Agitations: Ideologies and Strategies in African American Politics

4. Ministers in Black: The Ideological Origins of Grassroots Civil Rights Protest

CHAPTER 4 Ministers in Black The Ideological Origins of Grassroots Civil Rights Protest Peace is viewed as a virtue even by those who reject it. Protesters, though, are likely to be denounced as troublemakers by both opponents and friends. —Derrick Bell, Confronting Authority Although the racial oppression felt by African Americans varied little across the nation, the perceptions of it and reactions to it varied greatly among the people. The moral foundations of the arguments for change emanating from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference were rooted in a perception of American racism that believed it to be an inherent part of the problems of the economic and political systems of the United States. If the problems of racial oppression are part of a larger, systemic bias, then the strategies for change are built around different assumptions regarding what is needed in the society. The history of African American commentary from this perspective is different from the perceptions, strategies, and solutions of groups such as the NAACP; and while they shared many beliefs regarding racism in America, this difference of perception led to a broader definition and practice of African American politics. African American resistance to slavery and oppression took many forms throughout American history and the strategic discussions regarding freedom and justice among African Americans reflected both the multiple forms of resistance and the ideological cleavages among that population. The necessity of protest for freedom is an unassailable constant in African American history, yet protest movements have varied as have the differing perceptions of how capitalism and democracy have been affected by racism. The belief in securing individual rights according to the precepts of American liberalism—a belief that 73 helped sustain the work of the NAACP—was not universally embraced among those who organized resistance to the American racial status quo. The perception of racism as a core element of the American polity (stable racism) shaped protest against slavery in ways that noted the inhumanity of the institution while linking the racism and degradation of slavery with the inequality of an economic system that made it a profitable enterprise. According to this argument , any nation that embraced such a system was morally suspect and invited the wrath of God by perpetuating such evil. The economic model that made slavery profitable and the political ideology that made it legal meant that any possible redemption of the nation would involve both fundamental political change and a sustained commitment to a new and morally right community. The adoption of “Social Gospel” ideas by African Americans in the twentieth century along with radical critiques of racism and capitalism melded together to form an ideology of protest and moral transformation. The emphasis was no longer on seeing to it that society secured the individual rights of each citizen as proof of the democratic liberalism the nation professed to believe; the most important matter now was to get individuals to join together and stand up and push society toward a moral stance that ensured equality and justice for all citizens. The immorality of racism is united with an assault on all forms of inequality in American society and this different ideological program led to new strategic plans among African Americans . The best combination of moral fervor and political power in the African American community was Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. King and other members of the SCLC were the foremost strategic and political leaders who articulated and executed this ideological program and they are the lineal descendants of a strategic tradition rooted in American politics and ideology. American Liberalism What would be the foundation of the radical critiques of racism and politics in America? Why would some African Americans perceive the nation to be in need of massive political change and moral transformation? The foundation of mass action engaged in by the SCLC is rooted in these questions and the answers lie with understanding their perceptions of the role of racism in the American state. The perception of racism as stable (a fundamental part of the American polity) derives from a very different conception of liberalism than the one propagated by John Locke. Other elements of liberalism can be emphasized as relevant features of this philosophy. David Greenstone, in pointing out the multiple forms of liberalism, notes that in America one form has been elevated above the 74 MINISTERS IN BLACK others, and he...