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Stokely Speaks: From Black Power to Pan-Africanism
In the speeches and articles collected in this book, the black activist, organizer, and freedom fighter Stokely Carmichael traces the dramatic changes in his own consciousness and that of black Americans that took place during the evolving movements of Civil Rights, Black Power, and Pan-Africanism. Unique in his belief that the destiny of African Americans could not be separated from that of oppressed people the world over, Carmichael's Black Power principles insisted that blacks resist white brainwashing and redefine themselves. He was concerned not only with racism and exploitation, but with cultural integrity and the colonization of Africans in America. In these essays on racism, Black Power, the pitfalls of conventional liberalism, and solidarity with the oppressed masses and freedom fighters of all races and creeds, Carmichael addresses questions that still confront the black world and points to a need for an ideology of black and African liberation, unification, and transformation.
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1971
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About the author
Stokely Carmichael
23 books233 followersStokely Standiford Churchill Carmichael, also known as Kwame Ture, was a Trinidadian-American black activist active in the 1960s American Civil Rights Movement. He rose to prominence first as a leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC, pronounced "Snick") and later as the "Honorary Prime Minister" of the Black Panther Party. Initially an integrationist, Carmichael later became affiliated with black nationalist and Pan-Africanist movements
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 52 reviews
February 11, 2017
Probably one of the greatest and most revolutionary black leaders to have ever lead. I loved this book. I loved how influential he was and how incredibly thought provoking his essays were. From extending solidarity with Palestine to discussing the importance of pan-Africanism. I loved it.
And having a forward by Mumia tipped this to five stars.
And having a forward by Mumia tipped this to five stars.
June 11, 2015
This is, quite possibly, one of the most important books one could ever read. The key word is "important." When something is important, it means that some aspect of it needs prompt and immediate attention. It means that there is something about it that can't wait. That's what this book is and the messages in this text are so very crucial and critical for us to grasp, comprehend and align with.
What we have here is a collection of essays and speeches written and delivered by Stokely Carmichael. It appears that the essays are arranged in the order in which they occurred for the reader to be in tune with a timeline and the events of those times. Also, it appears that the order of the speeches aims to demonstrate Stokely's development of ideas and the progression of his efforts and initiatives. The structure and organization of the text cater to the reader's needs to connect, understand and interpret the full picture.
Stokely Carmichael will always be one of my favorites. His passion, intelligence and energy were powerful and greatly benefited several movements designed to empower the black community and to fight oppression. His straightforwardness, coupled with his ability to be diplomatic, truly are great strengths that are engaging to his audiences.
His views on integration, the Civil Rights Movement, voting, oppression and community were deep, defined, justified and were the primary tones of this text. I often find myself wondering where we would be if we had leaders like Stokley in present day.
This is five stars for several reasons. Primarily because I deeply appreciate Stokley's passion and his efforts. I admire his dedication, honesty and intelligence. I am forever grateful for the work he did on behalf of our people. The hours of protesting, fighting, learning, teaching, shaping, analyzing. What a special guy he was.
What we have here is a collection of essays and speeches written and delivered by Stokely Carmichael. It appears that the essays are arranged in the order in which they occurred for the reader to be in tune with a timeline and the events of those times. Also, it appears that the order of the speeches aims to demonstrate Stokely's development of ideas and the progression of his efforts and initiatives. The structure and organization of the text cater to the reader's needs to connect, understand and interpret the full picture.
Stokely Carmichael will always be one of my favorites. His passion, intelligence and energy were powerful and greatly benefited several movements designed to empower the black community and to fight oppression. His straightforwardness, coupled with his ability to be diplomatic, truly are great strengths that are engaging to his audiences.
His views on integration, the Civil Rights Movement, voting, oppression and community were deep, defined, justified and were the primary tones of this text. I often find myself wondering where we would be if we had leaders like Stokley in present day.
This is five stars for several reasons. Primarily because I deeply appreciate Stokley's passion and his efforts. I admire his dedication, honesty and intelligence. I am forever grateful for the work he did on behalf of our people. The hours of protesting, fighting, learning, teaching, shaping, analyzing. What a special guy he was.
October 25, 2021
“When a slave says no, he begins to exist.” “Those who have power have everything; those who are without power have nothing. Without power we have to beg for what is rightfully ours. With power we will take our birthright because it was power that our birthright was taken from us.” “They took us from Africa and they put thousands of miles between us, but they forgot—blood is thicker than water.” As these three quotes demonstrate, this is a book about resistance, revolution, power, and *Black* Power and its highest form—Pan Africanism.
Kwame Ture—formerly known as Stokely Carmichael—is one of the greatest orators, organizers, and African (West Indian) revolutionaries of the 20th Century. Stokely Speaks captures the essence and substance of Ture’s political ideologies and development from the advent of the “Black Power Movement,” to the evolution of revolutionary Pan Africanism. This book covers a wide variety of sociopolitical topics, providing Ture’s insight on the inherently limited nature and scope of the Civil Rights Movement, the emptiness of “coalition building” with liberals and white Americans, the farcical nature of integration, the futility of liberalism, and the urgent and absolute necessity for Black Power. Ture makes clear that Black independence, above all else, is the necessary condition for liberation, and such independence can only come through African unity, organization, and institution-building. Ture centers Africa as the focal point of this effort, as Africa was and still is the place where Black folks hold at least some semblance of sociopolitical independence, and it’s also the place where Black folks have the best chance to defend themselves from the terroristic aggression of the white power structure.
Ture’s conception of “Black Power” is fascinating. While he initially ties it to electoral strength, he makes clear that electoralism must grow from community organizations, rather than individual Black politicians propped up by the Democratic-Republican political duopoly. However, as the book goes on, Black Power comes to mean Black folks’ complete and communal control of the political institutions in their communities, ultimately, toward the goal of unifying and liberating the continent of Africa. Ture’s conception of a new society is rooted in Black communalism, rather than the individualism that white Western civilization has bred. To that end, Ture excoriates “integration” as a viable political agenda for the masses of Black people, noting (among other things) that it is nothing more than a veiled attempt at maintaining white dominance by assimilating a select number of well-off Blacks, while continuing to exploit, extract from, and exclude the Black masses. If you want to find compelling counterpoints for the aims of the Civil Rights Movement, Ture offers many. Further, Ture passionately repeats over and over again that white society cannot give Black people freedom or independence, because Black people—as human beings—are born free. White society can only stop impeding the natural way of things and denying Black folks their birthrights, and if they won’t do so willingly, the Black masses (in conjunction with other colonized groups) will compel them to by any means necessary. This is an extremely powerful and inspiring perspective, and obviously, highly threatening to the white power structure.
