Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture): The Fearing Of A Black Messiah

  The year 2015 was one of frustration, fear, and a great awakening. BMCC's A. Philip Randolph Library had become my second home. Books of any genre were the replacement for an iPhone or tablet. A book that broke down my walls of ignorance was Stokely Speaks: From Black Power to Pan-Africanism. Just off the title alone I reminisce riding the 5 train uptown, reading this book on my way to an apartment in Harlem, with the autumn leaves changing colors.

  To be honest, before reading Stokely Speaks I didn't know too much about Stokely Carmichael. Besides documentaries that were shown on PBS during February, I saw Stokely as a unknown figure in the Civil Rights Movement.  

  My rating of Stokely Speaks is a 4.2 out of 5. From his days as a student at Howard and Chairman of SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee), to one of the founders of the term Black Power, making his way into Pan-Africanism are shown throughout the book. Even the infamous UCLA speech in 1967 is featured. It was this speech in particular that made Stokely a "Freedom Rider" and a "Black Messiah" all at once.    

  Historically, being labeled a "Black Messiah" usually didn't end well for a person. In early 1965 Malcolm X was assassinated. On April 4, 1969 MLK would be assassinated on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. To end the decade on a even worse note, Black Panther Fred Hampton is killed, point-blank range by the hands of the Chicago Police Department. Cointelpro was on a roll, and everybody knew it.  

  Mixed up in all of this Stokely stayed cool and collective. By the 1970's he would become a remainder of names on J. Edgar Hoover's hitlist. Luckily, Hoover would soon pass away and the project known as Cointelpro would go underground. I can only guess that America didn't feel like home for Stokely.

  From the 1970's until his death in 1998 Kwame Ture would lay his head in the African nation of Guinea. Ture along with Baldwin are two major figures that I respect due to their ability of having the balls to reject most "American Ideals." It's been since the year 2015 that I thought about living in another country for a year. The country of my dreams is still anonymous and won't be mentioned. Whether this country is on the north, south, east, or west of the globe will not be mentioned.  

  I would eventually have a dream about Kwame Ture. Please don't ask for the year or the time of the week. All I could remember was that it was at night and some type of meeting was finished. Outside of the place of fellowship was an older Kwame Ture. Our eye's would meet, but very little was said between us. Wearing a look that was cool and collected, Ture would say "Go get em Shakespeare." Time would pass and Shakespeare I became.