The Devil You Know: A Black Power Manifesto

Consider Blow’s ambivalence about protests. Are protests truly demonstrative only in nature, or can these movements cause substantive change? Use recent demonstrations in your community or across the nation to support your argument.

Blow takes issue with labeling, particularly with any association to radicalism. What makes a particular social theory radical, and is Black regionalism a radical theory? Why or why not?

If Blow successfully motivated mass migration back to the South, what obstacles might Black people face there? How might they overcome these obstacles?

Blow spends considerable lengths criticizing Booker T. Washington for acquiescing to white supremacy and W. E. B. Du Bois for being an elitist intellectual. Are the beliefs of intellectuals influenced by their contemporary environments, or are their social theories timeless?

While Blow speaks to the inherent commonalities in the Black experience, it is wrong to assume all Black people think and feel the same way. How might divergent belief systems and life experiences challenge the cohesiveness of the bloc’s communities? Will such differences matter?

Blow refers to the gradual “browning” of America (154). How might other racial groups achieve their own form of self-determination?

Black regionalism targets nine states for colonization. If mass migration leads to this outcome, how might the region fight back against the white supremacist structure in the other 41 states?

Some critics of Blow’s plan argue it is inherently segregationist and alienating to liberals and white people. Would it be possible to build a coalition in the newly carved-out America, or will the rest of country isolate the bloc?