what was the aim of black power movement
Answers
The Black Power movement wished to gain several things, including economic equality and a decrease in police brutality.
Economic equality was a main goal of many activists during the Black Power movement. In particular, the Black Panther Party discussed it in their political platform. They called for, “full employment for our people…an end to the robbery by the capitalist…decent housing…” (Bloom and Breines, 131 and 132). These requests play into economic equality. If blacks are prevented from entering jobs with high wages, than they will never make as much money as their white counter-part. If they are not making enough money, then they cannot afford decent housing and are forced to live in poor neighborhoods with poor school systems. This means that their children will not receive as high quality education as white children and they too will be at a disadvantage when they try to find a job, so the cycle will continue.
The Black Power movement also called for an end to police brutality. Police brutality had become rampant at this time. At North Carolina A&T, police and the National Guard were called in to break up protests. However, they also randomly searched dorms in the middle of the night, and started shooting at the dorms. One student, Willie Grimes, was actually killed during the attack, and several other students were injured. No one was ever charged with his murder, and the National Guard did nothing to rectify their actions (Cohen and Snider, 265). It was attacks like this that prompted the Black Power movement to call for an end to police brutality, often through retaliation and fighting back (Cohen and Snider, 260).
Malcolm X giving a speech, location unknown.
Malcolm X giving a speech, location unknown.
Malcom X in his speech to supporters in Cleveland supported this view saying, “We will work with anybody…tackling the problem head-on, nonviolently as long as the enemy is nonviolent, but violent when the enemy gets violent.” (Breines, 112). This was a different view than of the non-violent protestors of the civil rights movement, who did not retaliate when attacked by police or onlookers.
The new goals of the Black Power movement were different than those of the civil rights movement. Black protesters now wanted economic equality, not just desegregation, and they wanted an end to police brutality. Civil Rights protestors had stood calmly in the face of police brutality and refused to fight back. Black Power activists called for an end to police brutality and fought back when they were attacked. Many of their protests turned violent on both sides, unlike the Civil Rights protests, which had only one-sided violence.