THE CITY RENEWED: White Dream—Black Nightmare?

Author(s): LENWOOD G. DAVIS and WINSTON VAN HORNE

Source: The Black Scholar, Vol. 7, No. 3, THE CRISIS OF THE CITIES (November 1975), pp. 2-9
Published by: Paradigm Publishers
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THE CITY RENEWED:
WhiteDream- Black Nightmare?

great cityand civilization have ersthebrutefactthatthegrainoutputofthe

been actuatedby a spirit - a spiritsuf- American farmer is approximately fourtimes
fusedwithpride,honor,courage,heroism, greaterthanthatofhis Sovietcounterpart.
duty,creativity and a senseofpurpose.The Butit is misleading to conceiveofthefarms
corruption ofthisspiritinvariably occasions and thesmalltownssurrounding themas the
thedecayofa civilization, eventhoughthe primary energizers ofAmerican lifeandcivil-
ghastly processofdecaymaybe beliedbythe ization,fortheylack thoseessentialstruc-
physiognomy ofthecity.Indeed,we should tureswithout whichno greatcivilization re-
be so boldas todaresaythatas goesthecity produces itself
generationally. Aswe approach
goesthecivilization. Yet,evenas a civiliza- the firstyear of the thirdcenturyof the
tionrotsthecitymaybe renewedphysically. American Republic,it is to thecitythatwe
Justas a whitesepulchre contains, butnone mustlookifourchildrenand theirprogeny
thelessconceals,therotandstenchofdeath, arenottolament theirfathers andgrandsires.
a city'sspiritmaybe rottingeven as its
geographyand topography are rendered
moreand moreaesthetically pleasingto the í ODAY,it is commonplace to hear that
eye. American citiesare infected witha hostof
Whenwe speakofthecitywe do notmean diseases,the cumulative parasiticeffectof
thisor thatparticular city,but the univer- whichcouldverywelloccasiontheirdemise
salityofthecomplexofstructures, socialand ifurgentand drasticmeasuresare nottaken
physical,thatis reproducedparticularly in to stem,and eventually reverse,thedeadly
manyenvironments. The cityis a universal effect oftheinfections fromwhichtheysuf-
phenomenon, citiesare theparticularization fer.Monetary and fiscalproblems,physical
ofthatphenomenon. The cityis thecentral decayofthe innercity,crime,prostitution,
nervoussystemof all the techno-industrialillicittradein drugs,racialhostilities, and
world.What,then,ofthe cityin America, thepervasiveness offearare thedeadlyin-
theworld'smostadvancedtechno-industrial fections mentioned mostfrequently bythose
society? whocomment on themaladayofourcities.
In America,it has becomea ritual,some Giventhedebilitating effectsoftheseinfec-
mightsaya tradition, forcandidates in quest tionson the structures of our cities,many
of the Presidencyto laud the farmerand have arguedthatthe renewalofthe cityis
praisethe agricultural heartlandof Middle bothnecessaryand urgent.Whatdoes the
Americaas the"breadbasket oftheworld," renewaloftheAmerican cityentail?
as wellas thewellspring ofAmerican energy. In a sentence,it entailsthedrasticreduc-
The platitudes and clichésnotwithstanding, tion,notnecessarily the elimination,ofthe
muchofthatpraiseis due whenone consid- causes and effects of the deadly infections

PAGE 2 THE BLACK SCHOLAR NOVEMBER 1975

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Lenwood G. Davis is an AssistantProfessorof
Black Studies, specializingin AfricanHistory,at
The Ohio State University.ProfessorDavis has
publishedseveralarticlesand bibliographiesper-
tainingto blacks in the cities. Winston Van
Horne is an AssistantProfessorof Black Studies
and PoliticalScience, specializingin politicalthe-
ory,at The Ohio State University.ProfessorVan
Horne has published articlesdealing with black
elected administrators,and he is currentlywork-
ing withhis colleague WilliamNelson on a book
concerningthe problemsof charismaand the in-
stitutionalization
ofblackpoliticalpower. The au-
thors wish to thank Ronald Dathorne, George
Davis and WilliamNelson fortheircriticalcom-
mentson an earlierdraftofthis essay.