Ture’s full scope of anti-capitalism, anti-racism, anti-imperialism, and revolutionary Pan African nationalism is on full display throughout this book. His commitment to raise the consciousness of the Black masses, expose the decadence of the white Western world, and advocate for revolutionary solidarity among the colonized masses, shines bright. Ture also speaks to the importance of cultural integrity and empowerment, while maintaining that he who exercises control over definitions, is master. To that end, he implores Black folks to stop being captured by white framing and defining, specifically with regard to self-identification as “Americans,” rather than Africans. Ture’s distinction between colonization and exploitation is also illustrative. He argues that while Black Americans and poor whites share a commonality in the form of capitalist exploitation, Black folks are colonized subjects while white folks are not, thereby limiting the potential of coalition building between the races. He argues that because the white masses did not have their institutions, culture, and independence destroyed while they were being economically exploited, the oppression of poor whites was merely economic. However, the oppression of the African masses is social, political, cultural, and economic, and was designed to the supplant the civilization that Black folks had built for themselves. The differences in the oppression faced makes coalition-building increasingly difficult, as the colonial status of Black folks always leaves them susceptible to subordination.
Ture’s definitions of revolutionary violence and reactionary violence are also of great importance. The former seeks to overturn the underlying social order, while the latter seeks to maintain it. This dialectic is often expressed in how the state legitimizes its violence but suppresses and punishes the violence of those who resist. Ture also articulates how the United States social order is inherently violent in the way that it sanctions and essentially requires poverty and death within and outside its borders, all for the benefit of a few. Ultimately, this book packs a massive punch and is a tremendous introduction to the philosophies and thoughts of a great African leader.
Kwame Ture—formerly known as Stokely Carmichael—is one of the greatest orators, organizers, and African (West Indian) revolutionaries of the 20th Century. Stokely Speaks captures the essence and substance of Ture’s political ideologies and development from the advent of the “Black Power Movement,” to the evolution of revolutionary Pan Africanism. This book covers a wide variety of sociopolitical topics, providing Ture’s insight on the inherently limited nature and scope of the Civil Rights Movement, the emptiness of “coalition building” with liberals and white Americans, the farcical nature of integration, the futility of liberalism, and the urgent and absolute necessity for Black Power. Ture makes clear that Black independence, above all else, is the necessary condition for liberation, and such independence can only come through African unity, organization, and institution-building. Ture centers Africa as the focal point of this effort, as Africa was and still is the place where Black folks hold at least some semblance of sociopolitical independence, and it’s also the place where Black folks have the best chance to defend themselves from the terroristic aggression of the white power structure.
Ture’s conception of “Black Power” is fascinating. While he initially ties it to electoral strength, he makes clear that electoralism must grow from community organizations, rather than individual Black politicians propped up by the Democratic-Republican political duopoly. However, as the book goes on, Black Power comes to mean Black folks’ complete and communal control of the political institutions in their communities, ultimately, toward the goal of unifying and liberating the continent of Africa. Ture’s conception of a new society is rooted in Black communalism, rather than the individualism that white Western civilization has bred. To that end, Ture excoriates “integration” as a viable political agenda for the masses of Black people, noting (among other things) that it is nothing more than a veiled attempt at maintaining white dominance by assimilating a select number of well-off Blacks, while continuing to exploit, extract from, and exclude the Black masses. If you want to find compelling counterpoints for the aims of the Civil Rights Movement, Ture offers many. Further, Ture passionately repeats over and over again that white society cannot give Black people freedom or independence, because Black people—as human beings—are born free. White society can only stop impeding the natural way of things and denying Black folks their birthrights, and if they won’t do so willingly, the Black masses (in conjunction with other colonized groups) will compel them to by any means necessary. This is an extremely powerful and inspiring perspective, and obviously, highly threatening to the white power structure.
Ture’s full scope of anti-capitalism, anti-racism, anti-imperialism, and revolutionary Pan African nationalism is on full display throughout this book. His commitment to raise the consciousness of the Black masses, expose the decadence of the white Western world, and advocate for revolutionary solidarity among the colonized masses, shines bright. Ture also speaks to the importance of cultural integrity and empowerment, while maintaining that he who exercises control over definitions, is master. To that end, he implores Black folks to stop being captured by white framing and defining, specifically with regard to self-identification as “Americans,” rather than Africans. Ture’s distinction between colonization and exploitation is also illustrative. He argues that while Black Americans and poor whites share a commonality in the form of capitalist exploitation, Black folks are colonized subjects while white folks are not, thereby limiting the potential of coalition building between the races. He argues that because the white masses did not have their institutions, culture, and independence destroyed while they were being economically exploited, the oppression of poor whites was merely economic. However, the oppression of the African masses is social, political, cultural, and economic, and was designed to the supplant the civilization that Black folks had built for themselves. The differences in the oppression faced makes coalition-building increasingly difficult, as the colonial status of Black folks always leaves them susceptible to subordination.
Ture’s definitions of revolutionary violence and reactionary violence are also of great importance. The former seeks to overturn the underlying social order, while the latter seeks to maintain it. This dialectic is often expressed in how the state legitimizes its violence but suppresses and punishes the violence of those who resist. Ture also articulates how the United States social order is inherently violent in the way that it sanctions and essentially requires poverty and death within and outside its borders, all for the benefit of a few. Ultimately, this book packs a massive punch and is a tremendous introduction to the philosophies and thoughts of a great African leader.
March 8, 2021
I often think about how many white people today say that they would have marched with MLK, and how that flies in the face of reality back then. Crazier still is how few white people would say they would have stood alongside Stokely Carmichael — not because they disagreed with him (though they would have), but because he has been deleted from public memory.
Carmichael (eventually re-named Kwame Ture in a culmination of his pan-African sentiment) occupied that middle ground between Martin and Malcolm, so beautifully nuanced and so meticulously articulated that I suppose we preferred to forget. And that might be one of the scariest things about his words as collected in Stokely Speaks — in his 1966 Berkeley speech, he warned students adamantly that the whitewashing of history occurred at rapid speed, and that the whitewashing of the Civil Rights movement had already begun, stripping activists of their demands for jobs and freedom and instead placing Martin’s Dream on the pedestal alone. That his Berkeley speech, let alone his life, is relegated to a low-circulation book found only inside black-owned bookstores tragically proves him right.
But of course, the whitewashing of history is not the idea for which Carmichael is best known. The man who replaced John Lewis as head of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) is best known, and likely most reviled (until he was canceled altogether) for his articulation of Black Power.
