Revolution Televised.pdf

36 Was the Revolution Televised?
published findings, “The Negro Family: The Case for National Action,”
otherwise known as the Moynihan report, was much disputed
at the time, and its legacy has been debated by African American
feminists, who have criticized the ways in which it demonized black
women. Critics at the time also condemned the report for placing
the onus of the black condition on black families while overlooking
the root of the problems, which was the racism of the society. 26
According to the report, the breakup of the black family began
under slavery and became progressively worse with the migration
to the cities and the discrimination experienced there. Although the
premise is feasible in that it ties the conditions to some historical
legacy of oppression, from this point on the report takes an insidious
turn. Moynihan argued that after World War II, black men had
an increasingly difficult time with employment, which led to the
prominence of female-headed households. This in essence was a
core problem according to the report.
At the heart of the deterioration of the fabric of Negro society is
the deterioration of the black family. It is the fundamental cause of
weakness in the Negro community. Unless the damage is repaired
all the effort to end discrimination, poverty and injustice will come
to little. 27
Moynihan further argued that the black man was more damaged
than the black woman was by the legacy of slavery and discrimination.
The problem needed to be rectified in order to reengage the
black man with the family. Moynihan made recommendations that
would position the black male at his rightful place as head of the
household, because “[t]he very essence of the male animal, from
the bantam rooster to the four star general is to strut.” 28
As noted, this report was controversial. Parts of it were accepted
by established leaders of the Civil Rights movement, such as Martin
Luther King Jr. (SCLC) and Roy Wilkins (NAACP), as a component
of the War on Poverty campaign. Other portions of the report were
highly contested by African American leaders such as George Wiley,
of the National Welfare Rights Organization, and by sociologists
and psychologists. They questioned the black matriarchy theory
and the ways in which the report managed to place the blame for
the black condition on black women. Some critics also challenged
the reliance on the white middle-class family structure as the model