The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975

Abiodun Oyewole:
I mean, America is a possibility for anything. America is a young, dumb country and it needs all kinds of help. America is a dumb puppy with big teeth that bite and hurt. And we-we... we take care of America. We hold America to our bosom. We feed America. We make love to America. There wouldn't be an America if it wasn't for black people. And so, you have some dedicated black Americans who will die a million deaths to save America. And this is home for us. We don't know, really, about Africa. We talk bout it in a romantic sense, but America is it. And so, America's always gonna be okay as long as black people don't totally lose their mind. Cause we'll pick up the pieces, and we'll turn it into a new dance.

Stokely Carmichael:
I think Dr. King is a great man, full of compassion. He is full of mercy and he is, uh... very patient. He is a man who could accept the uncivilized behavior of white Americans, and their unceasing taunts; and still have in his heart forgiveness. Unfortunately, I am from a younger generation. I am not as patient as Dr. King, nor am I as merciful as Dr. King. And their unwillingness to deal with someone like Dr. King just means they have to deal with this younger generation.

Paris reporter:
Are you going to return to the United States?

Stokely Carmichael:
I certainly am. There are 50 million black people living in the United States, and those Africans have to be organized to fight for their liberation.

Paris reporter:
Isn't there a possibility that you might end up in jail on your arrival?

Stokely Carmichael:
I was born in jail. [crowd applauds]

Stokely Carmichael:
[Stokley Carmichael sings "Burn Baby, Burn" by Jimmy Collier while burning some paper] This is for the FBI. [laughs] That's just like man, isn't it? Nothing is wasted. Everything just takes a different form. What form will you take when you die?

Talib Kweli:
The next thing is um... when he was burning the flame he said, 'This is for the FBI.' And, he was, maybe, a fiery speaker and had... had passionate ideas, but he was a calm, cool, collected person. And so, he's singing about; 'this is for the FBI'; but it's just words. It's just song and words. A few years ago, I was listening to Stokley Carmichael speeches while I was preparing for a new record I was working on, and umm... it was shortly after 9/11 in America. I was making a reservation on JetBlue airlines to fly to California. Uhh... when I got to the airport, the FBI, the CIA, the TSA; they came and intercepted me. All these guys in black suits. And they took me in a back room and started questioning me about the Stokley Carmichael speech that I was listening to. They probably, you know, have some sort of bug, or some sort of tap or something... But, umm... they were very concerned with me listening to this Stokley Carmichael speech from 1967. You know? Forty years ago. So, words that he said forty... now, we have gangsta rappers - we have rappers who talk about shooting other people all the time; killing... but the FBI's not looking for them. They're looking at me because I'm listening to this speech from forty years ago. And it shows you the power of those words, is that they resonate even to now. The FBI is still scared of this man. He doesn't have nearly the same influence over our community as he did then, but yet, they still stopped me at the airport for listening to his speech.

Talib Kweli:
And then the other thing I noticed was... when you see images of Stokely, you only see the speeches. This is the first time I've seen something where he's with... just hanging out with white people. Hanging out with his mother. And he just seemed like a regular dude. And that's what you don't realize about these people, is that; none of these people are evil or bad or even extra violent... it's just; to them common sense meant that they had to speak and stand up for themselves. So, all you see is this image of them standing up for themselves. So, it makes you think that they're like that all the time, but he just was a regular dude. And that's what I got from that footage with his mom.

Ahmir-Khalib Thompson:
You're really naive if you think that Martin Luther King just happened to be at the wrong place, at the wrong time, at the Lorainne Hotel. And this random guy just came and shot and killed him. Uh-uh. Martin Luther King sort of had a change of heart. Martin Luther King was starting to take a more militant, stronger position. And his new battle was; no war. The government said, 'Whoa, whoa. Wait, wait. He's about to come in our territory. Like, it's one thing to let you take a sh*t in the same toilet that I do. You know, I'll give you that; but you ain't about to stop my money flow. Uh-uh; you gotta go!'

