years, and now with Mr. Muhammad we can leave this wicked land of
bondage, but our former slave master is yet opposing his efforts and is
unjustly persecuting his followers who have left the Christian church
and accepted the religion of Islam.
This is further proof that our Caucasian slave master does not want
us or trust us to leave him and live elsewhere on this earth, and yet
if we stay here among them he continues to keep us at the very lowest
level of his society.
Pick up any daily paper or magazine and examine the anti-Muslim
propaganda and the false charges leveled against our beloved religious
leader by some of America’s leading reporters. This only points up the
fact that the Caucasian race is never willing to let any black man who
is not their puppet or parrot speak for our people or lead our people
out of their enslaving clutches without giving him great opposition.
The Caucasian slave master has opposed all such leaders in the past,
and even today he sanctions and supports only those Negro spokesmen who
parrot his doctrines, his ideas ... or those who accept his so-called
“advice” on how our people should carry on our struggle against his 400
years of tyranny.
The Christian world has failed to give the black man justice. This
Christian government has failed to give 20 million ex-slaves justice
for our 310 years of free slave labor. Despite this, we have been
better Christians even than those who taught us Christianity. We have
been America’s most faithful servants during peace time, and her
bravest soldiers during war time. And still, white Christians have been
unable to recognize us and accept us as fellow human beings. Today we
can see that the Christian religion of the Caucasian race has failed
us. Thus the black masses are turning away from the church back to the
religion of Islam.
The government sends its agents among our people to tell lies: they
have a well-organized all-out effort to harass them, in an effort to
frighten those of our people in this country who wish to accept the
religion of Islam, and unite under the spiritual guidance and divine
leadership of The Honorable Elijah Muhammad.
Therefore, Mr. Muhammad has declared to you, and to your government,
that if you don’t want your 20 million ex-slaves to leave you and
return to our own land and people ... and since your actions have
proved that the Caucasian race will not accept these 20 million
ex-slaves here among them as complete equals ... then let us separate
ourselves from you right here, into a separate territory that we can
call our own, and on which we can do something for ourselves and for
our own kind.
Since we cannot live among the Caucasians in peace, and there is not
enough time left for us (this new Negro) to wait for the Caucasian race
to be “re-educated” and freed of their racial prejudices, and their
inbred beliefs and practices of white supremacy ... I repeat: Let our
people be separated from you, and give us some territory here that we
can call our own, and live in peace among ourselves.
According to recent news dispatches appearing in daily papers
throughout this nation: In prisons all over the country the wardens are
unjustly persecuting the inmates who want to change from the Christian
religion and accept the religion of Islam and follow the spiritual
guidance of The Honorable Elijah Muhammad.
These prison wardens even admit that when the inmates change from
Christianity to Islam they become model prisoners, but despite this
they are being persecuted and prevented from reading the Holy Quran,
the same Holy Book that is read daily by hundreds of millions of our
darker brothers and sisters in Africa and Asia.
When the true facts about this religious persecution are made known
among the 725 million Muslims in the World of Islam, that strategic
area that stretches from the China Seas to the shores of West Africa,
how do you think the American Caucasians will then look in the eyes of
those non-white people there?
The very fact that there is a concerted effort against Islam by wardens
across the country is proof that the American government is trying to
stamp out the religion of Islam here in a frantic effort to keep it
from spreading among her 20 million ex-slaves whom she continues to
confine to the lowly role of second-class citizenship.
Further proof of this is the fact that these 20 million so-called
Negroes have never even been taught about the religion of Islam during
the entire 400 years since the Caucasian first brought our people here
away from our African Muslim culture in chains ... and despite the fact
that Islam is, and always has been, the prevailing religion among our
people in Africa.
Now the American Caucasian, in a last act of desperation, is accusing
Mr. Muhammad of not being a true Muslim, and of not teaching true
Islam. If the American Caucasian knows so much about true Islam, and
has suddenly become such an authority on it, why hasn’t he taught it to
his 20 million ex-slaves before now?
