Here is an audio excerpt of Malcolm's speech. It is split
into three parts. Scroll down for the transcript.
It follows the full text transcript of
Malcolm X's Message to the Grass Roots, delivered at
Detroit, Michigan - November 10, 1963.
We want to have
just an off-the-cuff chat between you and me,
us.
We want to talk
right down to earth in a language that everybody
here can easily understand.
We all agree
tonight, all of the speakers have agreed, that
America has a very serious problem. Not only
does America have a very serious problem, but
our people have a very serious problem.
America's problem is us. We're her problem. The
only reason she has a problem is she doesn't
want us here. And every time you look at
yourself, be you black, brown, red, or yellow, a
so-called Negro, you represent a person who
poses such a serious problem for America because
you're not wanted. Once you face this as a fact,
then you can start plotting a course that will
make you appear intelligent, instead of
unintelligent.
What you and I need to do is learn to forget our
differences. When we come together, we don't
come together as Baptists or Methodists. You
don't catch hell 'cause you're a Baptist, and
you don't catch hell 'cause you're a Methodist.
You don't catch hell 'cause you're a Methodist
or Baptist. You don't catch hell because you're
a Democrat or a Republican. You don't catch hell
because you're a Mason or an Elk. And you sure
don't catch hell 'cause you're an American;
'cause if you was an American, you wouldn't
catch no hell. You catch hell 'cause you're a
black man. You catch hell, all of us catch hell,
for the same reason.
So we are all black people, so-called Negroes,
second-class citizens, ex-slaves. You are
nothing but an ex-slave. You don't like to be
told that. But what else are you? You are
ex-slaves. You didn't come here on the
Mayflower. You came here on a slave ship, in
chains, like a horse, or a cow, or a chicken.
And you were brought here by the people who came
here on the Mayflower" You were brought here by
the so-called Pilgrims, or Founding Fathers.
They were the ones who brought you here.
We have a common enemy. We have this in common:
We have a common oppressor, a common exploiter,
and a common discriminator. But once we all
realize that we have this common enemy, then we
unite on the basis of what we have in common.
And what we have foremost in common is that
enemy -- the white man. He's an enemy to all of
us. I know some of you all think that some of
them aren't enemies. Time will tell.
In Bandung back in, I think, 1954, was the first
unity meeting in centuries of black people. And
once you study what happened at the Bandung
conference, and the results of the Bandung
conference, it actually serves as a model for
the same procedure you and I can use to get our
problems solved. At Bandung all the nations came
together. Their were dark nations from Africa
and Asia. Some of them were Buddhists. Some of
them were Muslim. Some of them were Christians.
Some of them were Confucianists, some were
atheists. Despite their religious differences,
they came together. Some were communists; some
were socialists; some were capitalists. Despite
their economic and political differences, they
came together. All of them were black, brown,
red, or yellow.
The number-one thing that was not allowed to
attend the Bandung conference was the white man.
He couldn't come. Once they excluded the white
man, they found that they could get together.
Once they kept him out, everybody else fell
right in and fell in line. This is the thing
that you and I have to understand. And these
people who came together didn't have nuclear
weapons; they didn't have jet planes; they
didn't have all of the heavy armaments that the
white man has. But they had unity.
They were able to submerge their little petty
differences and agree on one thing: That though
one African came from Kenya and was being
colonized by the Englishman, and another African
came from the Congo and was being colonized by
the Belgian, and another African came from
Guinea and was being colonized by the French,
and another came from Angola and was being
colonized by the Portuguese. When they came to
the Bandung conference, they looked at the
Portuguese, and at the Frenchman, and at the
Englishman, and at the other -- Dutchman -- and
learned or realized that the one thing that all
of them had in common: they were all from
Europe, they were all Europeans, blond,
blue-eyed and white-skinned. They began to
recognize who their enemy was. The same man that
was colonizing our people in Kenya was
colonizing our people in the Congo. The same one
in the Congo was colonizing our people in South
Africa, and in Southern Rhodesia, and in Burma,
and in India, and in Afghanistan, and in
Pakistan. They realized all over the world where
the dark man was being oppressed, he was being
oppressed by the white man; where the dark man
was being exploited, he was being exploited by
the white man. So they got together under this
basis, that they had a common enemy.
