Madison Gouhin

Ms. Leah Vitello

ENGL 101

8 November 2016

Backbone

Since the birth of our nation, oppression has existed and primarily been the backbone of our developing country. Beginning first with Native Americans who lived on the land before us to the African Americans who were brought over on boats, chained together, treated like animals rather than human beings. The oppression of minority groups has been highlighted in events such as the Trail of Tears to the Civil Rights Movement to the Civil War. Stokely Carmichael delivered a speech, “Black Power,” in 1966 to discuss the progress of racial equality, or rather the lack thereof. The gaps between white and blacks are so vastly different, not only with rights, but rather the mindset in order to solve problems. He references a lot of organizations and elements common within the black community to promote racial equality within his speech, describing the efforts of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee to discussing political leaders during the 1960’s to the Black Panther Party to historically black universities and colleges. All of these influence the speeches he gave during this time period because he attended Howard University which happens to be a historically black university. The political leaders he discussed impact his life because in his speech he references the Vietnam War, when efforts could be better spent within the United States, specifically racial equality. 

Stokely Carmichael’s speech, “Black Power,” discusses the topic of white supremacy and white people being unable to take responsibility for their actions and the creation of their unequal institutions. He highlights this idea in his speech by claiming, “it is incapability of whites to deal with their own problems inside their own communities.” His claim is not something unrealistic, in “The Call for Unity: Public Statement by eight Alabama clergymen” the clergymen support his statement. At the end of the public statement, they plead the audience of mainly blacks to focus internally on the black community and focus on bettering it to result in an overall better community of Birmingham.  The clergymen also have no perception of time since they are in the majority group with all their rights at their fingertips, they ask the black community to wait for the legal system to solve their problems, however the execution of the legal system has been slacking. The clergymen’s statement allows us to have a deeper understanding of Carmichael’s speech, allowing us to understand what the black community faced daily. Their rights and freedoms were legally given, but not allowed, this was due to the white population coming up with loopholes to prevent the black community to access these freedoms. Such as Jim Crow laws, which were enacted at the end of the Civil War and weren’t abolished until 1965. White people had a reign over blacks solely based on skin color. Skin color should not allow you to be superior over one human or another, we were all born equal with the same rights. Kids are a great example, at a young age they didn’t see skin color as something to prevent friendship, so what caused the change when they grew up? The communities they grew up in. The ideals their communities possessed. 

Through the course of his speech, Carmichael references people such as Martin Luther King Jr., an activist commonly known for his nonviolent protests. Carmichael states his admirations for MLK and that more people like him are what society needs, however he is doubtful about his course of actions, thinking they will not be executed in a timely manner. Carmichael aligned with MLK’s form of peaceful protesting, however was a part of the Black Panther Party, which was not opposed to violence, but they would only incite violence if it was incited by someone else first. Two seemingly different approaches have a common goal in mind, end racial segregation. In MLK’s, “Letter from Birmingham City Jail,” he writes in response to “The Call for Unity.” Within the letter, MLK addresses that bringing the white elephant of racial segregation out is necessary to develop tension and from the tension, progress can finally be made. Both Carmichael and MLK thought that whites must acknowledge the inequalities for it to be fixed. 

“Black Power” was delivered in front of a white audience, which I thought was particularly interesting since Carmichael practically destroys them with his words during the speech. But I thought it was a pivotal move, going and speaking directly to the source of the issue and making them become aware of their actions and implications. I also don’t know how impactful his speech was, it all depends upon the willingness of the audience to actually hear and process what he was saying rather than just being present and not gaining anything. If Carmichael had delivered his speech in Alabama or another southern state, rather than California, the results would’ve been completely different. In the mid 1960’s California was considered a democratic state, and if we are going off of generalizations of the preexisting platform for the party, they tend to be more open to change. Rather than Alabama, which is more conservative and unwilling to hear the plead for change from an African American.

With the research I conducted, I was able to read “Black Power” through a different lens. It allowed me to understand the tension between races. The clergymen embody the wealthy upper-class, and whom are white and privileged, they trust the legal system which favors them in society. Although the legal system is corrupt and untimely with resolving the issues. I 

Was able to understand the frustration that Carmichael, MLK and blacks everywhere felt. I was able to understand the passion in the way Carmichael spoke and how he felt his course of action was best for the future. King and Carmichael came from different backgrounds and geographic regions, but fought for the end of racial segregation in their own regions. MLK was very active in the Deep South, since he grew up in Georgia. Carmichael however, was an immigrant and grew up in New York and was predominately more active in the North. The knowledge of this allows us to realize that segregation was not only in the southern states, which tends to be what most people think of, but rather it was a nationwide issue.

“Black Power” gave me an additional lens on the 1960’s. There were a multitude of events that occurred during that era and by reading the speech I was able to gain more knowledge about more Civil Rights activists. Stokely Carmichael was never someone I learned about in history class, so the speech provided additional insight. With the newfound perspective I was able to see how on a large scale it affected the whole country. I also learned a large amounts of organizations that were part of the Civil Rights Movement that Carmichael was a member of. 

Works Cited

Carpenter, C. C. J. et al. “The Call for Unity: Public Statement by eight Alabama clergymen

Denouncing Martin Luther King's efforts, April 12, 1963.” Local Birmingham Newspapers, 12 April 1963, http://www.massresistance.org/docs/gen/09a/mlk_day/statement.html

King, Martin Luther, Jr. "Letter from Birmingham City Jail." Letter to Fellow Clergymen. 16 Apr. 1963. 

Harley, Ben, and Nicole Fisk. The Carolina Reader. Black Power. Fall 2016 ed. Plymouth: Macmillan Learning Curriculum Solutions, 2016. Print.