|
Books by Chester Himes
If
He Hollers Let Him Go! /
Cotton Comes to Harlem /
Rage in Harlem /
The Third-Generation /
Cast the First Stone
The Quality of Hurt: The Early Years: Autobiography /
My Life of Absurdity-Autobiography /
The Collected Stories of Chester-Himes
The End of a Primitive
/
Yesterday Will Make You Cry /
Lonely Crusade /
Conversations with Chester Himes
* *
* * *
Negro Martyrs Are Needed
By Chester Himes
Martyrs
are needed to create incidents. Incidents are needed to create
revolutions. Revolutions are needed to create progress.
These are the tactics devised by people of
the world who wanted freedom. No one has denied that these are
the best tactics to employ for the attainment of this end; it
has been proved that these are the only tactics to bring about
such attainment.
The American colonials were not the first to
recognize the singularity of these tactics, but they were the
first to use them effectively for the benefit of a large number
of people. Since the American Revolution they have become the
ABC's of political advancement throughout the world. The first
and fundamental convictions of the political tactician fighting
for human rights of the people are: (1) Progress can be brought
about only by revolution; (2) Revolutions can only be started by
incidents; (3) Incidents can be created only by martyrs.
Of all the oppressed groups of people in the
world today, racial, religious, and political, the thirteen
million Negro Americans are the only group who have not yet
employed these tactics in some manner or other in the quest for
democratic equality. This is one of the strangest conditions in
history. No serious unbiased scholar will deny that the Negro
American have been the most oppressed minority group in the
world for the past three hundred and twenty-three years. But yet
no intelligent politician will deny that there is no
other manner in which Negro Americans can release themselves
from oppression.
Let us consider what a Negro Revolution will
be and what it will do.
First, I must point out the possible ways of
existence for all people. There are only three:
|
(1)
Wherein
everyone is free. As of today, citizens of the
communist dominated socialist state of the U. S. S. R
have come closest to this goal. However, it does not
matter whether the structure is communistic,
socialistic, or democratic; this is the most preferable
way of existence for the majority of people of the
world.
(2)
Wherein a
ruling class or race is free. This is the point to
which citizens of the United States of America and the
British Empire have advanced. Outwardly, this would seem
preferable to the ruling class or race. But the fallacy
of that is that this is not a fixed stage of existence; it
is a pivot of change. The ruling class or race must
share their freedom with everyone in order to preserve
it; or they must give it up.
(3)
Wherein no
one is free. Loosely we may say that this comprises
dictatorships and imperialistic nations, especially if
they are at this time our enemies. It is generally
agreed that less than one-tenth of one percent of the
people of the world prefer this way of existence; so we
may state for point of argument that no one prefers it. |
Aim of Revolution
There can be only one (I repeat: Only one) aim of a revolution by Negro Americans. That is the
enforcement of the Constitution of the United States. At this
writing no one has yet devised a better way of existence than
contained in the Constitution. Therefore Negro Americans could not revolt for any other reason.
This is what a Negro American Revolution will be: A revolution by
a racial minority for the enforcement of the democratic laws
already in existence.
What will a revolution by Negro Americans do:
| (1)
Bring about the overthrow of our present form of
government and the creation of a communistic state. A
communistic organization of immense proportions already
exists in this nation. |
“I therefore defined,” Engels wrote, “the
objectives of the communists in this way:
|
(1)
To achieve the interests of the proletariat in
opposition to those of the bourgeoisie;
(2)
To do this through the abolition of private
property and its replacement by community goods;
(3)
To recognize no means of carrying out these objects
other than a democratic revolution by force.” |
It is obvious that the
Communist party of America will attempt to direct any
revolution, whether by Negro Americans or any other group to the
accomplishment of these aims. It is equally obvious that in any
nation where great numbers of people are oppressed the Communists
have fair chances of success.
| (2)
Bring about the overthrow of our present form of
government and the creation of a dictatorship |
The first reaction of the people who are
endeavoring to continue the existence of white supremacy in all
its vicious destructiveness will be to stamp out this revolution
with a maximum of violence and a minimum of mercy. Many Negroes
will be shot. Many will be imprisoned. The remainder will be
literally enslaved. If these
people are successful.
But what is more to be feared in the historic
progress of the human race: At
this pivot of change where we now exist we will cease to go
forward and go back. Law, order, decency, all the democratic
principles which we have so far developed in this nation will be
destroyed. The white race will become barbarians. The darker race
slaves.
