Black separatism
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Black separatism is a separatist political movement that seeks a separate homeland for black people. Parallel to white separatism, there also exists a similarly black separatist movement, particularly in the United States. Black separatists generally think that white people are racist oppressors of black people, and that black people can not advance in a society dominated by white people. They believe the only solution is for black people to break away and create a separate society controlled by persons of African descent.
The more specific goals were historically in flux and varied from group to group. Martin Delaney in the 19th century and Marcus Garvey in the 1920s outspokenly called for African Americans to return to Africa, by moving to Liberia. Benjamin "Pap" Singleton looked to form separatist colonies in the American West. The Nation of Islam calls, much more quietly, for an independent black state on American soil. Much more mainstream views within black separatism hold that black people would be better served by schools and businesses exclusively for black people, and by black local politicians and police.
The mainstream black separatism is an unknown group who supported anti-segregationists and integrationists within the African American community. They generally hold that black people can and should advance within the larger American society and call on them to work to achieve that through personal improvement, educational achievement, business involvement, and political action. Martin Luther King, who was a key speaker and leader in the political effort to overthrow segregation in the 1960s, and Malcolm X, who until May 21, 1964 was known as a black separatist from the Nation of Islam, may personify the opposition between the two views.