The phrase, which must have been 10x the lightning rod in the 1960s that “Black Lives Matter” has been of late, is so much more nuanced than my understanding, and I assume the public’s, can grasp today. It is nonviolent, and it is empowering. It is not quite separatist, but certainly not integrationist. It was his observation of negative integration (as if all Blacks, inferior, must rise up to all Whites, superior; and if that failed, the Whites would just cherry pick the best Blacks and condemn the rest) that fueled his radicalization for Black Power. His words were moving.
Full disclosure — I did not get to finish the book, as I LOST IT 😩 but I got deep enough to know Five Stars! An excellent read for any history buffs who want to dive deeper into the 1960s, or for any critical race theory lovers who want to trace so many of our thoughts back to one of their originators.
Carmichael (eventually re-named Kwame Ture in a culmination of his pan-African sentiment) occupied that middle ground between Martin and Malcolm, so beautifully nuanced and so meticulously articulated that I suppose we preferred to forget. And that might be one of the scariest things about his words as collected in Stokely Speaks — in his 1966 Berkeley speech, he warned students adamantly that the whitewashing of history occurred at rapid speed, and that the whitewashing of the Civil Rights movement had already begun, stripping activists of their demands for jobs and freedom and instead placing Martin’s Dream on the pedestal alone. That his Berkeley speech, let alone his life, is relegated to a low-circulation book found only inside black-owned bookstores tragically proves him right.
But of course, the whitewashing of history is not the idea for which Carmichael is best known. The man who replaced John Lewis as head of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) is best known, and likely most reviled (until he was canceled altogether) for his articulation of Black Power.
The phrase, which must have been 10x the lightning rod in the 1960s that “Black Lives Matter” has been of late, is so much more nuanced than my understanding, and I assume the public’s, can grasp today. It is nonviolent, and it is empowering. It is not quite separatist, but certainly not integrationist. It was his observation of negative integration (as if all Blacks, inferior, must rise up to all Whites, superior; and if that failed, the Whites would just cherry pick the best Blacks and condemn the rest) that fueled his radicalization for Black Power. His words were moving.
Full disclosure — I did not get to finish the book, as I LOST IT 😩 but I got deep enough to know Five Stars! An excellent read for any history buffs who want to dive deeper into the 1960s, or for any critical race theory lovers who want to trace so many of our thoughts back to one of their originators.
November 4, 2013
"Stokely Speaks" is, simply, a collection of speeches and essays from Stokely Carmichael.
Carmichael starts by exploring the nature of institutions and what it means to relate to them as a member of an oppressed class. This was shortly after the 1964 Civil Rights Act was passed, which, in hindsight, is usually taught as a major victory for blacks:
Carmichael takes a strong stand on the importance of identity among blacks:
He reiterates the importance of terms much later, when discussing the power to define, referring to how McCarthy's tactics affected the greater country:
Carmichael takes the importance of defining even further, broadly emphasizing that society cannot be genuinely inclusive of different classes of people if one class at the top defines what an inclusive society looks like:
He often focuses his criticism towards the then-contemporary policies of "integration", describing them as "assimilat[ing] individuals" rather than "integrat[ing] communities", but also looks at Johnson's Great Society (his attempt at another New Deal):
Carmichael can be as funny as he is engaging, though his tone changes noticeably depending on the crowd. When speaking at Berkeley ("the white intellectual ghetto of the West"), he explains civil rights legislation by turning it on its head:
He does not hesitate to be brutally critical of the way the US portrayed granting rights to blacks:
He similarly attacks the British and French for their management of colonies in Asia and Africa; he attacks the institutions set up in several colonies distorting their history, teaching French as the more educated language, and requiring French for important jobs.
He spends time in many of his speeches discussing the nature of war, the place of killing, and the justifications used in different circumstances, particularly relating to Vietnam at the time. He directly encourages his audiences to refuse to participate in the war, identifying as "brothers" with the North Vietnamese, and, in the most dire case, warning of the possibility of an American genocide of blacks. One powerful passage describes killing in terms of legalization:
His speeches become more vitriolic over time, and an evolution of his own ideas is clear as the book progresses. His later speeches focus more on identification with Africa, and talks about the possibility of developing a different society from the ground up located there.
Finally, he acknowledges the importance of knowing history to create any meaningful change, and, when talking with students, admonishes them to study more, read more, investigate more before speaking out on issues:
On a personal level, this is one of the most challenging books I have read. I recommend it to anyone interested in issues of identity and social cohesion, and particularly in understanding "the sixties" better.
FYI: A lot of my interest in delving into this period more came from this documentary, made by a group of Swedish journalists examining the Black Power movement. Would also recommend.
Carmichael starts by exploring the nature of institutions and what it means to relate to them as a member of an oppressed class. This was shortly after the 1964 Civil Rights Act was passed, which, in hindsight, is usually taught as a major victory for blacks:
"I--a 'qualified' person by virtue of my college education--used to say to the black people there that they should register to vote and then make their voices heard. They could assert their rights, take over the power structure… But these people said they didn't want to do that; they did not think they could; they did not even want to enter a machine headed by George Wallace.
Carmichael takes a strong stand on the importance of identity among blacks:
"To reclaim our history and our identity… we still have to struggle for the right to create our own terms to define ourselves and our relationship to the society, and have these terms recognized. This is the first necessity of a free people, and the first right that any oppressor must suspend."
He reiterates the importance of terms much later, when discussing the power to define, referring to how McCarthy's tactics affected the greater country:
"The power to define is the most important power that we have… If McCarthy said you were a communist, you had to get up and say, no I am not a communist… He had the power to define."
Carmichael takes the importance of defining even further, broadly emphasizing that society cannot be genuinely inclusive of different classes of people if one class at the top defines what an inclusive society looks like:
"For a real end to exclusion in American society, that society would have to be so radically changed that the goal cannot really be defined as inclusion."
He often focuses his criticism towards the then-contemporary policies of "integration", describing them as "assimilat[ing] individuals" rather than "integrat[ing] communities", but also looks at Johnson's Great Society (his attempt at another New Deal):
"President Johnson's concept of the Great Society is preposterous. The definition comes from him, as does the means of entering that society. Excluded people must acquire the opportunity to redefine what the Great Society is, and then it may have meaning.
Carmichael can be as funny as he is engaging, though his tone changes noticeably depending on the crowd. When speaking at Berkeley ("the white intellectual ghetto of the West"), he explains civil rights legislation by turning it on its head:
"I maintain that every civil rights bill in this country was passed for white people, not for black people… I have the right to go into any public place. White people didn't know that. Every time I tried to go into a public 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."
He does not hesitate to be brutally critical of the way the US portrayed granting rights to blacks:
"… we must dismiss the fallacious notion that white people 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… The only thing white people can do is stop denying black people their freedom."
