Power Makes Morals, Says Patton
By ROWENA MORRISON
"Right and wrong—it hangs a
lot of us up."
This point was * emphasized
throughout Fred Patton's Friday
night discussion, which immediately followed Dr. James
Brewer's lecture on the effect ot
Black Power upon the self-image of the Negro. Patton's group
met in Mclver Lounge of Elliott
Hall, and served as an end to
the NSA-sponsored series of lectures and panels on Black
Power.
'Patton enjoined his audience
not to accept the universal
morality which exists. "Those in
power make morals," he said.
"Those not in power (Negroes)
are considered to be in the
wrong."
He stressed that right and
wrong was jsl relative matter.
"According to whites, looting the
n e i g h b o r h o o d Safe-Way
Supermarket is wrong. To a
black brother it is a reclamation
of what is his."
"Men in power make laws for
their own interest," he continued. "If I were in power, I
would make laws for my own interest. Black people should not
accept the legal system of this
country; we have to establish
our own laws and morals, our
own sense of right and wrong.
You cannot operate on the oppressor's laws and liberate
yourself."
When a member of the audience asked what relation
Black Power had to poor whites,
Patton replied that the "poor
white communities should rise
up and raise hell, burn stores, do
something—calling me 'Nigger'
doesn't get them anywhere,"
"Might makes right," he said,
"I'd like to see society change
peacefully—I really would. But
the United States will never
change its ways, unless it. is by
force or threat of force. Social
legislation won't do anything for
black people except stabilize existing society. Whites can afford
to sit around and b e
philosophical because they don't
have to live in this mess."
Patton noted that violence
comes from the oppressor, not
the oppressed. According to him,
the Black Power movement is a
reaction to White violence upon
Negro America.
*Tm going to make myself a
citizen on my terms," he said.
"Black people want to control
Mack communities."
Patton's discussion was marked by a lack of emotionalism
characterized the timbre of the
Bllack Power series. Patton was
calm when talking, patient when
answering questions ; his
remarks were punctuated from
time to time by a "You tell it,
brother!" from one of his
associates.
