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Conflict Of Interest
A Weekly Column By Walter B. Hoye II

In the abortion debate, is there a "Conflict of Interest" within the Black community and among her leaders?

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Issue No.: 2012.051

Black American Perspectives (4)

The Relationship Between Black Power and Black People
The Black Power movement was a logical extension of the Civil Rights movement and emerged at a time when the Civil Rights movement was moving into her final stage as a movement for social, political, and economic change. The earliest known usage of the term Black Power is found in a book by Richard Wright titled Black Power written in 1954. 1 However, it was Willie Ricks, a Civil Rights activist and organizer who mainstreamed the Black Power slogan during a march in Greenwood, Mississippi on June 17, 1966, almost two (2) years before Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. would be assassinated on Thursday, April 4, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee. 2 In 1968 Stokely Carmichael (later known as Kwame Ture) defined Black Power as "the ability of Black People to politically get together and organize themselves so that they can speak from a position of strength rather than a position of weakness." The goal of the Black Power movement was to forge a strong racial identity for Black People by encouraging the formation our own businesses, institutions and political parties. 3 Black Power was about the empowerment of Black People with the understanding that Black People and Black Power were inseparable.

No Black People! No Black Power!

"First, the white man tells me to sit at the back of the bus. Now it looks like the white man wants me to sleep under the bed. Back in the days of slavery, black folks couldn't grow kids fast enough for white folks to harvest. Now that we've got a little taste of power, white folks want to call a moratorium on having children." Dick Gregory, Comedian and Black Power Activist, Ebony Magazine 4

In the 1960s, Black Americans deeply distrusted government and any attempt to limit our population. We feared the motivations behind taxpayer funded birth control clinics was nothing more than a malevolent effort to limit Black Political Power. In the 1960s the movement's message was clear

No Black People! No Black Power!

By the mid 1970s, the Black Power movement was over. Government repression, including the assassinations of Black Panthers' Mark Clark and Fred Hampton in Chicago, and Carl Hampton of Houston, raids, arrests, and harassment of many of the movement's members, deserves much of the credit for the decline of the Black Power movement. 5 If the election of President Jimmy Carter in November 1976, marked the death of the Black Power movement, 6 the election of President Barack Hussein Obama II in November 2008, the first Black American to hold the office, marked the resurrection of the Black Power movement. In the words of Stokely Carmichael, Black America had finally acquired "the ability of Black People to politically get together and organize themselves so that they can speak from a position of strength rather than a position of weakness." According to Politico, ninety-six (96) percent of Black Voters supported Barack Obama and constituted thirteen (13) percent of the electorate. 7 Nationally, this was a record two (2) percentage point rise in our past voter turnout. If the goal of the Black Power movement was to forge a strong racial identity for Black People by encouraging the formation of our own businesses, institutions and political parties, then the election of President Barack Hussein Obama II was the realization of victory in a long, hard fought war for justice, equality and power. Or was it? I wonder if the movement's message is still clear?

No Black People! No Black Power!

New York City Is A Case In Point
"By 2040, these trends will radically transform the New York political landscape. Whites and Hispanics will hold their own, while Blacks lose population and political and economic clout." Dennis Howard, Founder and President of Movement for a Better America, Inc. 8

Based on the Summary of Vital Statistics, City of New York, 1990 2009, Dennis Howard's analysis of abortions and live births in New York since 2000 reveals a startling genocidal trend. 9 According to Howard, there have been 151 times as many Black Abortions in New York City since 9/11 as there were victims at the World Trade Center (WTC) on 9/11. That equates to four (4) new WTC tragedies every year. Historically, lynching is considered the most infamous form of genocide in America, however, when compared to all the reported lynchings of Black People between 1864 and 1968, there have been 101 times more Black Abortions in New York City in the last 12 years than lynchings of Black People in the 103 years after the Civil War. The bottom line is, abortion is killing Black People 1,000 times faster than lynching Black People. Unfortunately, the latest NYC data confirms Howard's conclusions. Compared to 41.3% for Hispanics, 28.5% for Asians and 20.4% for Whites, 59.8% of all Black Pregnancies end in abortion. The truth is Black Babies in New York City are aborted at three (3) times the rate of Whites babies. As Howard continues, he draws our attention to live births as a "more significant indicator" for the future of the Black Community than the abortion rate. Howard's research reveals, since 1990, the number of live births among Black People has dropped by nearly half down 45.9% and since 2000, Black People have had 154,000 more abortions than live births. If the combination of the decline in live births and the genocidally high rate of Black Abortions continues, and Howard is right, the number of Black People will be cut in half again within a generation. Still, our President and Black Congressional leaders work endlessly to support abortion with taxpayer dollars. It appears to me that this is no longer the movement's message.

No Black People! No Black Power!

It's Time For A New Black Power Movement
"And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them." Moses, Exodus 1:7 (KJV)

According to David K. Foot, Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Toronto, "You cannot exert power in the world with a shrinking population." 10 From Professor Foot's research a promising economic scenario has older people at the top and a large birth population at the bottom, visually expressed as a pyramid. As Foot explains, "In 1971 the pyramid started to collapse in North America." Foot goes on to say, "The introduction of birth control in the Sixties started it. Elementary school enrollment went down, and high school enrollment went down in the mid Seventies. Politicians were mystified by this but it was all predictable by watching

the birth rate." 11 The Biblical model for power confirms this. Moses said, "And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them." If we lean on what we've learned from both the academic and biblical models for power, it appears, from all indications, that my brothers from the Twentieth (20th) Cenury were right. The relationship between Black Power and Black People is inseparable.

No Black People! No Black Power!

Today, I'm wondering when my brothers from the Twenty-First (21st) Century are going to catch on. If Failure To Learn from the past Limits the present and Lynches the future, we're in trouble. Time Is Running Out And Our People Are Dying! Brothers, we really need to talk.
Reference(s): 01. Richard Wright, "Black Power," Yale Book of Quotations (2006) Yale University Press, edited by Fred R. Shapiro (http://bit.ly/ytq1IE). 02. Black Power, International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences (2008) (http://bit.ly/zulYPs). 03. Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), this site covers the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee from its birth in 1960 to 1966, when John Lewis was replaced by Stokely Carmichael as chairman (http://bit.ly/x9kd4S). 04. Dick Gregory, "People & Events: Black Genocide," Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) (http://to.pbs.org/zIiG0G). 05. op. cit., Black Power. 06. op. cit., Black Power. 07. David Paul Kuhn, "Exit polls: How Obama won", Politico, Wednesday, November 5th, 2008 (http://politi.co/2NZL0w). 08. Dennis Howard, "New York City ready to become a pro-abortion police state", The Movement for a Better America, Copyrighted 2011 (http://bit.ly/ABswzJ). 09. Home page for Professor David K. Foot, Department of Economics, University of Toronto (http://bit.ly/wBRbbd). 10. Bob Klanac, "Demographer tells students 'population is power'", Western in the News, Thursday, September 21, 2006 (http://bit.ly/wEC0n1). 11. Ibid.

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