Angela Davis:
Well, it's very important to point out that Dr. Martin Luther King was the first prominent public figure to speak out against the war in Vietnam. Especially after Dr. King made his powerful speech at the riverside church, in which he talked about the connection between militarism and racism. There was no way to imagine justice and equality as long as racism was being used as a weapon to attack the people of Vietnam.

Stokely Carmichael:
When white America killed Dr. King last night, he declared war on us.

Abiodun Oyewole:
There were many sacrifices. When they say, we stand on the shoulders of people - we are actually in the palm of the hands of a lot of folks, because we were moved and motivated and charged up by people who had already made a commitment in the '60s; to bring about change. And even though I was really on the periphery, I was on the outside looking in, I didn't know much. I knew I wanted to be a part of the Black Power movement, but I didn't know how to be a part of it. But I felt it was something necessary. No, what he did... I still could not have marched with Dr. King. I could never have been with him on any level. Umm... I did not agree with his philosophy, and I still don't agree with his philosophy.

Abiodun Oyewole:
In 1968, Martin Luther King was killed, Bobby Kennedy was killed, Medgar Evers was killed, Mark Clark and Fred Hampton were killed. John Carlos and Tommy Smith did the Black Power salute in Mexico City. I mean... it is a litany of things that took place in '68. Like that was moving the stone from in front of the cave in '68. I mean, it really was a special beginning and opening. And unfortunately, any time you have anything that's opening - death accompanies those things.

Harry Belafonte:
The night that Dr. King was on, we spoke about death. I asked him the question, 'Did he fear for his life?' And he said, 'Not really.' He'd overcome his fear of death and now he was focused on, not, how long he would live; but what would be the quality of the time that he would live. Well, he said, this is no longer about race, it's now about the welfare and the wellbeing of human life. We must talk about economics. We must talk about where people are poor. We must galvanize our nation to begin to take care of the poor. America should not have no poor people. No one should ever go to bed hungry. There should be gainful employment. There should be a living wage. There should be access to health care, huh... with no charge. We should have education for free, like so many other nations successfully have applied. All these things put a huge bullseye on Dr. King; because he was now tampering with the playground of the wealthy. And uh... when he came to that moment about dismantling the economic construct... he had to go.

Arnold Stahl:
They called in the combined police forces of Berkley, Oakland and San Francisco. The California Highway Patrol and 3,000 national guardsmen. And they just went crazy. They began shooting everything that moved. They shot about 300 people, but they only killed one person.

Malcolm X:
As long as a white man does it, it's alright, a black man is supposed to have no feelings. But when a black man strikes back he's an extremist, he's supposed to sit passively and have no feelings, be nonviolent, and love his enemy no matter what kind of attack, verbal or otherwise, he's supposed to take it. But if he stands up in any way and tries to defend himself... [chuckles bitterly] then he's an extremist.

Bertil Askel?f:
The assassination of Robert Kennedy has shaken the USA. This is outside St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York, where Robert Kennedy is lying in state. Many fear that the US was too late in introducing social reforms that could have provided over 30 million poor, in the slums, with a more humane existence. And too late to stem the rising tide of alarm in the Negro community, and avoid new conflicts and further political assassinations.

Abiodun Oyewole:
I do agree with fighting fire with fire. I'm not gonna fight fire with water, necessarily. And if someone charges at me, I'm going to defend myself. Umm... Dr, King was not about that. But what he did do; exposing the demons that existed in America - that's priceless. I mean... it was a sacrifice. But he showed you - this is America. Look at this. I mean, we're non-violent, we're singing 'We Shall Overcome'; and they got the dogs on us. They put us in prison. They're beating the hell out of us. And, of course, when he was killed - I was shattered just by the fact that this man wasn't fighting with the guns and weapons that they're fighting with. So, I personally felt and insult to that. But I could have never marched. Malcolm's concepts and theories about how we should deal with ourselves, how we should really function in this society; that's what made sense to me. So, when you look at The Last Poets; you're really looking at the disciples of Malcolm X.

