You have been divided into two groups. Group A will support SNCC and what evolved into the Black Power movement. Group B will support the SCLC (Martin Luther King, Jr.'s movement). To participate in the debate, you need to research both positions. The required work will help you. Who will you be in this debate? What character will you pick? It does not have to be an actual historical figure. You can be, for example, a white SNCC worker, or a Black Panther working in the breakfast program. Stay in character for your responses because each response is part of the debating.
Sample Answer
My Character
I am Aisha Johnson, a Black Panther organizer working in the Free Breakfast for Children Program and the community health clinics in Oakland, California, in the late 1960s.
My perspective prioritizes self-determination, community control, and armed self-defense against state violence, viewing nonviolence as a tactic that proved insufficient against systemic oppression.
Debate Stance (In Character)
(Setting the scene: A university debate hall, 1968. I am addressing Group B, the SCLC supporters.)
Look, I respect Dr. King and the sacrifices made by SCLC. They marched, they prayed, and they risked their lives for the simple dignity of sitting at a lunch counter. And they got those racist laws taken off the books—that's true. But you talk about the mountaintop, and I'm still living down in the valley.
The reality on the ground in our communities is this: The Civil Rights Act didn't stop the police from occupying our neighborhoods; it didn't fund our schools; and it sure as hell didn't put food on our children’s plates.
SCLC's focus on integration missed the point. Integration is just asking the white man to let us into his house. We, on the other hand, are building our own house. We are talking about Black Power—which, for us, means self-determination. It means Black people controlling the political, economic, and social institutions in their own community. We aren't asking for white America's charity or permission; we are demanding the power to define, defend, and feed ourselves. Nonviolence is a luxury we can't afford when the police come into our homes with guns; self-defense is a constitutional right and a practical necessity. Our work—the free breakfast program, the clinics—that is the real revolution: building dual power structures right now, not waiting for white America's moral awakening.