Englewood Ministerium Remembers & Notes DC & LA Black Cultural Centers' Lifting-up 1967 Newark Rebellion & Its National Conference on Black Power Aftermath at 50/Part 7/Conclusion
Rev. Joel Washington (Khunanpu Sangoma)
Published: September 5, 2017
1. We conclude this series of note-reports on both the National Museum of African American History & Culture, Washington, DC and the African American Cultural Center/Us of Los Angeles's up-lifting the 1967 Newark, NJ Rebellion and its immediate National Conference on Black Power aftermath at 50. We propose here to briefly look at Dr. Maulana Karenga's outline of the final 3 of 4 basic sources of the Black Power concept & motion as they emerged to guide the movement. Dr. Karenga speaks, via the LA Sentinel's Op/Ed Opinion Page, as both the Executive Director of the LA Cultural Center/Us on the one hand, and on the other, as Professor/Chair of Africana Studies, CSULB.
2. Having already noted in Part 6 Dr. Karenga's underscoring the viewpoint of Min. Malcolm X (Al Hajj Malik Shabazz) as the first fundamental source of the 1960s-1970s Black Power concept and practice, we conclude this series with Dr. Karenga outlining the contributions, to Black Power discourse and movement, of Rev. & Congressperson, Adam Clayton Powell Jr., Kwame Ture/Stokely Charmichael, and the then young Black leader, Maulana Karenga, Spokesperson, Us Organization, itself emergent out of the fire and ashes of the 1965 Watts, LA Revolt.
3. Accordingly, Dr. Karenga writes "Rep. Adam Clayton Powell of New York is a second major source for the evolution of the idea and movement of Black Power. In a commencement address at Howard University, May, 1966, he framed Black Power, like Malcolm, in the context of the struggle for human rights. He stated that 'Human rights are God-given rights. Our life must be purposed to implement human rights....to demand these God-given rights is to seek power.'"
4. Moving to the third important source of the 1960s Black Power Movement, conceptually and practically speaking, Dr. Karenga writes "Certainly, the third and most known source identified with Black Power is Kwame Ture of the Student Non-Violent Coordination Committee (SNCC), who raised the issue of Black Power in Greenwod, Mississippi in June of 1966. In this speech, he said 'We've been saying "freedom now" for six years and we ain't got nothing. What we gonna start saying now is 'Black Power.'" Dr. Karenga further adds "Later (Ture) defined Black Power as 'a call for Black people to unite, to recognize their heritage, to build a sense of community, to define their own goals, (and) to lead their own organizations.'"
5. Turning to his own contribution to the 1960s Black Power thrust, Dr. Karenga writes "A fourth source of Black Power discourse and practice is Maulana Karenga and the organization Us. Maulana Karenga, speaking on behalf of the organization Us, challenged a new generation to join in struggle for Black Power which he defined as 'the collective struggle of Black people to achieve three fundamental aims: self-determination, self-respect and self-defense.' More, Dr. Karenga adds "(Maulana Karenga) had used this same definition to define revolt in August 1965, but with the rise of Black Power, he interpreted the struggle for Black Power as an ongoing revolt for self-determination, self-respect and self-defense."
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