communities, the resources of wealthy and
powerful whites stay within the white community. They rarely help non-
whites, especially blacks. Chancellor Williams, in his book, The Destruction
of Black Civilization, wrote:
"Caucasians will wage frightful wars against other Caucasians, but will
quickly unite, as though by instinct, against non-whites, not only in
wars, but in international policies. They have developed a kind of built-
in solidarity in their relations with non-Caucasian peoples. This fact, as
much as anything else, helps to explain their position as masters of the
world." 1
Together, wealth and politics represent a potent combination of powers,

because they are versatile and by working together they can produce other
forms of power. They are the root cause of racial stratification, exploitation
and the unequal distribution of resources. In the present social structure,
maldistribution guarantees that America will never be an "equal opportunity
society." Those who hold a disproportionate share of the wealth and power
are not inclined to share or relinquish these tools. In combination, political
power and wealth become practically synonymous in a capitalistic democ-
racy. 2
Since wealth remains concentrated and rigidly locked in the hands of whites,
black progress will be difficult. As far back as 1790, the richest 10 percent
of white households has held half of the nations wealth. 3 By the eve of the
Civil War, one percent of the most wealthy whites owned 24 percent of the
nation's wealth. One hundred years later, in 1969, they owned 24.9 per-
cent.4
During the very same time periods, black wealth remained between one
and two percent. It is astounding that the percentages of wealth controlled
by whites or blacks have not changed throughout this nation's involvements
in the Civil War, emancipation of the slaves and Reconstruction, World War
I, the Great Depression, World War II, Korean and Vietnam Wars, and the
Civil Rights Movement, which was followed by a second reconstruction pe-
riod. Through it all, the wealthy white elite collectively held on to every-
thing. 5
According to Census reports, the great disparity between black and white
wealth and income levels continues to increase. The U.S. Department of
Commerce, Bureau of the Census in 1986 reported that the average white
household had 10 times more wealth than the average black household. The
wealth gap is so large that the three richest white Americans, with a collec-
tive net worth of $15 billion, had a greater financial net worth than all black
businesses combined. 6
The major driver of the wealth and income gap between blacks and whites
is the maldistribution of poverty. The poverty level for blacks is three times
that of whites and Hispanics. Nearly one-third of blacks are classified as

poor. And 50 percent of all single, black female heads of household are
poverty stricken. 7 Poverty is a power impeder.
Numerical Population Power

In a democratic society, the numerical majority wins, rules and decides.
The theoretical rights of a minority, may or may not be respected, especially
if they are a planned minority. Numerical population power is the power that
comes to those groups that acquire power through their sheer size. The black
population peaked in the 1750s when slaves and free blacks accounted for
approximately 3 3 percent ofthe total population. 8 The high numerical strength
of blacks caused fear and concern among whites. They feared the loss of
their own numerical power. Word of black Haitians' successful slave revolt
in the 1790s had spread across America and reportedly ignited several slave
revolts in Southern states.
The First U.S. Congress enacted the first naturalization law that declared
America to be a nation for "whites only." This naturalization act and other
income incentives attracted a massive influx of legal and illegal European
ethnics, followed by Asian and Hispanic immigrants a century later. The
immigration quota on blacks remained zero until their total percentage of the
population declined to nine percent. By making blacks a planned numerical
minority, white society assured its dominance in a democratic society where
the majority always wins.
Political Power and Its Supportive Concepts

Political power comprises all those activities that relate to the authoritative
uses of public and governmental powers under existing traditions, laws and
Constitutional authorities of government. But political power can be acquired
either through or outside of the normal process of elective or appointed of-
fice. Political power is an important power for a depressed group to have
because politics is the process that typically decides who shall have what
benefits in life. However, groups aspiring to gain political power can only
obtain and use it if they have economic power as well. Economic power
allows a group to possess and exercise control over its own power rather
than seeking access to another's power.
Voting: Illusionary Power