He similarly attacks the British and French for their management of colonies in Asia and Africa; he attacks the institutions set up in several colonies distorting their history, teaching French as the more educated language, and requiring French for important jobs.
He spends time in many of his speeches discussing the nature of war, the place of killing, and the justifications used in different circumstances, particularly relating to Vietnam at the time. He directly encourages his audiences to refuse to participate in the war, identifying as "brothers" with the North Vietnamese, and, in the most dire case, warning of the possibility of an American genocide of blacks. One powerful passage describes killing in terms of legalization:
"If I were in Vietnam, if I killed thirty yellow people who were pointed out to me by white Americans as my enemy, I would be given a medal… I would have killed America's enemy, but America's enemy is not my enemy. If I were to kill 30 white policeman in Washington, DC, who have been brutalizing my people and who are my enemy, I would get the electric chair. It is simply a question of who has the power to legalize violence."
His speeches become more vitriolic over time, and an evolution of his own ideas is clear as the book progresses. His later speeches focus more on identification with Africa, and talks about the possibility of developing a different society from the ground up located there.
Finally, he acknowledges the importance of knowing history to create any meaningful change, and, when talking with students, admonishes them to study more, read more, investigate more before speaking out on issues:
"Because revolutionary theories are based on historical analyses, one must study. One must understands ones history and one must make the correct historical analysis. At the correct moment you make your historical leap and carry the struggle forward."
On a personal level, this is one of the most challenging books I have read. I recommend it to anyone interested in issues of identity and social cohesion, and particularly in understanding "the sixties" better.
FYI: A lot of my interest in delving into this period more came from this documentary, made by a group of Swedish journalists examining the Black Power movement. Would also recommend.
June 25, 2020
Kwame Ture was a black power activist born in Trinidad Tobago. His journey as a black power activist began early; being arrested so frequently he lost count. He was chairman of the SNCC, honourary president of the Black Panther Party and later in life, leader of the A-APRP. His first speech on Black Power brought him and the concept of black power truly into the spotlight and he opposed liberalism, urging instead for revolution. After being targeted by the FBI's COINTELPRO program, his reputation dwindled, he stepped down from the SNCC, Black Panthers denounced him, and J. Edgar Hoovers attempt to "prevent the rise of a Black Nationalist 'messiah'" had mostly succeeded. Stokely Speaks contains some of his most influential, controversial and thought-provoking speeches and essays.
I will start with the positives: Ture deeply understands the need for an internally comprehensive and consistent ideology to unite people under a single struggle. He understands and explains the concept of Undying Love very well, and it is infectious. He is passionate, well-read, compassionate, appropriately aggressive and angry. This book was first published in 1971, but contains a lot of works written closer to 1965, and it is harrowingly poignant to the modern day. His scathing words about liberalism and the capitalist co-opting of the movement might as well have been written by today's prominent activists. A few of my favourite quotes:
Ture is also credited with coining the term institutional racism, something that is still useful today. His strong belief that black power and other liberation movements must be built with the goal to erase oppressive institutions instead of integrate into them, is something many an activist today could learn a thing or two about.
Now the uncomfortable part. First I thought, well, this is just phrased badly, but now that I'm finished, I think Stokely definitely had some antisemitic attitudes, whether he realised this or not. For example, in chapter 3, Power and Racism, he says:
This was off-putting to me, to say the least. As I progressed, I found that every mention Stokely makes of Jewish people was to serve a point that essentially boils down to "Jews did not resist the holocaust like black people are resisting racism and imperialism," which is just incredibly offensive. He says, in The Dialects of Liberation; "There is nothing more terrible than these processions of human beings going to their death like zombies. I'm afraid that blacks in America cannot afford to march to the gallows the way Jews did. If white America decides to play Nazi we're going to let them know the black people are not Jews, we're going to fight back to the death." And in Pan-Africanism (chapter 14) "When they went in to get the Jews, the Jews didn't resist, until it was the last few of them left." These statements demonstrate a severely lacking knowledge of Jewish resistance, Jewish history, and the history of WWII and the holocaust in general, in an in my opinion inexcusable way.
The book also got a little repetitive towards the end, and I think in general the way the speeches are ordered is sloppy. The last two chapters on Pan-Africanism ring especially hollow knowing that those ideals have not been reached, regardless of what you think of the philosophy of Pan-Africanism- I'm personally still undecided because I am not very familiar with it, and I have to say, Ture doesn't do a whole lot of work of defining what it would mean to put these ideas into practice.
All this being said: the book is not completely worthless by any means. I'm simply disappointed not to have seen real critique of the presence of antisemitism in it. Then again, I really don't think you must read this book to understand racism or the black liberation movement. If you want to do some selective reading from it, I recommend: Who is Qualified?, Solidarity with Latin-America, Power and Racism and The Pitfalls of Liberalism, for some insight into the movement he was a part of.
I will start with the positives: Ture deeply understands the need for an internally comprehensive and consistent ideology to unite people under a single struggle. He understands and explains the concept of Undying Love very well, and it is infectious. He is passionate, well-read, compassionate, appropriately aggressive and angry. This book was first published in 1971, but contains a lot of works written closer to 1965, and it is harrowingly poignant to the modern day. His scathing words about liberalism and the capitalist co-opting of the movement might as well have been written by today's prominent activists. A few of my favourite quotes:
- "White America will not face the problem of colour, the reality of it. [...] Colour cannot be forgotten until its weight is recognised and dealt with."
- "You cannot give anyone his independence. All men are born free, they are enslaved by other men; so the only act that the men who enslaved them can do is, not give them their independence, but stop oppressing them. [...] When they say "We're giving you your independence: you're ready for it now," it sounds so much nicer than for them to admit to themselves, "We're going to stop opressing you because we're becoming a little bit more civilised, or because you're making it uncomfortable for us and we can no longer afford to oppress you at the price that you're asking us to pay. [...] You cannot grant anybody independence, they just take it."
- "No one ever talked about "white power" because power in this country is white."
Ture is also credited with coining the term institutional racism, something that is still useful today. His strong belief that black power and other liberation movements must be built with the goal to erase oppressive institutions instead of integrate into them, is something many an activist today could learn a thing or two about.
Now the uncomfortable part. First I thought, well, this is just phrased badly, but now that I'm finished, I think Stokely definitely had some antisemitic attitudes, whether he realised this or not. For example, in chapter 3, Power and Racism, he says:
-"It was, for example, the exploitation by Jewish landlords and merchants which first created black resentment toward Jews- not Judaism."