And when you and I here in Detroit and in
Michigan and in America who have been awakened
today look around us, we too realize here in
America we all have a common enemy, whether he's
in Georgia or Michigan, whether he's in
California or New York. He's the same man: blue
eyes and blond hair and pale skin, same man. So
what we have to do is what they did. They agreed
to stop quarreling among themselves. Any little
spat that they had, they'd settle it among
themselves, go into a huddle, don't let the
enemy know that you got a disagreement.
Instead of us airing our differences in public,
we have to realize we're all the same family.
And when you have a family squabble, you don't
get out on the sidewalk. If you do, everybody
calls you uncouth, unrefined, uncivilized,
savage. If you don't make it at home, you settle
it at home; you get in the closet, argue it out
behind closed doors. And then when you come out
on the street, you pose a common front, a united
front. And this is what we need to do in the
community, and in the city, and in the state. We
need to stop airing our differences in front of
the white man. Put the white man out of our
meetings, number one, and then sit down and talk
shop with each other. That's all you gotta do.
I would like to make a few comments concerning
the difference between the black revolution and
the Negro revolution. There's a difference. Are
they both the same? And if they're not, what is
the difference? What is the difference between a
black revolution and a Negro revolution? First,
what is a revolution? Sometimes I'm inclined to
believe that many of our people are using this
word "revolution" loosely, without taking
careful consideration of what this word actually
means, and what its historic characteristics
are. When you study the historic nature of
revolutions, the motive of a revolution, the
objective of a revolution, and the result of a
revolution, and the methods used in a
revolution, you may change words. You may devise
another program. You may change your goal and
you may change your mind.
Look at the American Revolution in 1776. That
revolution was for what? For land. Why did they
want land? Independence. How was it carried out?
Bloodshed. Number one, it was based on land, the
basis of independence. And the only way they
could get it was bloodshed. The French
Revolution, what was it based on? The land-less
against the landlord. What was it for? Land. How
did they get it? Bloodshed. Was no love lost;
was no compromise; was no negotiation. I'm
telling you, you don't know what a revolution
is. 'Cause when you find out what it is, you'll
get back in the alley; you'll get out of the
way. The Russian Revolution, what was it based
on? Land. The land-less against the landlord.
How did they bring it about? Bloodshed. You
haven't got a revolution that doesn't involve
bloodshed. And you're afraid to bleed. I said,
you're afraid to bleed.
As long as the white man sent you to Korea, you
bled. He sent you to Germany, you bled. He sent
you to the South Pacific to fight the Japanese,
you bled. You bleed for white people. But when
it comes time to seeing your own churches being
bombed and little black girls be murdered, you
haven't got no blood. You bleed when the white
man says bleed; you bite when the white man says
bite; and you bark when the white man says bark.
I hate to say this about us, but it's true. How
are you going to be nonviolent in Mississippi,
as violent as you were in Korea? How can you
justify being nonviolent in Mississippi and
Alabama, when your churches are being bombed,
and your little girls are being murdered, and at
the same time you're going to violent with
Hitler, and Tojo, and somebody else that you
don't even know?
If violence is wrong in America, violence is
wrong abroad. If it's wrong to be violent
defending black women and black children and
black babies and black men, then it's wrong for
America to draft us and make us violent abroad
in defense of her. And if it is right for
America to draft us, and teach us how to be
violent in defense of her, then it is right for
you and me to do whatever is necessary to defend
our own people right here in this country.
