Black Theology and Black Power

James Cone put forth Black Theology and Black Power as an explanation of the change required for black men to survive in this society. Cone defines black power as, "complete emancipation of black people by whatever means black people deem necessary." This emancipation call means, "black people no longer see themselves as without human dignity but as men." Cone explains that black people see themselves without human dignity because white society has objectified them. As an object they are not relational beings, but objects of exploit for the privilege and the empowerment of whites. For Cone this went back to the beginning of the African experience in America. The suffering of the black experience was real, and "black people cannot live according to what ought to be, but according to what is." This book is without the luxury of time to come to grips with black meaning in a society which incessantly indoctrinated him with a message that he was less then human, less then whole. Cone did not have the luxury of education in the seminary in theologies other then those made by white men talking to other white men as the church made even Augustine and Jesus white in his time. He did not write in a vacuum and neither can his book be read in a vacuum. It is an essential book for understanding Black Liberation.