The Devil You Know: A Black Power Manifesto

Charles Blow’s vision in The Devil You Know advocates for the colonization of the American South to establish a haven for Black power (42). While not altogether against Black Nationalism, which often promotes Black people establishing their own nation, Blow’s proposal envisions accumulating Black power within the South to steer both the futures of Black people and of America (128).

To motivate migration during the Great Migration, Black leaders and advocacy groups championed the socioeconomic opportunities in northern and western metropolitan and industrial cities as an escape from southern white supremacist terror. These destination cities included “Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Saint Louis, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, Phoenix, Seattle, and Portland” (15).

Gentrification, or the renewal of old and poorly invested urban areas at the direction of local governments and developers, is example of institutional racism. While not explicitly racist, urban redevelopment inherently targets and displaces Black and poor residents, replacing them with young, wealthy white buyers. Supporters claim they are reinvesting in these areas, yet the missing funds and taxable incomes that caused the neighborhoods to fall into disrepair are likely a result of white flight, a reactionary migration of white people to the suburbs in response to the Great Migration (96, 100).