In October of 1966, Stokely Carmichael gave his “Black Power” speech to a majority white audience. In this speech, Carmichael communicated the sense of inequality from an African American perspective. He angrily expresses his frustration towards the ignorance of the white population concerning the treatment of African Americans socially, economically, and politically. Carmichael emphasizes that the majority of the issues that arise in America have the greatest negative effect on the African American population such as the Vietnam War draft, poverty, and a struggle for political power. Stokely Carmichaels’ angry tone and direct language can be further explained with a greater knowledge on the Black Power’s movement effect on the Civil Rights movement and the relationship between African American’s and Caucasians. 

One of the main issues Carmichael addresses in his speech is the effect of the Vietnam War on the African American people; he says “we are against the war in Vietnam” (Carmichael 320). His strong disagreement towards the draft can be further explained through historical context during the 1960s. As a result, to the United States trying to fight the growth of Communism, the United States military held a draft to send soldiers to Vietnam. In Heather Stur’s “Vietnam War” she states that as a result to the United States government implementing the draft, a higher number of African American men were drafted than white men due to the fact that white males had a higher economic status than black males (Stur). With that being said, the white men were able to “buy” their way out of the draft. Carmichael builds his argument concerning racial tensions as a result of the Vietnam war because, in the 1960s, the government put a greater focus on foreign relations and military spending, rather than focusing on the equality of the African American people. Carmichael feels as if the progression for the rights of African Americans, including himself, is being put on hold due to issues taking place outside of America (Stur). 

Carmichael uses simple diction to communicate his point of view when he says “someone must stand and start articulating that this country is not God, and cannot rule the world.” (Carmichael 315). Using language that is clear and simple allows Carmichael to be more direct towards the crowd. For this speech, it was pivotal for Carmichael’s intentions to be clearly communicated, therefore, the daggering approach at the white population will have a greater effect. 

Effective arguments use strong rhetoric to convey their argument to the audience; this is one of the effective techniques Carmichael uses to communicate his message. He uses an emotional and ethical appeal. Stokely Carmichael’s speech is filled with bold statements such as “…not because we’re stupid, not because we smell, not because we eat watermelon and have good rhythm. We are oppressed because we are black.” (Carmichael 317). The mentioning of African American culture creates an emotional argument.  Carmichael, being an African American man, gives a believable argument when speaking on the stereotypes the black community faces. The use of the reference to stereotypical aspects concerning black people can be explained by the contrast between the Black Power movement and the Civil Rights movement. During the Black Power movement, participants were more aggressive when it came to reshaping the African American culture. With this being said, the white majority associated watermelon and rhythm with the African American culture; being a member of the Black Power movement, Stokely Carmichael focused on reshaping the image of Black culture. Along with this idea, he enforced that the culture being expressed by blacks was not the reason why they were being burdened, they’re mistreatment came from being who they were, rather than what they did. 

Along with being burdened and mistreated during the Vietnam War period, in the 1960s, African Americans had little involvement in politics. In his “Black Power” speech, Carmichael brings up the lack of diversity in politics by stating that it enables white privilege be exercised (Carmichael 319). He goes on to say that the only way for these actions to be eliminated is to increase the number of black people in political office to create policies that do not encourage injustice between the two races (Carmichael 319). This can be explained through historical and cultural evidence from this setting. Pre-Civil Rights movement, African Americans were not allowed to hold a position as such, let alone vote with ease. Despite historical occurrences, as a result of the Black Power movement, in The Black Power Movement: A State Of The Field, Peniel E Joseph documents that an African American man was able to earn the position of mayor (Joseph). Being a man, and an active member of the Black Power movement, Carmichael is makes a logical argument on how a person of political power can alter the attitude of the people, which manipulates their behavior towards a group of people. In response to the monument in politics for African Americans. The portion of Carmichael speech has a valid argument from an African American perspective because he specifically focuses on how politics affect morals. Politicians such as Lyndon B. Johnsons and Bobby Kennedy were not carrying out policy that improved the treatment for minorities, but they also would not have a greater understanding to do so because they were white males (Joseph).

As a minority man, to a majority white crowd, Carmichael takes more of a logical approach. Making an emotional argument to people with culturally different views during a hostile time period. As a result, Carmichael uses a common ground of philosophy to argue why and how all people are equal despite the color of their skin. Carmichael says “A man is born free. You may enslave a man after he is born free, and that is in fact what this country does. It enslaves black people after they’re born.”(Carmichael 315). Carmichael uses Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s philosophy of everyone being born “free”; this idea was a part of the social contract. This idea emphasizes that—at the time—America’s ignorance towards minority races developed the oppression of African Americans. Using a philosophical idea—from a white male—is more accepted to an educated white crowd. African Americans were seen as uneducated, therefore when Carmichael used an sophisticated idea that broke stereotypes and demonstrated that he too could communicate in an educated manner. This supplements of the argument of white and blacks being equal on all levels. Also, using Rousseau’s philosophy Carmichael argues that the African American people are born with the same personal freedoms, the issue is that the Caucasian population is using “white privilege” to revoke their born freedoms. 

In conclusion, with knowledge of historical information during the 1960s in America, as well as knowledge concerning the cultural norms between black and whites, Stokely Carmichael’s speech “Black Power”, which was used to express his frustration and anger towards the lack of progression of African Americans, can be fully understood from his perspective. Using both emotional and logical arguments, Carmichael, a black man, directly targets the white population in a sense where they will gain a full understanding from an opposing point of view with full clarity. He argues that the reason for such oppression in the United States is a result of the white people revoking such rights and the mistreatment that political figure heads endorse. Carmichael demands change in society and claims that society needs to be reconstructed to where white privilege is no longer prevalent. 

