Newspaper Page Text
November 12,1968
THE PANTHER
Uncle Tom Is Dead
DICK GREGORY
Page 5
Opinion On
Mays
When the United States Supreme Court passed its famous
ruling on school desegregation in 1954, all black folks took
a psychological copout. We didn’t really want to confront the
Whiteman, so we unconsciously said to ourselves, “I won’t
realize the benefits, but thank God, life will be better for my
children.” We took the Supreme Court decision at face value
and passed on the encouraging word to our kids. A kid in 1954
is in his 20’s now, like Stokely Carmichael and Rap Brown.
He has lived for a decade and a half with his dream deferred,
and he can accept the vision of eventual betterment no longer.
Today’s black youths are demanding what their parents unwittingly
taught them to expect.
The situation is further complicated by a shift in adult atti
tude. To understand the importance of that change in attitude,
_you must know some things about the Negro family. Negro
youths have rarely been belligerent with the old man. Black
kids always listened to the old man, in spite of his ignorance.
Even after we had been to college and were too embarrassed
to bring him out to meet our girl, we still listened to Pop
because old colored folks never did take any abuse from kids.
You were always “Junior” to the old man, and he wouldn’t
think twice about swinging on you. So you listened!
A decade ago that old man was the one who was talking about
civil-rights leaders expecting too much, too fast; condemning
the more militant actions and defending the system. He was
the voice of moderation and passive acceptance of the status
quo. But old folks aren’t talking that way any more. The old
man in the ghetto has become bitter. He has seen the system
pass him by. He has seen the black militants getting all the
poverty money, all the good jobs and all the attention in the mass
media. He has seen white kids who were classmates of his
children holding down good jobs while his own kids are unemployed.
That old man in the ghetto is bitter now.
If I were a white President and wanted to save this system,
I would put every Negro over 50 under surveillance. His voice
used to be one of calm and moderation, and now it has become
one of bitterness and frustration. That old Negro used to sit
around whittling his stick and telling stories. He used to talk
about baseball, give his nitty-gritty philosophy and talk about
the good white man he knew. He was beautiful; he was a philoso
pher and an orator. But he is bitter now, and he is not telling
stories any more. Along with the black youth, the old Negro
has his “attitude.”
There has been a change in attitude throughout the whole
unique hierarchy of the Negro community. Traditionally the
doctor has been the big man in the Negro neighborhood, occupy
ing the top level of the black echelon. The hierarchy of the black
community has been the doctor, the preacher, the schoolteacher,
and the Pullman porter. The Pullman porter was a fascinating
person to black kids because he did so much traveling. He
was the man who would come back to his neighborhood and
tell everyone firsthand what California was like. The school
teacher had the captive ear of black youth and taught them
that the way Ralph Bunche talked was the right way to speak.
The teacher represented wisdom and taught American history
from the white folks’ book. The barber was also at the top
of the black community. Young people listened to the barber,
regardless of how wrong he might have been. The barber was
a respected businessman, and even the militant spokesman
could not overshadow him.
Traditionally, when we went to see the doctor, we found him
talking about America the beautiful. When we went to the bar
bershop, we heard the same thing. And then along came Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr., and he took over the spotlight. Dr.
King began to challenge openly the white power structure and
consequently gained the admiration and respect of all black
people. The doctor, the preacher and the barber found them
selves being relegated to second place. Their talk of America
the beautiful and their defense of the system were no longer
popular.
So what did they do? They began to talk militant also, to try
to recapture some of their lost prestige. In the doctor’s office
and in the barber chair one could expect to hear, “White folks
ain’t no good.” The doctor and the barber did not know why
they were talking more militant, but it was to keep up with
the Dr. Kings, the Stokely Carmichaels and others. Such talk
instilled in the Negro something he had never heard before.
And the talk began to spread to other persons who were trying
to recapture their prestige in the Negro community-the pimp,
the whore and the policy pusher. All joined in voicing a new
black militancy.
