I always wondered why the black community, as a whole, has yet to fully embrace liberalism. I can see why they would not embrace the Democratic Party (with beliefs of it being a big organization that cares more about its image and money than the actual well-being of citizens), but liberalism seems to have all of the ideologies that support the black community: Equality among races, no stereotyping, more rights to minorities and people struggling financially, a resentment towards police brutality; the list goes on. I definitely see more black people embracing liberal ideas as opposed to conservative ideas; however, I have yet to see the full embracing of liberalism from the black community as a whole.
Recently, I have been reading a short book titled "Black Autonomy: Civil Rights, the Panthers, and Today." The entire book is basically an interview between two ex-Black Panthers, Lorenzo Kom'boa Ervin and JoNina Abron, at a British speaking tour they did in May 2000. This book made me realize the history behind the black community and "the left" (liberals). I always thought that maybe black people don't embrace liberalism because conservatives made them believe that liberals do not support black people since Democrats supported slavery during the slave-trade. Obviously this logic is flawed because it fails to mention that the Democratic and Republican parties' ideologies and beliefs flip-flopped sometime in the 20th century. Anyway, as I read this book, the background history of blacks and the left gave me more ideas as to why black, people, as a whole, have not embraced the left yet.
It all started with the formation of the Black Panther Party. The Black Panther Party was a political organization that was originally formed in response to police brutality and violence from whites towards blacks. It was formed as a defense mechanism to the bad things happening to black people. Many people confuse the Black Panthers as being a violent group, similar to the Ku Klux Klan; however, the Black Panthers were strictly about defense, not offense. I can go on and on about the Black Panthers, but my point is that they were defensive. Being defensive required them to carry guns for their own protection, which is my first idea as to why black people have not embraced liberalism: gun control. Black people felt they needed, and still need, guns to protect themselves. Liberals wanting stricter gun control has made many blacks across the nation reconsider the whole liberal ideology.
Another point brought up in the book, which is a direct reason as to why blacks have not embraced the left, is that many leftist groups in the 1960s, such as the U.S. Communist Party, were so focused on their agenda that they considered "black power" to be "narrow black nationalism" and actually were not in favor of any black political formations. A few Panthers tried to reach out to some of these groups and they did not want to collaborate. Many blacks at the time looked at this as "anti-black."
My last idea as to why I think blacks have yet to fully embrace liberalism is homosexuality. This is an interesting subject because, as mentioned in the book, the Black Panthers actually were in support of the "gay revolution"; however, what was also mentioned in the book is that they were one of the only black organizations to this day to support this revolution. I believe black people, as a whole, do not support homosexuality because of Christianity. Christianity considers homosexuality to be an abomination, which is the exact opposite belief of liberalism. Liberals believe homosexuality is natural and homosexual marriage should be legal (which it already is). Christianity is a religion that has been rooted deep into the black community since slavery, which is why, I think, many black people have a resentment towards the gay community.
Who knows if the black community will ever fully embrace liberalism.
