Black radical leaders in the 20th century were significantly influenced by socialism, communism, and Marxism, which helped shift Black politics from gradual integration toward direct action, class struggle, and anti-imperialism. These leaders connected Black Americans to global anti-colonial movements and introduced systematic views of racism that focused on institutional structures like courts, labor systems, and corporations rather than individual prejudice. They challenged American hypocrisy by arguing that Black people should not be expected to show loyalty to a country that denied them basic dignity and citizenship. This radical leadership was often punished during the McCarthy era, and their influence contributed to the negative portrayal of figures like Booker T. Washington. The video explores how these leftist ideas shaped Black political thought and raises questions about whether Black people have become anti-American and anti-capitalist, examining the philosophies of leaders like Malcolm X, Huey P. Newton, and Martin Luther King.
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Builders to Beggars Black People Leaders Influenced by socialism, communism, MarxismAdded:
They were influenced by socialism and communism and Marxism.
And so, you know, together they helped shape black radical politics in the 20th century. Now, black radical leaders from the '20s and and through the '27, they had these, you know, they they mixed ideas about black freedom with socialist, communist ideas and they helped shift black politics away from slow integration towards direct action, protest, class struggle and and anti-imperialism, right? And and and major social change, okay? And so, here's the thing, uh you know, these leaders also made black struggle more international.
And there's a reason for that cuz many of them were international. They connected black Americans to people fighting colonialism in Africa and Asia and Latin America and and the Caribbean.
They had not delineated, okay? And a lot of communist organizers also brought strong protest tactics to black politics that we didn't do before. They brought that stuff from overseas. And after this type of radical leadership grew, the United States uh uh was described as an imperialist power even though there is no king here.
And many of these radicals said America was hypocritical because it claimed to fight for freedom overseas while enforcing Jim Crow and racism at home, which is very true.
You have people like Paul Robeson argue that black people should not be expected to show loyalty to the country that denied them basic dignity and full citizen. That was new. Think about that.
Here you have a group of people who've been in this country since its inception, who's fought in every war, and you telling them you now now the the the the major thought is that they shouldn't be loyal to the country that they fought and died for? I want you think about that.
And see, they also spread the more systematic view of racism. They didn't focus only on individual white prejudice. So, somebody calling you a name in a pickup truck is is is is what we used to focus on. All right, now we focusing on the courts and the and we're focusing on uh uh the labor system and we're focusing on the foreign policy and the corporations and the government. And this created a new kind of political mindset. Black people were uh were Americans, but they also stood outside America's official story and challenge its claims about freedom and democracy. So, guess what? That had us believing that we weren't fully American. I want you to think about that. They it described it for us.
We already felt like that, but this described it for us. Now, many of these people, they got punished real harsh during the McCarthy era when they had the Red Scare and they were holding these congressional meetings trying to figure out, you know, who's who's who's who's who's on the other side, okay?
Who's who's for the side of the Russians. And the larger effect was that there was had a major shift in in black political thought. See, here's what I want you to understand. You all have been taught to villainize people like Booker T. Washington, right?
>> [snorts] >> Booker T. Washington was the bad guy, right?
Right?
Mhm?
He was a bad guy.
Right?
And that's because a lot of these black leaders that came afterwards pushed these leftist ideas. They wanted to overthrow America.
They saw America as a capitalist imperialistic power. They argued that true equality would require changing the economic system. Now, um let's go ahead and start looking at some video footage. I want to break this down. Again, I want to give a shout out to everybody who contributed to the super chat, the cash app, and the PayPal. I told y'all we're going to be here for a minute. We got work to do. A lot of it.
All right, now look, first thing I need to do is this.
Um The reason that I'm talking about this now is because there are regular black people out here right now who are asking these questions.
Okay? Many of you right now, where did when do we become so anti-patriotic, right? Now, the first video I want to share with you all is this young lady.
You all listen to her.
All right, listen to this young lady.
Uh she's on Instagram, okay? Here what she has to say.
And then I'm going to let them play.
>> Burning negro churches created doubt, lack of confidence, suspicion, setting up situations that bring about racial bitterness, violence and conflict, putting forth demands No, oh, I can't let that play. I don't want to mess that up. But, uh let's let's get to another one real quick. Basically what she was saying that where did all this come from, okay? I want you to listen to this brother. I actually interacted with him today on on um I actually interacted with him today on uh Facebook. I saw this post and I was like, man, I'm doing this broadcast anyway, this is a perfect So, shout out to this brother. Listen to what he has to say, okay? Black capitalism the black capitalism >> It's like a cult.
You know, narratives are interesting things.
Cuz they can be used to persuade a person or people to like or dislike something something or someone.
This is one that I believe that's happening uh against the black community. Well, let me know what you think.
>> Oh, what a feeling.
Ah, [ __ ] it.
