The Black Radical Tradition

There are two components of the Black Radical Tradition that have resonated with me the most. The first is the ability of the movement to carve out an ideological, political and even aesthetic space for themselves in the face of so much bigotry and hatred. In the framework of the racial hierarchy, every aspect of the being of the oppressed race is labelled inferior. Their culture, their worldviews, and their spiritual beliefs are treated to immense derogation. Yet Malcolm X and many of his Muslim comrades found a spiritual path that led them away from the world created by the white man. The white man used religion to justify his racial oppression. From the historical use of the white man’s burden being a divine duty to the notion that the white man is the chief recipient of God’s favours on Earth. With Islam, Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali were able to create a philosophical understanding that tied their religious beliefs to envisioning a world of racial justice and equality, sharply contrasting the beliefs of the white man. Through the way they constructed Islam and adapted its beliefs to racially divided America, allowed them to chart a heuristic path of interpreting the oppression they lived in. The corruption of White America that Malcolm referred to was likened to that of the Pharaoh or the people of Sodom in the Biblical/Islamic tradition.\

This is similarly observed in DuBois’ writing where he speaks of how the ‘Negro church of to-day is the social centre of Negro life’. They were able to use a worship place of the Christian religion, the religion taught by the white man, to create a centre for community life. DuBois ties this to the lasting legacy of the Medicine Man from the slave plantations. The preservation of an old institution in a new form indicates the community’s resolve to not allow the white paradigm to overwhelm their own. While he does justifiably criticise the aspects of complacency that this religious fervour brought, he recognises how this eventually became the centre of rebellion as well. The ways in which worshipped were unique and some traditions such as hymn singing were taken up by white Churches.

The second memorable aspect of the Black Radical Tradition has been the hope that its proponents held out in the face of immeasurable adversity. When Martin Luther King spoke of ‘unfulfilled dreams’, he contrasted his own dreams of racial equality with the hopes of Gandhi and St Paul. By discussing how great individuals of the past held out hope despite the difficulties, he presents the cognitive motif upon which the movement should be based. Great people died before their visions were realised and they knew of the possibility of failure, yet they struggled for what they believed. It is noteworthy that the Black Radical Tradition was able to imbibe this spirit of hope within its people. Audre Lorde saw hope in that the community was “stronger and wiser than the sum of our errors”. She acknowledged the obstacles but saw that the energy of the community that was seen in the 60s could be channeled such that it brought betterment for all social groups. The acknowledgment that change is a responsibility on each individual is recognition that change is a possibility and that it requires no complex construction of theory but that it can be also be done in the personal, individual space.