Oppression has withstood the test of time, and has been a staple in every society in one way or another. The act of oppressing people is brought about by an overwhelming majority belittling people for personal gain. This personal gain can come in the form of power, or wealth. The United States has fallen victim to this trend, and has made repression a part of its history. Long before segregation and slavery, the Native Americans were heavily mistreated in addition to their land being taken from them. It is not centuries later until that the history books show the oppression of African Americans in the United States. At the beginning, African Americans were nothing more than slaves in this country, no rights, no freedoms, nothing. Abraham Lincoln and the civil war were a huge step forward for integration with the freeing of the slaves etc. Since that time, black people in this country have fought to be true equals to the 63% majority of white people in this country. It is not until the 1950’s that true progress is made with the civil rights movement that swept the nation. However, Stockley Carmichael’s “Black Power” speech at Berkley presents a new reality in which not much has actually changed. With the height of the Vietnam War and continued racism, Carmichael shows that the United States is flexing its muscles in terms of supporting white supremacy as well as force-feeding democracy to the rest of the world. These are clear indications that the United States has failed to become the accepting democracy it claims to be.        

In his speech, Carmichael took exception to the institution of white supremacy which had been left standing due to an unwillingness of white people to change. Within the speech he highlights a glaring distinction that must be taken into consideration. Carmichael goes on to say “Now, then, in order to understand white supremacy we must dismiss the fallacious notion that white people can give anybody their freedom. No man can give anybody his freedom. A man is born free. You may enslave a man after he is born free, and that is in fact what this country does. It enslaves black people after they’re born, so that the only acts that white can do is stop denying black people their freedom; that is, they must stop denying freedom. They never give it to anyone.” Carmichael (315). Within this quote derived from Carmichael’s speech, the reader is able to identify the root of his issue with white supremacy. This country has made everyone believe that the white man holds the power, and that is just the way things are. In fact, the real issue within the country is that institutions have been built up based off of that false pretense in which the white man has control over denying or respecting the freedoms of others. In addition, Carmichael does not buy into the notion that civil rights bills have been passed for the black community. Part of his argument is “I maintain that every civil rights bill in this country was passed for white people, not for black people…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 the white man, not for me. I knew it all the time. I knew it all the time.” Carmichael (315). In saying this, Carmichael is try to relay to the audience that nothing has yet been achieved in terms of equality due to the fact it was the white people that needed help in recognizing people are born equal. The white man was unable to realize that the black man was a human being just as much as he was. Due to this fact, he maintains that the civil rights bills that were passed were in fact to educate the white man of this reality. It is the white man who had everything to begin with, and now he needs a bill to tell him about the concept of natural rights. Carmichael also believes that the black man will never be equal until they are in positions of power in which they can decide how things should be done. He maintains that equality will never exist until the white man is able to stop trying to show the black man how to do things the right way. This constant correcting in fact forces one to question whether he or she is equal. 

In order to understand why Stockely Carmichael felt the way he did it is important to understand the time in history in which this speech was given. Carmichael addressed Berkley in 1966. Prior to this, social injustice had not waivered and little had been done to change the perception of the general public. For example, October 7th, 1963, SNCC workers accompany black citizens attempting to vote to the court house to help them register. However, they were met at the court house by Selma sheriff Jim Clark and his deputies who used force to prevent them from entering the court house. On June 21, 1964, the “Freedom Summer” volunteers while working in Mississippi. From August 28-30, 1964 alleged police brutality sparks riots in Philadelphia. On March 7, 1965, over 600 people leave Selma Alabama headed for Montgomery to protest voting rights. They are stopped at Edmund Pettus Bridge where law enforce uses nightsticks and tear gas to drive them back. The multitude of examples gives context to Carmichael’s speech “Black Power” During this time in American history, the African American community was making strides toward equality. Despite this, it was everyday people that were getting in the way of this. Law enforcement remained unaware, employers withheld opportunity, and the KKK did all it could to prevent equality. It is for these reasons that Carmichael whole heartedly believed that the entire civil rights movement was intended to educate white America. It was they who were not ready to accept it, and they fought it as much as they could. In addition to this, the African American community was rejected in any attempt to gain political influence in any form. Carmichael was a staunch advocate of the concept of having African Americans politicians seated at the table with white politicians, and being able to make decisions for the whole of America. During this time, racism had still not left the heights it had been at for years. 

The second thing that Carmichael took exception to was the foreign policy of the United States. He was not only unhappy with domestic treatment of its citizens, but he was also unhappy with how the U.S. interacted with other countries. In reference to the success of American democracy, Carmichael say “How can white people who are the majority and who are responsible for making democracy work?” They have miserably failed to this point. They have never made democracy work, be it inside the United States, Vietnam, South Africa, Philippines, South America, Puerto Rico. Wherever America has been, she has not been able to make democracy work; so that in a larger sense, we not only condemn the country for what it’s done internally, but we must condemn it for what it does externally. We see this country trying to rule the world, and someone must stand up and start articulating that this country is not God, and cannot rule the world.” Carmichael (315).  With this statement, Carmichael is trying to tell the audience that the white man’s inflated ego, and his belief of always being correct has impacted the world at large. Not only do they think they know how to control everything domestically, but they now think that this perfect democracy is a solution for everyone. The U.S. does not know the answer to everything. It is not a world leader; it is a country in a large world. Until the white man can accept the fact they he doesn’t know everything; the world will suffer from the mistakes of the white man’s ego. In addition to this, Carmichael disagreed with the Vietnam War itself. He goes on to say “Now, many people talk about pulling out of Vietnam. What will happen? If we pull out of Vietnam, there will be one less aggressor in there-we won’t be there. And so the question is, How do we articulate those position? And we cannot begin to articulate them from the same assumptions that the people in the country speak, ‘cause they speak from different assumptions than I assume what the youth in this country are talking about. With the articulation of this statement, Carmichael is voicing his disapproval of the Vietnam War. He begins saying that if the U.S. pulled out of Vietnam essentially nothing would happen. The only thing that would happen is that there would be one less country getting its hands in on the action. In addition to this Carmichael finds it unfair that the U.S. insists on this war in Vietnam despite an outcry from the general public in protesting the war. However, he believes it is hard for this protesting to make a difference given that politicians do not understand the cost of war on the common people. It is not them who are going in and risking their lives for an unnecessary war, it is the everyday citizen that must risk his life for a cause he disagrees with. In this way, those making the decisions of war are detached from the consequences due to the flawed political system within the country. That is where Carmichael has gotten the inspiration for taking the side he has portrayed in his speech. During this time, protest has out broken against the Vietnam War all across the country. College students have protested on college campuses as well as many others. The general consensus is that the Vietnam War is not one this Country should be a part of. Despite this out cry from the people, those in power have chosen to ignore this and choose to risk lives for the unrealistic goal of spreading democracy to every country. As previously mention by Carmichael, the white man believes that democracy is a solution for everyone and it is this America’s responsibility to implement it. It is this idea that Carmichael takes exception to. 

The U.S. has embedded oppression into its history since the beginning, from the enslavement and conquering of Native Americans, and to the belittlement of African Americans for centuries. Despite strides being made in the area of the civil rights movement, Carmichael has highlighted how truly far away American society is from true integration. Not only has America failed domestically, it has also failed in its foreign policy. All this has been brought about by the false notion that the white man knows best in all aspects. Carmichael’s “Black Power” speech at Berkley highlights the unavoidable fact that America has failed to become a true successful democracy. In saying this, the U.S. must fix itself before it attempts to fix anyone else.          

  