>> I believe that this anti-capitalism uh argument is used to stifle economic growth.
It's in the black community.
Mhm.
>> You agree or disagree?
Let me know below.
So so basically what the young brother is saying that uh we have a lot of black people who are anti-American and and by default anti-capitalism.
And so if you anti-capitalism uh you don't believe in the capitalist system, which whatever you believe, you understand that racism exists under communism and monarchy and imperialism, anti-black racism specifically. This just happens to be where we are. Okay? In a country that is capitalist, but really is not really that capitalist cuz if it was all capitalist, we wouldn't have uh welfare fire uh fire services uh put out fires and police. Okay? So need to understand that. Uh now I want to let you So we'll we'll So has this way of thinking interfered with our financial success here in the United States? Here's another brother I want you to check out.
Y'all listen to him. Okay?
symbol or a brand, you can actually separate them from politics and ideas that they lived by and espoused. This is why we can have so many black celebrities and entertainers use pro-blackness as an aesthetic and invoke these people as inspirations, but not actually adhere to the politics of these people.
How many of you all love Malcolm X?
I'm just asking. How many of you all love Malcolm X?
How many of you all support Malcolm X?
If you love Malcolm X, you appreciate Malcolm X, type X in the chat room.
Come on now.
You support what Malcolm X stood for.
All right. And I love brother Malcolm. I appreciate him. I love what he stood for.
You know, he he died for what he believed in.
Okay?
What about Huey P. Newton?
Somebody type black power in the chat room if you support the Black Panther Party and Huey P. Newton.
Mhm? Black Panther Party, you support Black Panther Party and Huey P. Newton.
Again, we're not saying we don't love them, we don't respect them, we don't appreciate what they did. We're not saying that the the information and and the philosophies they espoused at the time was not good at that time or at least aspects of it. We're just analyzing it so we can become a more mature politically astute people so we know what this came from. All right? It it most black people in this chat room support Malcolm X, Huey P. Newton, and we also support MLK, Martin Luther King, right? We love MLK.
It's a street uh uh named after Martin Luther King in every city in America.
Okay? Somebody type MLK in the chat room. MLK, Martin Luther King.
Huey P. Newton.
Now, the question is where did they get their philosophies from? I want you to hear what this brother say and do you really know what they stood for?
Okay?
All right, let's listen to what this astute young brother has to say and then we going to continue. When you turn MLK into a brand, then you could ignore his democratic socialist politics.
When you turn MLK into a brand, a street, a speech, a holiday, you can ignore his democratic socialist what? When you turn Malcolm X into a brand instead of a person, then you can ignore the fact that he said, "Show me a capitalist and I'll show you a blood sucker."
Show me a capitalist and I'll show you a blood sucker. So, all you ladies out there who own a nail shop, all you brothers out there who have your own plumbing business and employ other people, you're a capitalist.
That's what brother Malcolm said.
Okay?
So, I want you to listen. Now, Huey P.
Newton, where all my black people up in here?
Come on in, all the black people. Come in close. We love Huey P. Somebody type black power in the chat room if you love Huey P. Let's listen what Huey P. Newton said.
The most problematic [ __ ] you know feels confident in Huey P. Newton being one of his heroes, even though Huey P.
Newton said, "If you're homophobic or misogynistic, you're a [ __ ] and a goofy." That's real real speech. Google it. We need Huey P. Newton, shout out to Generation Malcolm X. Huey P. Newton said, Did Did you hear what he said? If you're homophobic or misogynistic, you are a [ __ ] and a goofy. If you're homophobic or misogynistic, you're a [ __ ] and a goofy.
Now, I get the misogynistic part, but the homophobic part.
Now, maybe we taking it out of context.
Maybe there were gay people in San Francisco who wanted to join the the Huey P. Newton the Black Panther Party and he said, "Hey, you can't be in here homophobic or or misogynistic cuz we got women and gays in here." But, I just want you to understand that. Is this what the typical black person supports?
Do Do you? I'm just asking. Do you know that you're a real G from the community?
Are you going to run out there you know, you're supposed to be pimping holes and slamming Cadillac doors. You can't then be say I'm anti-misogynistic.
That is the epitome of misogyny.
And many of us don't like those alternative lifestyles, do we?
But you heard what Huey P. Newton said, right? Huey P. said what?
>> [snorts] >> He said you was you was a [ __ ] and a goofy if you homophobic. Did y'all know that?
I'm just asking.
I'm not saying it's good or bad. I'm just saying where where did these leftist ideas come from cuz they didn't come from nowhere. And this is the 1960s. This is your family's generation.
This is your mama and daddy's generation. This is not even your grandparents' generation. How do we go from a people who built universities and schools and so on and so forth having a do-for-self attitude to being a group of people who said, "Oh, no, we can't do anything."
We have to look at the leadership.
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