The Resume

(June 29, 1941-November 15, 1998)
Born in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago
Head of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (1966-67)
'Honorary Prime Minister' of the Black Panther Party
Wrote 'Black Power' (1967) and 'Stokely Speaks: Black Power Back to Pan-Africanism' (1971)
Married singer Miriam Makeba (1968-73)
Lived in self-imposed exile in Guinea (1969-96)
Changed his name to Kwame Ture (1969)

Why he might be annoying:

Growing up, he belonged to a gang, the Morris Park Dukes, and described himself as 'a wild aggressive boy, boozing it up and getting a kick out of petty theft.'
After becoming head of the SNCC, he expelled whites from the organization.
He said integration was 'an insidious subterfuge for the maintenance of white supremacy.'
He broke with the Black Panthers because the Panthers made alliances with white radicals and thus were not separatist enough for him.
When he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, he said it 'was given to me by forces of American imperialism and others who conspired with them.'
He answered his phone with 'Ready for the revolution!'

Why he might not be annoying:

He broke with the Morris Park Dukes after he passed the admissions test for the elite Bronx High School of Science.
He became a Freedom Rider while in college.
He was arrested so often working as a civil rights volunteer that he lost count.
He coined the phrases 'black power' and 'institutional racism.'
The CIA admitted to putting him under surveilance as part of a program tracking black activists abroad (2007).

Credit: C. Fishel

Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

• 100 Greatest American Speeches of the 20th Century (Ranked: 65)
• Black Panthers
• C. Fishel's Profiles [Series 13]
• Christopher Hitchens Doesn't Like Me
• Civil Rights Activists
• Exiles
• I Attended Bronx High School of Science
• I Attended Howard University
• I Attended Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Funeral [April 9, 1968]
• I Died in 1998 (Ranked: 57)
• I Have Prostate Cancer
• Look at Me, I Got a Microphone
• Look at Me, Yes You! - Finger Pointers
• Profiles 23251-23500 (Ranked: 23469)

Year In Review:

For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 66 Votes: 31.82% Annoying
In 2023, Out of 1701 Votes: 47.21% Annoying
In 2022, Out of 186 Votes: 58.60% Annoying
In 2021, Out of 45 Votes: 44.44% Annoying
In 2020, Out of 120 Votes: 53.33% Annoying
In 2019, Out of 14 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2018, Out of 110 Votes: 66.36% Annoying
In 2017, Out of 42 Votes: 71.43% Annoying
In 2016, Out of 31 Votes: 58.06% Annoying
In 2015, Out of 48 Votes: 54.17% Annoying
In 2014, Out of 38 Votes: 52.63% Annoying
In 2013, Out of 90 Votes: 62.22% Annoying
In 2012, Out of 321 Votes: 78.50% Annoying
In 2011, Out of 628 Votes: 83.28% Annoying
In 2010, Out of 341 Votes: 69.79% Annoying
In 2009, Out of 166 Votes: 71.69% Annoying
In 2008, Out of 256 Votes: 78.12% Annoying