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If we were to be real and honest, we would have to admit that most people in this country see things Black and white. We live in a country that’s geared that way. White people would have to admit that they are afraid to go into a black ghetto at night. They’re afraid because they’d be “beat up,” “lynched,” “looted,” “cut up,” etc. It happens to Black people inside the ghetto every day, incidentally. Since white people are afraid of that, they get a man to do it for them — a policeman. Figure his mentality. The first time a Black man jumps, that white man’s going to shoot him. Police brutality is going to exist on that level. The only time I hear people talk about nonviolence is when Black people move to defend themselves against white people. Black people cut themselves every night in the ghetto — nobody talks about nonviolence. White people beat up Black people every day — nobody talks about nonviolence. But as soon as Black people start to move, the double standard comes into being. You can’t defend yourself. You show me a black man who advocates aggressive violence who would be able to live in this country. Show him to me. Isn’t it hypocritical for Lyndon to talk about how you can’t accomplish anything by looting and you must accomplish it by the legal ways? What does he know about legality? Ask Ho Chi Minh.
Stokely Carmichael (1966)