by LENWOOD G. DAVIS & WINSTON VAN HORNE

thatcorruptthe cityin its physicaland spir-ond-classnessof black life in America.This

itualdimensions.Put differently, the physic
sense of urgencyfoundarticulateand com-
and metaphysicofthe city'scorruptionmust pellingexpressionin the formofblackpower
be stemmedin orderthatrecuperativeforces - the conceptual anchor of a range of pur-
mightcome into play, to the end of revital-posive behavior designed to effectshiftsin
izing the structuresof the city. But at what
the distributionof power, to the end that
cost are the structuresofthe cityto be revi-
black people mayrightfully become the pri-
talized?And what is the cost, to black peo-maryratherthanthesecondarydeterminants
ple, of the renewalof the city? ofthe limitsofthe horizonoftheirlifepros-
We can onlybroachthese questionsin the pects. The citywas conceived to be the ful-
space alloted to us. However, we shall at- crumofblackpower,the place wherepoten-
temptto show that the renewal of the city tialpowercould mostreadilybe transformed
carriesin its wake clear and presentdangersinto actual power, which would then be
to the well-beingof black people, dangers wielded in order to end the neo-colonial
which could occasion generic harm, and, statusofblackpeople trappedby the psycho-
perhaps, irreparabledamage, to the struc- social boundaries of the ghettovisible and
tureoforderandcivility oflifein theRepublic.
invisible. Was this conceptionfounded on
We have thus elected to focusour atten- good grounds?We believed thatit was.
tion on (1) the city as a fulcrumof black First,one cannotdiscussthe stateofblack
power, both potential and actualized, (2) Americaseriously,withoutconcentrating his
white economic controlof the city, (3) the attentionon the cities,forapproximately 81
lures of the suburbsforblacks, and (4) the percentofthe blackpopulationlive in urban
costsofthe city'srenewalto blackpeople. In areas. Most of these individualsare concen-
our conclusion,we shall recommendstrat- trated in particularsections of the twenty
egies forblack survivalin the city. largestcities.This concentration shouldfacil-
itate the process of black social mobilization
THE CITY: forconcertedeconomicand politicalaction.
FULCRUM OF BLACK POWER But thoughthe sharingof a common geo-
graphic and social space by a people of a
whatever happened to black power?This commonracialstockmaybe a necessarycon-
is one of the questions that is frequently dition fortheir social mobilization,it most
pokedinjest at thesixties.Fromthe marches assuredly does not constitutea sufficient
on Birminghamand Selma to the revoltsof condition.None the less, it is reasonableto
Watts,Detroitand Newarkthereemergeda assume that the concentrationof blacks in
sense of urgencypertainingto the need for the cities constitutesthe basic raw material
radicalactionin orderto transform the sec- fromwhich black power was/isgenerated.

THE BUCK SCHOLAR NOVEMBER 1975 PAGE 3

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 Second, the sharingofa rangeofcommon
problemsand experiences,inadequate hous-
ing, schools, and income; highlyfractional-
ized familyunitsand the accompanyingcon-
sequences ofinchoateparent-childauthority
patterns;the incipientangeremanatingfrom
the sociologyof ghettolife;and the politiza-
tion of black youththroughthe activitiesof
black notablesspearheadingthe strugglefor
socialjustice and the liberationof black col-
onies withinand withoutthe city, all con-
joined to make black people available for
mobilizationthroughthe pooling of the re-
sources theypossessed, in spite of theirad-
verse life situations.Black mobilizationwas
deemed to be thekeyto the concreterealiza-
tion of black power. And the ideology of
black power supplied the essentialintellec-
tual explanationsand justificationswithout
whichtherecould/canbe no sustainedmobil-
izationof black people. The diffusion of the
ideologyof black power in the black ghettos
of Americas cities gave impetus to black
mobilization,which, in the electoralarena,
resulted in some modest gains at the polls
thatwere beneficialto blackpeople in given
localities- for example, the tenure of Carl
Stokesas Cleveland's Mayor.1
Third, the city is the place where the
separateand unequal statusof black people
in this society is brought into sharp, and
oftentimesdramatic,relief.The magnitude
of the inequalities and inequities between
the black innercityand the whiteoutercity
was broughtintosharpanalyticaland empir-
ical focusby the various advocates of black
power as a means of stimulatingas well as
nurturingan assertiveblack consciousness.
