p. 22
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6 revisions | EricRoscoe at Dec 27, 2023 06:26 PM | |
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p. 22[Left Page] 166 BLACK POLITICAL POWER IN AMERICA American democracy delimits them. A politician can do a number of things in his climb to power. He can ally himself with the crime syndicate, permitting it to legitimately manage a certain amount of organized vice (prostitution, book-making, loan-sharking, etc.), and become a respectable but unknown surrogate for the syndicate which controls him and determines his vote or policy for him. To be elected, to control a political machine, or just to survive, the American politician incorporates one of the above methods into his political modus operandi. Yet, some white political scientists have become authorities on the negro politician by analyzing him as a different species of homo sapiens, not endowed with the same drives, the same weaknesses, and the same strengths. [Right Page] Four Black Men in the White Power Structure 167 Blacks have had their Oscar DePriests and their Adam Clayton Powells. The stage has been smaller in each instance, but the roles and the styles have been identical. In the last five years, 1962-1967, four black politicians have captured the national spotlight and remained the focus of continuing public attention: Illinois Representatives William L. Dawson, New York Representatives Adam Clayton Powell, Chairman of the New York County Committee (Tammany Hall) J. Raymond Jones and Massachusetts U.S. Senator Edward W. Brooke. Each of them attained the heights of political power at a given time, if not in the exercise of actual power, certainly in a position to which power is attached. All four acceded to their positions of power through different techniques, different styles, and different political circumstances. Powell could never have been elected U.S. Senator in Massachusetts, and Brooke would have never survived in Harlem. In terms of the American color line that ultimately decides the behavioral patterns of black politicians, these four political successes could be characterized as follows: Brooke, "Mr. Non-Negro Politics"; Dawson, "Mr. Establishment Negro Politics"; Jones, "Mr. Organizational Negro Politics"; and Powell, "Mr. National Black Politics." Those designations are used only to capsulize political tendencies as they are affected and determined by the black community. If a spectrum of popular conceptualizations is drawn, Brooke and Dawson could be considered conservatives or Uncle Toms, Jones a moderate or negro leader in the traditional sense of the term, and Powell a radical or militant. One could hastily draw the conclusion that political black militants are doomed to ultimate destruction, as Powell was. | p. 22[Left Page] 166 BLACK POLITICAL POWER IN AMERICA American democracy delimits them. A politician can do a number of things in his climb to power. He can ally himself with the crime syndicate, permitting it to legitimately manage a certain amount of organized vice (prostitution, book-making, loan-sharking, etc.), and become a respectable but unknown surrogate for the syndicate which controls him and determines his vote or policy for him. To be elected, to control a political machine, or just to survive, the American politician incorporates one of the above methods into his political modus operandi. Yet, some white political scientists have become authorities on the negro politician by analyzing him as a different species of homo sapiens, not endowed with the same drives, the same weaknesses, and the same strengths. [Right Page] Four Black Men in the White Power Structure 167 Blacks have had their Oscar DePriests and their Adam Clayton Powells. The stage has been smaller in each instance, but the roles and the styles have been identical. In the last five years, 1962-1967, four black politicians have captured the national spotlight and remained the focus of continuing public attention: Illinois Representatives William L. Dawson, New York Representatives Adam Clayton Powell, Chairman of the New York County Committee (Tammany Hall) J. Raymond Jones and Massachusetts U.S. Senator Edward W. Brooke. Each of them attained the heights of political power at a given time, if not in the exercise of actual power, certainly in a position to which power is attached. All four acceded to their positions of power through different techniques, different styles, and different political circumstances. Powell could never have been elected U.S. Senator in Massachusetts, and Brooke would have never survived in Harlem. In terms of the American color line that ultimately decides the behavioral patterns of black politicians, these four political successes could be characterized as follows: Brooke, "Mr. Non-Negro Politics"; Dawson, "Mr. Establishment Negro Politics"; Jones, "Mr. Organizational Negro Politics"; and Powell, "Mr. National Black Politics." Those designations are used only to capsulize political tendencies as they are affected and determined by the black community. If a spectrum of popular conceptualizations is drawn, Brooke and Dawson could be considered conservatives or Uncle Toms, Jones a moderate or negro leader in the traditional sense of the term, and Powell a radical or militant. One could hastily draw the conclusion that political black militants are doomed to ultimate destruction, as Powell was. |