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I ain’t going to jail no more. The only way we gonna stop them white men from whuppin’ us is to take over. What we gonna start sayin’ now is Black Power!

Stokely Carmichael

Before a group can enter the open society, it must first close ranks.
STOKELY CARMICHAEL

Close Open Rank Society
Black Power can be clearly defined for those who do not attach the fears of white America to their questions about it.
STOKELY CARMICHAEL

Black Define Power Question White
I maintain that every civil rights bill in this country was passed for white people, not for black people.
STOKELY CARMICHAEL

Black Civil Country People Right White
Now you know where I got my name.
STOKELY CARMICHAEL

Myself Name Yourself
The secret of life is to have no fear; it’s the only way to function.
STOKELY CARMICHAEL

Fear Function Life Secret Way
What a liberal really wants is to bring about change that will not in any way endanger his position.
STOKELY CARMICHAEL

Change Himself Liberty Position
The philosophers Camus and Sartre raise the question whether or not a man can condemn himself.
STOKELY CARMICHAEL

Himself Man Philosophy Raise
I usually say I did the best I could with what I had. I have no major regrets.
STOKELY CARMICHAEL

Best Content Myself Regret
If a white man wants to lynch me, that’s his problem. If he’s got the power to lynch me, that’s my problem. Racism is not a question of attitude; it’s a question of power.
STOKELY CARMICHAEL

Man Oppression Power Problem Question Racism White
One of the tragedies of the struggle against racism is that up to now there has been no national organization which could speak to the growing militancy of young black people in the urban ghetto.
STOKELY CARMICHAEL

Black National People Struggle Tragedy Young
The only position for women in SNCC is prone.
STOKELY CARMICHAEL

Position Women
There is a higher law than the law of government. That’s the law of conscience.
STOKELY CARMICHAEL

Conscience Government Law
An organization which claims to be working for the needs of a community – as SNCC does – must work to provide that community with a position of strength from which to make its voice heard. This is the significance of black power beyond the slogan
STOKELY CARMICHAEL

Beyond Black Claim Community Need Organization Power Slogan Strength Work
I also know that while I am black I am a human being, and therefore I have the right to go into any public place. White people didn’t know that.Every time I tried to go into a place they stopped me
STOKELY CARMICHAEL

Black Known Myself People Place Stop White
So that the failures to pass a civil rights bill isn’t because of Black Power, isn’t because of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee; it’s not because of the rebellions that are occurring in the major cities.
STOKELY CARMICHAEL

City Civil Failure Occur Pass Rebel Right
Capitalism is a stupid system, a backward system.
STOKELY CARMICHAEL

Capitalism Stupidity System
One does not fight to influence change and then leave the change to someone else to bring about.
STOKELY CARMICHAEL

Change Fight Influence Oneself
I knew that I could vote and that that wasn’t a privilege; it was my right. Every time I tried I was shot, killed or jailed, beaten or economically deprived.
STOKELY CARMICHAEL

Economics Known Myself Privilege Right Vote
Leaders in Africa are so corrupt that we are certain if we put dogs in uniforms and put guns on their shoulders, we’d be hard put to distinguish them.
STOKELY CARMICHAEL

Corruption Dog Leadership Uniform Weapon
There has been only a civil rights movement, whose tone of voice was adapted to an audience of liberal whites.
STOKELY CARMICHAEL

Audience Civil Liberty Movement Rights White
Our noses are broad, our lips are thick, our hair is nappy-we are black and beautiful!
STOKELY CARMICHAEL

Beautiful Black Ourselves
I ain’t going to jail no more. The only way we gonna stop them white men from whuppin’ us is to take over. What we gonna start sayin’ now is Black Power!
STOKELY CARMICHAEL

Black Jail Power Prison Way
Seems to me that the institutions that function in this country are clearly racist, and that they’re built upon racism.
STOKELY CARMICHAEL

Build Country Function Institution Racism
The time for running has come to an end. You tell them white folk in Mississippi that all the scared niggers are dead!
STOKELY CARMICHAEL

Death End Run Scare Time
We had no more courage than Harriet Tubman or Marcus Garvey had in their times. We just had a more vulnerable enemy.
STOKELY CARMICHAEL

Courage Enemy Time Vulnerable
Our grandfathers had to run, run, run. My generation’s out of breath. We ain’t running no more.
STOKELY CARMICHAEL

Breathe Generation Myself Run
The masses don’t shed their blood for the benefit of a few individuals.
STOKELY CARMICHAEL

Benefit Blood Individual Mass

I ain’t going to jail no more. The only way we gonna stop them white men from whuppin’ us is to take over. What we gonna start sayin’ now is Black Power!

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I ain’t going to jail no more. The only way we gonna stop them white men from whuppin’ us is to take over. What we gonna start sayin’ now is Black Power!

Related Topics

Popular Authors

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