What Michelle Wallace wrote some forty (40) years ago could very well serve as a thesis statement regarding the contents of this book. What Michelle wrote in Black Macho and the Myth of the Superwoman, is concise, cogent and most accurate. Sis. Wallace wrote, "Perhaps the single most important reason the Black Movement did not work was that black men did not realize they could not wage struggle without the full involvement of women. And in that sense they made a mistake that the blacks of the post-slavery period would have been least likely to have made. Women, traditionally, want more than anything to keep things together ... Women cannot be paid off for the death and the suffering of their children. Look at how important women have been to the liberation struggles in Africa. By negating the importance of their role, the efficiency of the Black Movement was obliterated. It was just a lot of black men strutting around with Afros." (Wallace, 1978: 81) While her descriptions may lack diplomacy, they certainly are not lacking in accuracy. And she could add that in addition to strutting around in Afros, black men were also doing a whole lot of chasing of white bitches. And that, to me, was a key cog in the demise of the Black liberation movement. I will address this issue and may others because, as has been said many times, "it is through struggle that we become strengthened." But there were issues with black men who didn't have Afros, like the bald-head men of the US organization. Despite conflicts with the Panthers and others, there was one thing that was shared in common: gender bias and an attempt to copy African culture by representing it as nothing more than a sexist hierarchy dominated and directed by men. You might want to liken it to the religions of Christianity and Islam - that is, if you've got the guts. Finally, let me say this. There is a movie out there, masquerading as a "documentary," called, "The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Movement." Let me just say that this is bullshit title to begin with. They called themselves the vanguard of the movement because they continually mis-read and mis-understood the Red Book and the Communist Manifesto. They were no vanguard of anything except for the Breakfast Program (which whites have since co-opted and used in their own schools) and taking "Custer stands" against cops: out-gunned and outmanned but far more importantly, out-planned. Gender-bias is seldom addressed, but it was nevertheless a major reason for the internal combustion of the Black Power movement in general.
About the Author: Matthew C. Stelly is a doctoral student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee working on a degree in Urban Education and Community Policy. He holds three Master's degrees: Urban Studies (1982), Urban Education (1983) and Political Science (2000). He is working toward his doctorate in Community Policy/Urban Education at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He is the former editor of the Milwaukee Courier newspaper, former director of the Great Plains Black Museum and the Plano (TX) African American Museum, and lead archivist for The Black Academy of Arts and Letters (TBAAL) in Dallas, Texas. Stelly has more than 2,500 articles in print and has won two national essay competitions. He is the founding director of the largest African-American neighborhood group in Nebraska, the Triple One Neighborhood Association and Parents Union. He is publisher and editor of the Triple One News, a two-time nationally recognized newsletter. He is the father of five children - Mandla, Malik, Clariece, Charisse and Shannon -- and remains actively involved in community organizing and neighborhood development in several cities, including Milwaukee and Omaha.