Negro Digest - Freedom Archives

ment of a plan to hire 200 Black
professors by Fall 1969 ) .
Last, there is the problem of
definition . If Lyndon Johnson
could co-opt the civil rights thrust
deceitfully smiling as he proclaimed,
"We shall overcome,"
then Black people ought to watch
out . If the United Negro College
Fund could place an ad in the New
York Times portraying a Negro in
cap and gown with the caption,
"Black Power," then Black people
ought to watch out . But, normally,
colonial forces are the first to move
in on ideological concepts (Note
the emasculated verison of the class
conflict as compared to what Karl
Marx meant in the Manifesto)
. . . Only after a few foundation
grants and a few conferences for
whites is it normally possible for
Negroes to use the term-and then
it is often psychologically difficult
for them to say it without perjorative
gesticulations .
Terminological cooptation is a
process to confuse the ideological
struggle for popular support . We
must always be aware of the need
for clarity and we must never hesitate
to provide an understandable
analysis for any group of our people
. And now, having looked at the
dangers, we ought to examine the
positive ideological basis for our
struggle .
(4) Ideological Guidelines for
Struggle
There are five ideological guidelines
that fit these discussions,
though it is in the course of strug-
NEGRO DIGEST March 1969
gle itself that we will define what
is ultimately necessary for our liberation
. These must be as free as
possible of the above listed dangers
.
(A ) African identity: No other
identification is as close to our history
and as far from our oppressors
. The term "Afro-American"
still somehow legitimates the hell of
America and separates us through
generations from Africa. Our identity
as Africans is based on the
utility it has for struggle . Only by
recognizing the alien character of
this country (even though it is
sometimes tolerable because of our
contribut; ns to it) can we ever
hope to successfully wage the revolutionary
struggle .
(B) Operational Unity : While
it is obvious that one all-inclusive
organization for Black people
would be impossible to build, it is
not impossible to move toward
coalitions of groups . Most national
liberation struggles have been
based on the operational unity of
a diverse set of organizations . And
we can see moves in this direction
with the Black Congress in Los
Angeles, the United Black Front in
Washington, D. C., the Black Congress
in Chicago, and the attempt
to build a Black People's Alliance
in Atlanta. We must work cooperatively
on common goals in order to
utilize all resources, and "for their
thousand blows deal one death
blow ."
(Continued on page 89)
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