Comparison Of Stokely Carmichael And Charles Hamilton's Black Power
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“Politically, decisions which affect black lives have always been made by white people- the ‘white power structure’”(Black Power, 7). This remark dually confronts the reality of the lack of power the African American community has in the United States of America thereby initiating the discussion as to why this affects the freedom of the community, noting the colonial subject position the community holds in America, specifically.
Stokely Carmichael and Charles Hamilton’s Black Power speaks on the idea that African Americans stand as colonial subjects in relation to white society. This analogy is very powerful in that it makes it apparent that the world has not changed much for African Americans. The tribulations this community faces…show more content… I agree with this idea because the African American community does not “export anything except human labor” just like an colony that sells it’s labor while the “product itself does not belong to the subjects because the land is not theirs” (Black Power, 6). Meaning that there are many subsections to the way in which the flow of capital and the input of work occur in the system. And because the system itself is not meant to benefit the African American community, harm is created leading to an unending cycle of subjects and controllers. For example, the fact that African Americans were brought here as slaves shows how they were only seen as mere property meant to increase the wealth and social standing of slave-owners in the United States. This created a culture of a demeaning lifestyle for African Americans moving throughout history. To this day, they are subject to racism that is institutionalized leading to the way in which “people die each year because of the lack of proper food, shelter, and medical facilities; maimed and destroyed physically, emotionally and intellectually because of conditions of poverty and discrimination” making it clear that the powers that may be are not here for the freedom and care of the African American community, but rather feed off of what the community can provide to them- just like a colonist master, if you will (Black Power,…show more content… This exemplifies the way in which whites go through any lengths in order to deprive the African American community of their rights, hard work, and merit; showing that their goal is to subjugate them in order to continue their power streak. In the dearth of economic power, the African American community has difficulties obtaining loans to start businesses and is exploited by the housing market prices and low quality housing. Without a means to obtain a descent living, this community has to work so hard in order to obtain a mere piece of what their hard work actually affords them, which what the whites’ goal