_ ‘WHAT IS GOOD FOR BLACK PEOPLE IS GOOD FOR THE UNITED STATES’ The meaning of Black Power R concern for black power ad- dresses itself directly to the prob- : lem the necessity to reclaim our ory and our identity from the cul- terrorism and depredation of self- ing white guilt. To do this is to . © to struggle for the right to create n terms through which to define en selves and our relationships we Society and to have these terms enized. This is the first necessity free people. . .. Victimization of blacks takes _two phases in the United : First, it occurs in fact and deed ‘i €n, and this is equally sinister, € Official recording of those facts. fock power program and concept “1 is being articulated by SNCC, Congress of Racial ‘Equality, and st of community organizations in €ttoes of the north and the sani 4 Ot escaned (mac process, The white S has been busy articulating their x alysis, their own interpretation titicisms of their own creation. ... lacks are defined by two: for. 3: blackness and our powerlessness. have been traditionally two com- ities in the United States, the ~ Community, which controls and "és the forms that all institutions i ae the society will take, and the ; Community, which has been ex- from participation in the power Ons that shape the society and traditionally -been dependent upon jee bservient to the white com- cist assumptions of white super- have been so deeply ingrained ‘the structure of that society that Ses the entire functioning of the Sty and is so much a part of the \ STOKELY CARMICHAEL, chairman of the Student Non- Violent Coordinating Committee in United States, spoke to more than 2,000 students at the University of Toronto on Dec. 15. Below are excerpts from his speech. national subconscious that it is taken for granted and is frequently not even recognized... . Without bothering to list the historic factors which contribute to this pattern (the ghettoes), economic exploitation political impotence, discrimination in employment and education one can see that to correct this_pattern will require far-reaching changes in the basic power relationships and the ingrained social patterns within that society. The question is, of course, what kinds ef ehaiges are necessary and how is it possible to bring them about? In recent years the answers to these ques- tions which have been given by the most articulate group of Negroes and their white allies, the liberals of all stripes, has been in terms of same- thing called “integration.” According to the advocates of inte- gration social. justice will be accom- plished by “integrating the Negro into the: main stream institutions of the society from which he has been tradi- tionally excluded.” It is very signifi- cant that each time I’ve heard this formulation it has been in terms of “the Negro,” the individual Negro, rather than in terms of the entire black community. : This concept of integration has to be based on the assumption that there was nothing of value in the black com- munity and that little value could be created among blacks so the thing to do was to syphon off the acceptable Negro into the surrounding middle- class white community ... Our interests conflict with the na- tional interests of the United States. We do not see any reason why we should be fighting a war in Vietnam. ‘It.is also crystal clear to us that the overall economic program of the United States in the last 20 years has in- creased the income of whites when in that same period the income of blacks has been decreased. So that there he- comes that widening gap. _ I think the error is made because the country moves from the assumption that what is good for the United States is good for black people. But we black — people within the United States must find ‘strength to say that that is not only untrue, it’s invalid, it’s a lie, and that the new statement will be: what is good for black people is good for the United States. That can. certainly be seen, because _ while slavery was good for this country I know it wasn’t good for the blacks. The war in Vietnam might be good for’ our country but they are drafting 30 percent of the blacks—and that’s call- ed black urban removal — so that 'I know it is not good for blacks. It’s crystal clear to me that the existence of ghettoes is good for the United States because they haven’t moved to abolish:them, but they’re not good for black people. es Now we can Say that it is good for black people to have godd schools, - therefore it is good for the country. It is good for black people to have decent housing, therefore it is good for the country. It is good for black people. to have jobs, therefore it is good for the country. That is the real contest around the issues of black power inside the United States, that calls for a total restructuring of the economic program inside the country, and that is why the country must smash the concept of black power. ... ; We must organize black community power to end these abuses and give the black community a chance to have its needs expressed through a leader- ship which is fully responsible not to the white threat and the white nower structure but to the community must be developed, a leadership which will recognize that its power lies in the unified and collective strength of that community. ... : _ The inner city in most major urban — areas is already predominantly black. | With the white rush to suburbia, blacks will in the next three decades control _ the heart of the great cities of the United States. These areas can become _either concentration camps with a bit- ter and vulnerable population whose only power is the power to destroy, or organized and powerful communities, able to make constructive contributions to the total society. Without the power, the black power, to control our lives and our communi- ties, without effective political institu- tions through which to relate to the total sociey, our communities will exist in a constant state of insurrection. However, that is the choice that the United States must make, not blacks. ' Recruiting for Vietnam sets spark WHY BERKELEY STUDENTS STRUCK AGAIN We GENE DENNIS JAS raining. Two students fre standing at the entrance the University of Califor- pmpus watcnune 8° Pickets eir w Wall ay up and down the Th; «.. Berkeley campus was mM the nation’s. headline. two years to the day the Free Speech Movement Of 1964 a student strike 4in in progress. mM the outset the strikers . UP against overwhelming , ; Students were reluctant to political action © final exams, Christmas On was just two weeks re Mitigating factor Sustained action. fs © greatest threat against Cessful strike came from i Htical arena. Many pro- S and members of the ad- “i tion were fearful that a demonstrations — over Be hg — would provide lev- or Governor-elect Ronald a and the new legislature $i — attacks on the uni-. 5 atmosphere on campus’ “nse. There was none of ant exuberance which characterized the tumultuous Free Speech Movement in 1964. Instead, there was grimness, de- termination, and an air of des- peration. ; The immediate source of “ts -= aerge nr inst confrontation wes” otest aga the war in Vietnam. The strike began as the result of administration action against an anti-war information table that was set up in the student union building alongside a U.S. Navy recruiting table. The anti-war table was or- dered off the campus because it was manned by a non-student. Members of: the Students for a Democratic Society, who had earlier scheduled a peaceful pro- test against the Navy table, ar- gued the Navy table was also run by non-students. Over 500 students were soon gathered around the Navy table. They were told their assembly was unlawful — but no reason was given as to why it was un- lawful or how it could be made lawful. Word came the administra- -tion had called for Alameda County sheriff deputies to come on campus and