“Black Power”
By 1966, the civil rights movement had been gaining momentum for more than a decade, as thousands of African Americans embraced a strategy of nonviolent protest against racial segregation and demanded equal rights under the law.
But for an increasing number of African Americans, particularly young Black men and women, that strategy did not go far enough. Protesting segregation, they believed, failed to adequately address the poverty and powerlessness that generations of systemic discrimination and racism had imposed on so many Black Americans.
Inspired by the principles of racial pride, autonomy and self-determination expressed by Malcolm X (whose assassination in 1965 had brought even
more attention to his ideas), as well as liberation movements in Africa, Asia and Latin America, the Black Power movement that flourished in the late 1960s and ‘70s argued that Black Americans should focus on creating economic, social and political power of their own, rather than seek integration into white-dominated society.
Crucially, Black Power advocates, particularly more militant groups like the Black Panther Party, did not discount the use of violence, but embraced Malcolm X’s challenge to pursue freedom, equality and justice “by any means necessary.”
The emergence of Black Power as a parallel force alongside the mainstream civil rights movement occurred during the March Against Fear, a voting rights march in Mississippi in June 1966. The march originally began as a solo effort by James Meredith, who had become the first African American to attend the University of Mississippi, a.k.a. Ole Miss, in 1962. He had set out in early June to walk from Memphis, Tennessee, to Jackson, Mississippi, a distance of more than 200 miles, to promote Black voter registration and protest ongoing discrimination in his home state.
But after a white gunman shot and wounded Meredith on a rural road in Mississippi, three major civil rights leaders—Martin Luther King, Jr. of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), Stokely Carmichael of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and Floyd McKissick of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) decided to continue the March Against Fear in his name.
In the days to come, Carmichael, McKissick and fellow marchers were harassed by onlookers and arrested by local law enforcement while walking through Mississippi. Speaking at a rally of supporters in Greenwood, Mississippi, on June 16, Carmichael (who had been released from jail that day) began leading the crowd in a chant of “We want Black Power!” The refrain stood in sharp contrast to many civil rights protests, where demonstrators commonly chanted “We want freedom!”
Black History Wod:
For Time:
12 Bear Complex
12 Clean and Jerks
12 Power Snatches 75/45
9 Bear Complex
9 Clean and Jerks
9 Power Snatches 95/65
6 Bear Complex
6 Clean and Jerks
6 Power Snatches 135/95
3 Bear Complex
3 Clean and Jerks
3 Power Snatches 155/105
Upper Impairment
For Time:
12 Bear Complex – Deadlift, Hang Clean, 2 Thrusters
12 Clean and Jerks
12 Power Snatches 65/45 (AE 55/35)
9 Bear Complex
9 Clean and Jerks
9 Power Snatches 85/60 (AE 75/50)
6 Bear Complex
6 Clean and Jerks
6 Power Snatches 115/75 ( AE 85/60)
3 Bear Complex
3 Clean and Jerks
3 Power Snatches 135/85 ( AE 105/75)
Lower Impairment
For Time:
12 Bear Complex – Deadlift, Hang Power Clean, Box Thrusters, Box Back Squat Thruster
12 Clean and Jerks
12 Power Snatches 75/45 (AK 55/35)
9 Bear Complex
9 Clean and Jerks
9 Power Snatches 95/65 ( AK 75/55)
6 Bear Complex
6 Clean and Jerks
6 Power Snatches 135/95 (AK 105/65)
3 Bear Complex
3 Clean and Jerks
3 Power Snatches 145/100 ( AK 115/75)
Neuromuscular
For Time:
12 Bear Complex – Deadlift, Hang Power Clean, Box Thrusters
12 Clean and Jerks
12 Power Snatches 55/35 ( Maj. 45/25)
9 Bear Complex
9 Clean and Jerks
9 Power Snatches 65/45 (45/35)
6 Bear Complex
6 Clean and Jerks
6 Power Snatches 85/60 (65/45)
3 Bear Complex
3 Clean and Jerks
3 Power Snatches 95/65 (75/55)
Seated
For Time:
12 Bear Complex – Deadlift, Hang Clean, Shoulder Press, Behind head Shoulder Press
12 Clean and Jerks
12 Power Snatches 65/45 (S1- 55/35)
9 Bear Complex
9 Clean and Jerks
9 Power Snatches 75/50 (S1- 65/40)
6 Bear Complex
6 Clean and Jerks
6 Power Snatches 85/55 (S1- 75/45)
3 Bear Complex
3 Clean and Jerks
3 Power Snatches 95/60 (85/50)
Shor Stature
For Time:
12 Bear Complex – Dead Lift, Hang Power Clean, 2 Thruster
12 Clean and Jerks
12 Power Snatches 45/35
9 Bear Complex
9 Clean and Jerks
9 Power Snatches 65/45
6 Bear Complex
6 Clean and Jerks
6 Power Snatches 85/60
3 Bear Complex
3 Clean and Jerks
3 Power Snatches 95/65
Sensory
For Time:
12 Bear Complex
12 Clean and Jerks
12 Power Snatches 75/45
9 Bear Complex
9 Clean and Jerks
9 Power Snatches 95/65
6 Bear Complex
6 Clean and Jerks
6 Power Snatches 115/75
3 Bear Complex
3 Clean and Jerks
3 Power Snatches 135/95