Voting in publicly held elections is a key source of power in any demo-
cratic society, if the voting groups have certain collateral forms of power.
Emancipation and Amendments to the Constitution gave blacks the legal
right to vote. Probably the only instance in which blacks exercise true group
power is through block voting. But, without wealth, numerical or social ac-
countability powers, voting becomes a weak form of power for blacks. Vot-
ing rights have pacified blacks by allowing them to make choices, but never
decisions. They could only vote their choice for candidates about whom the
dominant white society had already made decisions. The weakness of blacks'
voting power was demonstrated when a white anti-Reconstruction backlash
in the South took voting rights from blacks within a generation after they
were granted in the mid-1860s. It took nearly another century to restore
blacks' access to the ballot box.
Since the 1960s, blacks' consistent level of voter participation indicates
that they steadfastly believe that their voting power can significantly change
their life conditions. This will not happen, though much effort and expense go
into black voter registration and get-out-the-vote projects. Blacks have suc-
cessfully put black and white candidates into high governmental offices by
voting in blocks. But blacks have failed to buttress their block voting with
other forms of group power building activity.
Voting itself is a limited, transitory form of power that ends when the polls
close. With the block vote, blacks may cast the decisive votes that put a
candidate into office, but they cannot make that new office holder deliver.
Threats can be made, but voting power cannot be exercised outside of the
ballot box. Since elections are held every two or four years, the black elec-
torate can be ignored or further damaged by those they put into public office.
Blacks' limited income and wealth encouraged them to support their politi-
cal candidates with campaign workers and votes at the ballot boxes. But,
"He who pays the piper calls the tune." Black communities in recent years
have failed to use their limited financial power and resources to persuade
outside forces to create change inside black communities. One of the most
noteworthy times that they did was the Alabama bus boycott. Beyond a
doubt it was more effective than the ballot box. When money stopped flow-
ing from black to white hands, the white society in Alabama listened and
changed a little.
Even when blacks vote blacks into public office, their ballot box victories
do not necessarily translate into improved social and economic conditions for
black people. Some black elected officials have been reluctant to initiate
programs solely targeted to blacks. Many have been convinced that we live
in a color-blind society or are simply afraid to push for black causes.
Thus, black political power has yet to become an effective strategy for
getting vitally needed resources to black communities. Though the rule of
politics is "something for something," black Americans are never specifi-
cally rewarded for their overwhelming support for candidates for public of-
fice. Black officials are skittish about using the powers of their offices to
specifically address the needs of black communities because they are con-
cerned about generating a white backlash. It is easier for them to propose or
support programs that are ambiguously designed to assist everybody rather
than just blacks. For their political support, blacks have always been denied
quid pro quo, or something in return for their votes.
Some black office holders, like their white political counterparts, practice
"trickle down" politics. They demonstrate their productivity to blacks by
TABLE I
Comparison of the Number of Black Elected Officials
vs. Black Socioeconomic Conditions*
Blacks Per
Black Below Capita
Number Unemployment Prisoners Poverty Income
Year Elected Percentage (%) (%) Line(%) (%)
1964 103 10.8 33.0 34.0 53.0
1970 1439 08.2 35.8 32.5 60.0
1975 3503 14.7 42.0 31.1 55.0
1988 6793 11.7 45.0 32.0 59.5
1992 8000 14.6 45.3 34.4 59.1
* Figures reported by the National Urban League; they are typically higher and
more accurate than government figures, because they include blacks who are not
actively seeking unemployment benefits, employment, or are only marginally
employed. [9)
pointing to legislation and programs that they supported for civil rights, poor
people, minorities, the homeless, immigrants, prison reform, and public works.
Few can point to a program or policy that was enacted specifically and solely
to relieve the horrendous conditions in black communities. At nearly every
level of government and in corporate America, there are some programs or

policies that target women, Indians, Asians, Hispanics, handicapped and other
aggrieved groups. Once black elected officials buy into the idea of support-
ing measures to assist everybody, they have, in effect, eliminated the impor-
tance of having a black elected official. Mainstream programs and policies
have merely maintained the status quo, leaving blacks in the same status that
they were in before blacks were elected or appointed to public office.
Since 1960, there has been a sizable increase in the number ofblack elected
officials, an 8,000 percent increase, to be more specific. As indicated in
Table 1, black conditions have either remained the same or worsened.
Black per capita income, compared to white per capita income, went up
over the last two decades, but the gap between poor and middle-class blacks
widened. The 8,000 percent rise in the number of black elected officials did
little to impede the steady increase of blacks entering the criminal justice
system, poverty, homelessness, unwed motherhood, drug abuse activity, or
the homicide rolls.
Likely, without the increased number of black elected officials, black con-
ditions would be even worse today. Yet, it is a dramatic statement about the
dire condition of black America that it took an 8,000 percent increase in
blacks elected to public office to keep blacks where they had always been.
Many black elected officials bewail their inability to change the conditions
of blacks. The nation's 36 million blacks are a sleeping giant that, if properly
organized and mobilized, could achieve group economic and political power.
However, in order to do so, black disposable income must be just as orga-
nized and selectively spent as black votes are cast during an election.
James Jennings, a writer and observer of black political activism, summa-
rized the fallacy that voting results in political power for blacks: "Voting in
itself is not power . . . nor is having black elected and appointed officials
power. These phenomena become power only when they can be used to
influence and affect the behavior of ... white society and others."10
The Importance of Power for Black People