Such a consciousness,it was believed, would
impelblacksin ourcitiesto extractfromtheir
own heritage and resources the liberating
energythat is necessaryto effectprofound
qualitativeand quantitativechanges in the
formof life as well as the distributionof
powerin the blackhabitatsofour cities.The
emergenceofa healthylove ofthe black self,
the struggle to initiate and sustain black
businesses catering to the needs of black
people, and the willingnessof competing
black groupsin a given localityto workto-
gether for the sake of realizinga common
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political objective, such as the election of
RichardHatcher as the Mayor of Gary, In-
diana, all attestedto the empiricalpossibility
of transforming the becoming of the meta-
physic of black power into the realityof its
being.
Finally, the periodic spontaneousrevolts
of blacks duringthe sixtiesdramatizedthe
potentialdangers of the use of destructive
black power in the cities. Blacks have the
power to destroythe majorcitiesofAmerica
iftheyare willingto suffer theirowndestruc-
tionat the hands of the whitemajority.The
criticalpointwe shouldliketo make,here, is
thatthe ideologyof black power recognized
explicitlythepresenceofpotentiallydestruc-
tiveblackpowerin the cities,and drewupon
it for the sake of confronting white power
holdersand brokerswiththeexplosivenessof
untendedblack needs, wantsand desires.
A HE ideology of black power has, how-
ever, failedto yield empiricallythe concrete
resultswhich the logical sense of its meta-
physic would incline one to expect. One
compellingreason forthis state of affairsis
the fact that it is somewhatmisleadingto
speak of "the ideology of black power."
There are several competingas well as con-
flictingideologies of black power, and one
speaks correctlyabout "the ideologyofblack
power" onlyin so faras he culls out certain
common ideas, principles and precepts,
themesand strategiesfromthe severalideol-
ogies of black power. Thus, in a varietyof
situationsimpingingupon theirpresentand
futurewell-being,blacks in the cities have
failed frequentlyto act with the unityand
sense of purpose, and have been sometimes
unwillingand othertimesunable to makethe
kind of sacrifices,necessary to transform
theirpotentialpower intoactualpower. The
election of Ralph Perk to a second term as
Cleveland's Mayoris a classic case in point.
The splitbetween the Stokes brothers,Carl
and Louis, and the Pinkney-Forbessupport-
ers withinthe regularDemocraticPartyram-
ifiedthroughoutthe black community,and
contributed directlyto Perk'svictoryin 1973.
Given the factthatblack assertivenessof
the mid-sixtieshas been supplantedby black
THE BLACK SCHOLAR NOVEMBER 1975
quiescence of the mid-seventies,one may
rightfully questionwhetherthecityis indeed
the fulcrumof black power, or whetherit
even makes sense to talkabout black power
unlessone is willingto engage in pure meta-
physicalspeculation.Yet, it is our conviction
that,as was trueof the sixties,the citycon-
tinuesto be the fulcrumofpotential,ifonly
marginally actualized,blackpower. On what
grounds we make thisclaim?
do
Our space limitations will notpermitus to
discuss the foregoingquestion in the detail
thatit deserves,nonetheless,we shouldlike
to make the followingobservations:
1- In spite of the apparentretrogression
amongmanyblacks who live in the cities to
an earlierera in whichthe mimicryof Euro-
Americanphysiognomywas the prevailing
norm,significant tracesofthe noble pride in
the black self that firedthe souls of black
people in sixtiesremain.
