“I for one believe that if you give people a thorough understanding of what confronts them
and the basic causes that produce it, they’ll create their own program,
and when the people create a program, you get action.”
— Malcolm X
— Malcolm X
In the dichotomous repatriation versus integration approaches to address the “accelerating racial problems” in the United States, beginning in the 1800s, John Brown Russwurm, as many free African Americans of his time, took the option to repatriate to Africa. For Russurm, the move appears to have been successful during his time of leadership. There may still be a wealth of insight to be gleaned from his experience that could be applied to solving the on-again/off-again, so-called race relations in America today, as well as for empowerment of the black community. John Brown advocated education, trade, and dissemination of information designed for the “moral, religious, civil, and literary improvement of free persons of color living in the United States." Unpopular among free persons of color who sought to integrate into American society, repatriation efforts may have finally lost its appeal when John B. Russwurm died in 1851.
In a conversation with Harry Belafonte[1], young activist Phillip Agnew cited a “dropping the ball” that occurred between the time of the civil rights movement's emergence in the early 1900s, and the present. Before we get to the period Agnew refers to, we leap forward about 100 years from the mid 1800s when John Brown Russwurm died, into the mid 1900s, the major period of the Civil Rights Movement. During that period the focus of the Caribbean American activists was on integration into American society by gaining access to constitutional rights and economic participation. We present Dr. Muriel Pettioni, a nurturing community health professional, Malcolm X, the controversial Muslim Minister, and Harry Belafonte, celebrity actor, singer-songwriter, and philanthropist.
Dr. Muriel Pettioni, 1914-2011
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| Image via nlm.nih.gov |
Doctor, Community Activist
Founder, Friends of Harlem Hospital
Founder, Susan Smith McKinney Steward Medical Society for Women
Position: Integration—healthcare, housing, education, professional support
"If you had your heart and mind bursting and needed to talk to someone who was a physician, not bleeding in the body but bleeding in mind and soul, I would listen. I wasn’t brilliant. I wasn’t the best physician in the world, but I was nice enough to make people feel good.”
Self-deprecating and humble, it was clear from her death bed what Dr. Muriel Pettioni-Woolfolk stood for according to Paul Vitello’s obituary:
In her last days, Dr. Muriel Petioni summoned to her bedside many of the colleagues, protégés and political allies she had amassed during a lifetime as a Harlem physician and community activist. She gave each a set of marching orders: Make sure the new geriatric center at the hospital has the homey atmosphere we agreed on. Have you recruited new volunteers for the Harlem Elders program, as we discussed? The new clinic on 146th Street — let’s make sure it has the equipment it needs.The daughter of Rosa and Dr. Charles Pettioni, Muriel Pettioni, was born in Trinidad, January 1914. She immigrated to the United States in 1919 with her family to join her father, a former journalist, who had been exiled two years prior for anti-colonial views. Muriel followed her father into the field of medicine. She was the only woman in her graduating class at the Harvard University Medical School in 1937.
In her busy life as a school physcian with a private practice on the first floor of her home, Dr. Pettioni led initiatives to gain healthcare access, housing, and educational opportunities for the Harlem community. Dr. Pettioni founded the Friends of Harlem Hospital, and mentored school-aged young people and black medical students in pursuing a career in medicine. Perhaps from her experience as the only black female in her graduating class at Harvard Medical, Dr. Pettioni founded a professional support group within the American Medical Association, the Susan Smith McKinney Steward Medical Society for Women.
Through her gracious bedside manners, and a soupcon of her persistent, self-described “meddling,” Dr. Muriel Pettioni-Woolfolk proactively used her professional influence to enable Harlem residents in participating in American society.
MALCOLM X nee Little, el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz
1925-1965
Minister, Human Rights Activist
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| Image via malcolmx.com |
Muslim Mosque, Inc., Founder
Position: Integration—new hope for the future;
a message for all races.
“I am not a racist. I am against every form of racism and segregation, every form of discrimination. I believe in human beings, and that all human beings should be respected as such, regardless of their color.”
Under the influence of a morally flexible Islamic leader, the early career of Malcolm X as a human rights activist expressed strong supremacist views which advocated for the separation of blacks and whites. Though it is not apparent that he expressedly advocated repatriation, Malcolm X vehemently opposed any dealings with white America.
“Intelligent and articulate,” “a media magnet,” “his charisma, drive, and conviction attracted an astounding number of new members. Malcolm was largely credited with increasing membership in the NOI from 500 in 1952 to 30,000 in 1963.”Where Malcolm’s extreme views took a turn toward a new vision for integration came following a betrayal of his religious foundation, and a subsequent pilgrimage to Mecca. Feeling disillusioned by the sexual misconduct of his mentor and Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammed, Malcolm X left the Nation of Islam to start his own mosque.
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| Image via malcolmx.com |
He was deeply hurt by Muhammad’s actions, because he had previously considered him a living prophet. Malcolm also felt guilty about the masses he had led to join the NOI, which he now felt was a fraudulent organization built on too many lies to ignore.
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| Image via malcolmx.com |
Upon returning from Mecca, Malcolm also recanted his militant views, attibuting it to the fraudulent leadership of Elijah. He brilliantly proposed reframing the Civil Rights movement from a domestic issue to a matter of international human rights advocacy to gain support of developing nations around the world and attention of the United Nations.
"In a famous letter from Mecca, he wrote that his experiences with white people during his pilgrimage convinced him to "rearrange" his thinking about race and "toss aside some of [his] previous conclusions. [L]istening to leaders like Nasser, Ben Bella, and Nkrumah awakened me to the dangers of racism. I realized racism isn't just a black and white problem. It's brought bloodbaths to about every nation on earth at one time or another."
