The Brotherhood wants to tell the people in Harlem what to think, rather than allow them to draw their own conclusions. The military is also an organization where people are expected to simply obey orders and are not supposed to think for themselves unless they are of an upper rank. School officials expect students to obey rules and do not usually anticipate that a student will think about a rule before complying. 
Brainstorm additional situations in which unquestioning obedience is expected. When is it okay to simply expect obedience? When should people be encouraged to think for themselves? How can a person tell when being told not to "think" is an attempt to put down or limit opportunities and actions of a particular group?

I think that for many people, when they think about obedience they think about their parents because that is where we first began to learn about what obedience is. Our parents have guided us to being good obedient kids, however this isn't the same situation for everyone but the majority of kids can agree that our parents are the ones that have taught us what is good and what isn't. Therefore, unfortunately sometimes the beliefs of our parents can influence the way we think. For example, when we are you are parents tell us "Do not eat that candy from the ground because the ground is nasty and dirty!"From there we learn and we think that the ground is dirty and nasty. Sometimes the beliefs we pick up from our parents are bad, especially if your parents are racist and I personally know many people that have become racist because thats what their parents have taught them. 
Another example, in where obedience is required and how we should think should be a certain way, is prison. Inmates have to follow the rules or else they get punished. They have a certain time to eat, play, and talk. In a situation like this I do believe obedience is needed. Obedience helps a person become better by not acting up.
A person can tell when being told not to think is an attempt to put down or limit opportunities by how they feel, like uncomfortable, personally I'd feel like a prisoner, being told this and that. I think that it would be easier to be detected by a person who has never been told what to think to think. It's a feeling that someone has deprived something from you, something that you've had all along, your freedom.