Many people criticized Malcolm and his affiliation with the NOI, Thurgood Marshall was very critical of the NOI he said they were “Run by a bunch of thugs” and said that Malcolm achieved nothing to forward the plight of black people. Another critic was baseball player Jackie Robinson who pointed out that while King and other activists where putting their lives on the line in places like Birmingham Alabama, Malcolm stayed in safer places such as Harlem. Many people considered him to be irresponsible and negative, while he criticized civil rights activists such as Martin Luther King; he never established an organization as effective or long lasting as the NACCP or the SCLC. His suggestions that blacks were frequently left with no alternative other than violence seemed negative, irresponsible and unhelpful to the civil rights cause. His “by any means necessary “, stance seemed to be too radical for some people and alienated white support. Malcolm X was criticized for his comments after the assassination of John F Kennedy.
The Black Panther Party for Self Defence was established in Oakland, California, 1966 by 24 year old Heuy Newton and 30 year old Bobby Seale. Newton explained, that they chose the Panther symbol because the panther “Never attacks, but if anyone attacks him or backs him into a corner the panther comes up to wipe the aggressor or the attacker out”. The Black Panther party boasted more than 5000 members and 30 chapters. The Black Panthers won a lot of respect in the ghettos where they set up clinics to advise on health, welfare and legal rights. In 1970 the southern California chapter served up to 1700 meals weekly to the ghetto poor. Citing the 2nd amendment of the us constitution (which allows citizens to carry arms), armed black panthers would follow police cars into the ghettos in order to expose police brutality. This policy of 2policing the police” often lead to violent shoot outs. One of their biggest stunts was when in 1967 they surrounded and entered the California state capital building in Sacramento, accusing the legislature of considering repressive legislation. Unlike the other Black power movements the Black panthers allied with white activists.
The Black power movement achieved many things. These included raising the morale of black people who lived in the ghetto and giving them hope that they can stand up for themselves. Allowed black people to be proud to be black this led to Black Pride. Groups such as the black panthers gave very useful help to ghetto dwellers. Black power activists kept the ghetto problems on the political agenda.
However, for all their work the black panthers engaged in petty crime, sought confrontation with the police and advocated the killing of the police. One of the Black Panther leaders was Eldridge Cleaver, ranked no 3 in the Black Panther hierarchy, and had been released from prison in 1966 having served a sentence as a serial rapist. He justified his actions as a righteous rebellion against “white man’s law “ in the form of “defiling his women “.They were targeted by the FBI, most o the leadership was killed , imprisoned or exiled.
The black power movement did little for black Americans; in fact it harmed black Americans more. The unrealistic aims of the black power movement were discouraging; the NOI’s Black superiority was very unrealistic as America was mainly made up of white people and there was little hope of Black people dominating whites. Malcolm X’s and the NOI’s policy of alienating white people made them seem to be enemies of the state. The Black power movement was also very sexist, with black women mainly focusing on feminism.
The main criticism of the black power movement was that it led to the demise of a very successful civil rights movement. The black power activists failed to find an answer to ghetto problems. Ghetto riots and armed black panthers helped to decrease white sympathy for the black peoples cause.
In conclusion, I believe that even though the black power movement made people be proud that they are black and stand up for themselves, they failed to make any long time changes and eventually died down. The civil rights campaign was very successful until the black power movement came along and destroyed everything that has been worked on for the last 60 years.
