05-01-2008, 10:11 AM
Dhu, I think this is what happened. Bear with me.
Blacks who were enslaved ~ 400 years ago were either animists or Muslims from Africa. Once they were enslaved they had to take up their master's religion that is Nicaean Christianity and its world view. After Civil War and Emancipation they were legally free but economically and socially still enslaved. World War II was turning point as America needed all the men it could muster and there was a great migration from South to the West and non traditional black areas. This started them on road to economic freedom. Along with this the integration of the armed forces brought about social respectability.
The blacks rebelled out of the normative blanket by creating the black church which was quite extensive and provided emotional support to the newly freed African Americans and by reaching out to Islam- Elijah Muhammed and Malcolm X. This movement was quite ineffective for it preached violence and that was something that White America knew how to deal with and did. MLK jr's genius was to adopt and adapt Gandhi's non violence as means to achieve Civil Rights for African Americans. In a couple of years he was able to achieve it. By adapting non-violent means he was able to connect with the black diaspora all over the globe and get empathy for his movement and struggle. It is interesting that it was his adoption of non Abrahamic means of expressing his protest that prevailed over the straitjacket of Biblical doctrine. He prevailed due to the Protestant culture of America. The non -violent means hark back to the time of Jesus and the early Christians who faced the might of Rome and did not flinch. I think we are seeing the growth of a new black movement that has found its voice and is able to express it confidently and stridently. Eventually they will be able to rectify the birth defect(allowing slavery in a free society) that was present at the time of the founding of America. Read Gordon S Wood and his books.
Blacks who were enslaved ~ 400 years ago were either animists or Muslims from Africa. Once they were enslaved they had to take up their master's religion that is Nicaean Christianity and its world view. After Civil War and Emancipation they were legally free but economically and socially still enslaved. World War II was turning point as America needed all the men it could muster and there was a great migration from South to the West and non traditional black areas. This started them on road to economic freedom. Along with this the integration of the armed forces brought about social respectability.
The blacks rebelled out of the normative blanket by creating the black church which was quite extensive and provided emotional support to the newly freed African Americans and by reaching out to Islam- Elijah Muhammed and Malcolm X. This movement was quite ineffective for it preached violence and that was something that White America knew how to deal with and did. MLK jr's genius was to adopt and adapt Gandhi's non violence as means to achieve Civil Rights for African Americans. In a couple of years he was able to achieve it. By adapting non-violent means he was able to connect with the black diaspora all over the globe and get empathy for his movement and struggle. It is interesting that it was his adoption of non Abrahamic means of expressing his protest that prevailed over the straitjacket of Biblical doctrine. He prevailed due to the Protestant culture of America. The non -violent means hark back to the time of Jesus and the early Christians who faced the might of Rome and did not flinch. I think we are seeing the growth of a new black movement that has found its voice and is able to express it confidently and stridently. Eventually they will be able to rectify the birth defect(allowing slavery in a free society) that was present at the time of the founding of America. Read Gordon S Wood and his books.