Also, the American Caucasian today loves to print glaring headlines
saying that the orthodox Muslims don’t recognize or accept Mr. Muhammad
and his Black Muslims as true Muslims.
“Divide and rule” has long been the Caucasian strategy to continue
their colonization of dark people. The American Caucasian actually
has colonized 20 million black people here in this country simply
by dividing us from our African brothers and sisters for 400 years,
converting us to his Christian religion, and then by teaching us to
call ourselves “Negroes” ... and telling us we were no longer African
... (I guess he says this because our exposure to this “superior” white
culture makes us “different” ... so-called “civilized.”)
As hundreds of thousands of the ex-slaves here in America today refuse
to attend the church of the Caucasians who enslaved us, shunning all
further use of the word “Negro,” and because we are accepting ALLAH as
our God, Islam as our religion, and The Honorable Elijah Muhammad as
our religious leader and teacher ... now the Americans who enslaved us
are reverting back to the old trick of their fellow colonialists ...
“divide and rule” ... by trying to separate us from the Muslim World,
thinking that they can in this way alienate us from our people in
Africa and Asia who also serve and follow Almighty God, ALLAH.
There are probably 100,000 of what you (whites) call orthodox Muslims
in America, who were born in the Muslim World, and who willingly
migrated here. But, despite the fact that Islam is a propagating
religion, all of these foreign Muslims combined have not been
successful in converting 1,000 Americans to Islam.
On the other hand, they see that Mr. Muhammad, all by himself, has
hundreds of thousands of his fellow ex-slaves turning Eastward toward
Mecca five times daily giving praises to the Great God ALLAH.
No true Muslim, in his right mind, would denounce or deny this meek
and humble little black man, who was himself born in Georgia, the very
worst part of this country, as a leader, a defender of the faith, a
propagator of the faith, who has rekindled the light of Islam here in
the West.
His Caucasian opposers have never gotten even one responsible Muslim
official to criticize or denounce Mr. Muhammad. They succeed only in
getting some jealous or envious little peddler or merchant who migrated
here and wants to be recognized as some sort of leader himself, and who
will therefore accept the Caucasian’s thirty pieces of silver to attack
this man of God.
How would Mr. Muhammad ever make a trip into the forbidden areas
of Arabia, and visit the Holy Cities of Mecca and Medina ... being
welcomed and honored by its most respected religious leaders ... the
great Imams themselves ... if he himself was not recognized as a great
religious man, and a man of God, doing miraculous works by spreading
ALLAH’s name here in the West among the 20 million ex-slaves of America?
How could Mr. Muhammad visit the capitals of the Muslim World, and be
received by its respected leaders, if he too was not recognized and
respected as a Muslim leader by them?
He visited Al-Azhar, the oldest Mosque and Muslim University in the
world, and had tea with the Chief Imam, the Grand Sheikh Shaltuat, who
kissed him on his forehead in true Muslim fashion ... yet the American
Caucasians, hoping to block his success among our people, continue to
oppose him and say he is not a true Muslim.
Again you will say: Why then don’t he and his followers leave this
house of bondage right now, and go and live in the Muslim World? All
of the Black Muslims can live in the Muslim World tomorrow, but The
Honorable Elijah Muhammad wants justice for the entire 20 million
so-called Negroes.
You and your Christian government make the problem even more
complicated. You don’t want your 20 million ex-slaves to leave you, yet
you won’t share equal justice with them right here.
Since you don’t want them to leave this country with us, and you won’t
give them equal justice among your kind ... then we will agree only if
you let us separate ourselves from you right here.
Just give us a portion of this country that we can call our own. Put us
in it. Then give us everything we need to start our own civilization
here ... that is, support us for 20 to 25 years, until we are able to
go for ourselves. This is God’s plan. This is God’s solution. This is
justice, and compensation for our 310 years of free slave labor.
Otherwise America will reap the full fury of God’s wrath, for her
crimes against our people here are many. As your bible says: “He that
leads into captivity shall go into captivity; he that kills with the
sword shall be killed by the sword.” This is the law of justice and
this is in your own Christian scriptures.
