WASHINGTON - The Black Power movement is not a vestige of the past, but a living didactical legacy that is as relevant now in the Obama era as it has ever been, said a group of scholars and activists during a two-day symposium dedicated to the impact of the Black Power movement on America.
“On the Sunday morning shows, when everyone wants to pay tribute to the great mobilization and organizing [of the Obama campaign], I sit and say, ‘You know, there was the Jackson campaigns in ‘84 and ‘88 that increased Black voter registration tenfold,” said Donna Brazile, vice chair of the Democratic National Committee Voting Rights Institute. “There was the Shirley Chisholm campaign [in 1972]. There was Fannie Lou Hamer and the Mississippi Democratic Party. We have so much to be grateful for.’”
“I am living proof that there was indeed a Black Power movement,” added Brazile. “I see a direct link between the Black Power movement, the Civil Rights movement and where we are today. I see a connection between those African Americans who stood in those long lines in ’84 and ’88 for Rev. [Jesse] Jackson and those who turned out for President Barack Obama.”
Between 1966 and 1975, a time known as Black Power’s classical period, several key victories emerged in academia for African Americans: the development of African-American studies programs across the nation, the resurgence of Black feminist literature as a viable genre, and a political arena that paved the way for a new class of Black elected officials. All three were discussed by a distinguished group of panelists during the symposium Tuesday held at the
Still much of an enigma to Blacks as well as to Whites, Black Power is often defined as a political movement that emerged out of the Civil Rights movement and allowed for the expression of a new racial consciousness among Blacks in the United States. Much of the history of this era has been characterized by revolutionist iconography: Black Panthers, raised fists, black berets and rifles.
