Worldview deserves condemnation just as much as a white–supremacist view does.
But we must be very careful how we define it, lest we wrongfully include black pride, or black anger over white mistreatment of blacks within the same label; holding those types of attitudes do not amount to being a “black supremacist.” Let’s address the negative cases first.
Black pride / “Black is beautiful.”
This attitude in no way indicates that the speaker thinks he or she is better than white people, or for that matter, Asians, Native Americans, or other ethnicities. It is simply an affirmation that black people, as a whole, are just as good as anybody else.
The
“Black Is Beautiful”
Movement
“Black is beautiful” is a reaffirmation, for black persons, that they are entitled to, and do, have a conception of beauty that is uniquely “black,” just as good as but different than other ethnicities which have their own ideal conceptions of beauty, and that none of those various, diverse conceptions need play second fiddle to some so called “universal,” but really white–Anglo–European–based, “ideal” of physical appearance.
So, we can easily understand and agree with black activist Steven Biko that “When you say black is beautiful, you are saying’ Man you are ok as you are, begin to look upon yourself as a human being’
Black anger over white mistreatment.
Martin Luther King Arrested
The descendants of slaves in America truly have a lot to be angry about. Not only were their ancestors forcibly snatched and kidnapped from their West African homes, transported to the New World in horrific, pestilential conditions, and forced to do backbreaking work for no pay, on pain of corporal punishment or death if they should disobey or run away, but even after the Civil War (and the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments passed near its end) supposedly decided forever that black people were people too, that black lives matter, and that blacks had the same rights as anyone else — ideas which, to any rational person, should not appear radical at all — white supremacists as well as clueless scions of generic white privilege (including many liberals) continued to support segregation, mistreatment, and second-class status for America’s black population.
It took homegrown black leaders of immense stature — Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. DuBois, Thurgood Marshall, and the moral voice of equality and nonviolence, Martin Luther King, Jr., to even begin to overcome “Jim Crow” racist legislation and attitudes not only in the American South, but throughout the country. And their task is not yet done. In that light, it is readily understandable that contemporary preachers such as Jeremiah Wright can say things such as, “White wolf done took this country. You’re in there home, and they’re gonna let you know it. You are not now, nor have you ever been, nor will you ever be a brother to white folk and if you do not realize that, you are in serious trouble”
”Now, I don’t agree with him on the impossibility of white-black brotherhood, but I can understand where his attitude is coming from. It’s a response to centuries of white hatred expressed against blacks, not a condemnation of white folks just for being white.
Black supremacists
There are some among the African-American community (U.S. blacks) who are preaching ideologies that oversimplify race relations to the point of not only saying that being black is something good, but that all whites are inherently and irredeemably evil, and that blacks are inherently superior. The most well-known such institution today is the so called Nation of Islam founded by Elijah Muhammad, and which continues today under the leadership of Louis Farrakhan.
Here are some of the things those two leaders have said, in their own words:
Elijah Muhammad believed and preached that white people are “very different. Black people have a heart of gold, love and mercy. Such a heart, nature did not give to the white race. This is where the so-called Negroes are deceived in this devil race. They think they have the same kind of heart; but the white race knows better. They have kept it as a secret among themselves, that they may be able to deceive the black people.” (from Elijah Mohammad, Message to the black man in America)
Whites As “Devils”
On the subject of whites as “devils,” Elijah Muhammad wrote, “It’s what He revealed, and what He revealed is what I am teaching and believe in, and this term “devil,” or name “devil,” is applied to wicked people, people who are by nature wicked. “They were made white, or different color, because they had been grafted out of the darker people, and, therefore, they have that color.” (same source)
Louis Farrakhan followed in his mentor’s footsteps. In one of his more famous quotes, he claimed, “White people are potential humans – they haven’t evolved yet.”
Back in 1964, when another Nation of Islam (“Black Muslim”) leader, Malcolm X, actually had the epiphany of realizing that Elijah Muhammad was wrong about white people being “devils,” and that people of all races were equal and could be brothers — a revelation that occurred to him during his pilgrimage to Mecca — Elijah Muhammad’s loyal lieutenant, Mr. Farrakhan, had this to say about Malcolm X, probably setting in motion the forces that shortly led to Malcolm X’s assassination: “The die is set, and shall not escape, especially after such evil foolish talk about his benefactor, Elijah Mohammad. Such a man as Malcolm is worthy of death.” (writing in the newspaper Muhammad Speaks, 4 December 1964)
Farrakhan called Hitler
Farrakhan reserves his most bitter bile and hatred for the Jews. He said, “The Jews don’t like Farrakhan, so they call me Hitler. Well, that’s a good name. Hitler was a very great man.” Doubling down, he relied on ever-crazier Jew-hating stereotypes and excuses that would make a confirmed Nazi proud: “You see everybody always talk about Hitler exterminating six million Jews. That’s right. But don’t nobody ever ask what did they do to Hitler.” (The answer, of course, is NOTHING. The Jews, as Jews, did nothing to enrage Hitler, other than existing; he hated Jews simply because they were Jews.) This compendium from the Jewish Virtual Library collects and annotates what Farrakhan said on many other occasions where he demonized Jews and referred to vile Jew-hating paranoid conspiracy theories as the “reason” for his hatred of Jews:
In Farrakhan own words:
“So, yes, true “black supremacists” do exist, who believe that whites, and in particular Jews (who, paradoxically, they seem to regard as white, although Hitler didn’t), are inherently inferior to blacks, and can never catch up”.
By Michael Jacobs (Retired Former Civil Rights Lawyer)
Images: I Source I Google