There is perhaps no more controversial yet historically rich period in the history of the United States than the 1960s. A period that has been characterized as one of protest, revolution and transition, the 1960s embodied a period when the American system of government came into conflict with the ideals and hopes of people that wanted to change the old system to something new and different. While there have been many faces that have come to represent the change that was present in the 1960s, like Dr. Martin Luther King JR, Robert F. Kennedy, Malcolm X and Fannie Lu Hammer, one individual that represents the transitional period of the 1960s was Stokely Carmichael. Carmichael has been one of the founding members of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and had pushed the belief that civil disobedience and non- violence could lead to change. However, as the 1960s wore on, young activists like Carmichael became frustrated with the pace of change, realizing that the fight for civil rights was not the fight of just African Americans. In a speech that Carmichael gives in 1966 on the campus of UC Berkeley, Carmichael lays out his frustrations and calls for a change within those that are tired of the lack of progress that non- violence has gotten people like him so far in the fight for equality. The main point of his argument is to push people to see that the fight for equality is not the work of Black people alone, Whites as well must see that they as a group are stopping progress and are responsible for the mistreatment. Instead Black people as a group need to move from the ideas of simple non-violence to a position of power, Black Power, by which Black people assert their dominance, independence and an ability to be functional without the need for Whited to recognize and give Black people equality and freedom. 

Carmichael was direct with his speech in 1966 on the campus of UC Berkeley understanding that the group to which he addressed his comments were aware of the movements that were taking place across the country and on the very campus. While Carmichael recognized that Berkeley was the “ White intellectual ghetto of the West “ (pg. 313) he was quick to clear up many of the misunderstandings that were associated with the student movement and civil rights in general. Most people has associated the student movement with trying to end the discrimination polices of being denied the right to vote, segregated schools or being turned away at lunch counters to be served. While these fight for equality were important and each demonstrated the willingness of students to risk being hurt, injured or killed to fight for equal access, what Carmichael argues is that the student movement was never just that simple as some drinking fountains; what the students “ were fighting against was white supremacy “ (pg.314). 

White supremacy is the idea that all rules, laws and systems of organization are designed to protect and keep white people in the positions of power and dominance in society. The idea is that white supremacy keeps white people from being seen as loud, as being violent and are therefore always innocent. White supremacy as Carmichael claims, is what is really preventing change in America, because it is not that Black people have not always fought for change and opportunity, but that white people have always fought against it. White supremacy has the goal to maintain White people in a position where they dominate and control all people. Carmichael argues that protests and calling for equal access to lunch counters and movie theaters is not the issue, but fighting against what makes people think that segregation is okay is what the fight is really about. 

White supremacy has been the problem all this time and that is what Carmichael and other student activists have been fighting against. However, Carmichael makes the argument that what has stopped the progress of Black people is not the movement or Black Power, but White Supremacy. “ So that the failures to pass a civil rights bill isn’t because of Black Power, isn’t because of the Student Non- violent Coordinating Committee; it’s not because of the rebellions that are occurring in major cities. It is incapability of Whites to deal with their own problems inside their own communities. That is the problem of the failure of the civil rights bill “ (pg. 315). Carmichael makes the claim that what is stopping progress is Whites, not Black. White people have refused to even try and make the equality an option because Whites cannot fundamentally think about being equal with Blacks because White Supremacy prevents that from happening. 

White supremacy as Carmichael argues is what is stopping White people from seeing the human side, the people side of Black people. He argues that he does not think that what is stopping White people from supporting equality is something simple, but that Black people are denied equality because they are black. “ We are oppressed as a group because we are black, not because we are lazy, not because we’re apathetic, not because we’re stupid, not because we smell, not because we eat watermelon and have good rhythm. We are oppressed because we are black “ (pg. 316-317). What is so important about this statement is that Carmichael is pushing away from the perspective of Martin Luther King and other about the idea that Black people will show their human side to get equality, because Carmichael argues that Black people have always had humanity and have always been free as a people, but have been denied this opportunity to be free and equal because White people have stopped every opportunity for that to happen. 