2- A noteworthy increase in the number
ofblackelected officials in the citiesgivesus
reason to believe thatblacks have begun to
transform some oftheirpotentialpower into
actualpowerby exploitingthe possibilitiesof
the electoralarena.
3- The citycontinuesto be the principal
habitatofblack people. This is not in and of
itselfterriblysignificant, but when consid-
ered in the contextof black institutional in-
fluence,ifnotcontrol,viz. the decision-mak-
ing process, one cannotbut conceive of the
possible emergence of trulyeffectiveblack
cloutwithinthe cities.
4- The pain of destructiveblack power is
feltmostexcrutiatingly in the citywhen the
anger of black people explodes in violent
social disorders.The cities are the nervous
systemof the Americanbody politic, thus
violentconvulsionswithinthem are always
potentiallydebilitatingand paralyzingofthe
body politicas a whole. A recognitionof the
social significanceof thisfactprovidesblack
people with some measure of insurance
againstthe crude "oppressionand genocide"
thatarouses the apprehensionof Samuel F.
Yette in his book The Choice: The Issue of
Black Survivalin America.
2- Finally, the city continuesto be the
spawninggroundof new black leaders. The
potentialpower of a people cannotbe truly
THE BLACK SCHOLAR NOVEMBER 1975
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actualized except throughthe will of their
leader(s). Leadership is of decisive impor-
tance in the transformation ofpotentialblack
power into actual black power, and the na-
tureofthe leadershipdeterminesthe quality
of the transformation that occurs. The nur-
turing of new black leaders in the city is
thereforecrucialto the futurepowerofblack
people in America. And the cities of the
seventies affordaspiringblack leaders with
greater opportunities than heretofore to
learn of the dynamicsofpower.
Thus farwe have been speakingofthe city
itselfratherthan the conjunctionof the city
and its suburbs.We should now like to turn
our attentionto a discussionof the lures of
the suburbs forblacks who have been cir-
cumscribedby the boundaries of the city
itself.
THE CITY:
ECONOMIC CONTROL BY WHITES
As stated earlier,about 81 percentof the
black populationin America lives in urban
areas. Approximately 58 percentof this fig-
ure constitutesblack residentsof the inner
cities- in whichonlyabout30 percentofthe
white populationlives.2 These statisticsare
crucial when one realizes that for the past
twentyyears there has been a continuous
decline in the whitepopulationof the inner
citieswhiletheblackpopulationhas increased
significantly.Obviously, there has been a
noteworthy populationshiftin manyof our
major cities, one that has fosteredthe con-
centrationof blacks into small geographic
units. This concentrationis by no means
whollyvoluntary,forit has been wrought,' in
large measure, by the nature of white eco-
nomiccontroland racialdispositions.3
Studies by the BrookingsInstitute4show
that whites own the land and houses occu-
pied by mostblacksin the innercity.Other
studies have shown that black rentersare
requiredto pay higherrentsthantheirwhite
counterparts.5 Moreover,blacksin the inner
cityusuallyfindit impossibleto secure loans
fromcommercialbanks and other lending
institutionsforthepurposeofeitherpurchas-
ing homes or initiatingsmall business ven-
PAGE 5
tures.6Those who possess the money and
capitalare usuallyreticentto investin what
theydeem to be high riskand non-produc-
tive ventures, given the blight that often
accompanies the concentrationof blacks in
the innercities.7The possibilitiesofthe lives
ofthose blackswho live in the innercityare
thus circumscribedprofoundlyby whites
who control the financialstructureof the
city.8
An the past fifteenyears, the numberof
blacksemployedin the innercitiesofAmer-
ica has declined from60 to just about 50
percent. Given the locationof factoriesand
otherjob generatingstructuresbeyond the
geographiclimits of the city, many black
individualswho live in the innercityfindit
awfullydifficultto secure a job. This stateof
affairsservesto fosterthe myththatblacksin
the innercityare idle ratherthanworkori-
ented,in spiteofthefactthatseveralsurveys
have shownthattheywouldratherworkthan
drawa weeklydole fromthe state.9
Given white ownershipand/orcontrolof
the sources of employmentin the city,one
cannotbut wonderwhetherthereis an invi-
sible profitmotivein the mythofblack lazi-
ness. This mythhas been used, in part, by
whites to account forthe economicallyde-
pressed state of the inner city. But this is
simplya ploy designed to justifyeconomic
policies thatentrenchwhitecontrolover the
lives ofblack innercityresidents.
