s that stringent controls are needed in society to curb individual self-interest. Only in this manner, conservatives argue, will citizens be free from undue self-interest of others. The liberal viewpoint argues that if equal opportunity for economic prosperity is a condition of freedom, then any constraints that deny certain individuals such opportunities must be removed or freedom does not exist. Despite adopting either ideology of the role of governmental and social power, leaders of both viewpoints are typically from the wealthiest, most educated, and powerful classes in society. This is significant because one or the other viewpoint is used as justification for making policies and erecting social institutions that allocate resources. In so doing, conservatives typically adopt policies that reinforce the status quo, and thereby their own wealth and power. Liberals more often devise ideas and policies that are designed to distribute resources in a manner that is more inclusive or more peoples needs. It was a conservative, exclusionary, and class-based society Garvey observed in his travels across the U.S., one that used its political, economic, and social institutions to reinforce the power and position of whites. Radical change was needed to overcome such obstacles that Garvey felt denied any hope of advancement for Blacks. As Carter (2002) explains, ôThe urgency that he felt for racial independence and self-reliance existed because he believed African Americans suffered in the face of enormous economic superiority and power of the white worldö (2).
It is not hard to imagine in the Jim Crow era of American society the kind of threat Marcus Garvey posed to the white power structure of America. In fact, because of his attempt to build a self-reliant industrial base for African American development he was not only threatening whites with Black advancement in an era of racism and prejudice but he was threatening to undermi...