The Chinese Revolution, they wanted land. They
threw the British out, along with the Uncle Tom
Chinese. Yeah, they did. They set a good
example. When I was in prison, I read an
article, don't be shocked when I say I was in
prison. You're still in prison. That's what
America means: prison. When I was in prison, I
read an article in Life magazine showing a
little Chinese girl, nine years old; her father
was on his hands and knees and she was pulling
the trigger 'cause he was an Uncle Tom Chinaman,
When they had the revolution over there, they
took a whole generation of Uncle Toms, just
wiped them out. And within ten years that little
girl become a full-grown woman. No more Toms in
China. And today it's one of the toughest,
roughest, most feared countries on this earth,
by the white man. 'Cause there are no Uncle Toms
over there.
Of all our studies, history is best qualified to
reward our research. And when you see that
you've got problems, all you have to do is
examine the historic method used all over the
world by others who have problems similar to
yours. And once you see how they got theirs
straight, then you know how you can get yours
straight. There's been a revolution, a black
revolution, going on in Africa. In Kenya, the
Mau Mau were revolutionaries; they were the ones
who made the word "Uhuru." They were the ones
who brought it to the fore. The Mau Mau, they
were revolutionaries. They believed in scorched
earth. They knocked everything aside that got in
their way, and their revolution also was based
on land, a desire for land. In Algeria, the
northern part of Africa, a revolution took
place. The Algerians were revolutionists; they
wanted land. France offered to let them be
integrated into France. They told France: to
hell with France. They wanted some land, not
some France. And they engaged in a bloody
battle.
So I cite these various revolutions, brothers
and sisters, to show you, you don't have a
peaceful revolution. You don't have a
turn-the-other-cheek revolution. There's no such
thing as a nonviolent revolution. The only kind
of revolution that's nonviolent is the Negro
revolution. The only revolution based on loving
your enemy is the Negro revolution. The only
revolution in which the goal is a desegregated
lunch counter, a desegregated theater, a
desegregated park, and a desegregated public
toilet; you can sit down next to white folks on
the toilet. That's no revolution. Revolution is
based on land. Land is the basis of all
independence. Land is the basis of freedom,
justice, and equality.
The white man knows what a revolution is. He
knows that the black revolution is world-wide in
scope and in nature. The black revolution is
sweeping Asia, sweeping Africa, is rearing its
head in Latin America. The Cuban Revolution,
that's a revolution. They overturned the system.
Revolution is in Asia. Revolution is in Africa.
And the white man is screaming because he sees
revolution in Latin America. How do you think
he'll react to you when you learn what a real
revolution is? You don't know what a revolution
is. If you did, you wouldn't use that word.
A revolution is bloody. Revolution is hostile.
Revolution knows no compromise. Revolution
overturns and destroys everything that gets in
its way. And you, sitting around here like a
knot on the wall, saying, "I'm going to love
these folks no matter how much they hate me."
No, you need a revolution. Whoever heard of a
revolution where they lock arms, as Reverend
Cleage was pointing out beautifully, singing "We
Shall Overcome"? Just tell me. You don't do that
in a revolution. You don't do any singing;
you're too busy swinging. It's based on land. A
revolutionary wants land so he can set up his
own nation, an independent nation. These Negroes
aren't asking for no nation. They're trying to
crawl back on the plantation.
When you want a nation, that's called
nationalism. When the white man became involved
in a revolution in this country against England,
what was it for? He wanted this land so he could
set up another white nation. That's white
nationalism. The American Revolution was white
nationalism. The French Revolution was white
nationalism. The Russian Revolution too, yes it
was, white nationalism. You don't think so? Why
do you think Khrushchev and Mao can't get their
heads together? White nationalism. All the
revolutions that's going on in Asia and Africa
today are based on what? Black nationalism. A
revolutionary is a black nationalist. He wants a
nation. I was reading some beautiful words by
Reverend Cleage, pointing out why he couldn't
get together with someone else here in the city
because all of them were afraid of being
identified with black nationalism. If you're
afraid of black nationalism, you're afraid of
revolution. And if you love revolution, you love
black nationalism.
