History has created an idealized representation of the Civil Rights movement as being a grand movement of the entire black society coming together to show the world they want to be recognized for having basic human rights. This romanticized ideology of the Civil Rights movement is lovely in theory, however, it is one that is very dangerous to the fight that still exist today for black rights. According to Tommie Shelby in his book We Who Are Dark: The Philosophical Foundations of Black Solidarity identifies two ideologies that led the Civil Rights movements; strong black nationalism, weak black nationalism.
Shelby explains strong black nationalism to be a political program that promotes black solidarity and believed in separating themselves to create their own nation so they could appoint their own leaders. In comparison, as Shelby defines it, weak black nationalism shared the belief of black solidarity but they did not believe that blacks should have to create their own nation, rather they believed that they could find freedom within America.
Already one can see that the Civil Rights movement was not entirely unified, they had the same goals as far as black solidarity and basic human rights, but they deferred on their strategies to obtain this goal. There were two organizations that led the front of the weak black nationalism side of the Civil Rights Movement; the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). The SCLC is the organization most represented in history, presumably because it paints a prettier picture of the movement.
The History Learning website has an extensive article about the SCLC that explains how important the church was to black communities in the south, thus, the SCLC was run primarily by the church. In fact, Martin Luther King was selected as the leader of the organization, himself being a preacher. The SCLC achieved quite a few victories during their fight for justice as well as assisted black Americans in registering to vote and opened citizenship in schools.
The message that King spread through the organization was that blacks everywhere should fight injustice and prejudice but he believed the only way to do this was through nonviolence. King was determined to appeal to the white community as the Civil Rights to be a moral issue, and to do so black Americans had to act morally sound in their protest. The SCLC practiced this through marches, protest, and demonstrations using the churches as the bases. King’s philosophy on fighting against prejudice can be summarized in his own elegant words; “Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it.
Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkness life; love illuminates it. ” The other successful organization associated with weak black nationalism was the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, which is historical known for being founded by a group of black students. However, Professor William Chafe of Duke University credits Ella Baker specifically as being the founder of the SNCC. In fact, Professor Chase credits Ella Baker to be, “the mother of the civil rights movement.
Baker had assisted King with the SCLC but quickly grew irked with the styles of King and the other ministers; she thought their practices to be competitive and counterproductive. Specifically Baker claimed these leaders were “prophets with clay feet,” she didn’t believe they made enough progress for the movement because they lacked inspiring the black communities. The SNCC was initiated by the student of NC AT&T University who refused to give up their seats at a lunch counter when they were refused service. Inspired by this sit-in, Baker planned a meeting at her alma mater at Shaw University inviting student activists.
Baker trained the student activist that joined the SNCC how to fight for social activism for themselves and then taught them to go and spread the word to other students throughout the south. The SNCC practiced their activism through sit-ins at segregated lunch counters and helping black to register to vote (trusting this would help sway Congress to pass the voting rights act). If I was forced to choose a side between the SCLC and the SNCC and judge who was correct in their tactics, I would say the SNCC were correct.
Both organizations were correct in promoting nonviolence as the means of which to gain credibility but one thing the SNCC did that I found severely lacking within the SCLC was empowering blacks. As James H. Cone states in his book Martin & Malcolm & America: A Dream or a Nightmare, King directed his writings and speeches to the white public believing them to be the source that will help them. I won’t try and argue that Martin was wrong by practicing this, but I will say that he missed a real opportunity by not stressing black empowerment.
I believe it is very important to the fight for black rights that blacks have a sense of self-empowerment, for a person who feels both confident and appreciated will achieve more. On the topic of black empowerment, there was no organization more in support of black empowerment than that of which Shelby defines as strong black nationalism. While strong black nationalism existed before the legend of Malcolm X, it is important to learn about the life that Malcolm Xendured to appreciate the ideologies of strong black nationalism.
Prior to watching the biographical film “Malcolm X,” my understanding of Malcolm X was very little and my being taught of him even less. I grew up in a very small town in East Texas, a very rural area that was not surprisingly dominantly white. In school, I was taught very little about the Civil Rights movement and all the teachings was focused on Martin Luther King Jr. Sadly, I had no previous idea or understanding of Malcolm X to even compare to the film. I understood the film to present Malcolm X to be an American hero.
One of the scenes that I felt portrayed Malcolm X as an American hero, was after the scandals of the Nation of Islam that resulted in Malcolm’s leaving of the organization, talking with his wife Betty he said, ‘We had the best organization a black man’s ever had. ” While it is easy for one to argue this with all the faults within the Nation of Islam, starting with it being a cult, one must give credit where credit is due. Malcolm X deserves full credit for the growth of the Nation of Islam, and putting aside all the flaws, one can’t deny that Malcolm’s teaching brought black societies together in a way that they never had been before.
Arguably one could even claim that Malcolm taught black individuals more about their self-worth than any other Civil Rights Movement leader. Another scene that stood out was Malcolm’s response to learning of the infidelities of the Nation of Islam’s leader and his idol, Elijah Muhammad. When you idolize someone in the way Malcolm idolized Elijah Muhammad it’s human nature to try and excuse their wrong doings, but Malcolm didn’t try excuse Elijah Muhammed when he heard of the scandalous rumors.
Instead he went directly to the source to find out the truth and after he discovered the rumors to be true and his leader to be guilty, he was eventually disassociated with the cult and even though he faced threats of assassination he took the high road and went on a pilgrimage for both self-reflection and spiritual guidance on how to continue. Malcolm’s response to seek knowledge and spiritual understanding to better oneself in response to learning that everything that he has stood for and lived for was a lie, is no doubt the response of a hero.
Malcolm was criticized and judged by many, he has been labeled as a radical and hateful person. It’s easy to judge Malcolm and compare him with such bad characteristics, it’s true that Malcolm did not make the best choices, even his teachings were projected in a way that could be interpreted as hateful. In an interview with Louis Lomax, Malcolm paints a rather insulting imagery of white people and calls them the devil (something which was not uncommon of him). For one to appreciation the story of Malcolm X one must have empathy, and a little bit of empathy goes a long way.
History shows that nonviolent direct action, such as that practiced by Martin Luther King Jr. and Ella Baker, was the more productive way for the Civil Rights movement. An emotional/ moral appeal that is non-threatening to supremist will always work better than an aggressive approach because to supremist aggression is justification to further silence the oppressed and leads to police brutality. However, this in no way means that Malcolm X was not important to the Civil Rights Movement, in fact, it is just as important as the works of King.
Malcolm’s life shows the true depths and unfiltered reality of how bad things were for black communities. Martin was a man that had been beaten down by life and all of it could be blamed for on the racism of whites against blacks. Martin was a man who was lost and broken and he found his purpose and knew what he wanted for himself and for his people, he was just mislead on how to procure this. Being lost and misguided does not take away the progress he made in unifying black communities, and it does not take away from the fact that he was a wellintentioned man with a big heart.
