BLACK RAGE HISTORICAL STUDY Essay Research Paper — страница 10

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explosion present themselves right here in front of us. America?s racial powder keg, in short, can actually fuse or ignite a world- wide powder keg. (?The Black? 46) Is America a ?powder keg? waiting to explode? Will good prevail? Will white society finally come to terms with itself and allow all persons to enjoy what is rightfully theirs? And, can the rage of a race, the black race, be diffused before the apparent inevitable occurs? These questions remain to be answered. As Malcolm X has sought to channel black rage to effect change, so too has Martin Luther King, Jr. During his life, no doubt, King understood the rage of his race. He says, There is the danger that those of us who have lived so long under the yoke of oppression, those of us who have been exploited and trampled

over, those of us who have had to stand amid the tragic midnight of injustice and indignities will enter the new age with hate and bitterness. But if we retaliate with hate and bitterness, the new age will be nothing but a duplication of the old age. (?Facing? 562) King describes a duplication of the old age — this time black over white. Although he does not want to accept it, King knew what both history and reality teach. Desiring to divert the rage of his people, he dismisses the rhetoric of violence and hate, proclaiming, I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality. . . . I refuse to accept the cynical notion that nation after nation

must spiral down a militaristic stairway into a hell of thermonuclear destruction. I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality . . . . (?Nobel? 110) But will they? Will King?s refusal make his dream a reality? Dreams and belief do not a reality make. King, like other black spokesmen, also stresses the coming of the ?inevitable.? Encouraging people to act and to avoid complacency, King himself exhorts, ?We must speed up the coming of the inevitable? (?Facing? 565). But has he understood ?the inevitable?? In his famous ?I Have a Dream? speech, King prophesies the following: ?It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro?s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an

invigorating autumn of freedom and equality? (103). Knowing this, has the nation now entered into a ?fatal? situation? Possibly. King?s vision has yet to be realized, and the ?sweltering? and ?urgency? are still propelling black society. Yes, King is not a prophet of rage. He advocates peace, brotherhood, and equality. However, much can be learned about rage from his words. Explaining where white oppression has led, King proclaims, But there comes a time when people get tired. There comes a time when people get tired of being trampled over by iron feet of oppression. There comes a time when people get tired of being plunged across the abyss of exploitation where they experience the bleakness of nagging despair. There comes a time when people get tired of being pushed out of the

glittering sunlight of life?s July and left standing in the piercing chill of an Alpine November. (?Facing? 558) Arguing against the determination of some to racially dominate, King says, We do not wish to triumph over the white community. That would only result in transferring those now on the bottom to the top. But, if we can live up to nonviolence in thought and deed, there will emerge an interracial society based on freedom for all. (?Our? 13) If! What if rage is not kept in check? What if violence is not held back? When asked about receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in an interview, King responded, ?The Nobel award recognizes the amazing discipline of the Negro. Though we have had riots, the bloodshed we would have known without the discipline of nonviolence would have been

frightening? (Washington 108). Here, King recognizes, understands, and admits that the potential of black rage is immense — ?frightening.? Black Rage in Contemporary America As the transition from the Civil Rights Era to the era of Affirmative Action takes effect in America, members of white society again boasts that they have successfully dealt with the ?Negro problem.? Brown vs. the Board of Education proclaimed an end to Plessy?s Jim Crow. President Kennedy called in the National Guard. President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act. Yes, blacks have finally been granted their rightful human place in white society. They are finally free. They are finally equal. But are they? Ellis Cose writes in his 1993 book, The Rage of a Privileged Class, ?Why, a full generation after the