Racism, Colonization, and Civilization Essay

In his article, Stokely addresses the issue of racism by discussing the differences that blacks had to the whites in America. The article outlines the use of movements by the blacks and associations to help them fight for their rights. Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee is the main body which championed for black power and led to the development of the Mississippi freedom democratic party. The police and the law are brutal to the blacks, and the author indicates it as "why do you beat us up, why don't you give us what we want," this statement addressed the situation where black people were beaten up by the police for demonstrating peacefully . (Carmichael 122). He argues that the organizations who are fighting for the rights of the black people should be from the perspective of the student nonviolent coordination committee which is community-based and not a mouthpiece of other groups "must speak in the tone of that community and not someone else's buffer zone." The author in the articles indicates that the oppression of the black people was due to the lack of power which was obtained by occupying political positions. However, the position was only to be occupied by a black person, but the individual should be from the community who understands what the real problems of the blacks are and should be willing to fight for them. According to the author the black Americans face two problems, i.e., being poor and being black. The author argues that ".....to work for power because this country does not function by morality, love, and nonviolence but by power". The statement means that for the black Americans to be heard like the whites, they had to fight for political power for them to have a voice . (Carmichael 122). By occupying political positions, the black leaders can abolish laws which are geared towards destroying the black people and fight for adoption of laws which treats blacks as equals of the white people. In the discussion, the issue of capitalism arises whereby the author indicates that the blacks were poor regarding firm ownership and monetary value "black people who form 80% of the population have an average annual income of $943". Alabama is indicated by the author has to be the only state that gave equal representation to all people without relying on their race but the number of people who voted for the candidate. The black Americans used a black panther as their symbol because it is an animal which is bold and willing to fight for what is right just like the black people who were demonstrating in streets. Racisms is pointed out in the article as the main reason why the North is more developed than the South which is mostly occupied by the blacks; this has led those black people who want access to excellent amenities to move to the north which is white society. The division of the regions as North for the Whites and South for the blacks contributes to the aspect of racism and promotes the unequal allocation of resources.

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The article by Cesaire is on the war on colonialism whereby the colonized black nations such as Kenya, South Africa, India and Algeria fight for their independence from the colonial masters. The article addresses the concept of colonialism, the impact on the culture and history of the colonized and impact on colonizers. The author in the article shows the origin of racisms by pointing out that the colonizers were violent and tortured the colonized making them the uncivilized individuals (Kelly & Aime 7). Cesaire and his team of editors mainly wrote articles which aimed to intimidate and condemn colonization and racism this is evident in the letter written to them " a revolutionary review that is racial and sectarian," this was because of their publication entitled Tropiques. The article highlighted the colonial period and anticipated a future where colonialism will not exist; this mainly gave hope to the Africans, Indians, and Asian who were affected greatly by the colonialization. Suzzane Cesaire is featured in the article as being a surprise who believed that the conditions which the colonized were placed would one day come to pass when the blacks join hands and fight the colonial masters "...millions of black hands will fling their terror across the furious skies of world war." According to her statement, the future she envisioned was one whereby there were no colonial masters nor the separation of people as either black or white. Cesaire who is a French in his support for surrealism indicated in his statement that "....we bear the marks of French customs, we have been branded by Cartesian philosophy by French rhetoric but if we break all that we will find fundamentally black" (Kelly & Aime 9). The statement was meant to inform the French that their power is the only thing that makes them different from the black people they colonized. Cesaire pointed out that "a civilization which is incapable of solving its problems is a decadent civilization." The author points out that the colonized had identified the weakness of the European masters as being deceitful giving them hope that no matter how they treat them in the current position they knew there was a point where they would use their weakness to their advantage. The problems identified in the European civilization was those of law class working citizens and the problem of colonialism, the leaders choose to hide on the religion of Rome instead of facing the issues at hand. The author defines colonization and civilization where he points out that colonization is not about the spread of the word of God nor is it evangelization. He argues that colonization does not bring civilization because civilization does not involve hatred and torture which was evident in the colonization. In his statement, he ends by saying that ".......out of all colonial statues that have been dispatched by all ministries there could not come a single human value" (Kelly & Aime 11).

Works Cited

Carmichael, Stokely. Stokely Speaks: From Black Power to Pan-Africanism. Chicago Review Press, 2007

Kelley, Robin DG, and Aime Cesaire. "Discourse on Colonialism." (2000): 7.