
Stokely Carmichael, a civil rights leader who coined the term black power, laid out plans for de-segregation that although seem rather radical, could still be implemented today. Per the article, “The Concept of Black Power: It’s Continues Relevance,” the author Winston Horne concludes that “Black power is a concept for all seasons in the lives of Black people” (Horne.386). In this article Winston talks about the importance of the term Black Power and how its influences affect many aspects of our country, from the economy to social law. The journal mentions that “cataclysmic violence would destroy the economic foundations of American society and it is in the sphere economics that an enormous resource is open to be tapped by Black Power” (Horne. 381). He mentions that the GDP of the U.S is roughly 12 trillion dollars and it is estimated that blacks contribute an estimated three quarters of a trillion dollars. Horne mentions how this large amount of money could be used towards black society. This shows how the strength of “Blacks” if implemented, could take from the system and go towards the progression of society. This anti-system is seen in Carmichael’s speech when he mentions that we cannot afford to be concerned about the 6 percent of the children in this country. That we should be more concerned about the ninety four percent still living in shacks. This viewpoint from Carmichael shows how the government should start to focus the money from the public toward the ones in education, to the ones who truly need the money. Although this may seem radical, both Carmichael and Horne believe that to help black society, the money must go to the mistreated individuals that were originally damaged by the system.

The second article is about the Greensboro Sit-in in North Carolina. Written by The Learning Network for The New York Times, this article could summarize one of the largest events during the civil rights era. The article talks about the movement and how the public reacted to it during the time. Some crowds would jostle up the protesters by punching, elbowing, or harassing them, while others threatened the lives of the protesters by throwing bottles of ammonia into the diner. In Carmichael’s speech, he talks about violence between whites and blacks stating “White people beat up blacks every day, don’t nobody talk about nonviolence. You can’t defend yourself”. This connection between the state of African Americans in Carmichael’s speech and the feeling that the four boys that had to go through the torment of many whites in the diner. To learn about the motives of Carmichael, we must better understand the events that caused the anger and social unrest. The actions that followed the Greensboro sit-ins created a divide in the country. Although some believed in segregation, this moment revealed the true colors of pure racists. Many white people in the north believed that this event had crossed the line. Stokely Carmichael started protesting after hearing about this event on the news. This was the tipping point for Carmichael and would result in him making this speech. From the Black Power speech, we see Carmichael as an angry leader. He is not looking peace; he is looking for retribution and from this embarrassing event we see why he was angry. We can also infer as to why the north started to fight for the rights of African American citizens.

These articles both show how Carmichael's speech was influenced by the changing social aspects of the country. Using both his personal history, and the history of the country’s viewpoints towards the civil rights movement. This speech is now given context through the changing of the country. Carmichael’s speech may have come off as distant, and aggressive, but given the context of his surroundings we now see why he feels like he does. The journal also shows how our present and future can be affected by the concept of black power. Systemic Racism is still around today, and with thousands of segregated schools still around, and a majority blacks still living in run down cities. With all this turmoil still around, Carmichael’s speech and plan speaks louder. This viewpoint of the present and perhaps future, gives insight as to how important Stokely Carmichael’s speech is. Looking back at our past we can no longer view Carmichael as a radical, but rather a man who wanted equality at a systemic level. 

From these two sources, we can see both the world Stokely Carmichael lived in, and the world that we live in today and how that speech affected it. Although a lot has changed since the 1960’s, there is still cases of racism and segregation in America. Thankfully we can look back and learn from Carmichael’s speech. 