Stokely Carmichael’s “Black Power” Concept – Black Cultural Nationalism
Jun, 20, 2010
Posted byLike Malcolm X, Stokely Carmichael was against Integrationism, believing that it implied a negation of parts of the African American character. By contrast Carmichael continuously urged African Americans to remember their common roots and culture. He wanted them to establish a new self-conception, new values and new aims to fight for. All this in order to liberate themselves from the values and mentality imposed on them by the American culture he retained all-white “[...] it was time for black liberation and not token integration!”
Wherever Stokely Carmichael went, he preached the necessity to develop a black self-esteem. The popularity of slogans such as “Black is beautiful” or “Be proud to be black” underlined that his claims for Black Pride satifisfied a psychological need of Black America.
Norman Kelley (in “Memoirs of a Revolutionist”, The Nation, December 8, 2003) put it this way:
“[…] Carmichael began preaching a ‘soft’ form of power: black cultural nationalism. In fairness, this was important, given that African-Americans had been systematically brainwashed into hating themselves”
Posted in Stokely Carmichael by |
