Quotes from Stokely Carmichael

Our grandfathers had to run, run, run. My generation's out of breath. We ain't running no more.

Reorientation means an emphasis on the dignity of man, not on the sanctity of property. It means the creation of a society where human misery and poverty are repugnant to that society, not an indication of laziness or lack of initiative. The creation of new values means the establishment of a society based on free people, not free enterprise.

The job of the conscious is to make the unconscious conscious.

You see that honky McNamara on television? He says, Yes, we are going to draft thirty percent of the Negroes in the Army. This is where they can have equal opportunity. Yeah. Yes… it's true that they are only ten percent of the population, but this is a better chance for them. When that honky talk about drafting thirty percent black people, he's talking about black urban removal—nothing else.

In struggle one not only fights against something--injustice, oppression--but one must struggle for something equally real but positive. That's the other part of the equation.

I knew that I could vote and that that wasn't a privilege; it was my right. Every time I tried I was shot, killed or jailed, beaten or economically deprived.

I'm convinced that the deck is so stacked that only a certain number can get through. I happened to be one of that certain number. That's all.

Si un homme blanc veut me lyncher, c'est son problème. S'il a le pouvoir de me lyncher, c'est mon problème. Le racisme n'est pas une question d'attitude, c'est une question de pouvoir »

The masses don't shed their blood for the benefit of a few individuals.

Seems to me that the institutions that function in this country are clearly racist, and that they're built upon racism.

What a liberal really wants is to bring about change that will not in any way endanger his position.

An organization which claims to be working for the needs of a community - as SNCC does - must work to provide that community with a position of strength from which to make its voice heard. This is the significance of black power beyond the slogan.

The knowledge I have now is not the knowledge I had then.

We were aware of the fact that death walks hand in hand with struggle.

Now, then, in order to understand white supremacy we must dismiss the fallacious notion that white people can give anybody their freedom.

There is a higher law than the law of government. That's the law of conscience.

Black power can be clearly defined for those who do not attach the fears of white America to their questions about it.

The knowledge I have now is not the knowledge I had then.

An organization which claims to be working for the needs of a community - as SNCC does - must work to provide that community with a position of strength from which to make its voice heard. This is the significance of black power beyond the slogan.

I knew that I could vote and that that wasn't a privilege it was my right. Every time I tried I was shot, killed or jailed, beaten or economically deprived.

We had no more courage than Harriet Tubman or Marcus Garvey had in their times. We just had a more vulnerable enemy.

Before a group can enter the open society, it must first close ranks.

The secret of life is to have no fear it's the only way to function.

Integration is a man's ability to want to move in there by himself. If someone wants to live in a white neighborhood and he is black, that is his choice. It should be his rights. It is not because white people will not allow him.