ABSTRACT
The civil rights movement generated modern black politics, but by the late 1960s the key leaders of that movement made it clear that economic empowerment was the next step in the battle for black liberation. Empowerment means having the leverage to allocate to one's constituency valuable resources that are unequally distributed within a society. Thus, the black community is in a subordinate position because historically and currently it has been the victim of an interlocking system of class, race, and gender oppression. The major strategy discussions in the community and leadership circles center around how to run the best campaign, how to appeal to white voters, how to select the best candidate, and how to appeal to a fragile black electorate riddled with class differences. Black protest politics and electoral politics are the twin cornerstones necessary in the empowerment of the African-American community.
