The recent attempt to make a distinction between John Lewis and Kwame Ture (Stokely Carmichael) misunderstands the legacy and meaning of Black Power.
As a political project, Black Power was a response to white supremacy and its violent manifestations in the Jim Crow south. This was violence that both John and Kwame knew intimately.
But it was the people in the communities we organized who knew it. They also knew that they were not the problem. Black Power allowed us to articulate their and our belief in their dignity. It countered the negative images that depicted Black life as less than.
It gave organizers a way to tap into the ongoing tradition of self-determination. If the vote was to be fought for, it was because it was a vehicle for Black Power. This is what Kwame and Charles Hamilton wrote about in their 1967 book, Black Power: The Politics of Liberation.
Black Power was cultural and social affirmation. It generated Black Studies programs that continue to exist today. We wonder what many universities would look like without them. Kwame was there. And later John would advocate for the creation of the @NMAAHC.
Black Power generated cultural institutions that showed Black life on the stage and screen in beautiful and authentic ways. If representation matters, so too does the Black Power movement.
Black Power advocates in SNCC, opposed war and US imperialism. In solidarity with our brothers and sisters in the Third World, we believed in and fought for another way. Kwame shared this belief for the rest of his life. John opposed war and regime change.
Black Power was a threat to the powers that be, because it called for a disruption of global white supremacy. Both Kwame and John understood this. Read their memoirs.
Whether it was in organizing on the continent of Africa, or within the halls of Congress, the paths that SNCC folk took did not always mean we agreed on everything. We struggled for consensus. But we all shared the basic principles of Black Power: the right to define.
So we must define what “prevailing” is for ourselves. That is the job of our communities, where we organize and live. It is only for us to decide.
