The Devil You Know: A Black Power Manifesto

Following a call to action for Black migration, Charles Blow reflects upon the history of various means by which Black people have sought to gain equality.

He opines that hope “is rooted in the Black experience” and is “an essential commodity among the downhearted” (150-51). For many Black people, that hope stems from a religiosity rooted in American Christianity, made alive in a “model of persecution, a perfect suffering and a perfect sustenance” (152). However, Blow is skeptical of this system, as he believes it makes Black people acquiescent by believing heavenly promises await after surviving a hellish white supremacy.

On the matter of hope, Blow questions where Black people ought to place it. Changing demographics point to the “browning of America” (154), but that still does not guarantee progress specifically for Black people. Arguing that a comradery among people of color is foolish, Blow points to the divergent beliefs among other racial groups on the rise in America. Considering President Donald Trump as vocally anti-minority, Blow acknowledges that even so, Trump garnered “28 percent of the Hispanic vote and 27 percent of the Asian vote” (155) in 2016. Blow finds that behind hope is “waiting,” and he argues Black America has done enough hoping and waiting.