This was off-putting to me, to say the least. As I progressed, I found that every mention Stokely makes of Jewish people was to serve a point that essentially boils down to "Jews did not resist the holocaust like black people are resisting racism and imperialism," which is just incredibly offensive. He says, in The Dialects of Liberation; "There is nothing more terrible than these processions of human beings going to their death like zombies. I'm afraid that blacks in America cannot afford to march to the gallows the way Jews did. If white America decides to play Nazi we're going to let them know the black people are not Jews, we're going to fight back to the death." And in Pan-Africanism (chapter 14) "When they went in to get the Jews, the Jews didn't resist, until it was the last few of them left." These statements demonstrate a severely lacking knowledge of Jewish resistance, Jewish history, and the history of WWII and the holocaust in general, in an in my opinion inexcusable way.
The book also got a little repetitive towards the end, and I think in general the way the speeches are ordered is sloppy. The last two chapters on Pan-Africanism ring especially hollow knowing that those ideals have not been reached, regardless of what you think of the philosophy of Pan-Africanism- I'm personally still undecided because I am not very familiar with it, and I have to say, Ture doesn't do a whole lot of work of defining what it would mean to put these ideas into practice.
All this being said: the book is not completely worthless by any means. I'm simply disappointed not to have seen real critique of the presence of antisemitism in it. Then again, I really don't think you must read this book to understand racism or the black liberation movement. If you want to do some selective reading from it, I recommend: Who is Qualified?, Solidarity with Latin-America, Power and Racism and The Pitfalls of Liberalism, for some insight into the movement he was a part of.
December 29, 2021
A collection of speeches, chronologically sorted.
I've recently read Because A White Man'll Never Do It, a Wiradjuri Australian who fought for Aboriginal land rights in Australia - Carmichael/Ture like Gilbert identified early that you can't have self-definition, power, without land.
Does communism hold the solution? Not to Carmichael/Ture, as communism is concerned with class, not race, and Black Americans are beleaguered on both fronts. He sees the solution in Africa - it worked for the Jews in Israel, so why not for the Africans in the US?
The joy in this book, for me, is to see Carmichael/Ture's thought develop, and sprout into new directions, as these speeches go on. And these are well-crafted speeches - watch a recording here.
Bonus quote:
I've recently read Because A White Man'll Never Do It, a Wiradjuri Australian who fought for Aboriginal land rights in Australia - Carmichael/Ture like Gilbert identified early that you can't have self-definition, power, without land.
Does communism hold the solution? Not to Carmichael/Ture, as communism is concerned with class, not race, and Black Americans are beleaguered on both fronts. He sees the solution in Africa - it worked for the Jews in Israel, so why not for the Africans in the US?
We see now that we have the three necessary ingredients if we're to talk about ideology - we must speak to the problem of class, against capitalism; we must speak to the problem of race, against racism; and we must speak to the problem of land.
The joy in this book, for me, is to see Carmichael/Ture's thought develop, and sprout into new directions, as these speeches go on. And these are well-crafted speeches - watch a recording here.
Bonus quote:
You have been whitewashed into believing that there was such a thing called the American Revolution. There never was such an animal. It was just sons fighting their parents for who's going to take the loot. George Washington was born in England. He was fighting to control this piece of land. He wasn't fighting a revolutionary fight. Revolution overturns systems, destroys, it's bloody, it knows no compromise. What system did they overturn? None. They had slaves and they were taking this land from the red man. What system?
February 27, 2025
This book was so informative from front to back. From detailing the beginnings of the Black Panther movement, evolving from the Lowndes County Freedom Organization all the way to the (at the time in the 1970s) current state of imperialism that America and Europe were placing on third world countries other than their own. A book like this can rile up a lot of emotions and I think it’s important to acknowledge those emotions and also process them with reason. And try to think about how valuable this information is just not for today but for the generations of the future as well. This book brought up a lot of great points and posed interesting questions. Mainly in terms of violence and how America can be so “stop the violence” when it comes to the Black Panthers and other adjacent parties while America and its imperialist empire is and always has been built of destruction of violence. Another point was how America is so anti-communist, but seemingly still pro-racist, which unfortunately hasn’t changed. They’ve worked hard to make Black people feel inferior for centuries. But this image has thankfully been dismantled and is falling to as time passes. So many Black Americans, including myself don’t have a single clue where they originate from because of the Atlantic slave trade, and no one besides ourselves seems to care. Europe stripped Africa of its people and resources only to give them forcefully learned religion and language in return. I really like this quote on the very last page of the book.
“The African for the last five hundred years has known neither peace nor justice. His wealth and his labor have built Western Europe and America. When these forces are harnessed for our benefit, the reconstruction of Mother Africa will be worthy of her glorious past.”
“The African for the last five hundred years has known neither peace nor justice. His wealth and his labor have built Western Europe and America. When these forces are harnessed for our benefit, the reconstruction of Mother Africa will be worthy of her glorious past.”
August 6, 2017
This is an incredible text. Kwame Ture (which is the name Stokely chose for himself and therefore is what I will use) is an underrated thinker, whose precision of language in my opinion has the power to move people in a way few people's can. This text is one of the few books that I would deem a must read for anyone, and is also highly accessible to even those of middle school reading level. That is the beauty of Kwame Ture, really. He was a highly intelligent man but his words are clear and precise and best of all, he repeats his political objectives such that, you cannot mistake what he believed in. There is much to critique of course. After all, Ture was no feminist and his views on women are relatively concerning (mostly because they are only mentioned in passing). However, I think his statements on Pan-Africanism, if more intersectional, are still relevant and powerful. I really do recommend this book to anyone interested in Black Power. If you have read Black Power by Ture and Charles V. Hamilton, you will probably be familiar with some of the sentiments in here (such as consolidation, the non-necessity of coalitions, controlling institutions, etc.) but there is so much more juicy and radical stuff in this collection. I think that is mainly because Black Power is very much influenced by Hamilton's (stuffy) political science background, which happens to include the idea of pluralism, which was highly in vogue at the time of their writing. It really messes up Black Power if you ask me, and if you want Ture unfiltered, you really better read this book too (or instead).
Here are some standout quotes:
"The question is: how can white society begin to move to see black people as human beings? I am black, therefore I am. Not: I am black and I must go to college to prove myself. I am black, therefore I am."
"Politics is war without violence. War is politics with violence." (inspiration from Mao)
"Because our color has been used as a weapon to oppress us, we must use our color as a weapon of liberation, just as other people use their nationality as a weapon for their liberation."
Last one:
"Our object is not to catch up with Europe. Four hundred years ago a colony tried to catch up with Europe. She succeeded so well that today the United States of America is the monster of the world."
Anyway, highly recommend. Cheap online. Get it or be a jive turkey.
