The nineteen sixties, a struggle in American history that revolutionized the the role of the African-American community in society.  The actions of the government at this time created much controversy between whites and blacks throughout various parts of the country.  Many blacks suffered large waves of social discrimination for many years of this reform; even though the supreme court rendered the decision that “separate but equal” was unconstitutional in 1954.  This historical occurrence was very prominent to the context of Stokley Carmichael’s speech, Black Power. Within the speech, Carmichael explains how in the past, as an African-American citizen, if he were to attempt to perform his civil rights as an American citizen, the white population would oppress him in one way or another.  However, he argues that not until a bill was passed by the government that gave blacks their civil rights did whites fully concede that blacks ever remotely had those rights in the first place.  Carmichael stressed how he knew of his rights as a human being and as a citizen before the bill was even passed, as did many blacks.  By weighing out the perspectives of blacks and whites during the time of racial inequalities and understanding their differences we can empathized the frustration that appears in Carmichael’s speech and why he reached out to the black community to oust whites from the freedom movement. 

Most importantly, Carmichael was a visionary and saw a larger picture to the issue that the black community faced during this time.  This entire era was centralized to bring up social reform and eradicate social inequalities, however, in many cases, it only increased tensions within various parts of the society.  Carmichael noticed how the government's plan to clean up the social discrimination from the society wasn’t entirely effective for many years.  He saw the way the whites of the community reacted to the new government decisions and was significantly displeased with some.  The mindset of the white man, that Carmichael perceived, was that they were in no agreement with the laws that had just passed, they were just forced to follow them because it would be illegal to do anything otherwise.  For example, Carmichael includes in his speech, “while I am black I am a human being, and therefore I have the right to go into any public place.  White people didn’t know that.  Every time I tried to go into a place they stopped me. So some boys had to write a bill to tell that white man, ‘he’s a human being; don’t stop him.’  That bill was for that white man, not for me” (Carmichael 315).   Just because the new laws had passed that gave blacks complete civil rights didn’t mean the mindset of the entire community would shift in the same direction that this was the most righteous decision.  It was Carmichael that identified this in his speech, how the southern white man of the community was too stubborn and ignorant to acknowledge any basic human rights and decency pertaining to the social injustices between whites and blacks.  Until this time many whites didn’t think any differently of the socials injustices that composed much of our country’s history.  

Clearly, as history has shown, Carmichael wasn’t the only one to speak out against the horrors that many blacks endured during this time.  Edward E. Harris, an African-American activist, during the times of the black and white social reform, wrote several texts regarding to his reaction to social controversy between the races.  In 1968, he constructed the text, Prejudice and Other Social Factors in School Segregation. Within the source, Harris discusses the desegregation of school in the border and southern states after the Supreme Court rendered the decision that “separate and equal” schools were unconstitutional.  Harris brings up how the desegregation was only really apparent in the north and mostly the border states initially.  He argues how most of the southern states were hard on this change in the constitution, many did not follow, or follow with patience and understanding. Although in many areas, desegregation already started to begin, however, the acceptance of the desegregation by all of the community was a slow process.  Even though the law had changed rapidly, didn’t mean the minds of the whites in the southern and border states changed as fast.  Since each state was enforcing the desegregation process, many of the white people within the community became very agitated of the entire situation.  The article exclaims that despite the states’ enforcement of the new law, many of the schools within many areas of southern and border states were remaining segregated.  The author’s unease, was how it took over a decade since the law had passed for most states to finally incorporate a desegregation within their own communities.

This primary source relates to many of the ideas that appear in the speech “Black Power.” Much of what the author, Stokely Carmichael, argues in his speech pertains to the desegregation of schools and how the ego of the whites is still condemned even after the desegregation.  We note that during times of desegregation, only the blacks desegregated to the white schools while none of the whites desegregated to the black schools.  The arguments identified in the primary source touch up on the attitude of white schools after much of the desegregation began.  Obviously, before the laws of desegregation were put into effect, the entire black community believed that they deserved their education just as much as the whites did. However, as we know, this notion was not common in the mind of the whites before the laws were passed.  Many of the whites never fully believed that the blacks deserved the same rights to education that the whites did.  This idea aligned in both Stokely Carmichael’s speech and Edward E. Harris’s text.  Much of this, perhaps could be due to how this was the status quo for the majority of American History.  In both pieces of text, both authors argue the issue of the slow desegregation of the schools. Both arguments touch up on the flaws of desegregation.  The desegregation that occurred during the sixties was unjust mostly in the eyes of the African-American community.  Without the support of the government, one could question if the same effect would have ever happened.  The headstrong individuals actively against the desegregation at the time made it very difficult for the country to unite completely under the new reform.

However, not all accounts of the reactions of societal members were completely biased to a specific side during this time.  Many non-racist northern whites researched the phenomenon occurring in the south and drew up their own conclusions about reasons the controversy even occurred.  For example, Richard M. Cramer, a white male from Michigan, impartial to the desegregation of the country, conducted research on the specific desegregation occurring in southern cities.  He addressed his findings in his article, “School Desegregation and New Industry: The Southern Community Leaders' Viewpoint.”  Within this article he explains how he gathered a small team of other researchers to visit five cities in the south and interview major leaders of each city to assess their perspective on the topic of desegregation.  He would meet with many editors of local papers to discover who were considered the most important leaders of each city.  After meeting with eighty prominent leaders throughout the five cities, he developed data based on the answers received in each interview.  Essentially, the results of his data showed a statistical trend that the less knowledge a “leader” had of the importance and process of desegregation, the less receptive attitude he or she would have towards desegregation.  Finally to note, every leader that was interviewed during this process was white.  However, before even being mentioned, most would assume anyways, given the results of the data, that the interviewees were white.

The findings of Richard Cramer’s research most indirectly relate to the arguments of Stokely Carmichael.  In Carmichael speech, he is virtually blaming the slow process of desegregation and social unity within communities to the stubbornness and ignorance of the whites of the community.  As we can clearly see from Richard Cramer’s research, the less education and concession of the significance of desegregation caused less acceptance and acknowledgement of the process.  According to Stokely Carmichael, this ignorance is what was keeping the whites of the community to fully understands the blacks’ rights to education and civil duties.  If whites had more of an awareness to the difference between justified human rights and federal law, the blacks of the community wouldn’t have to feel so oppressed even when they are guaranteed freedom by the government. 

Clearly, during this difficult time not all members of society were on the same page.  Not all whites can be thrown into the same category at the time, just as not all blacks could be thrown into the same category at the time.  However, there was a clear divide between whites and blacks in certain areas during this time when the country was trying to shift into unity.  The process of desegregation was intended to unify the country and and eliminate social injustices, however, the divide between blacks and whites in these certain areas created different mindsets to what African-Americans were entitled to.  These different mindsets and the injustices they brought out help us much more understand Stokely Carmichael’s critique on the American society and call for action against the separation of races for a betterment of social equality.