The black masses are shaking off the drugs, or narcotic effect of the
token integration promises. A cup of tea in a white restaurant is not
sufficient compensation for 310 years of free slave labor. The black
masses as represented by the Black Muslims will never be satisfied
until we have some land that we can call our own.
Again I repeat: we are not asking for territory here because Mr.
Muhammad has no place else to take us. But, to benefit the entire 20
million so-called Negroes, 20 million ex-slaves, who, despite the
fact that the Emancipation Proclamation was issued 100 years ago....
These oppressed people are still begging their former slave master for
recognition as human beings ... therefore, Mr. Muhammad is asking this
government to stop toying with our people, stop fooling them year in
and year out with false promises of token integration.
Token integration will not solve our problem. This is a false solution.
A “token” solution. It is a hypocritical approach to the problem, a
tricky scheme devised by you, and propagated by your Negro puppets whom
you yourself have appointed as our “leaders” and “spokesmen.”
Integration is not good for either side. It will destroy your race, and
your government knows it will also destroy ours ... and the problem
will still remain unsolved.
God has declared that these 20 million ex-slaves must have a home of
their own. After 400 years here among the Caucasians, we are absolutely
convinced that we can never live together in peace, unless we are
willing to remain subservient to our former masters ... therefore,
immediate and complete separation is the only solution.
NAACP Attorney Thurgood Marshall has admitted publicly that six years
since the Supreme Court decision on DESEGREGATION of the schools,
only 6 per cent desegregation has taken place. This is an example of
integration!
A kidnaper, a robber, an enslaver, a lyncher is just another common
criminal in the sight of God, and the above-mentioned criminal acts
have been committed on a mass scale for 400 years by your race against
America’s 20 million so-called Negroes.
It is true that today America professes to be sorry for her crimes
against our people, and she says she wants to repent, and in her
desire to atone or make amends she offers her 20 million ex-slaves
flowery promises of “token” integration.
Many of these downtrodden victims want to forgive America; they want to
forget the crimes you have committed against them, and some are even
willing to accept the formula of “token integration” that you yourself
have devised as the solution to correct the problems created by your
criminal acts against them.
In a court of justice the criminal can confess his crimes and throw
himself on the mercy of the court if he has truly repented, but
neither the criminal nor his victims have any say-so in suggesting the
sentence that is to be passed upon the guilty ... or the price that the
confessed criminal must pay. This is left in the hands of the Judge. We
are living in the Day of Judgment right now. God is the Judge that our
American slave master must now answer to.
God is striking this great country with tornadoes, storms, floods,
rain, hail, snow ... and terrific earthquakes are yet to come. Your
people are being afflicted with increasing epidemics of illness and
disease, divine plagues that God is striking you with because of your
criminal acts against the 20 million ex-slaves ... and today instead of
repenting and truly compensating our people for their 310 years of free
slave labor that built up this great country for you, you buy out the
Negro leaders with 30 pieces of silver and get them to sell our people
on accepting your “token integration.”
When one uses a “token” on the bus or streetcar that “token” is a
substitute for the real money. Token means “a substitute,” that which
takes the place of the real thing.
Token integration takes the place of the real thing. Two black students
at Georgia University is TOKEN integration. Four black children in New
Orleans white schools is TOKEN integration. A handful of black students
in the white schools in Little Rock is TOKEN integration. None of
this is REAL integration; it is only a pacifier designed to keep these
awakening black babies from crying too loud.
The white man’s violent rebellion, and relentless struggle against
TOKEN integration is sufficient to prove what would happen if the Negro
leaders demanded REAL INTEGRATION.
Also, according to the above-mentioned rate of speed since the
desegregation decisions of the Supreme Court, it will take us another
thousand years to get the white man in the South sufficiently
“re-educated” to accept our people in their midst as equals ... and if
the rest of the truth is told, it will also take the white man here
in the North, West and East just as long as his brother in the South
... if the frightened Uncle Tom leadership ever stops accepting his
master’s “tokens” and begins to demand the real thing.