Here are some standout quotes:
"The question is: how can white society begin to move to see black people as human beings? I am black, therefore I am. Not: I am black and I must go to college to prove myself. I am black, therefore I am."
"Politics is war without violence. War is politics with violence." (inspiration from Mao)
"Because our color has been used as a weapon to oppress us, we must use our color as a weapon of liberation, just as other people use their nationality as a weapon for their liberation."
Last one:
"Our object is not to catch up with Europe. Four hundred years ago a colony tried to catch up with Europe. She succeeded so well that today the United States of America is the monster of the world."
Anyway, highly recommend. Cheap online. Get it or be a jive turkey.
December 28, 2018
This is a collection of speeches and articles delivered and written by the late Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture) between 1965 and 1971.
The book is loaded with consciousness and revolutionary theory which in essence is historical analysis.
And like Cabral he believes that all revolutionaries must study and more history.
His analysis was brilliant, sharp and incisive. If more young people could read him maybe his dreams for the black people and the African continent maybe fulfilled one day.
A great read, I recommend this book to all those who love Africa and want to grow and strengthen their Pan Africanist ideology.
The book is loaded with consciousness and revolutionary theory which in essence is historical analysis.
And like Cabral he believes that all revolutionaries must study and more history.
His analysis was brilliant, sharp and incisive. If more young people could read him maybe his dreams for the black people and the African continent maybe fulfilled one day.
A great read, I recommend this book to all those who love Africa and want to grow and strengthen their Pan Africanist ideology.
May 25, 2021
Truly one of the most prominent voices of pan-africanism and Black Power from the 20th century— I loved how he weaved in elements of Marxism, Revolutionary Warfare, and Internationalism in all his speeches.
February 3, 2017
Positive clear views on the state of black and white communities and power in the 60s, nicely summed up for me in the critique of "we're giving you [former colonies] your independence" vs being willing to say "we're going to stop oppressing you". But a somewhat uneven collection overall.
January 31, 2013
Amazing book that looks into Kwame's political & ideological transformations & from his own viewpoint. Articulate, brilliant, honest, & straight forward. A wonderful read. One of my favorites!
June 6, 2021
interesting orator, but the book gets quite repetitive
January 15, 2025
Fascinating to see Kwame Ture's growth from 1965 to 1971, and his path from organizing for voting rights as a student to a thought leader on building Black Power rooted in Pan-Africanism. Speaks a lot about the inability to organize with poor whites (after several attempts); circumstances have since changed (and he also leaves out a few crucial examples of successful multinational cooperation throughout US history).
-"We must not apologize for the existence of... group power, for we have been oppressed as a group and not as individuals."
-Critique of the civil rights movement: "We made no pretense of organizing and developing institutions of community power in the Negro community, but appealed to the conscience of white institutions of power."
-Illustrates well the power of Pan-Africanism and generally international solidarity - "If South Africa were to rebel today...Standard Oil would crumble tomorrow...Chase Manhattan Bank would crumble tomorrow. If Zimbabwe were to go tomorrow, General Electric would cave in on the East Coast."
-"We must not apologize for the existence of... group power, for we have been oppressed as a group and not as individuals."
-Critique of the civil rights movement: "We made no pretense of organizing and developing institutions of community power in the Negro community, but appealed to the conscience of white institutions of power."
-Illustrates well the power of Pan-Africanism and generally international solidarity - "If South Africa were to rebel today...Standard Oil would crumble tomorrow...Chase Manhattan Bank would crumble tomorrow. If Zimbabwe were to go tomorrow, General Electric would cave in on the East Coast."
September 29, 2022
Kwame Ture was so skilled at communicating in an affective, stirring manner, and this is a terrific collection of him doing just that. There’s so much to learn from this book. The chapter “The Pitfalls of Liberalism”? Perfect. One of the all time greats!
March 2, 2021
Some chapters slap harder than others, but every chapter taught me and gave me something to chew on. Highly recommend.
February 20, 2017
I read this book after watching The Black Power Mixtape. I remember seeing this powerful brotha, Stokely Carmichael, speaking the many truths of a silenced civilization, to those very people who benefit from their oppression. I thought, " Now that's a bad dude!!", considering I had never seen a Black man speak the truth directly to the faces of White people. Dr. King was a huge contribute to Civil Rights, and so were many others, but Stokely was a baaad dude, and I wanted to better understand his perspective, so that I can adopt his theologies to mine. At the time, I was living in the terribly segregated City of Chicago, under terrorist , Rahm Emmanuel's reign as Mayor. At the same time Obama was in office, and although I'm a fan, I feel like he missed the mark on a lot of the issues that affect Black people in this country. Thus I wanted to hear from someone who wouldn't sugarcoat, and who wouldn't continue watching Black People be killed all over this country, and not attend to it with a war-like sense of urgency. This book fulfilled that. I read this after reading The Autobiography of Malcolm X, and coupled with that, I felt like I was on the way to becoming Stokely X! I recommend this to any Brotha & Sista who's interested in one of the most slept on activists in History. This was on purpose. The Federal Government once deemed this man who has no criminal history, as One of the Most Dangerous Men in The Country. Being Black and Intelligent is dangerous. This is an absolute must read! Thank you (Kwame Toure) Stokely & Mumia Abu Jamal
March 23, 2021
'Is it not violent for a child to go to bed hungry in the richest country in the world? I think that is violent. But that type of violence is so instituitionalized that it becomes a part of our way of life. Not only do we accept poverty, we even find it normal. And that again is because the oppressor makes his violence a part of the functioning society. But the violence of the oppressed becomes disruptive. It is disruptive to the ruling circles of a given society.' - The Pitfalls of Liberalism
I think you have to remember that it's a book of speeches, so he does somewhat repeat himself and the effect of reading them is not the same as hearing them. The middle section got a bit repetitive with him stressing the same things in similar ways, and seeming to water things down for the sake of simplicity. That being said two of the speeches - 'Power and Racism' and 'The Pitfalls of Liberalism' - are absolutely essential reading to understand what was so radical about the Black Power movement, and the ideological power of trying to construct a seperate system of legitimacy and power outside of electoralism.
I think you have to remember that it's a book of speeches, so he does somewhat repeat himself and the effect of reading them is not the same as hearing them. The middle section got a bit repetitive with him stressing the same things in similar ways, and seeming to water things down for the sake of simplicity. That being said two of the speeches - 'Power and Racism' and 'The Pitfalls of Liberalism' - are absolutely essential reading to understand what was so radical about the Black Power movement, and the ideological power of trying to construct a seperate system of legitimacy and power outside of electoralism.