Without increased wealth and political power, blacks cannot correct the
multitude of social ills that have become imbedded in the fabric of their com-
munities. Nor can they acquire the power they need through a shared power
arrangement with the dominant white society. The dominant society will not
permit blacks to use the power within white institutions to improve social and
economic conditions within black communities, especially since whites as a
group generally have neither the interest nor incentive for correcting the
conditions. Consequently, blacks must develop their own group and institu-
tional powers then remedy the inequalities that have been historically im-
posed upon them.
Progress has eluded black people because they have been powerless to
get what they wanted and needed, and they have not been able to stop others
from depriving them of the necessities of life. Since slavery and the 1954
desegregation decision, blacks have experienced political and civil rights im-
provements. Blacks have relatively free access to voting booths and can
vote for any candidate that the power structure offers. They have access to
public rest rooms, lunchroom counters, and the front seat on any bus. How-
ever, civil rights did not bring about much change in their ability to pay for the
best facilities or seats.
Civil rights have been ineffective for most blacks in terms of improving
substandard housing, lowering their unemployment rate, transforming dys-
functional schools, removing massive poverty, reducing high crime or elimi-
nating social rejection by whites, Asians, Hispanics and other ethnics. Black
social and economic progress will come about only when blacks muster the
power and the commitment to bring forth positive change.
Black Self-Empowerment: The Only Road Open

Self-empowerment is the most effective, if not the only road open for
blacks to reach racial competitiveness. But, the first issue to resolve is a
common understanding of what the term self-empowerment means. Since
the 1960s, the term has been used in unclear and even contradictory ways.
The American Heritage Dictionary defines empowerment ''to invest with
legal power or to authorize." This definition speaks to institutionalized au-
thorities and powers. Quite clearly, this is not what black activists intended
when they spoke of empowering black people and black communities in the
1960s. Most community activists were concerned about empowering black
people to act in or be in a position to speak for their own people through
established systems.
Today, it is politically correct to espouse "empowerment zones" in minor-
ity communities throughout the nation. According to one federal official,
empowerment zone monies would be invested in infrastructure improvements
and preferential tax incentives would be offered to white businesses in order
to attract them into the very same black communities that they began aban-
doning 30 years ago.
How do infrastructure improvements and tax incentives for white wealth

holders help blacks? Is the term empowerment zones used to mean self-
empowerment? If so, how? Who is really being empowered and how will
what the government proposes to do eradicate black communities' dire con-
ditions? Self-empowerment for blacks can only occur when blacks use all of
their available resources to accrue wealth and social power through a com-
prehensive plan involving all segments of their communities.
A properly developed self-empowerment plan that is supported in prin-
ciple by all of black America could change centuries of deferred dreams into
realized visions. Until black America collectively aspires to acquire its own
power to alter its marginal conditions, it is highly unlikely that they will ever
obtain power. A plan for self-empowerment must begin with a realistic
analysis of blacks' assets and lead to the development of strategies to maxi-
mize their fullest potential.
True empowerment would give blacks new tools and strengths to deal
with the power imbalances that today promote racism in the court systems,
educational institutions as well as the government and private corporate sec-
tors. These entities have no accountability to blacks, even though they exert
tremendous power over blacks. They are repositories of the cultural power
of whites. They have not changed through the centuries, thus, they still safe-
guard the culture, heritage and social values of the original European set-
tlers.
Organize and Power Will Come

