Cover Story
Black Ink
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was partial and incomplete and that it too
must be integrated into a higher synthesis to
be defined not by white people alone but by
white people and black people together. His
saying, in short, that “integration is not a
one-way street but a two-way drive.”
Carmichael believed the adoption of the
concept of black power was one of the most
legitimate and healthy developments in
American politics and race relations in our
time. The concept of black power is a call
for black people in this country to unite, to
recognize their heritage, to build a sense of
community. It is a call for black people to
begin to define their own goals, to lead their
own organizations and to support those
organizations. It is a call to reject the racist
institutions and values of this society. The
concept rests on a fundamental premise;
“Before a group can enter the open society,
it must first close its ranks.” Carmichael’s
whole black power theory was based on the
possibilities of the black masses and cen
tered mainly on protest
Carmichael’s notable civil rights record
began as a youthful member of the Student
Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
(SNCC). In 1964, Carmichael was arrested
in Jackson, Mississippi as one of the first
Freedom Riders. The jails of Mississippi
were the scene of a rapid process of political
education for student activists who encoun
tered persons from different backgrounds
and with a variety of political beliefs.
Carmichael says he learned a lot about the
struggle and its leaders in jail.
In retrospect, the Selma campaign was a
victory for King’s protest strategy. If his
presence interfered with SNCC’s long-range
efforts to develop self-sufficient local black
leadership, it also provided the spark for a
crucial confrontation between Alabama
blacks and stubborn state officials which in
turn contributed to a favorable climate of
public opinion outside the South and to
subsequent passage of Johnson’s voting
rights prop)osals. Despite this decisive vic
tory, the Alabama campaign contributed to
the further disillusionment of SNCC work
ers. The bitterness, verging on spite, felt by
many staff members was expressed in
Carmichael’s complaint that the march to
Montgomery, which began as a protest of
the death of a black man, Jimmy Lee
Jackson, attracted major national attention
only after the death of a white Rev. Reeb.
The Alabama demonstrations which
stimulated black militancy nationwide, also
led to the launching of the Black Panther
Party in the rural black belt county of
Lowndes, situated between Selma and
Montgomery. Carmichael’s talents as a
headman/organizer were demonstrated in
this local movement. Here he was given the
opportunity to initiate a black political
movement The upsurge in black registra
tion brought on by the SNCC workers
brought intensified white resistance. One
young civil rights worker was killed after a
part-time sheriff fired into a group of pick-
eters. Because voterregistration in Lowndes
County was so threatening to white leaders,
SNCC workers began to question whether
they should continue to encourage blacks to
register as Democrats, a party led by segre
gationist George Wallace, or to form an
independent party. Spearheaded by
Carmichael a new political organization,
the Lowndes County Freedom Organiza
tion, was initiated. The LCFO was estab
lished as an independent political party
rather than a racial separatist group, yet the
emblems chosen for the new organization a
snarling black panther- was unmistakably
significant
Meanwhile the intensity of internal
conflicts in SNCC was growing. The ques
tion of separatism was steadily dividing the
workers. Carmichael joined those opposing
the separatists. Although criticized in the
press as a separatist because of his work in
Lowndes County, he disagreed with the ex
treme beliefs of separatism calling for white
expulsion. Sensing the increasing support
for a shift in SNCC’s direction toward the
kind of organizing approach he had devel
oped in Lowndes County, Carmichael
announced that he would break with tradi
tion and actively campaign for SNCC’s
chair, then held by John Lewis, the SNCC
officer most tied to its past While criti
cisms of Lewis’ associations and tactics
increased^the success of the LCFO boosted
Carmichael’s candidacy. Lewis won the
first emotional vote, but his election was
challenged and an intense, open discussion
began. As it continued into the early morn
ing hours, the fragility of Lewis’ support
became apparent. Many of his exhausted
supporter left after the first vote. His posi
tion was also weakened by JamesForman’s
suggestion that both he and Lewis resign
“to give some of the young staff members a
chance to acquire the experience we had
acquired.” After being overwhelmingly
asked to resign Lewis did just that allowing
the exhausted remnants of the staff to elect
Carmichael. As was customary, reporters
were barred from the elections, but imme
diately after Carmichael’s election journal
ist proclaimed it a victory for black nation
alism.
After much internal conflict, new chair
man Carmichael decided SNCC would
participate in the Mississippi marches with
other civil rights leaders, including King.
