Cone Essay

Cone Essay

I would like to thank you for inviting me to enlighten your group on a very current issue, Black Theology & Black Power as seen by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Jr. and James H. Cone.
I believe the best place to start would be with an explanation of Black Power.   Black Power according to James H. Cone “is an emotionally charged term that can evoke either angry rejection or passionate acceptance.”   Critics see it as blacks hating whites, while advocates see Black Power as the only viable option for black people. Advocates see Black Power meaning black people are taking a dominate role in deciding what the black-white relationship should be in American Society.   Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Jr. is preaching this right now.   He sees that blacks need to go back to their blackness and no longer live their lives as the white society wants them to.
What these two men are encouraging can be very difficult for most people to understand.   Most of us see this as a call to violence.   What Cone is really saying is that Black Power means the complete emancipation of black people from white oppression by whatever means black people deem necessary.   The methods to reach this can include selective buying, boycotting, marching, and even rebellion.   Black Power means black freedom, black self-determination, where black people no longer see themselves as without human dignity, but as people, human beings with the ability to carve out their own destiny.
Paul Tillich’s analysis of “the courage to be” further clarifies the meaning of Black Power.   He says that “the courage to be” “is the ethical act in which man affirms his being in spite of those elements of his existence which conflict with his essential self-affirmation” Black Power is then a humanizing force because it the black man’s attempt to be recognized as a “thou” in spite of the “other,” the white power which dehumanizes him. The courage they feel gives them the ability   to affirm one’s being by striking out at the...