Stokely Carmichael: The Transition from Non-Violence
to Violence in Self-Defense
Abstract:
I will be conducting my Senior Project on Stokely Carmichael and his transition from a non-violence approach during the Civil Rights Movement to violence in self-defense stance. My major question to be answered will be who is Stokely Carmichael and what led to his transition in philosophy. I argue that Stokely Carmichael, like many of his fellow African-Americans made the transition from non-violence to violence in self-defense because of the social, economic, and institutional injustices White Americans enforced on Black Americans. This was evident in police and white violence such as the murder of James Meredith, which motivated Carmichael and SNCC to continue the march in his name. It was events such as the Meredith murder that steered Carmichael towards his transition from non-violence to violence in self-defense. It wasn’t that he was violent by nature, or that he was out for bloodshed, but it was the unavoidable circumstances that forced him to make the transition. The way Carmichael saw the situation, was that there was no other option remaining but to arm themselves and protect themselves from any further violence exhibited by either police or white citizens of America. After all, this country was born on the principle of freedom and that included everyone who called this great country his or her home.