Our Road To Freedom

Throughout the darkest periods of our captivity to the turbulent upheaval of the Civil War the one impulse we nurtured like a baby and kept alive was freedom.  Freedom took on many faces and presented itself to us on many levels.  From the house slave free from the fields and the overseer’s whip to full-fledged escape to the North via the Underground Railroad.  Freedom, any measure of it, was still a taste; if only a brief reprieve from the madness it was the carrot that we, more often than not, reached for. 

What becomes clear when we review the history is that divisiveness badly compromised our quest for freedom, setting us on two distinct courses that by the turn of the 20th century became known as “integration vs. segregation.”  It should be understood, however, that this dichotomy already had firm roots because of the plantation system itself and the cordial relations forged between black and white, familial and otherwise.

Part of the inspiration of Forty Million And A Tool was that I travel (historically) along our road to freedom and meet many of the personages key to our struggle and instrumental in charting the respective courses we would ultimately take (see Appendix 2).  While it’s pretty obvious that I regard Harriet (Moses) Tubman as my spiritual mentor, I was most intrigued by the period between the Civil War and just after the end of Reconstruction (also referred to as the 2nd Civil War), a period featuring her, Frederick Douglas and countless unheralded others.

Directly in the mix of this historic flurry of changes stood men like the Rev. Garrison Frazier, spokesperson for the “group of twenty” that met with Generals Sherman and Stanton – a meeting including talks that led to approximately 400,000 acres of abandoned land mostly along the Georgia and South Carolina coast being given to freed slaves.  Men like Tunis G. Campbell who set up what can be described as the first independent black economy on St. Catherine’s Island, but yielding the land back to a white planter rather than fire on the black regiments sent by the government to evict them. Men like John Roy Lynch and Henry McNeal Turner, who along with Campbell and others, won seats in the Georgia, Mississippi and Louisiana state legislatures.  But just as quick, these men and all blacks were swept out of government and out of power sharing in America.   When the smoke of slavery, Civil War and Reconstruction cleared, and as we tumbled powerlessly down the paths of Black Codes, sharecropping and Jim Crow, two prominent black leaders emerged as the embodiment of those two distinct courses.  W.E.B. DuBois, along with other founding members of the NAACP, demanded equality and integration, while Booker T. Washington urged us to accept segregation and America’s help in starting us on our way towards self sufficiency.  It’s interesting to note here that unlike future integrationists, DuBois was regarded by the white power structure as militant and uppity, while Washington got invited to the white house and praised as a sensible man. Their political and philosophical lineage, however, would do a complete reversal as the line approached the next two major embodiments of integration and segregation: Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X.

DUBOIS AND WASHINGTON (The unfolding)

Our analysis of these two black leaders or any subsequent two must avoid the unproductive characterization of “house nigga vs. field nigga,” but to remain focused on our people’s impulse for freedom.  While we’ve produced our share of scoundrels, con artists and sell outs, never should our greatest and most significant leaders be painted with any brush other than one that says they carried and pushed forth our impulse to be free.  Even those instances where our leaders themselves branded one another with disparaging labels it was only out of their heartfelt belief that the other was leading us in the wrong direction.  They had to understand that it was counter­productive and played into white America’s need and desire to keep us divided, but when you see the future prosperity of your people at stake, things can and do get a little testy. History, however, removes any doubt as to the hearts of these great and fearless leaders.

While DuBois was an intellectual and Washington more a vocational man, any of our people with an ounce of sense knew that we, as a people, could benefit from both disciplines and many others in between.  So, if white America were going to fund or cater to one and not the other, we had to accept that; we had to take whatever help and keep on pushin’.  DuBois knew that we deserved human dignity and respect right then and there.  Washington knew that the power structure would have none of it and so embarked on an accomodationist program of appeasement, believing that full acceptance would come to us after we’d proven ourselves worthy.

In less than 70 years from the founding of the NAACP racial segregation was outlawed in all its forms, and integration is and will be the face of America for all time – an astounding tribute indeed to DuBois, to his colleagues and to his political and philosophical lineage.  In that same period of time Tuskegee Institute led the way toward the establishment of black institutions of higher learning and thriving black towns like Tulsa and Rosewood, a definite tribute to the philosophy of Washington.  May they both rest in peace.

MARTIN AND MALCOLM (A Deadly Combination)

By the time Martin Luther King and Malcolm X came along the American power structure was firmly in bed with the integrationist camp of black leadership.  The “cast down thy bucket” and “up by your bootstraps” lineage of Booker T. Washington had broken from appeasement and accommodation and turned to more nationalistic and militant stances.   Leaders like Marcus Garvey and Elijah Muhammed captured the hearts, minds and financial support of black masses with teachings of black pride, self reliance and separation from white America, but without the docile, subservient posture of Washington.  The mantra had become “do for self” and “the white man is the devil.”  Meanwhile, the black clergy, along with notable political/social activists, emerged as the political lineage of DuBois.  They gained favor with the white power structure that now regarded integrationists worthy of its recognition and support, thus continuing its self-preserving manner of legitimizing (in our eyes) black leadership on the basis of who it decides to negotiate with and invite to the White House.  Never was black leadership more divided as during the time of Martin and Malcolm.  Volumes are already written that detail their differences and the impact they had on American history.  We won’t belabor that here, only chart those differences for visual reference:

DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.                       EL HAJJ MALIK SHABAZZ

Christian                                                              Muslim

Peaceful Agitator                                                Militant Agitator

Advocated Integration                                       Advocated Separation

Civil Disobedience                                              Any Means Necessary

Loving, Inclusive Oratory                                  Fiery, Raw Oratory

Turn Other Cheek                                               Self Defense

Educated Theologian                                          School Of Hard Knocks

Invited To White House                                     Not Invited To White House

Embraced By White America                            Feared By White America

While this era gave birth to many other movements, most notably the Black Panthers, the Student Non Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the Five Percent Nation (now the Universal Nation of Gods and Earths), the Nubian Nation, US (United Slaves) and the Black Liberation Army, black America stood mesmerized when either Martin or Malcolm spoke and it was felt that our surest freedom rested with one or both of them.