To many of you here at the Harvard Law School Forum this evening,
this sounds ridiculous; to some it even sounds insane. But these 20
million black people here in America now number a nation in their own
right. Do you believe a nation within another nation can be successful?
Especially when they both have equal education?
Once the slave has his master’s education, the slave wants to be like
his master, wants to share his master’s property, and even wants to
exercise the same privileges as his master even while he is yet in his
master’s house.
This is the CORE of America’s troubles today; and there will be no
peace for America as long as 20 million so-called Negroes are here
BEGGING for the rights which America knows she will never grant us.
Even this limited education America has granted her ex-slaves has
already produced great unrest ... and Almighty God says the only way
for America to ever have any future peace or prosperity is for her 20
million ex-slaves to be SEPARATED from her ... and it is for this
reason that Mr. Muhammad teaches us that we must have some land of our
own.
If we receive equal education, how long do you expect us to remain your
passive servants, or second-class citizens? There is no such thing as
a second-class citizen. We are FULL CITIZENS or we are not citizens at
all.
When you teach a man the science of government he wants an equal part
(or position) in that government ... or else he wants a government
himself. He begins to demand equality with his master.
No man with equal education will serve you. The only way you can
continue to rule us is with a superior knowledge, or by continuing to
withhold equal education from our people.
America has not given us equal education, but she has given us enough
to make us want more ... and to make us demand equality of opportunity
... and this is causing unrest ... plus international embarrassment ...
thus the only solution is immediate SEPARATION.
As your colleges and universities turn out an ever increasing number
of so-called Negro graduates with education equal to yours, they will
automatically increase their demands for equality in EVERYTHING else.
This equal education will increase their spirit of equality and make
them feel that they should have EVERYTHING that you have, and their
increasing demands will become a perpetual headache for you ... and
continue to cause you international embarrassment.
In fact, the same Negro students you are turning out today will soon be
demanding the same things you now hear being demanded by Mr. Muhammad
and the Black Muslims.
In my conclusion: I must remind you that since your own Christian bible
states that God is coming in the “last days,” or at the “end of the
Old World,” and that God’s coming would bring about a GREAT SEPARATION
... and since we see all sorts of signs throughout the earth that
indicate that THE TIME OF GOD’S COMING is upon us ... why don’t you
repent while there is yet time?
Do justice by your faithful ex-slaves. Give us some land of our own
right here, some SEPARATE STATES, so we can separate ourselves from you
... then everyone will be satisfied, and perhaps we will all be able
to then live happily ever after, as your own Christian bible says ...
“every one under his own vine and fig tree.”
Otherwise: all of you who are sitting here, your government, and your
entire race will be destroyed and removed from this earth by Almighty
God, ALLAH. I thank you.
3. MALCOLM X
ON “UNITY”
_Malcolm X delivered this speech at a so-called “unity” rally on the
streets of Harlem early in the spring of 1960. As the text indicates,
politics was in the air, and the Black Muslims were calling for “unity”
among Negro leaders._
_The stage was set for the rally when the Black Muslims telegraphed
some fifteen outstanding Negro leaders, asking them to participate in
the affair. None of them came, but this did not stop Malcolm X from
unburdening himself. Here again we see Malcolm X on the defensive, but
in a somewhat different way. In the first half of the speech Malcolm is
pulling in his horns; he is saying “unity,” “freedom,” “peace.” He is
suggesting a summit meeting of Negro leaders. “Let’s have our arguments
behind closed doors,” Malcolm shouts, “but let’s come out unified.”_
_At that juncture, however, nobody was willing to practice summitry
with the Black Muslims._
_Malcolm used this speech to point up the Black Muslim concern for
morality; he attacks the dope, crime, and prostitution of Harlem as
well as those--black and white--who thrive upon these evils._
_As expected, Malcolm concludes with the call for a separate state;
he restates his Harvard offer: the white race can be spared from
destruction if they give the Negro a separate state._
_The rally lasted five hours; thirteen black nationalist groups were
represented, and some four thousand people blocked off 125th Street and
Seventh Avenue at the peak of the rally._
AS-SALAAM-ALAIKUM, BELOVED BROTHERS AND SISTERS, WELCOME TO OUR HARLEM
FREEDOM RALLY.
