Explain why the attitude of Black people differed on how to achieve racial equality in the USA in the 1960s and the 1970s

The second Civil Rights group I will look at is the Black Panthers who were led by Stokeley Carmichael. Stokeley Carmichael was a previous follower of the NAACP and ensured that the Freedom Rides were working correctly. After being arrested several times he resorted to the use of violence. After his release from jail he began to adopt the traditional African dress and dismissed the western culture. This change changed him into a violent protestor. They believed that using violence would teach white America that there was still black pride within them even after being held as slaves. Those who supported the Black Panthers were usually young black students from college and university. These students mostly came from the west and witnessed police brutality and would like to take revenge against the injustice of white police officers. In order to do so, they turned to the Black Panthers. Many riots broke out amongst the police and the Black Panthers which led to many losses of lives.

The Black Panthers got their views on independence from Malcolm X. Malcolm X had negative views towards white people. Even from when he was a child he faced racism by a white school teacher. He was told that he could not be a lawyer as he was a black skinned person and then he faced violent attacks from the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). He got into a lot of trouble with the police when he found out about his father’s death. In jail he met a member of a group called The Nation of Islam (NOI), led by a man called Elijah Muhammad. He underwent a great change and became a member. His group wished to achieve racial equality by the use of violence. A famous quote of his was that “non-violence is a delayed solution to racial equality. To me, a delayed solution is no solution.” This led to him and the rest of the NOI to believe that this was their only choice to get themselves heard. The carried guns on themselves if any white attacked them. This is how they are different to The Black Panthers, as they believe in attacking if they are attacked. However, the Black Panthers used extreme violence against white Americans. After many differences with Elijah Muhammad he split from the NOI and went on a pilgrimage to Mecca. During this spiritual visit, he saw different types of Muslims with all different types of skin colours and realized that integration was possible. Therefore, after realizing the hateful past he had, he accepted the path of peace and non-violence

During the 1960s and 1970s some blacks began to think using violence was the way to achieve racial equality because whites only understood violent attacks. They used violence as they were fed up at the lack of progress with the non-violent approach. This was partly due to the failing Civil Rights Act which was not making much progress. After the loss of Martin Luther King, the non-violent approach was less promoted and the two remaining groups capitalized this. They encouraged blacks to defend themselves against violent attacks.

In conclusion black people had different opinions on how to achieve racial equality because of the impact that the three major groups had. All of the leaders of the groups were brought up as Christians but had experiences in life which led to them converting their religion. This is seen in Malcolm X and Stokeley Carmichael who became an anti-religion believer. The leaders had major experiences, such as being arrested, which change their views on the use of violence.