A great writer once said that, "Those who the gods would make powerful
must first organize." Few words could be truer for blacks. Whether indi-
vidual blacks are firm believers in the concepts of integration, segregation or
moderation, they must all come together around the goal of improving the
living conditions of their race. Although political and other philosophies may
differ, blacks are united by their physical commonality. Divided they cannot
achieve empowerment. They will be unable to make effective decisions about
their future.
Blacks are no longer in servitude. They have a protected right to exercise
their freedom of association. They may freely organize in their own best
interest. No other ethnic or racial group will organize for nor represent blacks'
interest. Society is competitive and becoming increasingly more pluralistic
and there are no incentives for others to assist black people.
A plan for organizing will not spontaneously materialize. Blacks must
organize in order to direct their own future and long-term best interest. In
the past, blacks organized to address specific issues that aggrieved them.
The resultant organizations, therefore, lacked permanence. When the issue
or the leader died, so did the organization, regardless of its effectiveness.
Consequently, blacks have historically been caught in the constant cycle of
reorganizing. Moreover, most black single-issue organizations have lacked
the human or financial capital to provide a forceful, continuous, adaptive and
sustained fight strictly on behalf of blacks.
Though Jews are a minority religious group, they can serve as an empow-
erment model. Jews wield strong blocks of powers - financial and political
- that result from their strong sense of community, control of wealth and
organizational networking. Under their religious identification and sense of
togetherness, they aggressively protect their domestic and international in-
terests, regardless of criticisms. Unlike blacks, they openly and aggressively
use their powers to tilt the government and private resources to support
issues and programs that benefit Jews. As a religious minority, Jews under-
stand that in a government that is based on the belief of being of, by and for
the people that "the people" are those who can concentrate their power and
get what they want.
Harold Cruse, the historian, criticized blacks' failure to develop new orga-
nizational leadership for collective decision making. Using Jews as a model
of organizing, Harold Cruse lamented that: "History had taught Jews that
without a strong, purposeful organization, there was little chance for survival
in a hostile world. To this very day, blacks have not learned that lesson. " 11
Blacks are a sleeping giant, with some limited potential for developing
economic and social powers. But, regardless of the limited nature of their
potential, group power operates upon the very simple principle that whoso-
ever is organized has already established a minimum level of power that they
did not have as a scattered people. Blacks seeking to empower themselves
will undoubtedly create concerns among whites who have grown accus-
tomed to the historical belief that blacks should always be a powerless, pov-
erty stricken people.
Although it appears that the dominant society would be more comfortable
with American Indians, Asians, or Hispanics seeking increased group power,
the black race is not so weak that it cannot develop the limited potentials for
group power that up until now have been acquired by them only through
chance and historical circumstances.
As a powerless group, blacks have at least two choices: They can seek
self-empowerment through incremental structural changes or they can seek
to share with those groups that already have it. Blacks, to a large degree,
have taken the latter route and have looked for access to white powerholders
for a share of power. This decision was a natural outgrowth of the slavery
conditioning process (as explained later in Chapter Seven) which taught blacks
to align their interests with the interests of the masters. This social phenom-
enon is aptly demonstrated both in the behavior of Sambo in Uncle Toms
Cabin and the real life acts of black conservatives. 12
At best, access to power allows the power seeker the opportunity of being
near the powerholder and to secure personal benefits or limited benefits for
the needful masses. In seeking to share power with whites, blacks must
understand the drawback - that requests for power to improve their condi-
tions must always be passed through and approved by the social and political
forces of the major white powerholders, who are rarely generous to blacks
in their decision making.
As James Jennings, in his book, the Politics of Black Empowerment,
stated:
"For all groups in a given society, the prospect for improved incomes,
greater holdings of property, and more favorable life chances generally
is profoundly influenced by the group's relationship to the instruments
of power ... This means the ability [of blacks] to use all those sanctions,
rewards, and inducements, and methods that people in the advanced
society use to control their environment and influence the behavior of
others." 13
Unity or group power is the most important ingredient in the advancement

of a racial group. Group power is essential to make the most of blacks'
access to power, as they endeavor to acquire power itself.
Progress Follows Empowerment

For black progress to occur, there must be a fundamental redistribution of
wealth and poverty in America. They are burdened by too much planned
impoverishment. Blacks cannot amass power from their individual holdings
of wealth until they organize and develop a plan that will attract and retain
wealth within black communities. Nearly every black community suffers
from historical deprivation, low income levels and the flight of black capital
and disposable income to white suburbs. The income that does remain in
black communities, usually between two and five percent, is insufficient to
maintain public services, support businesses, stimulate employment
opportunities. It cannot support a political structure dedicated to advancing

black interests nor gamer respect from other competitive racial or ethnic
groups.
Organizing and Thinking Strategically

