These two articles on the past and future of black empowerment in America. My
topic is something of a fairly new nature and these two articles really touch on
the essence of the point of my would be research paper. The first touches on the
past of black empowerment and further extended my knowledge of significant
events such as the civil rights movements and in particular the Voting Rights
Act of 1965. The second hits on the current and future issues in black
empowerment. For instance the need to not ignore the race card when it comes to
political action, because its still very prevalent. The first article was titled
The politics of black empowerment; the transformation of black activism in urban
America, by James Jennings. The main point of his article was to illustrate how
important the issue of race has played in voting in America. He gave the
examples of the post reconstruction era in the early to mid 1900s and the civil
rights movement. He analyzed the similar intimidation tactics used in both
periods and how both periods were important for black empowerment. He also
analyzed the impact of the Voting Rights Act of !965 and the ramifications of
government intervention in the area of civil rights. He concluded that not only
representation is necessary for black empowerment, but power to decide an
individual destiny. The second article titled: The struggle for black
empowerment in New York City; beyond the politics of pigmentation. It was
written by Dale Rogers Marshall. He is trying to point out that although blacks
have come a long way in terms of voting and political power, the fact of race
cannot be ignored in the realm of politics. He isn’t saying that race should
be an important aspect of how one votes, but he points out several sets of
election statistics that show that it is. He also points out in his analysis of
racial lines playing a part in voting the 60s era; as did the first article. As
he goes along he points out several southern cities and how their elections were
divided along racial lines. For instance he pointed out a city in Florida that
had always had white support for white candidates and black support for black
candidates but not vice versa. His conclusion was that as far as both races have
come in understanding each other the issue of race when it comes to voting can
not be ebbed out. Both of these articles were well written and would be very
helpful to a research paper on black empowerment. They both cover enough of the
past, present, and future whereas you can deduce an intelligent understanding of
the issue of black empowerment. Their only drawback is that if someone has never
heard or isn’t necessarily interested in this topic, the articles go a little
in depth with their examples and numbers. All in all, I found them to be a
useful tool in the understanding of my topic.