Debate instructions: Im group B... 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, J

Example #1

Good afternoon,

I am a proud member of the SCLC. SCLC stands for Southern Christian Leadership Conference. This organization is ran by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. We were established in the summer of 1957. One thing about the SCLC is that we are open to everyone being a member regardless of race, religion, or background. We are trying to end segregation, not live by it! Majority of our work comes from college students like myself who conduct sit ins in cafeterias and lunch counters that do not serve black people. The whole purpose of our movement is to have a non-violent approach to bring awareness of segregation and discrimination that is taking place for blacks and other minorities. We also conduct voter registration drives. The SCLC believes in being peaceful because we don’t want to give whites another reason to hate us if we approach them violently. Fighting back is not the answer. How many more blacks have to die or suffer for them to realize we too are human beings and deserve to be respected as such? Our movement has made it to national television and has gotten the attention of our President, John F. Kennedy. He has become more involved in the civil rights movement and has taken action to get Congress to pass the Civil Rights Act and Voters Right Act. Now we are organizing a march to take place in Washington D.C so we can demonstrate peaceful protest to advance civil rights and economic equality. I believe that if we keep approaching in a non-violent maneuver segregation will stop and us minorities and whites will come together as one and stop fighting. Hopefully the march that will take places changes things. 

Example #2

Good Evening to all,

I am a college student who has been working for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).  Our Committee founder Ella Baker created the SNCC on bases of student led protest of desegregation. The SNCC stance is to take part in non-violent protest of segregated bus terminals, all white facilities, restrooms, and lunch counters, we are fully aware that our protest can ignite violence from outside sources.  One of our most significant protest we had that I was part of was the Freedom Rides, Led by SNCC leader John Lewis our goal was to desegregate interstate bus and rail travel in southern states. We used “white only” restrooms and lunch counters, while our white activist counter parts would use areas reserved only for blacks.  We experienced many attacks one of our worst attacks yet took place in Montgomery, Alabama, where we were attacked by thousand people leaving many of us hospitalized. Police refused to protect us. Attorney General Robert Kennedy appointed four hundred federal marshals to the south to restore order so we can continue our trip to New Orleans. We also have been part of the March on Washington and agitated for the Civil Rights Act. We have endured increased violence since we been more politically active, which has led us to leave nonviolence and advocate for “Black Power”.  Our new SNCC chairman Stokely Carmicheal led our change to black nationalism.  The goal of this new empowerment is to protect we by arming all blacks, protecting black neighborhoods, release of all incarcerated blacks, and exemption of black in the military draft. We have gone away from non-violence and will use violence if attacked by whites.