It must be clarified that the possession of power does not guarantee wealth.
Nor does wealth always guarantee power. But, contrarily, the lack of power
can guarantee poverty and poverty can always guarantee powerlessness.
Controlling resources, maintaining a strong sense of community, and good
organizational planning can produce both power and wealth.
It is the American way to organize groups for the purpose of acquiring and
wielding power. While most groups realize that there is strength in numbers,
apparently, according to one study, some blacks do not necessarily see strength
in grouping themselves with other blacks.
In a study of group power, Evans and Giles reported that: "Increased con-
centration [of blacks] served to generate higher levels of ethnocentrism among
blacks and raised fears among whites."14 The lower the percentage of blacks
in the workplace, for instance, the lower whites fear that blacks will acquire
power. This is an important finding and raises questions about the wisdom of
integration. If race relations are based on power, the more blacks integrate
into white society, the less chance they have to acquire power. Blacks' will-
ingness to dilute their own strength destroys any perception of their having
power. The perception of power is the first step towards the reality of power.
The Evans and Giles study revealed significant findings that have an impact
on group power for blacks. The authors found that blacks did not conceptualize
their potential for group power. And, more detrimental, blacks may actually
perceive their group power to diminish when higher concentrations of blacks
are present. These perceptions of racial concentrations and power are exactly
the opposite of whites. Whites establish barriers, legal and otherwise, to insure
their superior numbers and power.
Blacks' belief that something may be wrong when large numbers of them
come together without the presence of whites can probably be traced to the
conditioning process of slavery, which taught blacks to see themselves through
the eyes of a white person. Thus, reversing years of self-deprecating thinking,
low self-esteem and slave conditioning and organizing to achieve group
empowerment goals will require careful strategic planning. Blacks must
organize around new principles and purposes in order to confront the political
and economic realities facing them.
To their credit, black intellectuals, in the ante- and post-helium periods, did
try to organize and plan. They shared resources and demonstrated some
community-oriented accountability by establishing planning forums and
advocacy organizations through churches and benevolent societies. Their
effectiveness was limited by their meager financial and material resources,
and lack of access to power sources. However, they had an impact on the
attitudes of the black masses, especially during the most oppressive times.
Some noteworthy planning organizations that were singularly committed
to black people were established during several historical periods: the Negro
Convention Movement in 1830; the Niagara Movement in 1905; the African
Community League in 1914; The Universal Negro Improvement Association
in the early 1900s, and the National Negro Congress in 1936.15
Clearly, blacks felt a recurring need for national planning and research, but
there was no commonly accepted goal or established public policy for blacks.
Differing philosophies and political personalities confused the issues and
bogged down the organizations. In the recent past, blacks organized over
specific issues, such as discrimination, crime, unemployment or voting rights.
As stated earlier, the organizations either faded when the issue faded or lost
potency and became nonthreatening advocacy groups. They found it easier
to organize advocacy groups whose narrow focuses did not appear as
threatening to established powers.
One of the first known and longest lasting attempts by blacks to establish
a national planning group was the Negro Convention Movement, which be-
gan in 1830 and continued through the Civil War. Black leaders throughout
the North got together to identify problems, develop policies and speak as a
united voice. This movement was followed by the Niagara Movement. In
1905, W. E. B. Dubois, John Hope, Maurice Trotter and other vocal young
black intellectuals met in Niagara Falls, in Ontario, Canada, and founded the
Niagara Movement.
This organization was primarily political in its objectives. Its leaders strove
to seize the leadership of black America from the more conciliatory empha-
sis of Booker T. Washington. 16 Further, they wanted to establish a platform
from which to condemn the white prejudice that they found all about them.
They hoped to resurrect the spirit of the angry abolitionist leadership that
preceded the Civil War.
In the early 1920s, chapters of the Universal Negro Improvement Asso-
ciation sprung up all over the nation. It was the largest mass organization in
black history. Marcus Garvey led the organization advocating race redemp-
tion, black pride, black identity and black solidarity in an African homeland.
Garvey followers were groups of young blacks who were disenchanted with
the NAACP and the National Urban League's unwillingness to develop
meaningful policies and programs to uplift the economically depressed masses.
They organized the National Negro Congress, whose membership included
aggressive men, such as Ralph Bunche and A. Philip Randolph.17
Members of the National Negro Congress knew that if they did not plan
their future, the white power elite most certainly would. And any plans by
whites to improve conditions for blacks would be at black peoples' expense.
Nearly a half a century after the Civil Rights Movement and the Black
Power Movement, there is still no national black policy or plan for black self-
sufficiency or empowerment. Since such a plan would singularly benefit blacks,
it is black America's responsibility to build an organization that will develop a
national plan. The organization should be an intellectual infrastructure that
would not only develop the plan but would analyze and craft road maps to get
black America out of its marginal existence and into a socioeconomic com-
petitive position with other racial and ethnic groups.
Strategic Leveling of the Playing Field