Lifein the innercityis markedbya certain
wretchedness,and so it is quite naturalthat
blacks who possess the means should strive
to fleethe blightthathas plagued theirlives.
The suburbshold out the promiseofa "bet-
ter life,"and blacksare lured to them.
THE LURES OF THE SUBURBS:
IN QUEST OF A ''BETTER LIFE"
In spite of the factthata large numberof
blackscontinueto live in the innercities,it is
none the less truethatan increasingnumber
ofthosewho have attaineda modestlevel of
affluenceare movingto the suburbs in the
hope of securinga more commodiouslife.
But in movingto the suburbs, blacks take
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their money out of the city, at least that
portionofitthatwas notalreadytakenout by
thosewhiteswho produce and own much of
the goods consumedby blacksas well as the
servicesneeded by them. The benefitsthat
may accrue to blacks in virtueof the use of
theirmoney in the innercities is therefore
eroded by the loss of potentialincome and
capitalresultingfromshiftsin black residen-
tial patterns.
In movingto the suburbs,blacks usually
find that they are isolated racially.If they
happen to own theirhomes,theyfindinvari-
ablythattheyare greetedby "forsale" signs
posted by theirwhite neighbors,except in
those cases where they move into a black
suburbor thoserare instancesin whichthey
are able to move into an extremelyaffluent
white neighborhood.10The critical point,
here, is that blacks in the suburbs tend to
suffera form of estrangementemanating
fromracial isolationthattheydo not experi-
ence in the innercities.
In spite of placing a certainpsychicand
social distance between themselves and
thosewho continueto live in the innercities,
blacks in the suburbscannot whollyescape
the pull of the inner cities. Most of the
intrinsicelements of the black lifestyleare
groundedin the innercities- churches,res-
taurants, clubs, social organizations,etc.
Many black individualswho live in the sub-
urbs are thus compelled by a psychic and
social logic to draw upon the black energies
of the innercities.
The movementof blacks to the suburbs
lays the ground for the eventual returnof
whitesto the innercities. We do notwishto
implythatwhitesare about to abandon the
suburbs to blacks. But we should like to
suggest that as whites reestablisha highly
visiblepresencein the innercitiesblackswill
findthemselvessqueezed progressively into
small lifespaces between predominantly
white suburbsand innercities. This cannot
but have the most seriousconsequences for
the actualizationof black political power
withinand withoutthe limitsofour cities.11
And so it is to a considerationof the costs,
actualand potential,ofthecity'srenewalthat
we now turnour attention.
THE BLACK SCHOLAR NOVEMBER 1975
 THE CITY'S RENEWAL: notpreemptedby the state- generatesmore
COSTS TO BLACKS revenue forits treasury.Those who control
the citythusstriveto providea greaterrange
As a general rule, the most aesthetically ofservicesto its renewedtaxproducingparts
displeasingpartsofthe cityare inhabitedby than its rundown tax consumingsections.
blacks. There is, however, no one to one This is, of course, simplyliberal conformity
correspondencebetween aesthetic repug- withthe dictumofthe SeventeenthCentury,
nance and the lack of propertyvalue in the English, liberal, politicalphilosopher,John
blackpartsofthe city.For blacksfrequently Locke, thatmen's claim to the protectionof
occupysome ofthe moststrategically located theirgovernmentis contigenton the amount
tractsof land in relationto the generalcon- and value of theirproperty.
