
Stokely Carmichael coined the phrase “Black Power,” and in his speech titled “Black Power” he advocated for the use of violence during the civil rights movement. Carmichael argued that blacks had the right to use violence not only because whites unnecessarily used violence against African Americans, but because their voices were still not being heard. Carmichael mentions several times during his speech the Vietnam War that was going on at the same time, and how the actions the United Stated was taking in that war were just as bad as the violence whites continued to inflict upon African Americans. By looking closer at the United States military’s behavior during the Vietnam War through historical research we can see the reasoning behind Carmichael’s justification for the use of black violence during the civil rights movement and this is important because it not only gives the reader a fuller understanding of Carmichael’s stance on the civil rights movement, but also gives the reader a new perspective on the United States’ involvement during the war.  

Prior to reading Carmichael’s “Black Power” speech, most young readers do not understand his comments about the Vietnam War and how it was “an illegal and immoral war” (Carmichael 319). The majority of United States citizens grow up with their parents telling them “you live in the greatest country on Earth” and so on, so that they have this great sense of pride for their country. Well during the Vietnam War, a lot of United States citizens still felt a pride for their strong country, but this was because them were unaware of the mass death and destruction the United States was causing in Vietnam. After reading reporter Harish Chandola’s article “Vietnam War Becomes Secret,” the reader can see just what Carmichael was referring to in the immorality of this war. The United States government tried to hide from its people the real devastation and cruelty it was causing in Vietnam by telling reporters officially that eighty percent of the casualties in the air war were civilians and the other twenty percent were military (which is already a very frightening amount of civilian deaths), when in reality Chandola had reason to believe less than five percent of the casualties were truly military deaths (Chandola 1505). The United States was committing violent acts against unarmed citizens in Vietnam just like innocent African Americans were subject to white violence when they tried to stand up for the rights they are entitled. Carmichael includes references to the Vietnam War because it furthers his point of violence unfairly inflicted upon African Americans, while the United States is over in Vietnam murdering unarmed civilians rather than focusing on the military. Through Carmichael’s mentioning of the aggressive acts the United States was taking, he brings to attention the cruelness of this war and gives the reader a new perspective on whether the United States was actually helping to stop the spread of communism or if they were unsuccessfully trying to maintain the kind of power they held over African Americans by restricting their natural born rights.

In another article, “The Vietnam War and US: Haunting Legacy,” an author acknowledges the fact that many Americans are haunted every anniversary of the Vietnam war because it brings back so many traumatic memories. The soldiers in the Vietnam War were trained to be “killing machines” and they had to force themselves not to think about the innocent lives they were taking in order to carry on with their duties (M.S.S. 1795). This training is similar to the way white Americans during the early 20th century grew up in homes where it was not uncommon to hold racist views, so many whites during the civil rights movement did not want to give up the power they still held over African Americans. Carmichael also brings up the point of the draft: “No man has the right to take a man for four years and train him to be a killer. A man should decide what he wants to do with his life” (Carmichael 320). This is important because we can now see how the United States was not only restricting the rights of African Americans during the civil rights movement, but also taking away rights of soldiers who were drafted. Carmichael argues that no one should be forced to mass murder people in the same way that African Americans should not have to live their lives afraid of racial violence and unable to exercise the same rights as white citizens. Before reading Carmichael’s “Black Power” readers (young readers who do not have any recollection of the war especially) most likely were not opposed to the draft. Sure, young adults before reading this may have thought it scary and threatening because they might die in war, but most of these people were never actually faced with the draft, much less had their rights taken from them or be told to go murder a bunch of unarmed and helpless people. 

These two articles both give inside information to the war beyond what mainstream media would have reported during the time. While the Chandola’s article produces facts about number of deaths in the war and reports that Vietnamese soldiers were used as “live bait” to lure out the North Vietnamese soldiers (Chandola 1506), M.S.S’ article comes from a gives a more personal perspective. In “The Vietnam War and US: Haunting Legacy,” the author mentions that some Vietnam War veterans publicly apologized for the actions they took during the war (M.S.S. 1794). Chandola’s article backs Carmichael’s view of the war with facts about how the war was being fought. M.S.S’ article brings to attention how the immorality of the war still affects veterans many years later which is important to Carmichael’s argument because if the soldiers whose jobs it was to kill people feel bad about doing so then you it must be unreasonable.   

After looking closer at the military actions taken by the United States, the reader can now see a double standard that was present and deeper than just police brutality against African Americans during this time. Carmichael is not condoning the use of violence just because he wants to get his way, he supports violence only when it is absolutely necessary to earn the respect of whites. This is important because Carmichael developed a new kind of campaign which was different from Martin Luther King Junior’s ideas that were also widely respected during this time, King though that the protests should always remain nonviolent. This “Black Power” speech was given to help African Americans realize that if they were not making a difference then they needed to change their tactics, and Carmichael used the harsh violence occurring in the Vietnam War as justification for African American’s use of violence when necessary. Because if Americans can go overseas and kill civilians then why can’t African Americans organize a peaceful sit-in without harming anyone, but then get dragged to jail and not be allowed to defend themselves? Background on the Vietnam War is very important to Carmichael’s argument because it defends his reasoning. Clearly this could be a biased argument and he could have just been basing this on his opinion that it was an unfair war. After doing research on the Vietnam War taking into consideration how Carmichael mentions the war, the reader can now see the brutality of the United States military. Carmichael’s “Black Power changed the way some African Americans acted during the rights movement, and it is important to see why he took the views he did in this fight. One of the reasons he took the stance that he did was because of the Vietnam War and his bringing up of the immorality of this war could change the way many readers view the war and its role on the civil rights movement. But even if the American military did brutalize the Vietnamese and white police officers brutalized African Americans, does is this violence justified? Some say violence is never the answer, but was Carmichael right in saying it was considering the circumstances? 
