black power and la raza. framework 1966-1973: radical wing of the black movement: from movement...
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Black Power and La Raza
Framework
1966-1973: Radical wing of the black movement:From movement involving civil disobedience,
nonviolence, black/white unityAim (at least originally): incorporation into existing
society on equal termsTo Black Power: confrontational stance, separatism,
rhetoric/reality of violence, rejection of liberalismAim: revolution, but what that meant not entirely clear
The Movement
Parallel shift: From aim (at least originally) of realizing American
democratic valuesTo confrontational stance, rhetoric and some actual use
of violence, separatismAim: revolution Difference: this phase pretty much destroyed the
“white” left; black radicalism survivedMeanwhile: emergence of Chicano movement, in
different arena, with less connection to “white” left
“White” left 1967-1973:Widespread expectation: after the war shift in focus to domestic
social changeBut organizations/relationships that could have sustained this
failed to emerge or were destroyed1967: National Conference on New Politics: separatism,
confrontational stance precluded formation of party1969: collapse of SDSAttempt to copy revolutionary movements in Third WorldMore broadly: styles of separatism, conceptions of revolution
that undermined the movementBlack left: experienced parallel problems but survived them:
developed alternative organizations and foci Chicano movement: emerged in southwest, rural focus,
different set of issues
Black Power: Background 1First forerunner: Universal
Negro Improvement Association, Marcus Garvey, founded 1914
Black nationalist: aim, independent state in Africa; a black economic sphere in the US
Captured the imagination of many working class blacks, declined in 1920s, left legacy of working class black nationalism
Black Power: Background 2Second forerunner:
Communist Party, Third Period, policy of self-determination for the Black Belt
Never pursued as concrete aim, ignored during Popular Front, abandoned 1943
Nevertheless left legacy of radical black nationalism, ties between black nationalists and the left, black and white
Black Power: Background 3Malcolm X (originally
Malcolm Little):Went to prison 1946 for
drug selling etc., joined Nation of Islam (NoI), became organizer, leading spokesperson: supported aim of separate black state
Conflict between Malcolm and Elijah Muhammad, head of NoI, Malcolm left NoI
Black Power: Background 41964 called on blacks to form
self-defense clubs: influenced civil rights activists, SNCC, CORE
Visited Mecca, traveled in Africa, Middle East: inspired by interracial unity, rejected politics based on anger
Formed Organization of Afro-American Unity, drew connection between racism and capitalism
Feb. 21, 1965, assassinated speaking to Harlem audience – FBI may have been involved
Ella Collins, Malcolm X’s half-sister who helped run the Organization for Afro-American Unity
Black Power 1964-1968: spring, summer
months, riots/rebellions in black ghettos in northern cities
June 5 1968: James Meredith, first black student to attend U. of Miss., began march from Memphis to Jackson, shot and killed
King, Carmichael, McKissick (SCLC, SNCC, CORE) and others continued march
Carmichael: used slogan, “Black Power.” Spread through radical wing of black movement. Set off debate between reform/radical wings. Underlying issue: Vietnam War. SNCC and others opposed it, NAACP reluctant.
Meanings of Black Power
Black Power expressed rejection of accommodation, nonviolence, adoption of confrontational stance. But content unclear.
Robert Carson, CORE leader: anti-capitalism, vision of socialist future
Julian Bond, SNCC: from the ballot box to politicsJames Boggs, black socialist theorist: struggle against the
capitalist class and anyone who benefits from racism (white working class)
Harold Cruse, black intellectual: return to the philosophy of Booker T. Washingon
Black Power in PracticeBlack Panthers: Black Power
meant both program of community organizing and confrontational/violent posture
Mounting repression from Nixon administration/FBI: Panther membership dropped
Meanwhile many smaller black activist groups emerged associated with Black Power:
Black Power and LaborRadical black workers fought
racism in the workplace and the labor movement:
1967-1972 many radical black union groups formed:
Mahwah NJ: United Black Brothers (Ford Motor Co.)
Boston: United Community Construction Workers for Job EqualityLRBW member James Forman with Charles Lerrigo
Detroit: black workers and black Marxists: Inner City Voice, 1968, Detroit Revolutionary Union Movement (DRUM) – attacked hiring practices, UAW leadership1969: coalesced into League of Revolutionary Black Workers1972: conference of 1200 black workers in Chicago
Black Power and Elections 1
Growing black population in cities: 1972 ten major cities, blacks 30%+ of vote
Black electorate rose due to Voting Rights Act of 1965, voter registration campaigns (SNCC, CORE, NAACP)
Black Power: creation of black voting bloc, for black candidates
1969: 994 black men, 131 black women in public office1975: 2,969 black men, 530 black women in public office: 18
in Congress, 281 state legislators or executives, 135 mayors of cities or towns, 367 judges, 939 members of boards of education.
Black Power and Elections 2
National organization:Congressional Black Caucus formed 19711972 conference on black electoral politics, Gary,
Indiana, 12,000 people attended, including every sector of black movement (except some in NAACP)
Formed National Black Political Assembly to promote election of black mayors and others, also to mobilize poor and working class blacks: tone, black nationalism, aim, electoral success
La Raza: Background 1
Union pioneers Virgil Duyungan, Tony Rodrigo, CB Mislang, Espiritu in 1933
Foci prior to 1960s:Regaining land promised to Mexican
Americans in Treaty of Guadalupe de Hidalgo, 1848, but taken from them and given to white settlers: early efforts in late 19th cent on part of Knights of Labor, People’s Party: unsucessful
Organizations of Mexican-American and Filipino agricultural workers in 1920s and 1930s, some led by Communists (Cannery and Agricultural Workers Industrial Union), some by exiled Mexican anarchists (Confederacion de Uniones Campesinos Y Obreros Mexicanos) – fields of southern California
La Raza: Background 2Late 1950s: Reies Lopez Tijerina
initiated efforts to enforce Treaty of Guadalupe de Hidalgo and recover lands lost to Mexican Americans
1963: Alianza Federal de Mercedes, hundreds of Mexican-American farmers joined (CA, CO, NM)
Wide popular support: briefly occupied portion of Kit Carson National Forest; captured courthouse in NM to free arrested members; acquittedReies Lopez Tijerina
United Farm WorkersEarly 1960s: organizing among
Mexican American and Filipino agricultural workers:
Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta: founded and led National Farm Workers’ Association
1965: Agricultural Workers’ Organizing Committee, led by Filipino, Larry Itliong, initiated grape strike
1966: united to form United Farm Workers
Grape strike: lasted five years: 1971 won contracts from major grape growers. Led to improvement of conditions of agricultural workersCommitted to principles of non-violence.
Chicano organizingSixties: use of term “Chicano” took hold: implication, rejection of
accommodation, radicalism, Mexican-American identityOrganizing spread from rural areas to urban areas, from agricultural
workers to students and othersTexas: Mexican American Youth Organization, 1967, led to formation
of El Partido de la Raza, 1970. Chicanos assumed leadership of cityUniversities: El Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan. Formed at
UCLA as United Mexican Studies, became MECHA. Politically broad: nationalists, Marxists, some focusing on reaffirmation of culture; some members of La Raza. Spread through universities of California and southwest.
Chicano movement: strong emphasis on community organizing, emphasis on non-violence, nationalist, inclusive (political differences less antagonistic than elsewhere on left). Women organized but remained internal to movement.