Stokely Carmichael Quotes

15 Sourced Quotes

One does not fight to influence change and then leave the change to someone else to bring about.

Stokely Carmichael
You see that honky McNamara on television? He ain't nothing but a racist. He says, "Yes, we are going to draft thirty percent of the Negroes in the Army. This is where they can have equal opportunity. Yeah. Yes… yes it's true that they are only ten percent of the population, but this is a better chance for them." When that honky talk about drafting thirty percent black people, he's talking about black urban removal—nothing else. Instructional Resource Center, University of Washington

Stokely Carmichael
This is the 27th time I have been arrested – I ain't going to jail no more. I ain't going to jail no more. Every courthouse in Mississippi ought to be burned down to get rid of the dirt. We want Black Power!

Stokely Carmichael
We must recognize that black people, whether we are in Durham, North Carolina; San Francisco, California; Jamaica, Trinidad, Brazil, Europe, or on the mother continent, that we are all an African people, we are Africans, there can be no question about that.

Stokely Carmichael
Before a group can enter the open society, it must first close ranks.

Stokely Carmichael
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
An organization which claims to speak for the needs of a community must speak in the tone of that community.

Stokely Carmichael
Black power... is a call for black people in this country to unite, to recognize their heritage, to build a sense of community. It is a call for black people to begin to define their own goals, to lead their own organizations and to support those organizations. It is a call to reject the racist institutions and values of this society.

Stokely Carmichael
The death of Che Guevara places a responsibility on all revolutionaries of the World to redouble their decision to fight on to the final defeat of Imperialism. That is why in essence Che Guevara is not dead, his ideas are with us.

Stokely Carmichael
Dr. King's policy was that nonviolence would achieve the gains for black people in the United States. His major assumption was that if you are nonviolent, if you suffer, your opponent will see your suffering and will be moved to change his heart. That's very good. He only made one fallacious assumption: In order for nonviolence to work, your opponent must have a conscience. The United States has none.

Stokely Carmichael
There has been only a civil rights movement, whose tone of voice was adapted to an audience of liberal whites.

Stokely Carmichael
They Head Start, Upward Lift, Bootstrap, and Upward Bound us into white society, 'cause they don't want to face the real problem which is a man is poor for one reason and one reason only: 'cause he does not have money — period. If you want to get rid of poverty, you give people money — period.

Stokely Carmichael
Those of us who advocate Black Power are quite clear in our own minds that a 'non-violent' approach to civil rights is an approach black people cannot a afford and a luxury white people do not deserve.

Stokely Carmichael
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
The only position for women in SNCC- is prone.

Stokely Carmichael