October 29, 2008
I actually got a little mixed up when I picked this book. I was looking for writings by/about the infamous Black Panthers (begun in California). Stokely Carmichael started/led the Black Panthers political movement (begun in Alabama) and I'm not entirely clear on the relationship between the two. This book was filled with thought provoking essays that have universal application, even though the actual topics debated are outdated. Some were direct transcripts of meetings, which I thought was lame, but otherwise worth the time.
November 15, 2016
Stokely Carmichael has so much to say. From his thoughts on practical organizing, to the distinction and intertwined relationship between capitalism and racism, to Pan-Africanism, to the difference between colonialism and exploitation, "Stokely Speaks" is an incredible collection of his speeches and writings. Essential and soul-enriching reading for anyone interested in the Black Liberation movement, issues of identity politics, and those who want to "let humanity flow" freely in all directions.
July 16, 2016
Kwame Ture writings reveal a great mind. The relentless message of the need to organize as well as need for closer identification with Africa, and his work in Pan African movement are much needed today. Ture wrote to make us think - these are the works that should be in schools and colleges.
Brilliant mind, thought provoking work that also shows his transformation from black politics in US to Pan Africanism
Brilliant mind, thought provoking work that also shows his transformation from black politics in US to Pan Africanism
October 10, 2015
This should be required reading for anyone truly invested in engaging in and working towards black liberation and a necessity for understanding how to create pertinent black power ideology that is not a carbon copy oppressive paradigms of power. This is especially beneficial when looking at factors influenced by race (class, education, etc) that contribute to chasms within the black community when it comes to organizing...
March 20, 2014
Powerful
Kwame Ture is (not was) a genius. His quest for knowledge shows. Not only is he able to identify problems, but he is also able to give solutions. Stokely Speaks touches on various topics including Palestine, White allies, Black neighborhoods, police brutality, and other things still plaguing Africans worldwide. I recommend this book to all.
Kwame Ture is (not was) a genius. His quest for knowledge shows. Not only is he able to identify problems, but he is also able to give solutions. Stokely Speaks touches on various topics including Palestine, White allies, Black neighborhoods, police brutality, and other things still plaguing Africans worldwide. I recommend this book to all.
June 17, 2015
"We must begin to develop-and this is the most important thing we can do as a people-we must develop an undying love for our people...If we do not do that we will be wiped out. Our slogan will become: first our people, then and only then, me and you as individuals. Our people first."
May 16, 2016
This book is a great Introduction into the ideals of Stokely Carmichael(Kwame Ture). From what it means to be black and struggle in america, the geo-political scope of the revolutionary struggle world wide.
November 20, 2014
Rating 4.5/5
Excellent collection of essays and speeches on race, power and identity in America. Full review soon to come.
Excellent collection of essays and speeches on race, power and identity in America. Full review soon to come.
Read
August 9, 2023easily one of the best orators of the 20th century
December 6, 2022
Stokely Speaks is a collection of speeches from the late Kwame Ture formerly known as Stokely Carmichael. Prior to going into my thoughts on the reading, I would suggest listening to Kwame Ture's speeches in addition to reading them or even perhaps listening as you read them. Kwame Ture was known for his speaking abilities, charisma, and ability to ignite people. I personally found his writings a bit harder to resonate with me, which led me to listen to his speeches themselves. I also kinda found it funny in comparison to Huey P. Newton. No disrespect to Huey, however, the man was a terrible public speaker and I would recommend his writings over actual speeches. The opposite goes for Kwame Ture (Stokely Carmichael). Speeches can be found on youtube, apple music, and spotify.
Kwame Ture developed upon the idea and belief of Pan-Africanism. He was influenced by Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X, Kwame Nkrumah, W.E.B. Du Bois, and many more. Kwame emphasized the need for undying love for ones people, Specifically black people. To see a fellow black man as your brother, sister, mother, father, and one of your own blood and kin as they all have common roots tracing to Africa. The need for black people to unite and realize their strength and power within the African diaspora and the African continent under scientific socialism. A continent and people that have been continually exploited by colonizers who only happen to be white. The fact that Europe colonized the world was merely a coincidence, they are not superior by any means and just happen to be white. The white man has pitted people of color against one another for as long as time can remember. They dropped bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki but refused to do so against the Germans. Wars waged between nations consisted of draftees, who were a large number of members of the African diaspora told they were "American", "Brazilian", "British".... and not African nor black but of a nationality. Therefore, black people must have undying love for one another and unite as Africans against the common oppressor that has pitted them against one another.
The white liberal often lectures POC on how the revolution/organizing should be done and what really is the best for them. Examples include joining the Peace Corps, buildings houses, and stealing resources. Kwame Ture states: "What underdeveloped countries need is information about how to become industrialized, so they can keep their raw materials where they have them, produce goods, sell them to this country for the price it's supposed to pay. Instead, America keeps telling goods back to them for a profit and keeps sending our modern-day missionaries there, calling them the songs of Kennedy." Following this, Ture asks whether white people have the courage to go into white communities and start organizing them? We successfully evaded a socialist revolution within this country as the founding fathers saw the dangers of the people and the white worker. "75 percent of the budget is spent on war materials. that for this country to survive it must always be at war." We have built our economy on war, imperialism, and exploitation, and in order to keep the white worker at bay, we simply sprinkled a bit of the spoil from our imperialism abroad. Thus avoiding a socialist uprising, by keeping the white worker satisfied with his own share of the spoils at the expense of Black people abroad. You invent one bomb and you have to invent a better bomb after that, a never-ending cycle.
Kwame also defines exploitation as the exploitation of somebody of your own race. colonization is when you exploit somebody of a different race. Therefore differentiating the difference between the white working masses and the black masses, exploited and colonized. This enforces the need for us to alienate ourselves from the values of the system we have been taught. In America, we are taught to believe that if a man goes to Vietnam and kills 20 innocent men, he's worthy of a medal. However, if a black man kills a pig in self-defense, he deserves the electric chair. Both are violent, but we have been conditioned to support one over the other. Lastly, a capitalist is defined as someone who owns the means of production. Those that work for the capitalist are the bourgeoisie and serve the capitalist. They are merely lackeys of capitalism, lost in Stockholm syndrome aspiring to one day become a capitalist. But the one who actually owns and controls the means of production is the only definition of a capitalist.
Overall, a very good read. Would recommend the actual speeches and these are things I found interesting and took away. It was not the most in-depth analysis as I am currently going off of the few things I wrote in my notebooks with me. The speeches can get quite repetitive as they were a collection of speeches, not with various topics through various chapters.
