
Abraham Lincoln once said, “A house divided cannot stand.” Lincoln’s quote has proven to be true throughout American history whether it be politics or racial equality. African Americans have fought for equality in United States since their first arrival to the colonies in 1619 as slaves. They have achieved freedom from slavery and equality under the law however, the racial divide has only gotten worse in recent years. The divide has hurt our country but is not the only type of divide hurting equality. The African Americans have had many different movements for equality. These movements have all approached the issue differently. The divide in the African American movement for equality is displayed by the strong differences in opinion of “Black Power” (The Journal of Negro Education), and “Black Power” (Carolina Reader), and hurts the race’s attempt at complete equality in the United States. . 

In 1975, A. P. MacDonald Jr. wrote an excerpt called “Black Power” for the “The Journal of Negro Education.” MacDonald writes about the meaning of the Black Power movement and why it came about. He begins his passage by describing the movement that the movement is not about physical power or power over white people, but rather it is depicting that black people have power over their own destinies. In Stokely Carmichael’s “Black Power,” he writes about the movement and poses many different questions to the reader on what could have been different. Carmichael’s stance is negative as is MacDonald. MacDonald attempts to provide reason for the Black Power movement. He writes that high discontent will lead to explosive external actions while low discontent will be passive actions. Both high and low discontent will cause the person to be instrumental internally trying to assess the situation. Carmichael, while also providing reason for the movement, is laying out plans of how black students can change the United States. He wants to be non-violent and reason with people to end the racism. He wants the students to think. He seems to specifically point out that the white people are the majority of the problem. Carmichael would fit into MacDonald’s category of a high aspirations and high discontent. MacDonald writes that these people become leaders incite violence however, Carmichael is a leader but advocates for peaceful talks and demonstrations. Carmichael is encouraging peace to his large group of followers. This, MacDonald writes, indirectly can lead to violence. Large groups with large disagreements lead to violence. MacDonald also transcribes that black people do have power over themselves while Carmichael is trying to get black people to change white people. It is somewhat contradictive an is likely a reason why racial movements are not very successful. MacDonald says violence is more effective. It gets more recognition and creates attention. There will be reactions and more people will see violence. Carmichael is encouraging non-violence and peaceful actions to bring attention to the problems. MacDonald almost encourages the violence. Carmichael and MacDonald disagree in their opinions on how to stop racism in America. 

John Hellman published “The American Historical Review” in 1999. It is about different aspects of American history but a particular part is about Vietnam and racism in the 1970s. Hellman writes that African Americans are fighting on two fronts; a war for freedom in Vietnam and equality in the United States Military. Hellman’s piece connects well with Stokely Carmichael’s “Black Power.” Carmichael also discusses racism and Vietnam War. Both authors state that there are problems with white people. Carmichael wants the African American students he is addressing to try to end the white racism that Hellman calls personal. Carmichael goes on to point out the terrible war crimes of Vietnam. He points out the racism and killings of innocent people. The racism is also mentioned by Hellman. While distinguishing the obvious racism, Hellman puts everyone to blame. There is institutional racism in the government and military systems, personal racism among white people and perceived racism among black people (mistaken interpretations). The institutional racism that is not fixed until later after all of the uproar. The racism is mainly from the draft due to it being easier for rich white people to not have to go fight. It becomes a big problem and is part of the reason Muhammad Ali never went to Vietnam. Hellman does not write about the war crimes of the US soldiers that Carmichael mentions. Carmichael wanted to make the racist military look worse and have more public mistrust. Carmichael does not mention the racism that Hellman does for African Americans. Hellman calls it perceived racism. It is when African Americans are making mistaken interpretations about racism. The words are usually not meant as racism but are taken the wrong way. Carmichael does not mention the words because his argument needs to be strong. Carmichael and Hellman both mention very similar topics but Carmichael writes at an angle to make racism seem more rampant through white people. Hellman mentions all sides of the topics and therefore seems to be a more trustworthy source on the topic.

All of the pieces disagree in big and small ways. There is no common ground except that there is racism and inequality toward African American in the United States. If these movements are to be successful they must unify in their strategy. The division is scattering the actions and will confuse the American people. They will see a divided African American race and not the purpose of the movements. A unified movement can send one strong message to the rest of America. Whether that movement be peaceful or not must be decided between the groups and is one big problem of the movement. Nobody really knows if violence is effective. There are claims either way with some saying it makes the movement look bad while others say it gets the most response and therefore must be most effective. The Black Lives Matter movement is currently the most outspoken of any group for racial equality. They do not have a central leader. They have different groups in different cities. These leaders tell the people of their particle group what they think is best just as the writers of the pieces write what they think is best for equality. The leaders and writers disagree alike and the Black Lives Matter group has grown to be perceived as more of a protest that just creates chaos. They have some groups that are peaceful and other violent but they all are observed to create chaos.

Abraham Lincoln said that “a house divided cannot stand.” He won the war to free the slaves and his quote perfectly assesses the problems of the next African American front. Their movements for equality are extremely divided in opinion just as the three sources of this essay. MacDonald wrote that rioting gets the most results while Carmichael wants peaceful movements. Hellman wrote that there is racism on both sides during the Vietnam War and Carmichael blames white people and their crimes in Vietnam. The disagreements have been in the movement since it started. Lincoln’s quote could be changed to a movement divided will not get the result. These movements must unite as one and end the racism once and for all. It seems now it is only growing and the media fuels it to look bad. One single message from all of the movements would force everyone to hear just that. They cannot misperceive the message or construe it. A movement united cannot fail. 