Stokely Carmichael:
The birth of this nation was conceived in the genocide of the red man... of the red man... of the red man. [applause]

Sonia Sanchez:
I was in San Francisco, hoping to begin Black Studies, when Stokley came with his cadre to merge with the Black Panthers. And I remember the gorgeous signs that they made. I remember the meeting. And what we began to see at that point was the fusion of the Southern movement with the Northern movement; to form quite a group of young people who were looking at the world in a way that did not necessarily say non-violence; but it didn't say violence. It merely said, at some point, let's take the movement a step further.

Eldridge Cleaver:
I believe that a time has come, a point has been reached, where a line just has to be drawn. There is a favorite line... that I know about, that says there is a point where caution ends and cowardice begins. All three of these pigs that we have a choice of - Oink Nixon, Oink Humphrey and Oink Wallace - they're not for us. They do not represent... they do not represent the best interest of this country. They definitely don't represent the best thinking in this country. In fact, they represent... the very worst tradition which was ever to crawl from beneath the rocks in this-this... [whew] - this bankrupt country.

Erykah Badu:
Can I sing? 'I want a world where kids can play, and plenty of food to eat. I want a world where I can speak, and know that I'll be free. I want a world just like America, like the U.S.A. Cause even though, perfect it's not; it's the best thing this world's got.' You know, we learn those types of songs. So, we learn not to question our government and be grateful for everything we got, but we didn't know that it was at the expense of many other people in our own country and all over the world. Because you're taught to fear that you don't have enough; and want and want and want. So, it perpetuates greed. We are kept uneducated, sick and depressed. There's a happy ending, but with not happy mistakes, first. And one of the biggest mistakes is, umm... the greed.

Erykah Badu:
It's right to defend yourself against anything and anyone. No, we don't believe in violence. We don't believe in killing. We don't believe in harming or hurting. We weren't the ones who inflicted pain and harm on people. We weren't the ones who kidnapped a whole culture of people and brought them to do service for us. And because we stand, and fight back, and want peace; we want to work with pride, love, and live, and grow with pride. That's all we want. And to say that we're wrong - to defend ourselves is idiotic. Seriously twisted. Shame on America for that. Shame on anyone who judges someone for defending himself or his family. Shame.

Oerjan Oeberg:
This is the Black Panthers Central Headquarters. From here, the party's forty-four divisions and embassy in Algiers is run. From here they arrange a series of social activities for the poor in the ghettos. The Black Panthers have existed for about four years. They are the most militant black organization in the USA. This is the office where the twenty-one Panthers who are now on trial worked. But despite the arrests, political education is still being carried out here today - regular classes in revolution. As most of the men are in jail, the teachers are predominantly female. That's how the revolution in America is being carried out. They're reading the Panthers paper, and having discussions.

Bobby Seale:
I wanted some grass roots, up - power to the people - legislation and laws that gave the grass roots real empowerment. You know what I mean? What I believed in, was how we could get greater community control and community input into the political institutions that affect our lives. The very philosophy and slogans we're spouting - is all power to all the people. Whether you're white, black, blue, red, green, yellow or polka dot. In the final analysis, we want real people's community control empowerment.

Oerjan Oeberg:
Not only do the Black Panthers offer free breakfast and lunch programs, help the poor to deal with the police, landlords and authorities; they also offer free clothes and legal defense to political prisoners. The Party members receive medical and weapons training.

Robin Kelley:
I mean, this is a period when America's empire really takes off. Besides the war in Vietnam, there are all these other kinds of interventions. Between 1964 and 1972, there are 300 urban rebellions in cities. 60,000 people arrested. Billions of dollars worth of property damage. 250 killed. Almost all these incidents were caused by some police violence, police brutality; and if you're looking from the outside in - I don't care if you're in Beijing, you're in New Delhi or you're in Malmo... you're gonna see America with this internal war. It looks like a racist war.