When we say “our” we do not mean Muslim nor Christian, Catholic nor
Protestant, Baptist nor Methodist, Democrat nor Republican, Mason nor
Elk. By “our” Harlem Freedom, we mean the black people of Harlem, the
black people of America, and the black people all over this earth.
The largest concentration of black people on earth is right here in
Harlem, so we are gathered here today in Harlem Square to a Freedom
Rally, of black people, by black people, and for the benefit of black
people.
We are not here at this Rally because we have already gained freedom.
No! We are gathered here rallying for the freedom which we have long
been promised, but have as yet not received. This Rally is for that
perfect freedom which up until now this government has not granted us.
There would be no need to protest to the government if we were already
free.
Freedom is essential to life itself. Freedom is essential to the
development of the human being. If we don’t have freedom we can never
expect justice and equality. Only after we have freedom do justice and
equality become a reality.
Today we are gathered at this Rally to hear from our leaders who have
been acting as our spokesmen, and representing us to the white man
downtown. We want to know how our leaders really think, how they talk,
how they feel ... and most important of all, we want them to know how
we feel.
Many of these leaders have suddenly become “experts on Harlem” and as
such are often regarded by the white man as the “voice of Harlem.” If
this must be the case, then we want the voice of these leaders to ring
sometimes in Harlem too.
Leaders have differences, and these differences ofttimes cause serious
division among the masses. But the HOUR is too short today for black
people to afford the luxury of “differences.”
Again I repeat, we are not gathered here today because we are Muslims
or Christians, Protestants or Catholics, Baptists or Methodists,
Democrats or Republicans, Masons or Elks ... but because as a
collective mass of black people we have been colonized, enslaved,
lynched, exploited, deceived, abused, etc.
As a collective mass of black people we have been deprived, not only of
civil rights, but even our human rights, the right to human dignity ...
the right to be a human being!
This Freedom Rally is to be a united effort by all our leaders. We have
set aside all petty differences, and in the Spirit of Bandung we have
come together on this same platform, wherein each one can voice his
personal feelings and his personal solution to this grave crisis we
face.
The Western World today faces a great catastrophe. It stands on the
brink of disaster. Mr. Muhammad says the only way our people can avoid
the fiery destruction that God Himself will soon unleash upon this
wicked world is for our people to come together among themselves in
unity and practice true brotherhood. Mr. Muhammad says God is with us
to unite our people into one brotherhood, and to aid those that are
oppressed, and to uplift those who are downtrodden.
The Western World, filled with evil and wickedness, is groping and
stumbling blindly through spiritual darkness toward its inevitable
doom. Mr. Muhammad says we must qualify ourselves so that God’s
spiritual light will guide us past the pitfalls of destruction.
The Western World is filled with drunkenness, dope addiction, lying,
stealing, gambling, adultery, fornication, prostitution and hosts of
other evils. These evils must be removed if the world is to have peace.
These evils are the primary cause of troubles all over the earth. These
evils promote greed and lust, increase wickedness and unrest, and
destroy all hopes for peace.
You want peace. I want peace. Everyone craves for a world of peace.
Mr. Muhammad says anyone who will submit to the God of Peace will have
peace. Even the white man himself can prolong his time today if he will
submit to the God of Peace, and give freedom, justice, and equality to
the “people of God” ... the so-called Negroes here in America.
The city of Nineveh in the bible to whom Jonah was sent to warn is a
good prophetic example of today. They were actually spared because they
repented when the warning came to them from God. God will spare our
slave master today too if he will repent.
The whole dark world wants peace. When I was in Africa last year I
was deeply impressed by the desire of our African Brothers for peace,
but even they agree that there can be no peace without freedom from
colonialism, foreign domination, oppression and exploitation.