Kwame Ture developed upon the idea and belief of Pan-Africanism. He was influenced by Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X, Kwame Nkrumah, W.E.B. Du Bois, and many more. Kwame emphasized the need for undying love for ones people, Specifically black people. To see a fellow black man as your brother, sister, mother, father, and one of your own blood and kin as they all have common roots tracing to Africa. The need for black people to unite and realize their strength and power within the African diaspora and the African continent under scientific socialism. A continent and people that have been continually exploited by colonizers who only happen to be white. The fact that Europe colonized the world was merely a coincidence, they are not superior by any means and just happen to be white. The white man has pitted people of color against one another for as long as time can remember. They dropped bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki but refused to do so against the Germans. Wars waged between nations consisted of draftees, who were a large number of members of the African diaspora told they were "American", "Brazilian", "British".... and not African nor black but of a nationality. Therefore, black people must have undying love for one another and unite as Africans against the common oppressor that has pitted them against one another.
The white liberal often lectures POC on how the revolution/organizing should be done and what really is the best for them. Examples include joining the Peace Corps, buildings houses, and stealing resources. Kwame Ture states: "What underdeveloped countries need is information about how to become industrialized, so they can keep their raw materials where they have them, produce goods, sell them to this country for the price it's supposed to pay. Instead, America keeps telling goods back to them for a profit and keeps sending our modern-day missionaries there, calling them the songs of Kennedy." Following this, Ture asks whether white people have the courage to go into white communities and start organizing them? We successfully evaded a socialist revolution within this country as the founding fathers saw the dangers of the people and the white worker. "75 percent of the budget is spent on war materials. that for this country to survive it must always be at war." We have built our economy on war, imperialism, and exploitation, and in order to keep the white worker at bay, we simply sprinkled a bit of the spoil from our imperialism abroad. Thus avoiding a socialist uprising, by keeping the white worker satisfied with his own share of the spoils at the expense of Black people abroad. You invent one bomb and you have to invent a better bomb after that, a never-ending cycle.
Kwame also defines exploitation as the exploitation of somebody of your own race. colonization is when you exploit somebody of a different race. Therefore differentiating the difference between the white working masses and the black masses, exploited and colonized. This enforces the need for us to alienate ourselves from the values of the system we have been taught. In America, we are taught to believe that if a man goes to Vietnam and kills 20 innocent men, he's worthy of a medal. However, if a black man kills a pig in self-defense, he deserves the electric chair. Both are violent, but we have been conditioned to support one over the other. Lastly, a capitalist is defined as someone who owns the means of production. Those that work for the capitalist are the bourgeoisie and serve the capitalist. They are merely lackeys of capitalism, lost in Stockholm syndrome aspiring to one day become a capitalist. But the one who actually owns and controls the means of production is the only definition of a capitalist.
Overall, a very good read. Would recommend the actual speeches and these are things I found interesting and took away. It was not the most in-depth analysis as I am currently going off of the few things I wrote in my notebooks with me. The speeches can get quite repetitive as they were a collection of speeches, not with various topics through various chapters.
January 15, 2021
Easy to read + points out the problems while providing solutions.
Couple of the things that were most interesting to me:
1. On white liberals :
“The question is, Can the white activist stop trying to be a Pepsi generation who comes alive in the black community, and be a man who’s willing to move into the white community and start organizing where the organization is needed?”
2. On defining ourselves :
“We must stop imitating white society and begin to create for ourselves and our own and begin to embody our own cultural patterns so that we will be holding to those things that we have created, and holding them dear.”
“Perhaps that is the greatest problem you, as black students, face: you are never asked to create, only to imitate. Then we come to the question of definitions. It is very, very important, because people who can define are the masters.”
(Ties directly to Frederick Douglass! Read his stuff)
3. On “Western Civilization” :
“All through history classes we were studying “Western civilization,” and that meant that all else was uncivilized. One of the biggest lies that Western society could have done was to name itself Western civilization. White kids who read that today never recognize that they’re being told that they are superior to everybody else because they have produced civilization. At best, it’s a misnomer; at worst, and more correctly, it’s a damn lie. Western “civilization” has been, as a matter of fact, most barbaric. We are told that Western civilization begins with the Greeks, and the epitome of that civilization is Alexander the Great. The only thing I remember about Alexander the Great was that at age twenty-six he wept because there were no more people to murder and rob. That is the epitome of Western civilization. And if you’re not satisfied with that, you could always take the Roman Empire: their favorite pastimes were watching men kill each other or lions eating up men—they were a civilized people. The fact is that their civilization, as they called it, stemmed from their oppression of other peoples, which allowed them a certain luxury, at the expense of those other people. That exploitation for luxury has been interpreted as “civilization” for the West, and that exploitation for luxury is precisely what it has done. The only difference is that after the Roman Empire, when the British Empire—on which the sun never used to set, but today it sets, sometimes it don’t even rise—began to exploit other peoples, what they did was they let color be the sole criterion in choosing which peoples they would exploit.”
Couple of the things that were most interesting to me:
1. On white liberals :
“The question is, Can the white activist stop trying to be a Pepsi generation who comes alive in the black community, and be a man who’s willing to move into the white community and start organizing where the organization is needed?”
2. On defining ourselves :
“We must stop imitating white society and begin to create for ourselves and our own and begin to embody our own cultural patterns so that we will be holding to those things that we have created, and holding them dear.”
“Perhaps that is the greatest problem you, as black students, face: you are never asked to create, only to imitate. Then we come to the question of definitions. It is very, very important, because people who can define are the masters.”
(Ties directly to Frederick Douglass! Read his stuff)
3. On “Western Civilization” :
“All through history classes we were studying “Western civilization,” and that meant that all else was uncivilized. One of the biggest lies that Western society could have done was to name itself Western civilization. White kids who read that today never recognize that they’re being told that they are superior to everybody else because they have produced civilization. At best, it’s a misnomer; at worst, and more correctly, it’s a damn lie. Western “civilization” has been, as a matter of fact, most barbaric. We are told that Western civilization begins with the Greeks, and the epitome of that civilization is Alexander the Great. The only thing I remember about Alexander the Great was that at age twenty-six he wept because there were no more people to murder and rob. That is the epitome of Western civilization. And if you’re not satisfied with that, you could always take the Roman Empire: their favorite pastimes were watching men kill each other or lions eating up men—they were a civilized people. The fact is that their civilization, as they called it, stemmed from their oppression of other peoples, which allowed them a certain luxury, at the expense of those other people. That exploitation for luxury has been interpreted as “civilization” for the West, and that exploitation for luxury is precisely what it has done. The only difference is that after the Roman Empire, when the British Empire—on which the sun never used to set, but today it sets, sometimes it don’t even rise—began to exploit other peoples, what they did was they let color be the sole criterion in choosing which peoples they would exploit.”
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