Stokley Carmichael’s Speech, “Black Power” helps people today understand the Black Power movement and the role it played in the Civil Rights era. Two articles that help shape the picture of Carmichael’s speech are, “An Incitement to Riot” by Thomas J. Hrach and “Protest Campaigns and Movement Success: Desegregating the U.S. South in the Early 1960s” by Michael Biggs and Kenneth Andrews. By analyzing race relations, we see media’s role in major riots, how protest helped lead to the exposure of racism and make the Civil Rights movement a success.   

“An Incitement to Riot” shows how television broadcast contributed to the major riots in “underdeveloped black communities” in the summer of 1967. News anchors were reporting unfolding riots in cities in Chicago all the way to California. Even though the reporters of the riots thought that they were doing a public service, they were doing the opposite. The news was helping spread the word and get out the message of leader’s like Stokley Carmichael and influencing other young African American’s to stand up for justice and equality. In Hrach’s article he talks about the casualties of these riots, “eighty-three people were killed, and one thousand eight hundred and ninety-seven people were injured in the riots that took place that summer.” In Carmichael’s speech he says, “If you believe in integration, then we’re going to start adopting us some white people to live in our neighborhood” this statement provides the evidence that if whites actually believed in integration then two things would happen. One these neighborhoods would not be referred to as “underdeveloped black communities” in a news article in 1967 they would simply be referred to as riots within the community. Secondly these riots would not have been taking place because there would be no need for the Civil Rights movement because everyone would truly be equal. 

Another thing that “An Incitement to Riot” shows us is that the Kerner Report was released on March 1, 1968. The Kerner Report investigated the relationship between major riots and television. Its outcome was this, “One major reason that the Kenier Report dismissed the direct link between television and more rioting was due to the timing of the coverage and the violence.” Even though the Kerner Report came up with this conclusion, “Television’s critics, however, would have noticed that the coverage tended to follow the news, and the amount of violence always tended to be greatest at the start of a riot…” This supports Carmichael’s claim that the white institutions need to be disassembled and replaced. Because the news at the time was mainly white reporters and they had the say to what got out and what didn’t. Yet one thing the Kerner Report did in the right direction of equality was it made executives of television improve their reports on violence and racism in America. After the media revised its reports it played a key role in the success of the Civil Rights movement. Not only did it get Stokley Carmichael’s ideas out to the people he was trying to reach most, it also helped Martin Luther King Jr. get his ideas and tactics out as well. 

Biggs and Andrews’ “Protest Campaigns and Movement Success: Desegregating the U.S. South in the Early 1960s” shows people how effective protest were to help desegregate the South and to spread exposure and awareness of racism during the 60s. The article states, “In May 1963, the Department of Justice counted 204 cities as having desegregated at least one lunch counter. By comparison, hotels or motels had been desegregated in 163 cities, restaurants in 141, and theaters in 109.” It was obvious that Southern States were having second thoughts on Jim Crow laws. Astonishing enough cities that had not had a single sit-in by Easter 1960, were still opening up lunch counters to African American customers. Biggs and Andrews’ statistics show, “If sit-ins had occurred in a city, the odds of desegregation were quintupled. Sit-ins else- where also had a positive effect.” The rate in which desegregation was among the South was one that looked as if it would not be stopped. Carmichael says, “I look at Dr. King on television every single day, and I say to myself: “Now there is a man who’s desperately needed in this country. There is a man full of love. There is a man full of mercy. There is a man full of compassion. But every time I see Lyndon on television, I said, Martin, baby, you got a long way to go.” Carmichael was a man for instant progress yet you can tell by this phrase that he has respect for someone who is willing to wait a bit longer for results that are more permanent. The reason Carmichael turned his approach from nonviolence to self-defense was to show the racism and abuse that African Americans experience in the 1960s. Nonviolence was working, but self-defense was taking a giant leap to expose the racism in the Civil Rights movement.

Carmichael was not only the chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) but he also was Prime Minister of the Lowndes County Freedom Organization which was a political party. Carmichael adds, “Now the gentlemen of the Press, because they’re advertisers, and because most of them are white, …, never called the Lowndes County Freedom Organization by its name, but rather they called it the Black Panther Party.” Carmichael goes on about how they should call the Alabama Democratic Party the “White Cock Party”. When Carmichael left the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, he went to become the chairman of the “Black Panther Party” he did this because of their more radical approach. He grew away from the nonviolence tactics of Martin Luther King and instead tried to implement the tactics of self-defense. The race relations in every aspect of life in the 1960s was a tense topic. Racism was very widely found in the Jim Crow South, since that is exactly what the Jim Crow laws were made to do. Jim Crow tried to suppress African Americans, yet there were those few who stood up to Jim Crow laws to try to live out Martin Luther King’s dream. 

The difference between “An Incitement to Riot” and “Protest Campaigns and Movement Success: Desegregating the U.S. South in the Early 1960s” is that “An Incitement to Riot” looks at the aspect of media and the roles it plays in trying to spread important information to a wide diversity of people. “Protest Campaigns and Movement Success: Desegregating the U.S. South in the Early 1960s” displays the importance of being persistent in your quest for change and that being patient is the best way to influence change. Yet they both show that if progress has stopped from being nonviolent and peaceful you have to show that you are willing to fight for your cause and that you will not stop until equality and justice is reached. Carmichael shows this with every aspect of his fight to reach equality and end racism. 

Looking at “An Incitement to Riot” shows the American people the tension of race relations in the 1960s and the importance of media to spread an idea. “Protest Campaigns and Movement Success: Desegregating the U.S. South in the Early 1960s” displays the importance of being patient and the effect a protest can have against a people. Both of these articles help portrays a picture of the world in which Stokely Carmichael lived. A world that was not even a century away from us today. Carmichael ends the speech by saying, “The question is, will white people overcome their racism and allow for that to happen in this country? If that does not happen, brothers and sisters, we have no choice but to say very clearly, move over, or we’re going to move on over you.” 