Consequently the Negro youth heard talk against white folks
from people 'who had traditional status in the black commnnitv.
people who were respected more than Mom and Dad. When he
heard his feeling voiced and substantiated by the doctor and
the barber, the black kid began to develop his own attitude,
an attitude that was ripe to break out into riot.
A new ghetto attitude developed toward the cop, although
he didn’t notice it. Respect for the northern cop has always
been based on fear. But with the southern Negro began to march
against Sheriff Jim Clark in Selma or “Bull” Connor in Birming
ham, the northern Negro had to bast aside his fear of the cop
also, or else face the humiliating admission that the southern
black brother was braver than he was. This the northern Negro
could never do. Whenever the northern cop began using too
much force or shooting thoughtlessly, he was resisted by the
brother in the ghetto. The cop did not understand the change
in attitude of the northern Negro or the reasons for that change.
All the cop knew was that he was being resisted for the first
time, even though he was behaving as he always had.
The northern white cop brought into the ghetto the same
psychological attitude the hunter brings into the forest. It is
a violent sickness, an ego-feeding device to prove one’s man
hood. The hunter goes into the forest with his rifle, and when
he fires it he experiences a feeling of power. The act of shooting
produces an exhilarating feeling, and hunting becomes a thrill.
But after the hunter kills his first deer, he is under an obligation
each time he fails to kill, his manhood is denied.
The black man in the ghetto has been the white cop’s deer.
The white cop does not live in the ghetto, nor does he really
know its residents. Like the hunter, the white cop comes into
the ghetto eight hours a day, does his “hunting” and then leaves.
He affirms his manhood by beating ghetto heads. But when the
man in the ghetto decides to affirm his own manhood and refuses
to be misued, the cop resents the action and does not understand.
Had the northern cop understood the change in attitude, he
might have conducted himself a little differently. The ghetto
resident is very much aware that cops do not bother the pimp,
the pusher and the whore. Such persons have always enjoyed
free run of the ghetto. But the cop made the fatal mistake of
picking on the black militant, the one who was trying to uplift
the lives of ghetto residents. And the ghetto resented it. All
at once the pimps in the ghetto lost their status. Ghetto people
used to look up to the pimp because he wore the $40 shoes
and the beaver hat. He was Hollywood to the ghetto dweller;
the closest the poor man could get to the consumer luxuries of
society.
The new hero is the raggedy-dressed militant who is defying
the system, talking loud and drawing a crowd. He is saying,
“Whitey ain’t no good, and all cops should be killed,” and the
ghetto is listening. It is listening because that militant is telling
the truth about a corrupt and immoral nation.
When the white system opens its eyes to the changing attitude
in the ghetto, senses the growing mood of insistent militance,
feels the pulsebeat of ghetto resentment over the abuse of non
violent people and the refusal to respond to the just demands of
human need, it will begin to understand why riots happen.
The climate is ripe for a shift from revolt to revolution.
People who have been arrested and jailed in past ghetto revolts
are beginning to come out of confinement. Many such persons
were imprisoned for something they did not do. In their anger,
cops swept whole street corners clean and grabbed the innocent
with the gulty. These persons have been political prisoners, and
during their imprisonment they have developed an attitude.
Imagine a man who went out into the street during a ghetto
uprising, looking for his kids. He is a respected father and has
a decent job. He found his kids cheering the street activity.
And before he has a chance to get his kids back home, the cops
arrest him along with the mob. The man is not really worried
because he knows that he is innocent and expects to be released
when the record is set straight. Then he finds a $50,000 bail
placed upon him and hears false charges read against him. He
faces an all-white jury that is more inclined to believe the testi
mony of the police than his own true story. He ends up with a
year or two in jail, and he knows his only crime was being black.
