Stokely Carmichael viewed the Vietnam War as a symbol of disconnect between the US government and democracy. According to Carmichael, the US was imposing its political views on the people of South Vietnam without their prior consent. He also believed that the high percentage of African-Americans drafted into the military was an infringement upon their civil rights. Carmichael’s negative attitude toward the Vietnam War and the unequal treatment of African Americans created an interracial alliance between civil rights groups and the anti-war organizations of the 1960’s. However, this alliance failed due to different goals and the lack of a capable leader. 

Carmichael gave a speech in October 1966 called Black Power in which he displayed his opposition to the war, particularly the drafting of a disproportionate amount of young black men into the military. In fact, the percentage of African-American soldiers in the US Army during the period between 1965-1969 was 12.6% while the African-American community only made up 11% of the US population (Chambers and Anderson 243). He believed that the US was not acting as a democracy because its citizens were being drafted to fight a war for which they did not believe in. This speech was given at UC Berkeley in order to connect with the wealthy, young, white liberal college students of the university, a connection that would build support for Carmichael’s cause within the white community. He believed a bond with the wealthy white community would help to bring about a change to the draft. 

Carmichael described how the young people of the US had no power to change the will of the government to fight the war. He states “and I maintain that we do not have the power in our hands to change that institution... and that the only power we have is to say, “Hell no” to the draft (The Carolina Reader 319). Carmichael explains how the civilian population did not possess the ability to end the Vietnam War, but was capable of resisting the draft which would weaken the support for the war.

While college campuses, such as UC Berkeley were breeding grounds for anti-war decent the majority of students at these universities possessed 2s deferments which allowed them to postpone their draft selection (Selective Service System). An ability to postpone one’s enlistment date gives that person protection against being drafted into the military against their will. This was not the case for the majority of young African-American men because only 6% of African-American men attended college during this time period (Snyder). If a military age male did not attend college or have a disability, he had no protection against the draft. Carmichael viewed this educational and economic inequality as a breach in democracy because the affluent US citizens were able to avoid service while the poorer classes were forced to fight the war. In order for the draft to become equal for all social classes, Carmichael needed these college students to spread his ideology beyond the confinements of a college campus.

Carmichael believed that the young people of the United States did not possess the power to force the government to end the war in Vietnam, but he hoped that the college students of UC Berkeley would pass along his ideas to those outside the campus community. If the students were to inform their parents or relatives of Carmichael’s points and justify his negative stance to the war, there would be a chance to gain their support. An upward trickling effect, an upward expansion of a political view through the ranks of government, would ensue that would help to change the government’s view of the war. With the support of a larger number of people, including individuals within the government, the anti-war-civil rights alliance would have more leverage against those government officials that supported the war in Vietnam. If the alliance was able to assume this position of leverage, they would have the power to change the basis of the draft to ensure equal selections across all races and economic classes.

Despite the best hopes of Carmichael, the alliance between the anti-war organizations and the civil rights groups of the day did not bear any tangible fruit. According to Simon Hall, a difference in priorities between anti-war organization and civil rights groups and racial tensions between the members of the alliance, contributed to a disconnection between the two factions (Hall 294). The anti-war movement consistently chose to make ending the war their main priority instead of establishing equal rights for all races. Conversely, civil rights groups insisted that the alliance focus on both equal rights and ending the war in Vietnam. The combination of these factors with racial tension led to an ineffective partnership between the two movements. 

Civil rights groups were internally split between two factions. Moderate activists were silent on the issue of the Vietnam War while radicals were among the first Americans to condemn the war. Radicals, such as Bob Moses and Gwendolyn Patton, tried to connect the war and American imperialism to racism (Hall 295). Similar to Carmichael, these individuals believed that the United States was imposing its political will on the people of South Vietnam and suppressing their civil rights. According to the radical civil rights activists, the US was infringing upon the civil rights of African-Americans by drafting a disproportionate number of them to fight a war in which the US was infringing upon the civil rights of the citizens of South Vietnam. The radicals focused on ending the war in Vietnam while also earning civil rights for African-Americans, while the mainly white anti-war movement only focused on ending the war. 

Another reason for the faltering of the alliance between the anti-war organizations and civil rights groups was racial tension. On most occasions white anti-war organizations were willing to accept the multi-issue view of the radical blacks in order to have a stronger alliance between the two parties. However, on multiple occasions Black Power activists used false accusations of white racism as leverage to overpower the white anti-war activists they were supposed to be working alongside (Hall 295). An example of this occurred in August 1967 at a meeting of the National Conference for New Politics, when African-American members of the organization’s leadership board demanded half of the votes when they made up less than a quarter of the seats. They were able to earn them over fallacious accusations of white racism. A person attending the vote commented sarcastically “it worked out well in the end-no one was killed” (Hall 295).  White activists could not fulfill their duties in these interracial organizations because of possible repercussions from their African-American colleagues. The combination of differing goals and racial tensions among the members of these interracial anti-war organizations led to ineffective cooperation and therefore these organizations were not able to bring about radical change to the draft or end the war in Vietnam.

Different views and racial tensions are not the only reasons for the failure of the alliance. Perhaps a lack of leadership lead to the downfall of the alliance (Hall 296). Throughout the 1960’s, Malcom X, Martin Luther King Jr., and Robert Kennedy were all assassinated. Each of the men were strong supporters of civil rights and could have provided a link between the anti-war organizations and civil rights groups. Moreover, the alliance failed due to the lack of a strong leader who could have lead the two factions to meeting their goals. 

Stokely Carmichael’s speech at UC Berkeley in 1966 did create a weak connection between anti-war organizations and civil rights groups even though its effects were limited. The differing goals of white and black activists and the racial tension felt between them lead to fractures in their bond. A strong, uniting leader was absent from these interracial organizations, an absence which likely lead to the failure of movement. The result of the failed movement was an extended war in Vietnam that lasted another seven years after the Black Power speech.
