
       The Civil Rights Movement this has been at the forefront of controversy throughout American history and continues to remain a major issue today. It has caused arguments between men and women, different cultures, different religions and ways of life. It has caused arguments between teenagers and their elders and is one of the causes of the gap between generations. It is the source of the longstanding argument between Caucasians and African Americans. Stokely Carmichael talks about what civil rights mean to African Americans in his speech, “Black Power.” He does this by using examples from his own life and referencing specific groups like the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the Black Panther Party. The main argument in his speech is that the civil rights bills were not written for the African Americans. Instead, they were written for white people. By learning more about the SNCC and the Black Panther Party, a reader is better able to understand the passion Carmichael had in his speech. 

       In the introduction before Stokely Carmichael’s speech, in the Carolina Reader, it states that he was born in June of 1941 in Trinidad and Tobago. He immigrated to the United States with his family at the age of eleven in 1952. Carmichael later became the Chairman of the SNCC and the Honorary Prime Minister of the Black Panther Party. He researched civil rights, “White Rights”, and wanted to make changes to bring these rights to the African American people.  He wanted the right to enter any public location, to vote, to ride public transportation and to be seen as a human being, not just an African-American (Carmichael).

In Emily Stoper’s essay, she states that the SNCC was founded with the purpose of organizing the sit-in movement in the South in 1960 which occurred when African Americans from the North would take buses into the South.  They would walk into all-white bus stations and/or sit at all-white lunch counters. This was their push for equality and acceptance trying to bridge the gap between African American rights and white supremacy. It reached its maximum number of members between the years of 1960 and 1963. Most the SNCC’s members were Southern black college dropouts. Stokely Carmichael was the chairman of the SNCC in 1966. Even with a central leadership office in Atlanta, Georgia, the SNCC tended to become decentralized because many of its members rejected any type of leadership and tried to branch to create their own movements. This rejection of leadership ultimately caused the SNCC to fade out almost as quickly as it had begun. In 1964, over 800 white students came to Mississippi to join the SNCC movement to try to help the African Americans organize the movement for civil rights.  Instead of helping to bridge the gap and build acceptance, it caused many disputes within the organization which only led to increased tension between the races.  Many valuable members left to join other movements and rights groups.  As the membership dissolved, this ultimately led to the downfall of the SNCC.  Stokely Carmichael tried to bridge the divisions and tensions but was battling against too many walls and individuals who simply were not willing to try to work together. Carmichael referenced the SNCC so many times because of the circumstances surrounding their downfall. Carmichael directly states:

“So that the failures to pass a civil rights bill isn’t because of Black Power, isn’t because of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee; it’s not because of the rebellions that are occurring in the major cities. It is incapability of whites to deal with their own problems inside their own communities. That is the problem of the civil rights bill.” 

By using the SNCC as an example and saying this, Carmichael effectively addresses the problem whites cause when they join a civil rights group run by African Americans. Carmichael does this by pointing out the downfall of many people in America and the world in general. The fatal flaw is that people cannot see and deal with their own problems, they only want to fix everyone else’s problems and not focus on fixing theirs

Carmichael was a member in the SNCC and references the Black Panther Party many times in his speech. In Clemons’ journal he speaks about how The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense was founded in Oakland, California, October of 1966 by Dr. Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale.  The purpose of this group was to teach African-Americans how to protect themselves against discrimination and police brutality.  They organized protests to speak out, bring awareness and to bring about changes in society. Despite increase in popularity/membership, blacks still failed to get the inspiration to speak up and to fight back.  They worked to get the message out to the world and to try and stop the oppression of their own people. In his speech, Carmichael says,

“How can you build political institutions that will begin to meet the needs of Oakland, California? And the needs of Oakland, California, is not 1,000 policemen with submachine guns. They don’t need that. They need that least of all.” 

Carmichael poses this as a question and answer type statement to show how the government likes to  answer those types of questions. The government still likes to solve its problems by just sending out more people with guns and with force, instead of actually looking at the problem and finding a reasonable answer. Answering with force was exactly what the Black Panthers and many of their international affiliates were fighting against.

Clemons states in his essay that the party pushed forward bringing their message to everyone that would listen, and within the next four years the Black Panther Party grew in numbers and strength; from a small Oakland-based group to a global organization.  The group started international sections in Algiers, Algeria and its members were then treated like foreign dignitaries in many of the world’s socialist nations.  This led the party to receive political asylum from sympathetic governments.  This party pushed for the same ideals for which Carmichael pushed for through his position with the SNCC. They both failed to reach their ultimate goal but both worked diligently to grow awareness of the lack of civil rights for African-Americans.  They simply had a goal of bridging the gap between the races and to help their people stand up, get a voice and gain equals.

       Stokely Carmichael may not have succeeded in making all of his dreams come true and have the ability to make all of his movements a reality. He did however become a voice in the wind that pushed for civil rights movements.  His work with the Black Panther Party and the SNCC was just one part of his legacy and his words will live on. It encouraged others to continue his work and to push for African-American rights to be changed, equality to become a closer reality and for others to come one step closer to having the rights that he fought for his entire life. Carmichael's "Black Power" speech effectively refers to the many problems surrounding the civil rights movement and white people joining black civil rights groups.  
