# Charles V. Hamilton - Quotes: 67 - Author page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-v-hamilton ## Books - [Black Power](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-v-hamilton/black-power.md) — 67 quotes ## Recently added quotes > Black Power recognizes—it must recognize—the ethnic basis of American politics as well as the power-oriented nature of American politics. Black Power therefore calls for black people to consolidate behind their own, so that they can bargain from a position of strength. But while we endorse the procedure of group solidarity and identity for the purpose of attaining certain goals in the body politic, this does not mean that black people should strive for the same kind of rewards (i.e., end results) obtained by the white society. The ultimate values and goals are not domination or exploitation of other groups, but rather an effective share in the total power of the society. p. 47 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-v-hamilton/black-power/black-power-recognizes-it.md) > It does not mean merely putting black faces into office. Black visibility is not Black Power. Most of the black politicians around the country today are not examples of Black Power. The power must be that of a community, and emanate from there. The black politicians must start from there. The black politicians must stop being representatives of “downtown” machines, whatever the cost might be in terms of lost patronage and holiday handouts. p. 46 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-v-hamilton/black-power/it-does-not.md) > The eruption in , in the spring of 1963 showed how quickly anger can develop into violence. Black people were angry about the killing of and Charles Mack Parker; the failure of federal, state and city governments to deal honestly with the problems of ghetto life. Now they read in the newspapers, saw on television and watched from the street corners themselves the police dogs and the fire hoses and the policemen beating their friends and relatives. They watched as young high-school students and women were beaten, as Martin Luther King and his co-workers were marched off to jail. The spark was ignited when a black-owned motel in Birmingham and the home of Dr. King’s brother were bombed. This incident brought hundreds of angry black people into the street throwing rocks and bottles and sniping at policemen. The echoes were far and wide. p. 154 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-v-hamilton/black-power/the-eruption-in-in-the.md) > Black people have not suffered as individuals but as members of a group; therefore, their liberation lies in group action. This is why SNCC—and the concept of Black Power—affirms that helping individual black people to solve their problems on an individual basis does little to alleviate the mass of black people. p. 54 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-v-hamilton/black-power/black-people-have-not.md) > Reorientation means an emphasis on the dignity of man, not on the sanctity of property. It means the creation of a society where human misery and poverty are repugnant to that society, not an indication of laziness or lack of The creation of new values means the establishment of a society based, as Killens expresses it in Black Man’s Burden, on “free people,” not “free enterprise”. To do this means to modernize—indeed, to civilize—this country. p. 41 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-v-hamilton/black-power/reorientation-means-an-emphasis.md) > The act of registering to vote does several things. It marks the beginning of political modernization by broadening the base of participation. It also does something the existentialists talk about: it gives one a sense of being. The black man who goes to register is saying to the white man, “No.” He is saying: “You have said that I cannot vote. You have said that this is my place. This is where I should remain. You have contained me and I am saying ‘No’ to your containment. I am stepping out of bounds. I am saying ‘No’ to you and thereby I am creating a better life for myself. I am resisting someone who has contained me.” That is what the first act does. The black person begins to live. He begins to create his own existence when he says “No” to someone who contains him. But obviously this is not enough. Once the black man has knocked back centuries of fear, once he is willing to resist, he then must decide how best to use that vote. To listen to those whites who conspired for so many years to deny him the ballot would be a return to that previous subordinated condition. He must move independently. The development of this awareness is a job as tedious and laborious as inspiring people to register in the first place. In fact, many people who would aspire to the role of an organizer drop off simply because they do not have the energy, the stamina, to knock on doors day after day. That is why one finds many such people sitting in coffee shops talking and theorizing instead of organizing. p. 104 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-v-hamilton/black-power/the-act-of-registering.md) > Some people see the advocates of Black Power as concerned with ridding the civil rights struggle of white people. This has been untrue from the beginning. There is a definite, much-needed role whites can play. This role can best be examined on three different, yet interrelated, levels: educative, organizational, supportive. Given the pervasive nature of racism in the society and the extent to which attitudes of white superiority and black inferiority have become embedded, it is very necessary that white people begin to disabuse themselves of such notions. Black people, as we stated earlier, will lead the challenge to old values and norms, but whites who recognize the need must also work in this sphere. Whites have access to groups in the society never reached by black people. They must get within those groups and help perform this essential educative function. p. 81 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-v-hamilton/black-power/some-people-see.md) > While color blindness may be a sound goal ultimately, we must realize that race is an overwhelming fact of life in this historical period. There is no black man in this country who can live “simply as a man.” His blackness is an ever-present fact of this racist society, whether he recognizes it or not. It is unlikely that this or the next generation will witness the time when race will no longer be relevant in the conduct of public affairs and in public policy decision-making. To realize this and to attempt to deal with it does not make one a racist or overly preoccupied with race; it puts one in the forefront of a significant struggle. If there is no intense struggle today, there will be no meaningful results tomorrow. p. 54 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-v-hamilton/black-power/while-color-blindness.md) > Exposing the corrupters is not a matter of giving aid and comfort to racists; it is a necessary requirement for purging the struggle of charlatans and a means of protecting the legitimacy of that struggle from its detractors. Drug dealers, con artists, and sycophants of whatever color are not legitimate political leaders, notwithstanding the number of people they influence. This is not a new story. It is, however, one with which a in the United States has to come to terms. Race alone is not sufficient. Standards of excellence and commitment are also required. This is an internal, intra-communal challenge which, if not met, will only lead to the weakening of the struggle and further confusion. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-v-hamilton/black-power/exposing-the-corrupters.md) > It should, however, already be clear that the building of an independent force is necessary; that Black Power is necessary. If we do not learn from history, we are doomed to repeat it, and that is precisely the lesson of the Reconstruction era. Black people were allowed to register, to vote and to participate in politics, because it was to the advantage of powerful white “allies” to permit this. But at all times such advances flowed from white decisions. That era of black participation in politics was ended by another set of white decisions. There was no powerful independent political base in the southern black community to challenge the curtailment of political rights. At this point in the struggle, black people have no assurance—save a kind of idiot optimism and faith in a society whose history is one of racism—that if it became necessary, even the painfully limited gains thrown to the by the Congress would not be revoked as soon as a shift in political sentiments occurs. (A vivid example of this emerged in 1967 with Congressional moves to undercut and eviscerate the school desegregation provisions of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.) We must build that assurance and build it on solid ground. p. 78 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-v-hamilton/black-power/it-should-however.md) > Law is the agent of those in political power; it is the product of those powerful enough to define right and wrong and to have that definition legitimized by “law.” This is not to say that “might makes right,” but it is to say that Might makes Law. p. 95 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-v-hamilton/black-power/law-is-the.md) > The two major political parties in this country have become non-viable entities for the legitimate representation of the real needs of masses—especially blacks—in this country. p. 42 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-v-hamilton/black-power/the-two-major.md)