The opposite of white racism .. How has the black power movement affected "civil rights" in America?

In the 1960s, the "black power" movement was formed in the United States of America, and it adopted a set of goals ranging from defending blacks against white racial oppression, to building social and economic institutions and even libraries, cooperatives, farms and media owned exclusively by blacks.

Although the movement was criticized by the prevailing civil rights movement, for its tendency to isolation and its clear support for apartheid, and its adoption of the idea of ​​black supremacy over other races, even for its use of violence, the interaction between the two movements continued.

Researchers believe that the two movements were complementary and did not contradict their goals despite their different means.

Integration and exchange
The American "Al-Tareq" television channel published an article on its website dealing with the impact of the black power movement on the civil rights movement.

Although the civil rights movement has its roots in the late 19th century, where its focus was on pride in the black race and advocating self-determination, the prevailing belief among the leaders of the black power movement is that the civil rights movement in America was not enough, as writer Sarah Prout says in her article On the channel's website.

By 1966, the civil rights movement had gained momentum for more than a decade as thousands of African Americans adopted a strategy based on the peaceful protest that rejects apartheid and demanded equal rights under the law.

However, that strategy did not promote - as Sarah Prout says - to increasing numbers of African Americans - especially young men and women among them - who saw it as not achieving an achievement, and that the protest against the policy of apartheid failed to deal with the phenomenon of poverty and the inability to bring about the desired change in conditions Caused by epochs of systematic discrimination and racism which has plagued many black Americans.

The Black Power movement - which flourished in the late 1960s and 1970s - stressed the need for black Americans to focus on possessing economic, social and political power rather than trying to integrate into society.

According to the article on History TV, the movement was inspired by the principles of self-independence and self-determination expressed by Muslim American preacher Malcolm X (assassinated in 1965) and liberation movements in Africa and South America.

Although the Black Power activists - especially the most militant groups such as the Black Panthers, a human rights movement for black Americans - did not renounce violence, they adopted Malcolm X's calls after his death, that is, the demand for freedom, equality and justice for blacks "in any way possible."

A march against fear
In June 1966, the Black Power movement marched against the fear of Memphis, Tennessee, to Jackson, Mississippi, as a parallel force to the major civil rights movement.

A "March Against Fear" began as an individual attempt by James Meredith, who became the first African American student to enroll in the University of Mississippi in 1962.

Meredith set out in early June 1966 on his march from Memphis to Jackson, covering a distance of more than 320 km, through which he wanted to highlight the persistence of racism in his hometown and to encourage voter registration for voting after the Voting Act was passed in 1965.

After a white gunman shot and wounded him on a rural road in Mississippi, the leaders of three major human rights organizations decided to complete the march in his name after he was transferred to the hospital. The three leaders are Martin Luther King, Jr. of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Stokely Carmichael of the Student Coordination Committee Against Violence, and Floyd McKessic of the Racial Equality Conference.

As the United States was mired in the dissolution of the Vietnam War, and the civil rights movement led by King began to lose momentum, the ideas of the Black Power movement were increasingly accepted by black Americans.

Prosperity and violent response
After a disagreement between their approaches, King and Carmichael - who was the first to use the term black power as a political and public slogan - revived their alliance again in early 1968 when King was planning to organize a "campaign of the poor" with the goal of mobilizing thousands of protesters in Washington, DC or the capital, to demand an end For poverty in the country.

But in April 1968, King was assassinated in Memphis, to which he traveled, to express support for striking American sanitation workers in the city.

In the aftermath of King's murder, the deep sorrow and intense anger that engulfed the masses sparked riots in more than 100 American cities.

Late that year, the most prominent protests that erupted in the Summer Olympics in Mexico City, Mexico, when two black American runners - John Carlos and Tommy Smith - raised their grip on the podium of what was then known as the "fist" Black. "

By 1970, Carmichael (who later changed his name to Kwame Tori) had moved to Africa, and more militant groups, such as the Black Panther Party, the American Organization, the New African Republic, and others, had replaced the student coordinating committee against violence at the forefront of the black power movement.

Many in white societies viewed the Black Panther Party and other black power groups as negative, and considered them movements that tend to violence, hostile whites, and the rule of law.

In an article for Al Jazeera English, the American human rights activist and researcher Omar Suleiman considered that American education and prevailing stereotypes give the impression that Martin Luther King is the ideal hero who renounced violence and believed in peace while Malcolm X is portrayed in the manner of the violent villain inciting hatred.

Suleiman argues that Malcolm - who inspired black power movements - was never violent but "found it hypocritical that blacks in the United States were asked to commit to nonviolence when they were always at the receiving end of state violence, and he believed that blacks in the United States had the right to defend About themselves. "

Soliman continues that Malcolm knew that his insistence on his principle would portray him as a demon but wanted to support the demands of King who went to visit and support him weeks before his assassination, and so the two men had two integrated strategies to achieve freedom for blacks in the United States.