"Turning Hope into Hatred"

        From the chants of “Black Power” to the declarations of “Black Lives Matter”, it has become outstandingly clear that people are “prioritizing language over the experiences and state of other individuals,” as Professor McKinney stated today. The phrase Black Power was coined by Stokely Carmichael in an attempt to acknowledge the disenfranchisement and brutality that blacks suffered at the hands of police and government. The phrase was meant to further the movement towards civil rights by invigorating blacks in such a dark period in African American history, inspiring them to fight towards deciding “their own destiny…without being hindered, without being encumbered by those who might prevent it. It connoted a sense of self, a source of strength” (Goudsouzian, 144). Sadly, reporters such as Pete Hamill of The New York Post as well as many others uneducated on the movement took it upon themselves to falsely label the motives and meaning behind Black Power. Many characterized the movement as violent, “tinged with anger and hate” (Goudsouzian, 144).

            I also found myself extremely bothered when I read that Martin Luther King confronted Black Power, critiquing it as “unfortunate…giving the impression of black nationalism.” Although some whites were under the impression that the Black Power movement was anti-white and feared that it was simply a black extremist movement, those were the same whites who never took the time to educate themselves on the movement and listen to Stokely Carmichael’s actual description of the movement. When given the opportunity to reach out to journalists, Stokely made it clear that Black Power meant taking pride in African American history and culture, understanding connections among the oppressed, and leading one’s own freedom struggle. Instead of appeasing white fragility as King did with his discursive statement, I think he should have appealed to those harboring “white fear” and asked them to really think critically about why the word “power” attached to "black" made them feel so uncomfortable and afraid.  

            Even now with Black Lives Matter it seems like any attempt or slogan meant to empower the black community is perceived as violent or divisive. Kendrick Lamar, a popular rapper and proponent of the Black Lives Matter movement dedicated his album To Pimp a Butterfly to many of the same issues that Carmichael earlier attempted to address with his Black Power declaration. Although Kendrick has only ever attempted to uplift and educate others as our nation still faces racism and police brutality, a Fox News Anchor insisted that Lamar “incited violence.” The anchor took "Alright," Lamar's song about hope and turned it into hatred. (Billet, 2). The pushback from these two movements seems to come from this notion that a movement meant to further one community or address the plight of one community must certainly mean that it serves a further purpose of overlooking, disadvantaging, or endangering another. Black Power and Black Lives Matter serve the sole purpose of empowering blacks. It is possible to have a movement that is pro-black without being anti-white. These movements subsequently serve the purpose of educating whites, but “mollifying whites,” (Goudsouzian, 157)  and their discomfort when faced with these issues is far from the purpose because whites are not the ones in our society who suffer from the ultimate discomfort and cruelty of systemic racism and marginalization.