Decision making through strategic planning is the wave of the future. The
decision to organize and plan is the first step towards acquiring power and
increased control over resources. By organizing for self-sufficiency, self-
empowerment, and racial accountability, blacks make a conscious decision
to both effect and be responsible for their own future. Blacks have paid
dearly for entrusting their future to non-blacks. If the lesson has been, learned
then it is not too late for blacks to begin leveling the competitive playing field
to avoid being locked into a permanent underclass status among racial and
ethnic groups in the hyper-competitive decade ahead.
Decision making is based in choosing between the probable and the pos-
sible. More specifically, blacks must identify and choose preferred paths
based upon their historical experiences, present conditions and future needs.
If blacks ignore these factors and continue to be non-involved as a group, it
is highly probable that they will get stuck in non-preferred paths in the future.
More to the point, there is a rule of human behavior that states that if we
continue to do the same thing that we have always done, then we will con-
tinue to get the same results that we have always gotten. If blacks want
different results and an improved quality of life, then they must make differ-
ent decisions as a group. Once blacks design a national plan, even if the plan
fails initially, blacks will have at least improved their image as an organized

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What organizations were formed to advocate for black political and economic empowerment?

What organizations were formed to advocate for black political and economic empowerment?

What did members of the National Negro Congress know about planning their future?

What did members of the National Negro Congress know about planning their future?

Part 1

Claud Anderson, Ed.D.

PowerNomics Corporation of America

We gratefully acknowledge permission to reprint the following: Quotes from

All rights reserved.

PowerNomics Corporation of America

Edited by: Edward D. Sargent and Reginald B. Scott, Jr.

ISBN 10: 0-9661702-1-0 ISBN 13: 978-0-9661702-1-4

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or trans-

For My Youngest Brother, John Wesley,

I must give special acknowledgment to my wife, Joann and my children

R acism against black people has been a virulent undercurrent in our

Dr. Claud Anderson

The Nature of the Problem

per weatherman concluded the news, saying, "Sunny skies tomorrow."

The Problem and Its Root

: : . : : r themselves. They coul\d. seek public ~sistan; A

~ <:) c/I \'<\ eie.V'I\- ''v\. '::)

No Light at the End of the Tunnel

or resources to solve the problems of black America? Or is it that they

Conservative Forces: The Bane of Black Society

typically straightforward concerning the issue of race. It is not difficult to

Breeding Black Conservatism

Black conservatives operate under misleading colors. As an old farmer

The Symbolic Betrayal of the Black Race

The Black-Jewish Alliance

that frightened and threatened the white establishment. Through slogans,

Government's Conservatism Alienates Blacks

The Death of the Black Civil Rights Movement

that cropped up.

The movement's black leadership focused its entire weight of

Black leaders failed to focus on neutralizing the forces behind

They failed to develop a long-term national plan with goals

In addition, black leaders failed to construct a national network

A few visible black organizations managed to survive by becoming "po-

or anniversaries of the movement.

Power and Black Progress

P ower plays a critical role in black-white race relationships in

and manipulated. To maintain the power generated by black labor, white

matic personalities. Considering black America's dire dilemma, the forma-

The Impact of Institutionalized Power on Blacks

Together, wealth and politics represent a potent combination of powers,

that of whites and Hispanics. Nearly one-third of blacks are classified as

Numerical Population Power

Political Power and Its Supportive Concepts

Voting: Illusionary Power

level of government and in corporate America, there are some programs or

The Importance of Power for Black People

Black Self-Empowerment: The Only Road Open

How do infrastructure improvements and tax incentives for white wealth

Organize and Power Will Come

Unity or group power is the most important ingredient in the advancement

Progress Follows Empowerment

opportunities. It cannot support a political structure dedicated to advancing

Organizing and Thinking Strategically