To understand this, you have to go back to what
the young brother here referred to as the house
Negro and the field Negro, back during slavery.
There was two kinds of slaves. There was the
house Negro and the field Negro. The house
Negroes, they lived in the house with master,
they dressed pretty good, they ate good 'cause
they ate his food, what he left. They lived in
the attic or the basement, but still they lived
near the master. And they loved their master
more than the master loved himself. They would
give their life to save the master's house
quicker than the master would. The house Negro,
if the master said, "We got a good house here,"
the house Negro would say, "Yeah, we got a good
house here." Whenever the master said "we," he
said "we." That's how you can tell a house
Negro.
If the master's house caught on fire, the house
Negro would fight harder to put the blaze out
than the master would. If the master got sick,
the house Negro would say, "What's the matter,
boss, we sick?" We sick! He identified himself
with his master more than his master identified
with himself. And if you came to the house Negro
and said, "Let's run away, let's escape, let's
separate," the house Negro would look at you and
say, "Man, you crazy. What you mean, separate?
Where is there a better house than this? Where
can I wear better clothes than this? Where can I
eat better food than this?" That was that house
Negro. In those days he was called a "house
nigger." And that's what we call him today,
because we've still got some house niggers
running around here.
This modern house Negro loves his master. He
wants to live near him. He'll pay three times as
much as the house is worth just to live near his
master, and then brag about "I'm the only Negro
out here." "I'm the only one on my job." "I'm
the only one in this school." You're nothing but
a house Negro. And if someone comes to you right
now and says, "Let's separate," you say the same
thing that the house Negro said on the
plantation. "What you mean, separate? From
America? This good white man? Where you going to
get a better job than you get here?" I mean,
this is what you say. "I ain't left nothing in
Africa," that's what you say. Why, you left your
mind in Africa.
On that same plantation, there was the field
Negro. The field Negro -- those were the masses.
There were always more Negroes in the field than
there was Negroes in the house. The Negro in the
field caught hell. He ate leftovers. In the
house they ate high up on the hog. The Negro in
the field didn't get nothing but what was left
of the insides of the hog. They call 'em "chitt'lin'"
nowadays. In those days they called them what
they were: guts. That's what you were, a
gut-eater. And some of you all still gut-eaters.
The field Negro was beaten from morning to
night. He lived in a shack, in a hut; He wore
old, castoff clothes. He hated his master. I say
he hated his master. He was intelligent. That
house Negro loved his master. But that field
Negro, remember, they were in the majority, and
they hated the master. When the house caught on
fire, he didn't try and put it out; that field
Negro prayed for a wind, for a breeze. When the
master got sick, the field Negro prayed that
he'd die. If someone came to the field Negro and
said, "Let's separate, let's run," he didn't say
"Where we going?" He'd say, "Any place is better
than here." You've got field Negroes in America
today. I'm a field Negro. The masses are the
field Negroes. When they see this man's house on
fire, you don't hear these little Negroes
talking about "our government is in trouble."
They say, "The government is in trouble."
Imagine a Negro: "Our government"! I even heard
one say "our astronauts." They won't even let
him near the plant, and "our astronauts"! "Our
Navy" -- that's a Negro that's out of his mind.
That's a Negro that's out of his mind.
Just as the slave master of that day used Tom,
the house Negro, to keep the field Negroes in
check, the same old slave master today has
Negroes who are nothing but modern Uncle Toms,
20th century Uncle Toms, to keep you and me in
check, keep us under control, keep us passive
and peaceful and nonviolent. That's Tom making
you nonviolent. It's like when you go to the
dentist, and the man's going to take your tooth.
You're going to fight him when he starts
pulling. So he squirts some stuff in your jaw
called Novocain, to make you think they're not
doing anything to you. So you sit there and
'cause you've got all of that Novocain in your
jaw, you suffer peacefully. Blood running all
down your jaw, and you don't know what's
happening. 'Cause someone has taught you to
suffer, peacefully.
