Internal Colonialism and Ghetto Revolt

Abstract

The paper explores the thesis that white-Black relations in America are essentially those of colonizer and colonized. The concept of colonization as a process is distinguished from colonialism as a social system in order to isolate the common features in the experience and situation of Afro-Americans and the colonial peoples. Three contemporary social movements are analyzed in this light: urban riots, cultural nationalism, and ghetto control politics. Some dilemmas within these movements are considered in terms of the ambiguities that exist when colonization has taken place outside of a colonial political context. The essay concludes with a brief discussion of the white role in ghettoization and decolonization.