Martin Luther King Jr. once said, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere" (BrainyQuote). In 1967, the world was changing very fast. Tensions in Vietnam and Korea were worsening, the Cold War was starting, apartheid was happening in South Africa, and in the middle of all of this the civil rights movement was becoming huge. At the time there was also a man named Stokley Carmichael that wrote a piece called "Black Power". This took a stand towards African American people taking pride in their past, and being independent among themselves. Both pieces although different in how they got their message across, pushed for a similar goal which was equality for African Americans. The work of "The World House" by Martin Luther King Jr., and "Black Power" by Stokely Carmichael, come together conveying different methods to solve the same problem of equality for African Americans. 

In Pamela Brubaker's Living together in "The World House", she identifies MLK's three grave problems as war, poverty, and racism (Brubaker 3). So in beginning to analyze "The World House" the reader must first look into the historical context of war when MLK wrote this piece. At the time MLK wrote "The World House" in 1967, there was a lot going on in the world. The Cold War was starting, and Korea and Vietnam tensions were starting to take a turn for the worse. Many people opposed these wars as hippies were also becoming a large trend in the United States in order to protest these wars. MLK responds to the war in Vietnam with a very upset response. He states in "The World House", "When I see our country today intervening in what is basically a civil war, mutilating hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese children with napalm,   in the name of pursuing peace---I tremble for our world" (King 293).  Through his description on the war in Vietnam, MLK is able to show his frustration of the lack of effort towards creating peace on the United States' part. He claims later on in his work that "Many cry "Peace! Peace!" but they refuse to do the things that make for peace" (King 293). In Brubaker's Living together in "The World House", she states the best way for global peace to occur is the involvement of all people in organizations that promote peace (Brubaker 5). This correlates directly to MLK stating that in order for world peace to occur, there must be involvement from all people. The historical context helps MLK make his point known much easier as opposed to if these events were not going on at the time. 

The main difference between MLK and other civil rights activists was his viewpoint on changing the world as opposed to just the nation. During this time period, MLK of course knew about Apartheid in South Africa. The segregation was so strong in South Africa that black people and white people could not even talk to one another. MLK saw that the United States was not the only country going through these issues, and actually probably had it better than many other places. He claims "In country after country we see white men building empires on the sweat and suffering of colored people" (King 288). He figured that if you can fix the issue in the United States, you can fix the issue globally.  These global events influenced MLK's writing and what message he was trying to convey in the "World House". MLK talks about a few different things in the world house, one of these messages is one of global equality. MLK believed that many of the countries in the world were much wealthier than the poorer countries. He talks about how the wealthier countries should give two percent of their GDP to the weaker countries in South America, and Asia. His idea was that if every country could give just a little bit, it would give the world more equality globally. These global events shaped the message that MLK was trying to convey, and supported his message of world peace and global equality. 

Something written during the same time was "Black Power" by Stokely Carmichael and Charles V. Hamilton. "Black Power" had a different meaning than "The World House". Black Power sent a message of black people being proud of their heritage and building a community for themselves. It meant separating themselves from white people and supporting themselves in order to achieve equality. Carmichael expresses his anger towards white people with statements like "It's white people who make sure we live in ghettos of this country. It is white institutions that do that" (Carmichael 252). He places most of the blame for the problems of African American advancement on white people and their institutions. Carmichael says that in order for African Americans to make a push towards equal rights, there needs to be a change in how white people operate. He claims racism must die in order for a movement to start (Carmichael 252). Although this differs from Martin Luther King Jr.'s viewpoint, they agree on the topic of the war in Vietnam. Carmichael believes we have become the "policeman of the world", and we do not have a place in Vietnam (Carmichael 254). However in his writing he is seemingly much more irritated with the fact than MLK is in his piece. He overall states black people are born free among everyone else, and do not need the permission of white people to gain their freedom. Carmichael is seen as establishing the fact that black people have freedom just like white people do, and need to start embracing that. Through many strong, controversial protests the Black Power movement got its message across. One of these protests was at the 1968 Summer Olympics when two black American athletes on the podium held up their hands in the black power salute. They were stripped of their medals, but this protest was an example of the impact that the ideology of Black Power. It was a bold protest that represented the "Black Power" movement very well. It was about embracing what black people were born with and creating independence for themselves through institutions. Carmichael started this movement through the writing of his piece, and it took off after he wrote it. He had the vision of black people living on their own through their own communities and customs. 

This was much different than MLK's philosophy of everyone living together in global harmony. Carmichael focused on the nation as a whole as opposed to the world. He put the nation's issue before the global issues, and wanted African American's rights before anything else.  However, they both support each other because although one calls for being completely separate and one calls for complete equality, they both are calling for a change for the rights of black people. And both pieces complement each other while "The World House" is a very global representation of equal rights, "Black Power" is a representation of equal rights among black people in the United States. Also, "The World House" has the tone of calling for peace and happiness among the entire world. Although "Black Power" calls for equality as well, there is a tone of urgency throughout the entire work. Carmichael is pushing for the advancement of black people and knows that the time was now for improving rights for African Americans. The civil rights movement would not have worked if the leaders only used one method alone. It took riots, sit ins, violent and non violent protests to finally call for change for good, and Black Power is just another example of one of those methods. 

In conclusion MLK's, "The World House" pushed for global equality and world peace. MLK wanted to not only see African Americans gain equal rights but he also wanted to see events like Apartheid end as well. Looking at the real world events going on at the time MLK wrote this, like Apartheid, gives the piece deeper meaning and context. He had a vision of global peace through the ending of wars world wide through the realization of peace being more powerful than destroying other nations. Through the breakdown of Carmichael's "Black Power" piece as well, one can see two messages that are similar, but very different, and this helps the viewer determine the meaning of the piece. All of the different historical events going on at the time play the biggest role. The reason MLK was pushed to write this was because of what was going on around him, and without events like the Vietnam war, the low poverty level, and Apartheid, he may or may not have been influenced to write this piece. But because of the events taking place around him, MLK was motivated to write "The World House" and spread his message of global equality to everyone. 

