Black Community,Media,and Intellectual Paranoia-as-Politics

Abstract

This article used an interdisciplinary approach to a theory of paranoia as a political and cultural survival tool among Blacks in America. Focusing on a particularly contested moment in Black history—the Apollo 11 moon launch and its implications regarding funding for civil rights issues—the article approached its topic from literary, psychological, cultural, and scientific-technological perspectives, both historical and contemporary. The aim was to explore the issue of the post—civil rights “death” of the utility of appeals for full enfranchisement from the federal government and its subsequent impact on Black community life and cultural production. One of the major results of this event—seen here through the late sixties space race—was the rise of sociocultural paranoia as a productive resource in the Black community, as represented through the press, popular discourse, and literary endeavors, most notably the work of writer John A. Williams.