
America is plagued by racism. The nation has suffered from it since the day the forefathers founded it up until this very moment. This malign way of thinking rightly deserves the response it received from Stokely Carmichael.   It is unsettling the sheer amount of discrimination a person has endured in the past simply because the color of their skin. African-Americans experienced legal, institutional, and civil injustice regularly during the 1900’s. America during this time was truly, and unfortunately, a country of “white or black” (Carmichael).

Carmichael pointed people to a bigger picture – a picture where whites take place in the civil rights movement. Not just white activists that try to begin change from within African American communities, but white activists that are willing to, in a sense, evangelize to other whites and condemn those who participate in blatant discrimination. Because, change is not the problem with the minority within the country - it is a problem with the majority. The minorities of America have criticized the unequal, and unjust culture and all of its systems for years - to little effect. There has been such a weak response from the populace for two reasons. One, the white majority fears what an “equal” black man will be capable of (Carmichael). Secondly, divided tactics on bringing about change from minorities caused confusion and resentment; whites’ fears of an uprising were further solidified (Carmichael). Blacks realized that the disunity and lack of coordination amongst the minorities hurt the changes they were fighting for. Thus, they took a new approach by forming groups like the Black Panther Party (BPP) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). However, for permanent and substantial change, Carmichael argues that there needs to be an outcry from white Americans, the majority. Whites are only beginning to become convicted of the transgressions they have made, and the transgressions they have not stopped in past years. When a small group of people decided to act on their convictions it began to wake people up from their detached state; they put racist bigots in throes with the abolishment of Jim Crow laws (Wormser). These laws had been a way of life for generations in the Southern United States. They were something that literally spat on the Declaration of Independence in regards to all men being created equal. Reasonably, a large portion of whites were outraged by the abolishment and they started doing everything they could to silence blacks and further oppress them into submission (Carmichael). That is why it is so crucial to have others stand up in this swelling movement. After all, it took a civil war to emancipate slaves; it is that same unified spirit that will be called upon to end racism once and for all.

Another major point Carmichael speaks out against is institutional discrimination and the severe neglect that black children face in education. African-American children are segregated, not just in the South, and are given poor resources by the education system (Green 274). They endured poorly qualified teachers and permanent substitutes that taught subjects far outside their grasp of expertise (275). They were separately bussed to rundown schools that were in desperate need of repair. Their test scores, which at the time were compared to average white students’ scores, had a significant impact on the path of their education. If they scored poorly they were put into simple classes that had little to no challenge (275). By the time a poor African-American student graduates from high school they were greatly behind the vast average of white students, in terms of being prepared to enter the workforce or college. Graduating for most minorities equiped them for working lower-class jobs – forcing them to repeat the cycle they were born into. In addition to the previous flaws in the system, the teaching material was exclusive of all non-white cultures and did nothing to promote non-racist attitudes. If anything, the teaching materials reinforced the idea of whites being dominant within society. That being said, a common theme of accepting the mainstream culture of the ideal American white male was prevalent; it was laced into both their coursework and the accepted modes of teaching (275). If they did well academically and score excellent test scores, they had the chance go to college. However, if accepted, they needed go to an African-American college – segregated from white students and facing an environment like their grade-school. This institutional racism may have proven to be the hardest to overcome, and the worst degree of it all. It reinforced an idea that should have been eradicated years ago, while providing next to nothing for minorities to escape poverty.

Stokely Carmichael spoke from an impassioned point-of-view, a view that was well-versed in the evils of society that were forced upon blacks. Racism had been running rampant throughout America for many years - the likes of which we could not fathom tolerating in modern times. Minorities were uniting and gaining their voice; the people were standing up in the face of dangers that could affect their families and neighbors. Unlike nowadays, where someone is heroized in the media for slandering policemen for the acts of few, standing up for what was right could put your life in jeopardy. Carmichael took advantage of the swelling movement and became a member of both the BPP and the SNCC. He spoke of the far cry from justice that they had endured during peaceful protests - he mentions the number of times he has been locked up for “disturbing the peace”. The vast amount of hate and fear of black people had shaped the civil rights movements. African-American protestors knew they could not respond to violence with violence – they respond with the lack thereof. The significantly anti-black populace had shown that they were not afraid to take twenty black lives for each white life taken (Carmichael). Stokely was fed up with just how involved whites were with the black population. Blacks had been told where they can and cannot live, where they can and cannot eat, and what they can and cannot say. The unequal authority over a race because their ancestry and the color of their skin had upset many and changed the lives of many. From Carmichaels words, we can sense the anger and determination that he carried himself with. He felt rightly so, and spoke righteously to many people that helped shape the world we live in today.
