"I maintain that every civil rights bill in this country was
passed for white people, not for black people. (applause) For example, I
am black. I know that. I also know that while I am black I am a human
being, and therefore I have the right to go into any public place. White
people didn’t know that. Every time I tried to go into a place they
stopped me. So some boys had to write a bill to tell that white man,
‘He’s a human being; don’t stop him.’ That bill was for that white man,
not for me. I knew it all the time. (applause, cheers) I knew it all the
time.
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. So somebody had to write a bill for white people
to tell them, ‘When a black man comes to vote, don’t bother him.’ That
bill, again, was for white people, not for black people.
So that when you talk about open occupancy, I know I can live
anyplace I want to live. It is white people across this country who are
incapable of allowing me to live where I want to live. You need a civil
rights bill, not me. I know I can live where I want to live.”
- Stokely Carmichael, 29 OCTOBER 1966
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