figuration of the cityin which they live. But The foregoingdevelopments are highly
since black individualsrarelyown eitherthe conducive to the returnof whites to pre-
land or buildingthey occupy, the physical viouslyblightedpartsofthe city.But whatof
renewalofthecityby whiteentrepreneurs is the blackswho had dissolvedintothe blight?
usuallyaccompaniedby the physicalremoval This is a profoundlydisturbingquestion,one
ofblacks.12 whichbotheredour taxicabdriveras we rode
by the stadiumon our way to the airportin
Atlantarecently,when, withoutour solicita-
We do not wish to deny that tangible tion, he pondered aloud "I wish I knew
materialbenefitsusuallyaccompanythe phy- wheretheyput all the blackfolkwho used to
sical renewal of the blighted sections of a live around here." What, then, are the ef-
givencity.The construction ofnew buildings fects of the displacementof blacks by the
- banks,offices,stores,supermarkets, high- physicalrenewalof the city?
rise apartments,restaurants,etc.- invari- First, as the returnof whites to the re-
ably attractnew patronsand clients,owners newed inner city forcesblacks towardsthe
and renters,as well as sellersand buyersto city's periphery,the phenomenonof pres-
the renewedsectionsofthe city.This makes surized schwarzerLebensraum - black life-
possiblean increasein the quantityand qual- space- looms large and ominous in the fu-
ityof the transactionsthatoccur, as well as ture of black people. Trapped in the inter-
the volume of creditand supplyof money. phase of the centrifugalracial forcesof the
Because of these changes,black individuals white suburbof the outer cityand the new
may be able to secure employmentwhere whiteheartlandofthe innercity,blackswill
heretoforethey were unable to do so, or findthemselvescompelledeitherto succumb
improvethe qualityoftheiremployment and to whitegeo-politicalpressuresand structure
the amountof the wage forwhich they ex- theirlives accordingly,or rebel and confront
changetheirlabor. The BunkerHill renewal the pincer effectof white military-police
in Los Angeles, for example, created eco- power. We findthese alternativesterrifying,
nomic possibilitiesfor a number of blacks hence it is incumbentupon blacksto do tKeir
who had been dependenton less satisfactory utmostto ensure that they are an integral
means fortheirincome. part of the spatial restructuring that neces-
The resurfacing of old roads and the con- sarilyaccompanies the physical renewal of
structionof new ones; an intenselightingof thecity.Put differently, blacksmuststriveto
thestreets;an increasein the availability and assure that they are not forced out of the
use oflocal securityforces;the installment of renewedcity.
new drainageand sewage systems;and the Second, ifblacksare indeed forcedintothe
work of the sanitationand fire protection pressurizedlifespacementionedabove, their
services- all these give the physicallyre- capacityand will to engage in normalpoli-
newed partofa givencitythe appearanceof tics13will decline as theysuffera significant
being a "betterplace." loss in the quantumofnormalpoliticalpower
The expansionof a city'stax base- ifit is thattheynow possess. They would therefore

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be constrained by the necessitiesof their dominatewhatare deemed to be inferior
lifespace eitherto acquiescequietlytowhite culturesand peoples.Americans of African
domination or engageincreasingly in extra- origin do notfigureprominentlytheEuro-
in
normalpolitics.The normalpoliticalsignifi- Americanarithmetic of the dynamicsof
canceofblacks,say,in theelectoralpolitics American civilization.
Afro-American culture
ofcitiessuchas Gary,Indiana,Detroit,Mi- is, for
most Euro-Americans, lacking those
in
chigan,and Newark,NewJersey, woulddi- vital, future oriented, human drivesthat
minishconsiderably as theyare rendered makepossiblethecreation andpersistence of
moreand morepolitically irrelevantto the great It
civilizations. is hardlysurprising,
essentialsof the city'slife.Thus, the dis- then,thatEuro-Americans shouldstriveto
placementofblacksfromthe renewedcity protect the renewed city from Afro-Ameri-
constitutes a formula forthe rise of extra- cansand theirculture.
normalpoliticsamongblacks.
