There is the old saying in politics that “there are no permanent friends and no permanent enemies; only permanent interest.” Black Americans have often learned this lesson the hard way, and in many ways appear to have not fully learned this important lesson.

In a society that has at its most fundamental building blocks; race, ethnicity and class; blacks have often formed alliances around political, civil and economic issues with other groups only to have these groups turn on them politically –when their interest no longer coincided.

When blacks have coalesced around issues that were race based, and had as an expressed goal the improvement of the lot of the masses of blacks; they have often been very successful. It has precisely been this black solidarity of purpose that enabled the advancement of civil rights. But more instructive than that; this race based solidarity around interest enabled the black community to form political alliances of convenience from a position of strength and not weakness.

When blacks have formed alliances around issues that were not of benefit to the black masses; but only beneficial to certain classes of blacks; the results have left a black population politically, socially and economically fractured and marginalized.

Blacks have been lead to believe that organizing around racial identity and interest is some form of reverse racism and should be abandoned tactically in lieu of organizing around issues with other groups. Ironically; the very groups that put forward this notion are in fact organized horizontally and vertically around racial identity that mask itself under ethnic and class expressions.

We must look back to understand where we are to prepare to look forward. It was Malcolm X who during the last years of his life while working to create a black united front across philosophical lines would astutely put forward the argument:

“There can be no black white unity until there is first some black unity.”

While this statement may sound dated – let us ponder the 2 elections of President Barack Obama as a case in point. In each of the 2 elections Barack Obama received in excess of 90% of the black vote which turned out in unprecedented numbers.

In each of the 2 elections Barack received less white votes than his opponents by an order of magnitude. This proves that a unified black political contingent can effectively join interest with other groups to elect a president. If Barak Obama would have received anything less the 70% of the black vote; he would not have been elected.
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The key takeaway here is that when blacks coalesce around an issue in a united front – they have the political power to effect change, get civil rights laws passed, voting rights laws passed and even elect Presidents by building coalitions from a position of unified strength.

When blacks abandon this fundamental organizing principle and political reality, they become a fractured and powerless community.

Suggested readings are:

The Price of the Ticket: Barack Obama and Rise and Decline of Black Politics (Transgressing Boundaries: Studies in Black Politics and Black Communities) by Fredrick Harris

“Black Awakening in Capitalist America: An Analytic History” by Robert Allen

 

Submitted by Christopher A. Clarke on 10/16/14. 

Christopher A. Clarke is managing editor of Black2020.Com and can be reached through the sites contact page.