>>> raphael allen <rcallen at eden.rutgers.edu> 01/19 2:53 PM
When i *was* a black nationalist years back, I didn't begin from, or occupy, the position that whites _couldn't_ take part in anti-racist struggle. I began from the resignation that the nonblack progressives I knew *didn't* take part, or insiisted that they were no more than pinchhitters--that is, they were doing me and only "my" people a favor when they did. __________
Charles: If I follow you here, Raphael, I would point out that it is mainly white people who must end racism. Racism toward Black people is not contained in the conduct of Black people. It is in the conduct of White people. The end of racism will essentially be the end of White people acting a certain way. Black people can encourage, demand, plead and everything else, but it is not in their hands, so to speak,ultimately. Thus, a list of White progressives and leftists is actually one of THE key locations for fighting racism, even more than the Black Radical Congress, the NAACP or any other majority Black organization. When racism is ended, the main people who achieve it will be people like those on LBO-talk. This is an important and little understood point.
In a way, Martin Luther King or other famous Black anti-racist fighters are atypical of what is needed. King persuaded many whites to become less racist. But to really end racism most of the persuading of whites will be by other whites, for whites listen to whites more than they listen to Blacks. By the time Whites listen to Blacks on this issue, the deed will have to have been substantially accomplished.
Charles Brown