White America was still mounting fierce battles to maintain a separate and unequal society and J. Edgar Hoover was intent on stopping the rise of a black messiah.  At one point Hoover had not one, but two black messiahs with others following in their stead.  He also had two Kennedy brothers rapidly stepping up their support for civil rights.  Tragically, by 1972 the people who represented the most formidable opposition to white supremacy in America were dead of gunshot wounds.  I guess the prospect of a president in office vowing swift change and the combination of Martin and Malcolm having that president in a vise was too much for many to bear.  The mere possibility of Martin and Malcolm joining forces was extremely frightening, as the two did meet face to face and with Malcolm contemplating taking the case of black America to the United Nations for a “crimes against humanity” resolution, thus opening wide the door to possible reparations on a massive scale.

In the end Martin and Malcolm had just as much in common as they had not. They were both great orators, they were full of love for their people, they were devoted family men, and both experienced raw racism as children. They both recognized their common oppressor/enemy, they were equally loved by their people, they were surveilled and hounded by the F.B.I., they each advocated reparations and both died for their beliefs.  May they both rest in peace.

JESSE AND FARRAKHAN (The Culmination)

While DuBois and Washington toiled at a time when the white power structure simply said yes or no to any initiatives or pleas from the “coloreds,” the era of Martin and Malcolm showed us another tactic: discredit black leaders in the eyes of their people.  It didn’t start with Martin and Malcolm (Marcus Garvey got that treatment long before), but it was honed to perfection by the time they rose to prominence.  That brings us to the present day with the torches having been passed to Jesse Jackson and Louis Farrakhan, clearly the heirs to our two-fold road to freedom, but destined, I believe, to culminate as one. After Rev. Jackson and Minister Farrakhan there are no two African American leaders emerging as cut so undoubtedly from the cloth of either lineage concretized by DuBois and Washington.

Our leadership is now in a holding pattern with literally thousands of bright minds in the firmament, each continuing to illuminate in their individual ways our collective aspirations.  Integration and Segregation, as objectives, have equally succeeded with each of us now able to freely choose, not necessarily between the two, but between who and what we truly feel in our human essence makes us happy, alive and whole.  Truth be told, the only thing that keeps any two human beings apart or at violent odds, is ignorance. The vision I’ve been given has Jesse and Farrakhan not as individual persons, per se, but as the culmination of our impulse for freedom, leading us to our birthright of wealth.  Forty Million And A Tool was the vehicle.

At the Million Man March I remember the anticipation that swept through the crowd that Jesse would publicly reconcile with Farrakhan and the two would embrace.  It didn’t happen (at least publicly) and for many of us that was the only negative.  That act would’ve officially and symbolically ended the duality of our house.  Since then three heavily criticized African American men have garnered the most media exposure touting them as the leading African American spokespersons.  They are Jesse Jackson, Louis Farrakhan and Al Sharpton.  The media’s depiction of them crisscrossing the country to fight or litigate every battle sent a very debilitating message to African Americans that they’re all we’ve got.  This has sown enmity between them and local black leaders nationwide, as well as cast them constantly under suspicion as to their motives.  Since they each have powerful “code words” (Jesse: Infidelity & Shakedown, Farrakhan:Muslim & Anti Semite and Al: Tawana Brawley & Charlatan) attached to them like a burdock, anything other than an agenda of oneness will render them ineffective, irreparably blemished and marginalized. It would also mean that we believed the hype.

It’s time to unite the house; time to unleash all of our stars in the firmament. Singular, charismatic leadership in this day and age can only be an impediment to full and complete freedom.  Any number of us can stand before a microphone, be eloquent and capture the imagination of the masses.  The question is: can we move as one?

UNITY IN THE RANKS (The Fulfillment)

Forty Million And A Tool does not seek political power; political power will be a peripheral benefit of our unity.  Forty Million And A Tool does not ask for any change in belief systems, political affiliations, lifestyles or loved ones.  All it asks is that we achieve our birthright; just that one thing.  We’ve tried and relied on everything and everyone but ourselves.  We are intimately aware of all the reasons why previous attempts at unity and oneness have failed.  Forty Million And A Tool is here to say to us that virtually all obstacles have been removed.  We can thank all those who’ve walked the road to freedom ahead of us, because it is they who removed them and they on whose shoulders we stand.  We can thank all those who’ve walked side by side and hand in hand with us, many of whom died right along with us.  They and their generations are our family too.  Unity in the ranks demands that we first know who makes up our ranks and what their formations are.

When Quakers and Abolitionists responded to our impulse for freedom we knew them by their actions and their commitment, but mostly by their willingness to place life and limb a risk.  From the Underground Railroad to the civil rights marches, even unto today, that line has not been broken.  Forty Million And A tool demands that we recognize our ranks, else we do them a grievous injustice.  Telling the truth of history is one thing; behaving like our worst oppressor is another.  Forty Million And A Tool is not revenged based, anger driven or given to divisive rhetoric of any kind.  Its only objective is to be a beacon on our road to freedom – the one that leads us to true and lasting freedom – our birthright of wealth.