American History Since 1900 week five - Essay Example

Black Power appealed to many people because it was viewed a being more proactive than traditional civil rights protests. It was an empowering thought to say, “Let’s take care of ourselves and forget about White America.” That idea would have been especially attractive to poor individuals that believed their poverty was a result of unfair, discriminatory and racist policies enacted by the government and powerful individuals within American society. It gave them hope of a better future created by black people for black people.

The idea behind Black Nationalism is that black people in America are actually a different group entirely from the White population. The institutions as they are constituted now do not represent the black nation. Therefore, black Americans should withdraw from the established institutions and create their own. They should establish their own businesses that provide jobs and services for black Americans. Black nationalism preaches that blacks should take care of themselves and not worry about White America. . He was offering a new way for black Americans.

This new way was designed to lead to self-sufficiency instead of dependency. He taught that the devil would destroy the racist institutions of White America, allowing the Black Nation to rise to power in equity and justice. The Black Nationalists viewed the old civil rights movement as a failure. They noted that the civil rights protests were non-violent but that violence was used routinely against the protestors. This gave the Black Nationalists the proof that they felt they needed to label all of White America evil.

They recognized that the civil rights leaders were good people trying to accomplish a worthy goal. The problem is the methods that they chose to employ. The views of the new militants were different than the old civil rights leaders in that they did not view America as a good place in any way. They believed that the whole institution of America, including the Constitution and governmental system, were developed to exploit the Black Nation. Whereas the civil rights leaders believed in the foundations of America, many of the new militants disagreed with capitalism, democracy and even Christianity.

The civil rights protestors wanted equal access to the blessings and benefits of being and American. The new militants wanted to wipe away the old White America and replace it with a new system altogether. This they believed was the best way for blacks to assert their power. The findings of the national Commission on Civil Disorders stated that racism and segregation were root causes of the rioting that occurred in the late 1960’s. Racism and segregation caused a variety of social ills that the black community was forced to deal with.

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