The white man do the same thing to you in the
street, when he want [sic] to put knots on your
head and take advantage of you and don't have to
be afraid of your fighting back. To keep you
from fighting back, he gets these old religious
Uncle Toms to teach you and me, just like
Novocain, suffer peacefully. Don't stop
suffering, just suffer peacefully. As Reverend
Cleage pointed out, "Let your blood flow In the
streets." This is a shame. And you know he's a
Christian preacher. If it's a shame to him, you
know what it is to me.
There's nothing in our book, the Quran -- you
call it "Ko-ran" -- that teaches us to suffer
peacefully. Our religion teaches us to be
intelligent. Be peaceful, be courteous, obey the
law, respect everyone; but if someone puts his
hand on you, send him to the cemetery. That's a
good religion. In fact, that's that old-time
religion. That's the one that Ma and Pa used to
talk about: an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a
tooth, and a head for a head, and a life for a
life: That's a good religion. And doesn't nobody
resent that kind of religion being taught but a
wolf, who intends to make you his meal.
This is the way it is with the white man in
America. He's a wolf and you're sheep. Any time
a shepherd, a pastor, teach you and me not to
run from the white man and, at the same time,
teach us not to fight the white man, he's a
traitor to you and me. Don't lay down our life
all by itself. No, preserve your life. it's the
best thing you got. And if you got to give it
up, let it be even-steven.
The slave master took Tom and dressed him well,
and fed him well, and even gave him a little
education, a little education; gave him a long
coat and a top hat and made all the other slaves
look up to him. Then he used Tom to control
them. The same strategy that was used in those
days is used today, by the same white man. He
takes a Negro, a so-called Negro, and makes him
prominent, builds him up, publicizes him, makes
him a celebrity. And then he becomes a spokesman
for Negroes and a Negro leader.
I would like to just mention just one other
thing else quickly, and that is the method that
the white man uses, how the white man uses these
"big guns," or Negro leaders, against the black
revolution. They are not a part of the black
revolution. They're used against the black
revolution.
When Martin Luther King failed to desegregate
Albany, Georgia, the civil-rights struggle in
America reached its low point. King became
bankrupt almost, as a leader. Plus, even
financially, the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference was in financial trouble; plus it was
in trouble, period, with the people when they
failed to desegregate Albany, Georgia. Other
Negro civil-rights leaders of so-called national
stature became fallen idols. As they became
fallen idols, began to lose their prestige and
influence, local Negro leaders began to stir up
the masses. In Cambridge, Maryland, Gloria
Richardson; in Danville, Virginia, and other
parts of the country, local leaders began to
stir up our people at the grassroots level. This
was never done by these Negroes, whom you
recognize, of national stature. They controlled
you, but they never incited you or excited you.
They controlled you; they contained you; they
kept you on the plantation.
As soon as King failed in Birmingham, Negroes
took to the streets. King got out and went out
to California to a big rally and raised about, I
don't know how many thousands of dollars. He
came to Detroit and had a march and raised some
more thousands of dollars. And recall, right
after that Roy Wilkins attacked King, accused
King and the Congress Of Racial Equality [CORE]
of starting trouble everywhere and then making
the National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People get them out of jail and spend a
lot of money; and then they accused King and
CORE of raising all the money and not paying it
back. This happened; I've got it in documented
evidence in the newspaper. Roy started attacking
King, and King started attacking Roy, and Farmer
started attacking both of them. And as these
Negroes of national stature began to attack each
other, they began to lose their control of the
Negro masses.
And Negroes was out there in the streets. They
was talking about how we was going to march on
Washington. By the way, right at that time
Birmingham had exploded, and the Negroes in
Birmingham -- remember, they also exploded. They
began to stab the crackers in the back and bust
them up 'side their head -- yes, they did.