Third,since the renewalof mostcities
occurspiecemeal,the displacement of the A his is not to implythatAfro-Americans
blackpopulation is usuallya segmented pro- are/willbe excludedcompletely from thelife
cess- resulting in thecreation ofdiscontinu- of the renewedcity.We should,however,
ous blackenclaves.Theseengenderisolated like to suggestthatif the Euro-Americans
blacklifespaces, which,in turn,foster black who controlthe criticalpoliticaland eco-
fractionalization.The blackpowerpotential nomicinstitutions ofthesocietywereeverto
of populationconcentration in a common willto committhemoney,energy,intellect
lifespaceis erodedin a stateof multiple, and imagination to therenewalofthecities
isolated,blacklifespaces.The dispersalac- thattheycommitted ven-
to the successful
companying thedisplacement ofblacksfrom tureto landa manon the moonin thelast
therenewedcitythuscarriesin itswakethe decade,therewouldbe a markeddeclinein
lossofparticular forblackmobil-
possibilities thepresenceofblacksin themajorcities,as
izationas a meansof affecting the formof they became renewed citadels of Euro-
normalpoliticswithinthecity. Americanlifeand culture.Thus the city,
Fourth,the dependenceof blacksupon whichholdsoutsuchpromisefortheeven-
whitesformoney,incomeand credit,will tual floweringof Afro-America culture,
becomeeven moreacuteas the whitecon- couldverywellbe theplacewhereblacksare
trolledmarketplaceexpandsand thereby yetto suffertheirseverestculturalcrisis.
contracts thelimitsofthemarginal liquidity
of the fewblackswho are capableof pro- CONCLUSION
vidinga modestlevelofgoods,servicesand
employment withintheinnercity.We can- We shouldliketo concludebypresenting
not over emphasizethe misfortune of this certainstrategiesthatblacksmayemployto
development forblackpeople,becausethe assuretheirsurvival andpromote theirwell-
formofthemarket economy is suchthatone being.First,blackleaders should con-
strive
who is whollydependentuponanotherfor tinuouslyto arouse the consciousnessofthe
his sustenance cedes awaytheautonomy of the
blackmassesconcerning significance of
therenewalofthe
his will. Put differently, theownership ofland. The destiny ofblacks
city threatenswhat littleautonomyblack in this societyis linkedinextricably with
peoplewhonowlive in theinnercityhave theircapacityto becomelandowners. Such
overtheirownlives. menas Benjamin "Pap"Singleton, BookerT.
Finally,thereis neithera logicallynor Washington, Elijah Muhammad and Malcolm
empirically necessaryrelationbetweenthe X werevigorousexponents ofthishistorical
physicaland spiritualrenewalof the city. truth,fortheyrecognizedthe centrality of
Yet, in so faras a spiritual renewalaccom- landinthecalculusofblacksurvival inAmer-
paniesthephysicalrenewalofthecity,it is ica. Blackleaderstherefore have a dutyto
the Euro-American spiritthatis renewed. present models of land
successful acquisition
Butthisis a spiritpermeated withthelustto toblackpeople.Here,theNationofIslamis,

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perhaps, the best available model. We are
not advocates of the Nation of Islam, we
simplywish to call attentionto its utilityas
viz. the successfulacuuisition of land by
blacks.
Second, the political education of blacks
by black politicians,clergymen,educators
and civicleaders is vitalin alertingthe black
ofthe innercityto the actualand
community
potentialcostsofthe city'srenewalby white
entrepreneurs.Under the guise of "prog-
ress," blackshave oftentimes been forcedto
leave their habitats.Thus it is crucial that
blacksacquire the necessarypoliticalknowl-
edge in order to take appropriateformsof
actionwhennecessityconstrainsthemto act,
and refrainfromacting when prudence so
demands.
Third,blacksmustbe encouragedto make
sacrificesin order to achieve and sustainan
effective level ofsocio-politicalmobilization.
