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IN PRAISE OF SCIENCE    O'DELL

of The Black Experience. The Private Life of a Gentleman of Leisure, which is the story of a black pimp and its on the national bestseller book list; the films, Superfly, Sweetback and Black Jesus are but a few examples of the cultural pollution which is deluging the American public mind. But this is not all. In the name of "militancy" and "blackness" our younger generation is being encouraged to abandon standards of excellence and a tradition of scientific inquiry which have consistently been the hallmark of leadership and scholarship among Afro-Americans at least from the time Dr. Du Bois took the helm at the turn of the Century. 

This lumpenization process is particularly directed at the young generation caught in the squeeze of a sick political economy which denies to them the prospect of ever securing gainful employment in socially useful work. In the name of "hipness" and other concepts it is not uncommon to hear the view expressed that "science is the white man's business-his trick bag" and other such obscurantist nonsense. Such ideology is often promoted among Afro-American youth wrapped in the package of "black consciousness" when in fact it represents the worst in the tradition of white American nationalism, in praise of mediocrity and Know-Nothingism. The overall result of this misplaced "cultural nationalism" has been one of retarding the growth in the level of scientific literacy particularly among the young potential Freedom Fighters, whom our Movement was counting on as reserves for the battles ahead in this decade of the 1970's.

Given the scientific relationship between language and thought the "black" mystique, more often than not, represents a confusion of political thought when confronted with concrete, practical tasks to be carried out. This results in narrowing rather than enlarging the breadth of our struggle for democratic rights. There are numerous examples where some some among us became so "black" we couldn't even see involving Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans and Indians in a common effort.

"Cultural Nationalism" has also isolated us from certain progressive sections of the white population which are neither asleep nor reactionaries and need leadership. This represents a step backward from where Martin Luther King led us before he was assassinated.

There was a time when the contention could be made, and not without some reason, that our ministers and clergy were not fulfilling their responsibility to the freedom struggle because they were too busy preaching "pie-in-the-sky" and emphasis on the hereafter. But for the most part that problem ended with the leadership of Martin

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---------- Reopened for Editing 2024-02-26 16:01:33