Kathleen Cleaver:
Black Panther Party, started in Oakland, California. And so, you know, the party is known mostly for its confrontational stances; and that's a good thing - to be confrontational against evil and violence. The kind of problems that the black community suffer; unequal levels of imprisonment, unequal levels of access to resources, poor health. And so, the Black Panther Party tried to model for the community; some of the possible solutions that were not capitalist oriented, like; free clinic. You know, you could come here and get free medical care, or send your children to us - we will feed them for free. And this idea of free breakfasts, is one of the legacies that's been adopted. Now, the schools have free breakfasts, but they didn't before. I think the party... it's not only the organization that did it; but it's the only organization based in ghetto communities that did it.

Stokely Carmichael:
Now, let us begin with the modern period of - I guess we could start with 1956. For our generation, this was the beginning of the rise of Dr. Martin Luther King. Dr. King decided that in Montgomery, Alabama; black people had to pay the same prices on the buses as did white people, but we had to sit in the back. And we could only sit in the back if every available seat was taken by a white person. If a white person was standing, a black person could not sit. So Dr. King and his associates got together and said, "This is inhuman. We will boycott your bus system." Now, understand what a boycott is. A boycott is a passive act. It is the most passive political act that anyone can commit, a boycott. Because what the boycott was doing was simply saying, "We will not ride your buses." No sort of antagonism. It was not even verbally violent. It was peaceful. 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... has none.

Talib Kweli:
Okay. The first thing that crossed my mind with Stokley is , um... y'know he has... he has so much power and passion and fire inside of him. And he understood what his job was very early. And he understood why, even though the things he was saying were in direct opposition to the philosophy of Dr. King; he understood that Dr. King was still important. He understood the compassion. Umm... what struck me though as interesting that... from his vantage point, non-violence and passive resistance was a non-option. It wasn't an option at all. Now, in 2010, you can see how King and all of them who were influenced by Ghandi; how it did work, you know? The passive resistance of the bus boycott... it did work. But it would have never worked without people like Stokley Carmichael on the other side of him. They studied the passive resistance. He studied power and what power meant. He was the first one to really talk about black power. But, I mean, that's exactly what was missing from the equation; the power. And he was powerful just from... the speaking, and he wasn't even like the Panthers. You know, the Panthers were very influenced by him. But, it's not like he was in the street with some guns, you know?

Stokely Carmichael:
Mrs. Carmichael, when you came to the United States with your children, where did you live?

Mable Carmichael:
We lived at Stebbins Avenue for a while.

Stokely Carmichael:
What kind of neighborhood was it?

Mable Carmichael:
It was kind of a mixed neighborhood, but a little on the rundown side.

Stokely Carmichael:
What do you mean by 'the rundown side'?

Mable Carmichael:
Streets were dirty, garbage pails all thrown around and not covered; and things like that.

Stokely Carmichael:
How big was the place you lived in?

Mable Carmichael:
We had a three room apartment there.

Stokely Carmichael:
And how many people lived there?

Mable Carmichael:
When my kids moved to the United States, we were still living there, my husband and I; so that made five children, because I had to there.The five that came with their aunt, my husband and I.

Stokely Carmichael:
How many is that all together?

Mable Carmichael:
Five and three. Eight.

Stokely Carmichael:
How was life in general for you children? I mean, could they do other things most children in the United States could do? I mean, did they have enough money to do those things?

Mable Carmichael:
No, we didn't.

Stokely Carmichael:
Why didn't they?

Mable Carmichael:
Because my husband didn't make enough money.

Stokely Carmichael:
Why didn't he make enough money?

Mable Carmichael:
He was a carpenter and he worked two weeks in, four weeks off. He drove a taxi cab part of the time...

Stokely Carmichael:
But there were other carpenters who lived better than your husband.

Mable Carmichael:
Of course.

Stokely Carmichael:
Why didn't your husband?

Mable Carmichael:
Because he was laid off. He was always the first to be laid off.

Stokely Carmichael:
Why was he always the first to be laid off?

Mable Carmichael:
Because he was negro. He always said, because he was a colored man. Because, naturally, in Trinidad, we used the word colored. We never used the word negro. So, he always said, because he was a colored man.

Stokely Carmichael:
Thank you.