Regardless of their respect for King, SNCC
workers sought opportunities to dispute his
positions thereby expressing the black anger,
discontent and disillusionment that could
not be conveyed through King’s more
moderate rhetoric. Willie Ricks, one of the
most militant SNCC workers, provided
Carmichael with a new weapon in his ideo
logical struggle with King when he demon
strated the enormous appeal of the slogan
“Black Power”- a shortened version of
“black power for black people,” a phrase
used by Alabama SNCC workers.
Carmichael’s opportunity to use the black
power slogan came as the march entered
Leflore County, the site of previous SNCC
voter registration efforts. Carmichael’s use
of black power slogan immediately became
the central controversy of the march. Jour
nalists quickly focused public attention on
the phrase.
Carmichael and other SNCC workers
roused the racial feelings of blacks through
verbal attacks on the existing leadership
and prevailing strategies of the civil rights
movement, but their own organization was
weakened in the process. Staff members
expected the external attacks and undoubt
edly some believed that such attacks con
firmed the correctness of their actions. Yet
to many SNCC workers, the organization’s
vulnerability was somewhat unnecessary,
because it resulted form an emphasis on
militant rhetoric rather than on the develop
ment of workable programs to consolidate
southern civil rights gains. As Carmichael
became a nationally-known figure, SNCC
shifted the focus of its activities from the
deep South to urban centers, prompting
some staff members to question whether
tangible political gains could be realized as
aresult of thepersonal following Carmichael
attracted.
Carmichael recognized the increasing
special risks associated with his highly
visible role and SNCC’s vuberability dur
ing a period of extensive racial conflict By
the time of SNCC’s annual staff meeting in
the spring of 1967, he was eager to relin
quish the chairmanship. Staff members were
then faced with finding someone capable of
expressing the angry mood of urban blacks
and of avoiding the role of sc£^goat for the
spreading of black rebellion. They chose a
member of the Alabama field staff, H. Rap
Brown as the new chairman. This was
unequivocally the end of an era for SNCC
and Carmichael.
Stokely Carmichael’s popularization of
the black power slogan began a new stage in
the transformation of African-American
political consciousness. Shattering the frag
ile alliance of civil rights forces, the black
power upsurge challenged the assumptions
underlying previous interracial efforts to
achieve national civil rights reforms. The
black struggles of the 1960’s had awakened
dormant traditions of black radicalism and
racial separatism by fostering among black
people a greater sense of pride, confidence
and racial identity. Through their increas
ingly positive response to the concept of
determination to use hard-won human rights
to improve their lives in ways befitting their
own cultural values.
Carmichael was not an exceptional pro
phetic figure. He became a symbol of black
militancy because he sensed a widespread
preparedness among blsK^ks to reject previ
ous habits of accommodation. His attitudes,
shaped by experiences in the southern
struggle, coincided with the unarticulated
feelings of many other blacks, especially in
northern urban centers, whose hopes were
raised but not fulfilled by the civil rights
movement Carmichael was an innovator
who could not control or fully understand
the social forces he had setin motion, and he
could only begin the difficult task of formu
lating a comprehensive political strategy
for the post civil rights era. Nonetheless he
set forth the broad outlines of subsequent
black political development Carmichael
joined a line of audacious black leaders-
Marcus Garvey, Malcom X - whose histori
cal role was to arouse large segments of the
black population by reflecting their re
pressed anger and candidly describing pre
viously obscured aspects of their racial
oppression.
Only after Carmichael attracted national
attention as an advocate of black power did
he begin to construct an intellectual ration
ale for what initially was an partially
thought-out statement of conclusions drawn
from SNCC ’ s work. It was a colossal public
relations blunder to throw out this slogan
whose meaning was soobscure, whose intent
was so subject to misinterpretations, whose
impact was so abrasive that it divided blacks,
alienated whites and confused everybody.
He attempted to demonstrate that black
power was logical outgrowth of the south
ern struggle and reasonable response to the
conditions facing blacks. While he did clar
ify misconceptions of his views, he could
not eliminate confusion caused by biased
press reports and SNCC workers’ own
uncertainty about future programs. More
over, his writings and public statements
were not only vague formulations of strat
egy but were also emotional responses to
the frustrations of SNCC staff members and
rebellious urban blacks.