Black supremacy is the belief that blacks as a group are intellectually, morally, spiritually, physically and/or genetically superior to people of other racial backgrounds. This belief is usually expressed within a bilateral framework, that is, within a black-white context.

Contents

1 Black supremacy vs. white supremacy 2 Rastafarianism and the Nation of Islam 3 Black supremacy and Melanin Theory 4 References 5 See also

Black supremacy vs. white supremacy

"Black supremacy" is a highly controversial, emotionally charged term.

Unlike many "white supremacists," who generally embrace the label, most "black supremacists" reject the term because of its implicit meaning. They do not regard their belief in black superiority as an equivalent opposite of white supremacy, which is far more widespread, and which historically has been reinforced and sustained worldwide by instruments of Western economic, political and military power. The integration of instruments of white supremacy -- institutions; their human agents, individually and collectively; policies; procedures and actions -- that work to systematically disenfranchise, marginalize or otherwise oppress nonwhites on the basis of race or ethnicity is called institutional racism. By comparison, there is no powerful, far-reaching nexus of instruments under black control that have a corollary effect on whites. Nor does there appear to be any significant desire on the part of so-called "black supremacists" to have one.

It its simplest form, black supremacy is the belief in the inherent superiority of the "black race." Historically, however, it has manifested itself as a tool in framing an intellectual and conceptual dialectic (in the Hegelian sense) that has been utilized as a kind of liberation theology for the societally marginalized and oppressed. In neither its intellectual nor its political context, however, is black supremacy -- as many nonblacks are inclined to believe -- mere sophistry; it is a strongly held notion. Even so, it is little more than an intellectual construct. Author and social commentator bell hooks (1995, p.154) writes:

...it is [the] system that promotes domination and subjugation. The prejudicial feelings some blacks may express about whites are in no way linked to a system of domination that affords us any power to coercively control the lives and well-being of white folks. That needs to be understood.

White supremacy, in contrast, has been historically— and remains today— a political ideology, a worldview, the power of which is projected outward as an instrument of dominance and oppression to preserve, protect and regain white hegemony, white power and white privilege. The power and pervasiveness of white supremacy are such that even people of color, whose intrinsic worth it devalues, may subscribe to it. This internalization of a belief of a (usually) dominant group in the inherent inferiority of another group by members of that subject group generally is referred to as self-hatred.

Based on an understanding of power and ethnicity such as that expressed by hooks, there is no such thing as "black supremacy," per se, as a corollary of white supremacy; it simply does not exist. But black supremacy as a core belief in the inherent superiority of indigenous peoples of Sub-Saharan and West Africa and their progeny has been a fairly marginal, but growing, school of thought among blacks for 75 years or more in the modern era.

Rastafarianism and the Nation of Islam

Rastafarianism is a religion that originally was founded on principles that included a belief in the inherent wickedness of the white race and the absolute superiority of the black race. This element of Rastafarian religious dogma, promulgated by preachers like Leonard Howell, has been almost entirely abandoned in modern Rastafarianism, which accepts converts from all ethnicities. A few, small fringe groups, however, continue to adhere to a black supremacist doctrine.

In the 1930s, the Nation of Islam, emerged, coming to prominence during the 1960s, when charismatic minister Malcolm X became a spokesman for the movement. It was during the time of the American Civil Rights Movement, a period of social and political ferment in the United States, when a number of African American organizations became more militant in their demands for positive change.

Some whites believe that the Nation is a black supremacist organization, but this notion is an erroneous one. While generally hostile to whites based on their history of racism and oppression of people of color, generally, and blacks in particular, the Nation of Islam never held that any race was superior to another. The earliest doctrines of the Nation of Islam held that whites were "devils" and enemies of blacks. Among other tenets, the group's founder, Elijah Muhammad, preached the "Doctrine of Yakub," which held that the Original Man, was the "Asiatic black man." White people, it contended, were "grafted" from black people 6,000 years ago by a mad scientist named Yakub. Muhammad also preached black self-reliance, black cooperative economics and strict moral and physical discipline. Most historians and social scientists, therefore, classify the Nation of Islam as a black nationalist, or black separatist, organization.

Observers point out that modern science strongly indicates that the first human beings were black Africans. The "Doctrine of Yakub," they argue, is simply an allegory for the mutation, or evolution, over time of whites from blacks as a result of climatic differences as humanity migrated out of Africa and populated other areas of the globe. Such colorful storytelling, they argue, is little different from the Bible's account of God creating Eve from Adam's rib, or the creation of heaven and earth in six days.

As the years have progressed, like the Rastafarians, the Nation of Islam has moved away from some of its more stridently anti-white rhetoric. It has formed working relationships with various groups across ethnicities, including whites, to address issues of mutual concern.

Such groups as the Rastafarians and the Nation of Islam emerged at a time when blatant racism and bigotry went largely unchecked in their respective societies. They were a reaction to the oppression and violence commonly directed at black people. The use of black supremacy as liberation theology, as an instrument of upliftment, was— and continues to be— key to the appeal of both groups. Both challenged a status quo of white privilege and black disadvantage, provided a counter to internalized values of white supremacy manifested as black self-loathing and fear, and posed a framework for self-empowerment and advancement individually and collectively.

Black supremacy and Melanin Theory

There are some blacks who today believe that, because blacks are the most ancient human beings on Earth, they are more highly evolved than other peoples of the planet. They cite the early, powerful black civilizations of Nubia and early dynastic Egypt as proof of inherent black superiority.

Some black supremacists believe that the higher levels of melanin in black skin is one of the primary reasons for presumed black superiority and the existence of advanced black civilizations that predate those of other ethnic groups. They contend that, with higher levels of melanin in the skin such as those that occur in people of black African descent, athleticism, intelligence and emotional, psychic and spiritual sensitivity likewise are enhanced. This contention, generally known as Melanin Theory, has been a school of thought in the African-American community for approximately 30 years, since the discovery of melanin as a semiconductor in 1974.

Melanin is, in fact, an organic semiconductor. It is also a neuropeptide, a polymeric substance that influences neural activity and mediates the conduction of light, heat and kinetic energy. As such, it is the subject of intense interest in biotech research and development, most notably in plastic electronics and nanotechnology. Researchers postulate that melanin, in both its organic and synthesized forms, may be among a handful of biopolymers that one day could routinely supplant conventional, inorganic materials like gallium arsenide and silicon in high-tech devices such as microchips.

While loosely grounded in science treating the physical properties of melanin, Melanin Theory has little to no credibility in mainstream social scientific thought or scientific study.

References

• bell hooks: Killing Rage: Ending Racism, New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1995, ISBN 0805037829

See also

• Melanin
• Melanin Theory
• Racism
• Organic semiconductor
• White supremacy