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WEDNESDAY • AUGUST 28 • 2013
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A newspaper in education supplement TO THE WASHINGTON TIMES
X said, "Concerning nonviolence, it is criminal to
teach a man not to defend himself when he is the
constant victim of brutal attacks."
He adopted many of the tenets of the NOI,
avoiding alcohol and drugs, and focusing on
leadership. He married Betty Dean Sanders (Sha-
bazz) in 1958, and traveled widely through the
word including to Egypt, Nigeria and Ghana. A
charismatic leader, Malcolm helped establish new
mosques in several cities and became well-known
by early 1960s.
But tensions between Malcolm and Elijah
Muhammad developed as Malcolm became more
and more popular; it was Malcolm who was cred-
ited with boosting membership in the NOI from
500 in 1952 to approximately 30,000 in 1963. By
1964, Malcolm left the NOI and established a new
organization called the Muslim Mosque, Inc. That year, he made a
pilgrimage to Mecca and adopted the name El-Hajj Malik El-Sha-
bazz. This journey was transformative. Upon his return, Malcolm
adopted a message of unity and diversity for the world’s peoples,
creating an organization called the Organization of Afro-American
Unity.
Malcolm planned to file a petition with the United Nations
detailing the human rights violations against African Americans.
His plans were cut short, however, when he was shot with gun-
men connected to the NOI on February 21, 1965 at the Audubon
Ballroom in New York City. He was dead at the age of 39, leaving
behind his wife Betty and four children. Regardless of what people
thought of him, few could deny that Malcolm X played a key role in
the dialogue about race relations in the United States.
The Watts Riots in of 1965 revealed the anger
and frustration of blacks in Los Angeles, and
California, who were discriminated against for
jobs, housing, and in politics. The police also used
fear and intimidation to control blacks similar
to the South. A police arrest was the catalyst for
the riots. The six days of rioting by nearly 35,000
people from August 11 to 17, 1965 resulted in 34
deaths, 1,032 injuries, 3,438 arrests, and over $50
million in property damage.
In 1966 Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale, two
students at Merritt College in Oakland, California,
started the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense.
Focused on revolutionary nationalism and self-
defense the Party aims were: self-determination,
exemption of blacks from the military draft, and
end to police brutality and murder.
Newton said, “We had seen Watts rise up…
seen the police attack the Watts community after
causing the trouble in the first place. We had seen
Martin Luther King come to Watts in an effort to
calm the people, and we had seen his philosophy
of nonviolence rejected. Black people had been
taught nonviolence; it was deep in us. What good,
however was nonviolence when the police were
determined to rule by force? We had seen all this,
and we recognized that the rising consciousness
of Black people was almost at the point of explo-
sion… Out of this sprang the Black Panther Party.”
The Party’s initial focus was on the activities
and behavior of the Oakland Police Department
toward blacks. They gained national attention
when they walked into the California Capitol
building carrying shotguns and pistols to protest
gun legislation prohibiting the carrying of loaded
guns. Party members were known for carrying
guns in black neighborhoods to support self-
defense.
Eldridge Cleaver, a radical activist, joined the
Party in 1967, and became the chief publicist. His
goal: "I wanted to send waves of consternation
through the white race." (Years later, after leaving
Black Panther Party
“The common goal of 22 million Afro-
Americans is respect as human beings, the
God-given right to be a human being. Our
common goal is to obtain the human rights that
America has been denying us. We can never get
civil rights in America until our human rights
are first restored. We will never be recognized
as citizens there until we are first recognized
as humans.”
— “Malcolm X, “Racism: the
Cancer that is Destroying America,” in
Egyptian Gazette, Aug. 25 1964
Black Panther Party founders Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton stand in the
street armed with a Colt .45 and a shotgun.
Stokely Carmichael
On June 16,1966, Stokely Carmichael,
the chairman of the Student Nonviolent
Coordinating Committee (SNCC), spoke at a
rally in Greenwood, Mississippi, and argued
for Black Power. Carmichael defined this
as “a call for black people in this country
to unite, to recognize their heritage, and to
build a sense of community”.
Carmichael also advocated that African
Americans should form and lead their own
organizations. The NAACP condemned
“Black Power” as a “menace to peace and
prosperity…no Negro who is fighting for
civil rights can support black power, which
is opposed to civil rights and integration.”
Martin Luther King believed that the term
“Black Power” was “unfortunate because
it tends to give the impression of black
nationalism…black supremacy would be as
evil as white supremacy.”
Stokely Carmichael also adopted the slogan
of “Black is Beautiful” and advocated a
mood of black pride and a rejection of
white values of style and appearance.
This included adopting Afro hairstyles and
African forms of dress.
Due to his radical approach, he was
replaced at SNCC and joined the Black
Panther Party, which better fit his growing
militant viewpoint.
Carmichael eventually left America to live
in Guinea, Africa. He continued to attack
the evils of white power and the business
system of America. Over time he faded
from the news and died of cancer in 1988.
