Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture) - Stokely speaks: from Black power to pan-Africanism

BY JANE STEMBRIDGE

The most important class was Stokelys speech class. He put eight sentences on the blackboard, with a line between, like this:

Waveland, Mississippi, Work-Study Institute, February-March, 1965.

Reprinted from The New Radicals: A Report with Documents, by Paul Jacobs and Saul Landau (New York: Vintage, 1966).

STOKELY What do you think about these sentences? Such asThe peoples wants freedom?

ZELMA It doesnt sound right.

STOKELY What do you mean?

ZELMA Peoples isnt right.

STOKELY Does it mean anything?

MILTON People means everybody. Peoples means everybody in the world.

ALMA Both sentences are right as long as you understand them.

HENRY Theyre both okay, but in a speech class you have to use correct English.

(Stokely writes correct English in corner of blackboard.)

ZELMA I was taught at least to use the sentences on the right side.

STOKELY Does anybody you know use the sentences on the left?

CLASS Yes.

STOKELY Are they wrong?

ZELMA In terms of English, they are wrong.

STOKELY Who decides what is correct English and what is incorrect English?

MILTON People made rules. People in England, I guess.

STOKELY You all say some people speak like on the left side of the board. Could they go anywhere and speak that way? Could they go to Harvard?

CLASS Yes... No.

STOKELY Does Mr. Turnbow speak like on the left side?

CLASS Yes.

STOKELY Could Mr. Turnbow go to Harvard and speak like that? I wants to reddish to vote.

CLASS Yes.

STOKELY Would he be embarrassed?

CLASS Yes... No!

ZELMA He wouldnt be, but I would. It doesnt sound right.

STOKELY Suppose someone from Harvard came to Holmes County and said, I want to register to vote? Would they be embarrassed?

ZELMA No.

STOKELY Is it embarrassing at Harvard but not in Holmes County? The way you speak?

MILTON Its inherited. Its depending on where you come from. The people at Harvard would understand.

STOKELY Do you think the people at Harvard should forgive you?

MILTON The people at Harvard should help teach us correct English.

ALMA Why should we change if we understand what we mean ?

SHIRLEY It is embarrassing.

STOKELY Which way do most people talk?

CLASS Like on the left.

(He asks each student. All but two say Left. One says that Southerners speak like on the left, Northerners on the right. Another says that Southerners speak like on the left, but the majority of people speak like on the right.)

STOKELY Which way do television and radio people speak?

CLASS Left.

( There was a distinction made by the class between Northern commentators and local programs. Most programs were local and spoke like on the left, they said. )

STOKELY Which way do teachers speak?

CLASS On the left, except in class.

STOKELY If most people speak on the left, why are they trying to change these people?

GLADYS If you dont talk right, society rejects you. It embarrasses other people if you dont talk right.

HANK But Mississippi society, ours, isnt embarrassed by it.

SHIRLEY But the middle class wouldnt class us with them.

HANK They wont accept reddish. What is reddish? Its Negro dialect and its something you eat.

STOKELY Will society reject you if you dont speak like on the right side of the board? Gladys said society would reject you.

GLADYS You might as well face it, man! What we gotta do is go out and become middle class. If you cant speak good English, you dont have a car, a job, or anything.

STOKELY If society rejects you because you dont speak good English, should you learn to speak good English?

CLASS No!

ALMA Im tired of doing what society say. Let society say reddish for a while. People ought to just accept each other.

ZELMA I think we should be speaking just like we always have.

ALMA If I change for society, I wouldnt be free anyway.

ERNESTINE Id like to learn correct English for my own sake.

SHIRLEY I would too.

ALMA If the majority speaks on the left, then a minority must rule society. Why do we have to change to be accepted by the minority group?

(Lunchtime.)

STOKELY Lets think about two questions for next time: What is society? Who makes the rules for society?

The class lasted a little more than an hour. It moved very quickly. It was very good. That is, people learned. I think they learned because:

• people learn from someone they trust, who trusts them. This trust included Stokelys self-trust and trust, or seriousness, about the subject matter;
• people learn more, and more quickly, from induction rather than deduction;
• people learn when they themselves can make the connection between ideas; can move from here to here to here to there;
• people learn when learning situations emphasize anddevelop one single idea, which is very important to them personally;
• people learn when they can see what they are talking about. Stokely used the board.

Among other things, they themselves concluded:

• there is something called correct English and something called incorrect English;
• most people in the country use some form of incorrect or broken English;
• it is not embarrassing to these people themselves;
• it is made embarrassing by other people because it is embarrassing to them;
• they are a minority, the people who use correct English;
• they decide what is correct English;
• they make that important and use it to shame people and keep them out of society;
• they make that a requirement for jobs and acceptance;
• they decide who is acceptable to society, by shame; but not everybody can be shamednot Mr. Turnbow, for example;
• the main thing is to understand what people mean when they talk;
• that is not the main thing to society;

I recorded the whole class because it is a whole thingone thing. That is why people learned. At least, that is why I learned.

I dont want to make conclusions or proposals. I think Stokelys class can stand on its own. Not only that, I think it is better than anything I could say. Just two things: he spoke to where they were at, and they were at different places, and the places changed during the movement of the discussion. Secondly, he trusted them and he trusted himself... and they trusted him.