This is very different from Black nationalism grounded in the vision of a cooperative, community-based economy buttressed against an intractable white supremacy. The political domination of the Black community, then, is accomplished through the supervision of the community by a Black entrepreneurial class functioning as a colonial surrogate, subordinate to the white capitalist class in exchange for the opportunity to share in the exploitation. This is the impasse that led to the formation of the Black Radical Congress. The question of how to create political space for Black people to consolidate political power and interrupt this cycle is a very high strategic priority. Those alliances must be carefully considered.
Unequal alliances are well-known and understood by Black activists.
But avoiding the risk altogether is not the solution. The crisis in Black communities is not wine, and it will not improve with age. While Black trade unionists know the absolute necessity of unity with white workers to make demands against bosses, Black workers acknowledge and continue to struggle against the stubborn vestiges of racism inside the unions. The political arena is no different. Political terrain is complicated.