Withoutthis they cannot hope to promote
theirintereststhrough"pressurepolitics"at
the local, state and federallevels of govern-
ment. But the sustained mobilizationof a
people is no easymatter.Hence blackpeople
mustbe educatedconcerningthe Oneness of
theirdestiniesas discreteindividualsand as
to theirdestinyas a race. By dissolvingthe
black individualinto the black community, 8. This point is discussed in greaterdetail by
blackswillthenbe able to directthepowerof
the communityin waysthatyield the great-
est possible benefitsforthemas individuals
as well as membersofa community.
Finally, blacks ought to remind white
Americacontinuallyof the social potential-
ities of constructiveblack power and the
marketcosts of destructiveblack power. By
retainingthe optionsinherentin the slogan
"by any means necessary,"blacks multiply
theiralternativesas theyact to preventthe
renewedcity- as it is dreamtofby whites-
frombecomingthe touchstoneof a ghastly
black nightmare.
FOOTNOTES
1. During the tenure of Carl Stokes as Cleve-
land's Mayor, 274 "minoritygroup individu-
als, most of them blacks, were hired or pro-
moted" by the city'sgovernment"forsuper-
visory and skilled jobs." Their aggregate
annual income was $3,001,259. Most impor-
THE tUCK SCHOLAR NOVEMBER 1975
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tant,blacksheld a numberofkey positionsin
the government. For a detailed listingof blacks
roles in Stokes' Administra-
significant
filling
tion see the pamphlet "MeaningfulMinority
Employment,"which was preparedas a sup-
plement to "The Stokes Years." Stokes' ef-
fortsto increase the numberof blacks in the
city's governmenthas been, for the most
part,undone by the Perk Administration.
2. Seven years ago the Reportof the National
AdvisoryCommissionon Civil Disorders ex-
pressed deep concern about this phenom-
enon.
3. For a usefuldiscussionofthispointin relation
to its significancein the field of education,
see Philip Meranto, School Politics in the
Metropolis (Columbus, Ohio: Charles E.
MerrillPublishingCo., 1970), especiallypp.
35-85.
4. HenryJ. Aaron,Shelterand Subsidies(Wash-
ington, D.C.: The Brookings Institution,
1972), pp. 32-34, 74-123.
5. For a criticaldiscussionof the natureof the
political economy of the inner city and its
effectson the sociology and psychologyof
black life,see WilliamK. Tabb, The Political
Economy of the Black Ghetto (New York:
Norton,1970).
6. Many criticsof the inequities of the market
economyhave argued thatthis state of affairs
is fosteredby institutionalracism. This con-
cept is discussed systematicallyin Louis L.
Knowles and Kenneth Prewitt(eds.), Institu-
tional Racism in America (Englewood Cliffs,
N. J.: Prentice- Hall, Inc., 1969), especially
pp. 1-30.
7. Ibid.
Robert Bluner, "Domestic Colonialism and
GhettoRevolt"in Edward Greer'sBlack Lib-
erationPolitics:A Reader (Boston: Allynand
Bacon, 1971). Also see Tabb. ov. cit.
9. A criticaldiscussionofthisand relatedpoints
are presented by Gilbert Y. Steiner in his
book The State of Welfare (Washington,
D.C.: The BrookingsInstitution,1971), es-
peciallypp. 77-121.
10. See George K. Hesslink, Black Neighbors
(Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Co. Inc.,
1974) fora usefulwide rangingdiscussionof
whiteresistanceto hlackneiahhors.
11. See FrancisFox Piven and RichardA. Clow-
ard, "Black Control of Cities" in Edward S.
Greenberg,Neal Milner and David J. Olson
(eds.) Black Politics (New York: Holt, Rine-
hartand Winston,1971), pp. 118-130.
12. Here, we should like to recommendScottA.
Greer's Urban Renewal and AmericanCities:
The Dilemmas of Democratic Intervention
(Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Co. Inc.,
1966).
13. By normalpoliticswe mean human interac-
tions within institutionalizedstructuresthat
authorize decisions pertainingto the alloca-
tion of thingsof value, and the impositionof
sanctions, within a particular society/com-
munity.
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