Stokely Carmichael originated the black nationalism rallying slogan, “Black Power.” Photo credit: AP
and condemned it as a motto for racism or the beginning of a race war. Even Martin Luther King Jr. urged Carmichael to drop the phrase, but he refused because its encouragement of cultural, political and economic self-determination resonated with blacks who were constantly measured by arbitrarily set white European standards. After Carmichael’s speech gained national attention, the U.S. House of Representatives struck the “Open Housing” clause from the 1966 Civil Rights Act, and the bill was later defeated entirely. This clause banned discrimination in the sale, lease and financing of housing and in the furnishing of real estate brokerage services. This response was largely a result of realtors and homeowners lobbying against the bill for economic reasons. (The Fair Housing Act banning such practices passed Congress and became a law in 1968.)
20
The Detroit Riot was the bloodiest of the urban riots in the United States during the “Long, Hot Summer of 1967.”
A shop owner stands guard in front of his shop with his gun and his “Soul Brother” sign.
1967: Newark and Detroit Riots In the 1960s, riots erupted across America in urban communities motivated by disputes between African Americans and white police officers that escalated
BAVUAL:
and ignited violence. In 1967 in Newark, N.J., two white police officers brutally beat John Smith, a black cab driver who allegedly drove around a police car. Smith was interrogated, arrested and severely beaten by the arresting
The African Heritage Magazine
| Summer 2022