I could almost predict who will be the leading revolutionaries
in the ghetto by looking at the court records of past arrests and
determining which persons have gone to jail for something they
didn’t do. When these political prisoners come back to their
neighborhoods after they have been released, they are heroes,
and their time in jail is a badge of honor. Ghetto residents know
the truth about false arrest. Thus, a political-prisoner-turned-
revolutionary can easily amass an army of support in the ghetto.
All those other ghetto Negroes who bear the stigma of false
arrest are immediately sympathetic to the cause.
Civil disorder in America can be condensed in a simple illus
tration. Black people in America look at this country as they do
a cigarette machine. They just can’t communicate with it. Re
call your feelings when you are running through the airport, just
ready to board your plane, and you stop by the cigarette machine.
You put your money in the machine, pull the lever, and no cig
arettes fall down. Then you pull the change-return lever, and
you don’t get your money back. Isn’t that a frustrating feeling?
Especially when you realize you can’t talk to the machine.
So you run over to the ticket counter and explain your pro
blem. The man at the ticket counter says, “Look, I just write
tickets for T.W.A I can’t help you. But there is a message written
on the machine that tells you what to do.” So you run back and
read the message: “In case of problems with this machine, write
to Giddings Jones, Kansas City, Missouri.” Now you hear the
last call for your flight, and you stand there looking at that
cigarette machine that has your money — and your flight is
leaving! So you do the normal thing. In a final act of despera
tion you kick the machine hard. You don’t get your money back,
but you see the dent in that machine and you feel better.
But imagine your reaction if, after you had kicked the machine
and turned away, a big foot came out and kicked you back. If
that happened you would cancel your flight, take that machine
and tear it to pieces.
Black people have invested their money, their lives, their
labor, their faith and their trust in America for 200 years. And
we have received nothing for our investment. We took our pro
blem to those who we thought would do something about it.
So in the form of Watts, Newark and Detroit we kicked the
American machine, trying desperately to get the attention of
the nation. And in the form of the police, the National Guard, and
(Cont. on Page 6)
BY SAMUEL MANUEL
This is an analysis of stu
dent response to the article,
“Mays asks A.U. unity,” in
the last publication of the Pan
ther. This analysis is not in the
form of numbered statistics
representing merely a yes or
no vote for or against unity
in the A.U. center. It repre
sents the voiced expressions
of the students of our campus.
The following statements are
the students’ responses:
4. I feel that we are being
too hasty about this. I trust
that the people in authority
will come around and work to
ward this goal. We must also
consider the vast amount of
red tape that would involve
such a change.
5. I believe that by uniting
the A.U. center into a large
Black University that it would
attract more Black students,
and some of out better Black
students who are being drawn
to the larger white universi
ties.
6. I believe this move would
cut down on cost. Take the
science department for in
stance. One science department
could be financed with less
strain financially than four du
plicated departments.
7. I believe it would cut out
the nonsense of duplicating cur
riculum and departments and
also the red tape of the ex
change program within the cen
ter itself.
8. I don’t feel that unifying
the center would be to the
advantage of the administration.
Of course some of them may
lose their jobs or positions.
But it would be of tremendous
help to the students. Unifying
the A.U. center could also fill
the void that is felt by the
students of the institutions in
volved.
9. I agree that we should
unite. There is no logic in hav
ing a unit called the A.U. cen
ter and then seperate Black
students in the existing schoold.
10. I agree with the unifi
cation movement for many rea
sons: It would strengthen the
academic departments. Each
school could be an area of spe
cialization in certain areas. It
would better the relation be
tween students and not have a
Black youth in a united A.U.
center hitting another Black
youth, of the same center, over
the head over a separate foot
ball game. It would also close
the gap of relation between the
large white universities and the
so called small Negro colleges.
I am for it and I feel that the
reasons for the separation is
not the fault of black students,
but an underlying white current
that is keeping us from ascend
ing beyond the level of the
white universities due to some
white control of some of our
institutions. This is also keep
ing us one step behind.