Negro Digest - Freedom Archives

Mod, Modish and Militant
Keeling on Toy of fhe Scene
For some people, game-playing is a full-time preoccupation .
Not only does it keep them on tap of things : it also has
wild benefits . i'laying the Black intellectual Game, for
example, actually encourages them to read the books
everyone is talking about, making it possible for them
to rap with authority about important current topics,
and that is definltefy a plus . That game neatly ties in
with the Black Militant Game, which is all the rage just
now and which has merits of its own in attention-grabbing :
a brother can come on like gangbusters with a boss 'Fro
and a hand-tailored dashiki, set off with a soft silk turtle-
neck and a big brass pendant . And that game dovetails
beautifully with the Swinger Game, allowing a brother to
make the scene in imported bell-bottoms direck from
Carnaby Street and expensive Italian-made boots, shined
to a gloss . Name the game, and some brothers are right
on tap of it .
But the Black Revoultion is not a gams . Hor are
the legitimate aims of the Black Revolution served
by assorted poseurs and hustlers playing revolution
. Across the country, a small but determined
body of black men and women are dedicating their
energies-and, in many cases, their lives-to the task of liberating 61ack people from the
psychological shackles which have rendered them powerless for centuries . In whatever they
do-in education, in art, in music, in literature, or in community service-they are concerned
with shattering the ofd ikons of whiteness and with validating in the minds of black people
regenerative black images and black idols and a black perspective on the world . These serious
men and women know that intensive and unwavering vigilance in the cause of Black Conscious
ness is necessary to break, for all time, the debilitating cycle of hope and despair which has
characterized black life on this continent for 400 years . Their task is monumental, and it is
not made easier by the diversionary tactics of the game-players. It is imperative that the
black community know the difference between the committed and the comedians-
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K~ao .cledge is the h'ey to a Better Tontorro~e~. Read 1~r E'~T)-0 1]1,~'QIt