Constitutional And Civic Issues Throughout American History: The Black Power Movement

Throughout American history, there have been several constitutional and civic issues that many different people, groups and organizations have debated over the years to resolve these issues. These attempts for resolution, otherwise known as efforts, have achieved varying degrees of success and failure. One of these civic issues was police brutality and discrimination against black people during the Black Power Movement of the 1960s. Throughout American history, there have been several constitutional and civic issues that many different people, groups and organizations have debated over the years to resolve these issues. These attempts for resolution, otherwise known as efforts, have achieved varying degrees of success and failure. One of these

Important and influential speeches made during this time were Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” and Malcolm X’s “By Any Means Necessary” speech. While having the same messaging, both speeches had very different approaches in how they would handle racial inequality, such as “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin.” and “.to be given the rights of a human being in this society, on this Earth, in this day, which we intend to bring into existence by any means necessary.” This means that, while King wanted to achieve racial equality through peaceful and nonviolent protests, as seen in the Civil Rights Movement, Malcolm wanted the more radical and violent efforts to achieve equality that would be frequently seen during the Black Power Movement, such as the creation of the Black Panther Party. Malcolm X even criticized Martin Luther King’s peaceful methods of protest, allegedly calling him a “chump”. One of the efforts that had inspired Malcolm X and the radical nature of the Black Panther Party was the publishing of “Negroes with Guns” by Robert Franklin

One example of this is found in Reluctant Modernity with Huey Newton saying “his book “.Negroes with Guns", published from Cuba, became the single most important intellectual influence on Huey P. Newton.” This quote proves that Newton took inspiration from the radical ideas of Robert Williams to incorporate into the Black Power Movement as Reluctant Modernity states it to be an incredibly important and influential book on Huey Newton. This radical book would go on to inspire leaders of the Black Power Movement, such as Huey Newton, who would create radical efforts that were reflected from this book. One of these efforts from Huey Newton’s creation of the Black Panther Party was the “Ten Point Program” written in The Black Panther newspaper. To quote the Ten Point Program, “We want all Black men to be exempt from military service. We want an immediate end to the POLICE BRUTALITY and MURDER of Black people. We want freedom for all Black men held in federal, state, county and city prisons and jails. We want all Black people when brought to trial to be tried in court by a jury of their peer group or people from their Black Communities, as defined by the Constitution of the United States. We want land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice and peace”. This effort shows the extent