Wilson Wisdom: The Power is in Our Hands

Words of wisdom from Dr. Amos Wilson:

We talk about the white man as having power. I want you to recognize that power ultimately has to do with the relationship between people. And that the white man’s so-called power is to a great extent based upon the nature of the relationship he has with the black man. We empower him by the nature of our own behavior and attitudes as a people. He cannot be what he is unless we are what we are. To a good extent, the European is our creation. If we look at our behavior, we will see that to a good extent it is that behavior; our values, our consciousness, the kinds of personalities we’ve established in ourselves, our tastes, our desires and needs that maintains the European in this position.

We talk about the civil rights movement. And the apartheid system of the South.

When blacks decided just to get out of the buses and walk, the system changed. When they just stopped sitting in the back. Just changing that relationship changed the nature of power in that system.

When they kept their monies in their pockets, when they sat on those stools and blocked the other people from them, and changed the nature of the interaction between themselves and Europeans, the nature of the system changed. So, therefore, we have tremendous power; it depends upon how we align ourselves as a people and how we decide to relate to other people in the world, because they cannot have what they have unless we are who we are. That is why we don’t have to spend a great deal of time always appealing to them, and analyzing them, because we can better appeal to our own sense of self and our own consciousness.

We waste a lot of time trying to transform them, when by transforming ourselves, they will be transformed automatically. The power is in our hands. We are not destined to be the servants of white folks. That is not the destiny of black folk.