Black Power's Quiet Side (Peniel Joseph)

blacks as a group will get dignity when blacks as a group do something for whites instead of themselves

a fund for alleviating poverty of poor whites, for example

until then blacks as a group are buffoons

that's just a grammatical fact. the only dignity comes from being called on, addressed, to help another.

same thing applies to groups as groups.

it is not whites that deny blacks the dignity they feel is missing, but blacks, and only blacks can fix it.

``So do not believe the monster when he tells you he is monstrous because others treat him as monstrous. He is monstrous because he lets the task of becoming human wait upon how others treat him. - Stanley Cavell, _The Claim of Reason_ p.462

"Black Power" fueled the casually assertive identity and cultural pride that is part of African-American life today.