McBride and Black Power

The concept of black power is that all African Americans want to be treated like humans. To be more in depth, blacks want the same freedoms and rights as the whites have. The right to vote, the right to proper education and the right to public transportation were all things that African Americans wanted, but could not obtain. McBride’s point about the concept of black power is that it had permeated every element of his life as he grew up around the time it was growing. Especially after Malcom X’s death who was a public figure for the support of black power and what it was supposed to be meant for. McBride believed that black power was a bad political act as it caused fear to many white people and he also feared for his mom as she was white but knew many African Americans. He did believe that having equal rights as any other human being should is the positive of black power and fighting for that is a good thing. McBride did not like the aggressive stance that many supports of black power had an example of this were the Black Panthers. The Black Panthers were a specific group of people that support black power but they were extremists and they hated white people. The Black Panthers were basically the African American version of the Ku Klux Klan as the whites hated the blacks, the blacks hated the whites. McBride can be defined by his identity which has developed over the course of his life. As McBride was younger and the black power movement was in full effect even the buildings were painted in the liberation colors. He also feared black power as he thought that it would be the end of his mother. As he grew older he would watch the news and see news clips showing Black Panther rallies. He didn't want his mother being caught up in any violent acts as he loved his mom and cared about her. I feel that his identity is what defines his opinion on black power as he just grew up having a fear of it for many years. He deemed that black power causes Black Panther rallies and that could be potentially dangerous for himself and his family.