Stokely Carmichael

"Black Power" speech, Greek Theatre, University of California, Berkeley, October 29, 1966 As chairman of SNCC, Stokely Carmichael spoke to a packed Greek Theatre at a Black Power conference organized by Students for a Democratic Society. He insists "we were never fighting for the right to integrate, we were fighting against white supremacy," and calls the war in Vietnam "an illegal and immoral war." KPFA radio recorded the speech, and its length matters: the argument about language, power and who gets to define whom is built patiently rather than shouted. It is the clearest statement here of the break with nonviolent integration.