When people become barbarians they can no
longer govern themselves. They respect only might. The strongest,
the most deadly, most vicious, most cunning, most murderous, will
become the ruler. He will rule as long as he is feared.
| (3)
It may be successful and bring about the
enforcement of the Constitution, democratic equality, and
the acceptance of the democratic way of existence by all
the citizens of the nation. |
For this to happen it will be necessary that
the majority of the people of the United States believe in
democracy and will join with us in the bringing about its
establishment. In this event a Negro Revolution will cease to be a
revolution and become a movement of the people to stamp out
injustices, inequalities, and violations of our laws. The people
who would try to prohibit the people from so doing would become
rebels, traitors, secessionists, and would be dealt with
accordingly.
If the majority of the people of the United
States do not believe in democracy as the best way of existence,
we will not achieve democratic equality in any event. So we are
forced to begin our thinking here; we have no other point from
which to begin.
Martyrs Are Needed
At this point Negro martyrs are needed. The
martyr to create incidents which will mobilize the forces of
justice and carry us forward from the pivot of change to a way of
existence wherein everyone is free.
It is obvious that we can not stay here;
we’ve got to go somewhere. If we cannot of our own accord go
forward, we will against our own will be pushed backward.
The first step backwards is riots. Riots are
not revolutions. In the best sense revolutions are the
renunciation of the existing evil of governments by the governed.
Revolutions are not necessarily brought about by force of arms. They
may be successfully accomplished by the manifest will of the
people. In the event of a Negro American Revolution it is to
be hoped there will be no shooting.
Riots are tumultuous disturbances of the public
peace by unlawful assemblies of three or more persons in the
executions of private objects--such as race hatreds. No matter who
passes the first blow or fires the first shot, riots between white
and blacks occur only for one reason:
Negro Americans are firmly convinced that they have no access to
any physical protection which they do not provide for themselves.
It is a well-known and established fact that this
conviction is rooted in history: Negroes
in fact do not have any protection from physical injury inflicted
by whites other that that which they provide from themselves.
It is a rather deadly joke among Negroes
(especially since the Detroit riots) that the first thing to do in
case of a race riot is to call the police to shoot them . . .
“Man, what you mean call the police; them the people gonna kill
you . . .”
White citizens who believe in democracy (and
white citizens who do not believe in democracy but do not want to
have race riots) can stop race riots whenever and wherever they
occur by simply appearing on the scene and making it apparent to
the white persons thus engaged that they do not approve. The
reason for this is obvious: White persons who incite and engage in
race riots are in the minority, but they
are firmly convinced that the majority of white people morally
support their actions. As a consequence most Negro Americans
clearly realize that white citizens who stay at home and remain
quiet during riots are morally as guilty as those who yield clubs
and fire the guns.
Negro martyrs are needed to assemble these
white citizens who believe in democracy and stay home; and to
inspire them to fight for their beliefs.
Martyrs Are Rare
It is necessary that such a Negro martyr be a
person of integrity who loves freedom enough to make any sacrifice
to attain it. Preferably, he should be a Negro leader, a person
reasonably intelligent by the accepted standards, one who is well
known to Negro and white Americans alike and who can not be
ignored by either white or Negro media of news distribution. He
must be a Negro who will not compromise, and who does not mind
embarrassing his white liberal friends who sincerely believe that
“adaptation” or “evolution” is the best policy for Negroes
to follow. And, of course, he must be a Negro who will not sell
out. Therefore we must get our lanterns.
He must be solidly supported by the Negro
middle class for there is no Negro leader solidly supported by the
Negro lower class. Not only should he be solidly supported by this
group, but so identified with them as to make it impossible for
them to abandon him.
It is apparent that the Negro middle class must
be out in front in any Negro American revolution, so this must be
fixed in mind, and further reasoning must go forward from it. The
Negro middle class must accept the responsibility for the
successful culmination of any Negro attempt for democratic
equality.
Therefore it is of singular importance that
members of this group be able to recognize democratic equality
when it comes, and not confuse it with social acceptance by
members of other groups or races. We have not achieved equality by
weekending with our white friends and drinking their liquor or
flirting with their wives. In fact, many of us who are Negro
American wish to retain the right to choose our house guest and
paramours as much as any white American.
The incident, of course, must be a denial of
some rights guaranteed to every citizen of the United States by
the Constitution, such as the right of any decent, honest person
to live wherever he chooses, or the right of a citizen to vote or
serve on juries. Incidents such as an unjust accusation of rape
serve no primary purpose other than to agitate or inflame and fix
no constructive precedent for progress.
The martyr must take a stand and refuse to
yield. The Negro middle class must come to his assistance, also
refusing to yield, and must influence the Negro lower classes to
follow.
What is the utmost of importance is the stand.
All of us Negro Americans must take a stand. And after we have
made it, we must not give on any point. We must not compromise a
breath. After all, we have nothing to lose, except our lives, and one preferable
change to win: Democratic equality.
Source: Gerald Early. Speech and Power * *
* * *
updated 12 March
2008 |