There is much irony in this change of heart in Malcom X as it pertains to America’s fight for independence: from a reactive, exclusive, supremacy stance to a considerate, inclusive, universal view.
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| Image via malcolmx.com |
“Don’t be in a hurry to condemn because he doesn’t do what you do or think as you think or as fast. There was a time when you didn’t know what you know today.”It is said that history is written by the victors, and so it was with Malcom X, whose galvanic influence in the Civil Rights era was crushed under the propanda of militantism. After multiple attempts on his life, Malcom X was assassinated at a public speaking event, February 1965, by conspirators and government infiltrators within his own organization. Knowing that his future survival was uncertain, Malcolm wrote his self-titled autobiography, which was recognized by Time Magazine as one of the Top 10 most influential books of the 20th century (1998).
Harry Belafonte, 1927 -
Singer-songwriter, Actor,
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| Image via moralheroes.org |
UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador
ACLU Juvenile Justice Ambassador
Position: Integration—American Patriot, against “violating the American desire,” shaping the economic paradigm.
I'm struck by (the) observation that integration was the target for the movement that we experienced in the 1950s, '60s. But integration, I think that's a little misunderstood. We [were] looking to integrate into America, whether it was racial integration, economic integration or some type of social integration. It was that we knew that if we were not part of the fabric of what this nation professed to be about, that if we didn't have the right to vote, that if we didn't have the right to attend institutions of our choice for learning, that if we didn't have a chance to become a bigger part of the American dream that was, for us, also a dream that we would never really truly touch the heartbeat of what America was about. This was about a bigger integration. But it's always been narrowed down to just the issue of race specifically.[1]Born in 1927, Harry Belafonte, the son of Jamaican immigrants, used his success and celebrity as an actor and singer-songwriter to support humanitarian activism around the world. Known for his movie stardom in Carmen, and popular calypso folk songs, Day-O and Jump In De Line, Harry Belafonte’s philanthropically funded Dr. KIng's leadership of the Civil Rights movement, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Council, and various initiatives at the height of the Movement. In supporting anti-apartheid efforts Belafonte helped introduce exiled South African artists like Miriam Makeba to American and international audiences.
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| Image: eurweb.com |
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| Image: docurama.com |
When black people got the right to vote totally in this country, it was not just the right to vote as a mechanical act. How do you select the individuals that are going to represent us?[1]Harry Belafonte is a living legend in the entertainment industry, as well as in political and humanitarian activism. His legacy is ongoing as he continues to speak up for those who need a voice as a Goodwill Ambassador (UNICEF) and Juvenile Justice Ambassador (ACLU). Yet, Mr. Belafonte feels that his time of crusading is near it's end, an acceptance of inevitability. Asked how he would like to be remembered, Mr. Belafonte replied simply, “American patriot.”
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| Image: nydailynews.com |
“It has taken me all my life in commitment to Dr. King’s ideals to try to make this remarkable creature called America work, all of the designs are there; all the details are there. We have just failed to call upon them in the abundance we should call upon them to get the kind of guidance we need to get this ship on course.”Well said, Mr. Belafonte. We get the impression from events in the past year that some strides were lost in progress of "race relations" in the United States. In light of Malcolm X's quote on defining issues and allowing people to act, Mr. Belafonte may be on point in recognizing that race is an intractable reductionist issue that keeps the Civil Rights Movement from attaining a conclusive victory. As scientific findings have determined the concept race an amorphous, unsubstiated construct, the old fall back on race points to something else.
What is that "something else?" How could we go about discovering or defining what it is? Or is it simply obvious that..."The reason that we seem to be fighting the same fight all the time is because we are fighting the same fight all the time. This generation has to now go back and pay attention to the things that we had won, [which] are now being lost because of this power play. I think this thing that we feel redundant, that we are fighting the same thing, is because (we have always been kept) in the same place."[1] It is time we break off this holding pattern and move forward.
This completes the 2-part series on the Caribbean American activists. If you are just joining read part 1 on the activists , and about the founders. We have flowed from founding cities and nations, to seeking constitutional and economic participation. Taking Mr. Belafonte's advice, let us now pay attention to what we might learn from the next group of Caribbean-Americans--the Statesmen.
Reference:
- Binns, L. (n.d.). Harry Belafonte: My mission is near its end | Al Jazeera America. Retrieved June 27, 2015, from http://america.aljazeera.com/watch/shows/america-tonight/articles/2015/3/2/harry-belafonte-my-mission-is-near-its-end.html
- Biography. (2015, February 10). Retrieved June 26, 2015, from http://malcolmx.com/biography/
- Dr. Muriel Petioni | The HistoryMakers. (n.d.). Retrieved June 26, 2015, from http://www.thehistorymakers.com/biography/dr-muriel-petioni-39
- Harry Belafonte - Early Years. (n.d.). Retrieved June 26, 2015, from http://www.biography.com/people/harry-belafonte-12103211#early-years
- Harry Belafonte - Political; Humanitarian Activism. (n.d.). Retrieved June 26, 2015, from https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Belafonte#Political_and_humanitarian_activism
- Malcolm X. (n.d.). Retrieved June 26, 2015, from https://en.m.wikipedia.org/?title=Malcolm_X
- Struggle and Song Define a Life. (n.d.). Retrieved June 26, 2015, from http://mobile.nytimes.com/2012/01/13/movies/sing-your-song-documentary-about-harry-belafonte-review.html?referrer
- Vitello, P. (n.d.). Muriel Petioni, 97, Prominent Harlem Physician, Dies. Retrieved June 26, 2015, from http://mobile.nytimes.com/2011/12/10/nyregion/muriel-petioni-prominent-harlem-physician-dies-at-97.html?referrer=
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