POWE R A ND RA CE

HA MILT O N , BLA C K POW E R

TURE AND
REVIEW
• UNIT 1: POWER AS VICTORY: OVERCOMING FOES AND OBSTACLES.
-POWER IS LOCATED IN DECISION MAKERS AN SOURCED FROM KNOWLEDGE. POWER IS
INDIVIDUALLY EXPERIENCED. VICTORY ESTABLISHES THE CONDITIONS FOR DOMINATION.

• UNIT 2: POWER AS DOMINATION: FORECLOSURE OF CONFLICT, MAINTENANCE OF SOCIAL

STRUCTURE.
-POWER IS LOCATED IN A DOMINANT GROUP AND SOURCED FROM THE SUBORDINATE GROUP I.E.
BOURGEOISIE, MEN,…WHITES, ETC.. POWER IS COLLECTIVELY EXPERIENCED.
-INVOLVES CONTROL OVER “MEANS OF PRODUCTION”, SEX, AND “RACIAL FORMATION”.
KWAME TURE (1941-1998) & CHARLES HAMILTON (1929-)
RACISM IN THE UNITED STATES
Racism

Individual Racism Institutional Racism

INDIVIDUAL RACISM: MANIFESTS WITHIN SOCIAL INTERACTION
INDIVIDUAL RACISM?
INSTITUTIONAL RACISM: EXAMPLE – THE FHA LOAN DISCRIMINATION

• 1910: BOLL WEEVIL INFESTATION IN SOUTH

• 1916 – 1930: FIRST GREAT MIGRATION

• 1934: NATIONAL HOUSING ACT CREATES FHA

• 1940 – 1970: SECOND GREAT MIGRATION

• 1948: SHELLEY V. KRAEMER (RACIAL COVENANTS
UNENFORCEABLE)
• 1968: FAIR HOUSING ACT (FOCUS ON INDIVIDUAL
RACISM)

• 1988: TITLE VIII AMENDMENT (EXPANDS PROTECTIONS

BUT STILL FOCUSES ON INDIVIDUAL BIAS)
 “BLACK PEOPLE ARE LEGAL CITIZENS OF THE UNITED
STATES WITH, FOR THE MOST PART, THE SAME LEGAL
RIGHTS AS OTHER CITIZENS. YET THEY STAND AS COLONIAL
SUBJECTS IN RELATION TO THE WHITE SOCIETY. THUS
INSTITUTIONAL RACISM HAS ANOTHER NAME:
COLONIALISM” (5).

WHAT IS THE SIGNIFICANCE OF FRAMING US RACE

RELATIONS AS “COLONIAL”?
THREE DIMENSIONS OF COLONIALISM

Economic:
Political: Exclusion
Exploitation
Social: Repression, cooptation
 MAINTAINING AMERICAN COLONIALISM

”INSTITUTIONAL RACISM HAS BEEN MAINTAINED DELIBERATELY BY THE POWER

STRUCTURE AND THROUGH INDIFFERENCE, INERTIA AND LACK [OF] COURAGE
ON THE PART OF WHITE MASSES AS WELL AS PETTY OFFICIALS. WHENEVER
BLACK DEMANDS FOR CHANGE BECOME LOUD AND STRONG, INDIFFERENCE IS
REPLACED BY ACTIVE OPPOSITION BASED ON FEAR AND SELF-INTEREST. THE
LINE BETWEEN PURPOSEFUL SUPPRESSION AND INDIFFERENCE BLURS” (22).
 WHAT IS THE CONDITION OF AMERICAN POLITICAL,
ECONOMIC, AND SOCIAL COLONIALISM TODAY? HOW HAVE
THESE PRACTICES AND INSTITUTIONS COME TO ENDURE
AND ADAPT?
POLITICAL COLONIALISM (EXCLUSION) TODAY
ECONOMIC COLONIALISM (EXPLOITATION) TODAY
SOCIAL COLONIALISM TODAY: PORTRAYAL
SOCIAL COLONIALISM TODAY: REPRESSION
SOCIAL COLONIALISM TODAY: COOPTATION
 Group discussion

WHAT, THEN, IS WHITE POWER, ACCORDING TO TURE &

HAMILTON?
 BLACK POWER

“[BLACK POWER] IS A CALL FOR BLACK PEOPLE IN THIS COUNTRY TO UNITE, TO

RECOGNIZE THEIR HERITAGE, TO BUILD A SENSE OF COMMUNITY. IT IS A CALL FOR
BLACK PEOPLE TO BEGIN TO DEFINE THEIR OWN GOALS, TO LEAD THEIR OWN
ORGANIZATIONS AND TO SUPPORT THOSE ORGANIZATIONS. IT IS A CALL TO REJECT
THE RACIST INSTITUTIONS AND VALUES OF THIS SOCIETY” (44).
POLITICAL MODERNIZATION

1. QUESTIONING OLD VALUES & INSTITUTIONS

2. SEARCHING FOR NEW & DIFFERENT FORMS OF POLITICAL
STRUCTURE
3. BROADENING THE BASE OF POLITICAL PARTICIPATION
 VIOLENCE & JUSTICE

“THOSE OF US WHO ADVOCATE BLACK POWER ARE QUITE CLEAR IN

OUR OWN MINDS THAT A ‘NON-VIOLENT’ APPROACH TO CIVIL
RIGHTS IS AN APPROACH BLACK PEOPLE CANNOT AFFORD AND A
LUXURY WHITE PEOPLE DO NOT DESERVE. IT IS CRYSTAL CLEAR TO US
—AND IT MUST BECOME SO WITH THE WHITE SOCIETY—THAT THERE
CAN BE NO SOCIAL ORDER WITHOUT SOCIAL JUSTICE.” (53)
 BLACK SELF-DETERMINATION VS INTEGRATION: A QUESTION OF POWER?

ACCORDING TO [INTEGRATIONISTS] SOCIAL JUSTICE WILL BE ACCOMPLISHED BY “INTEGRATING THE NEGRO INTO
THE MAINSTREAM INSTITUTIONS OF THE SOCIETY FROM WHICH HE HAS BEEN TRADITIONALLY EXCLUDED”

THIS MERELY WORKS TO “SIPHON OFF THE ‘ACCEPTABLE’ BLACK PEOPLE INTO THE SURROUNDING MIDDLE-CLASS
WHITE COMMUNITY” RATHER THAN CREATE TRUE RACIAL EQUALITY (53).
 POWER AS DOMINATION
Power Marx (Work) MacKinnon (Sexuality) Ture & Hamilton (Race)
Location Capitalist Institutions Diffused Individual beliefs and behaviors;
institutions.
Source Workers/labor Sexuality Racial Formation
Purpose Accumulation of capital; Masculine dominance; White supremacy; Black
subjugation of worker. production and subordination exploitation and subordination.
of women.
Relation to Individual Alienation Constructs ’objective’ reality Racializes social, political, economic
life; constructs ‘objective’ reality.
Risk/consequence Diminishes humanity; Objectifies women; traps men Traps whites in self-delusion; reifies
eradicates freedom. in self-delusion; reifies gender racial inequality.
inequality.
Limited/disrupted by Immiseration of the Consciousness Raising Black Self-Determination
proletariat.
 POWER AS RESISTANCE?

Power Marx (Work) MacKinnon (Sexuality) Ture & Hamilton (Race)

Location

Source
Purpose

Relation to Individual
Risk/Consequence

Limited/disrupted by
 End of Unit 2: Power as Domination, start of
Unit 3: Power as Control

Domination vs Control – what’s the difference?

How does domination establish the conditions
for control?

BLACK MIRROR – 15 Million Merits