That's when Kennedy sent in the troops, down in
Birmingham. So, and right after that, Kennedy
got on the television and said "this is a moral
issue." That's when he said he was going to put
out a civil-rights bill. And when he mentioned
civil-rights bill and the Southern crackers
started talking about how they were going to
boycott or filibuster it, then the Negroes
started talking -- about what? We're going to
march on Washington, march on the Senate, march
on the White House, march on the Congress, and
tie it up, bring it to a halt; don't let the
government proceed. They even said they was sic
going out to the airport and lay down on the
runway and don't let no airplanes land. I'm
telling you what they said. That was revolution.
That was revolution. That was the black
revolution.
It was the grass roots out there in the street.
It scared the white man to death, scared the
white power structure in Washington, D. C. to
death; I was there. When they found out that
this black steamroller was going to come down on
the capital, they called in Wilkins; they called
in Randolph; they called in these national Negro
leaders that you respect and told them, "Call it
off." Kennedy said, "Look, you all letting this
thing go too far." And Old Tom said, "Boss, I
can't stop it, because I didn't start it." I'm
telling you what they said. They said, "I'm not
even in it, much less at the head of it." They
said, "These Negroes are doing things on their
own. They're running ahead of us." And that old
shrewd fox, he said, "Well If you all aren't in
it, I'll put you in it. I'll put you at the head
of it. I'll endorse it. I'll welcome it. I'll
help it. I'll join it."
A matter of hours went by. They had a meeting at
the Carlyle Hotel in New York City. The Carlyle
Hotel is owned by the Kennedy family; that's the
hotel Kennedy spent the night at, two nights
ago; it belongs to his family. A philanthropic
society headed by a white man named Stephen
Currier called all the top civil-rights leaders
together at the Carlyle Hotel. And he told them
that, "By you all fighting each other, you are
destroying the civil-rights movement. And since
you're fighting over money from white liberals,
let us set up what is known as the Council for
United Civil Rights Leadership. Let's form this
council, and all the civil-rights organizations
will belong to it, and we'll use it for
fund-raising purposes." Let me show you how
tricky the white man is. And as soon as they got
it formed, they elected Whitney Young as the
chairman, and who do you think became the
co-chairman? Stephen Currier, the white man, a
millionaire. Powell was talking about it down at
the Cobo Hall today. This is what he was talking
about. Powell knows it happened. Randolph knows
it happened. Wilkins knows it happened. King
knows it happened. Everyone of that so-called
Big Six, they know what happened.
Once they formed it, with the white man over it,
he promised them and gave them $800,000 to split
up between the Big Six; and told them that after
the march was over they'd give them $700,000
more. A million and a half dollars -- split up
between leaders that you've been following,
going to jail for, crying crocodile tears for.
And they're nothing but Frank James and Jesse
James and the what-do-you-call-'em brothers.
As soon as they got the setup organized, the
white man made available to them top public
relations experts; opened the news media across
the country at their disposal; and then they
begin to project these Big Six as the leaders of
the march. Originally, they weren't even in the
march. You was talking this march talk on
Hastings Street -- Is Hastings Street still
here? -- on Hasting Street. You was talking the
march talk on Lenox Avenue, and out on -- What
you call it? -- Fillmore Street, and Central
Avenue, and 32nd Street and 63rd Street. That's
where the march talk was being talked. But the
white man put the Big Six at the head of it;
made them the march. They became the march. They
took it over. And the first move they made after
they took it over, they invited Walter Reuther,
a white man; they invited a priest, a rabbi, and
an old white preacher. Yes, an old white
preacher. The same white element that put
Kennedy in power -- labor, the Catholics, the
Jews, and liberal Protestants; the same clique
that put Kennedy in power, joined the march on
Washington.
It's just like when you've got some coffee
that's too black, which means it's too strong.
What you do? You integrate it with cream; you
make it weak. If you pour too much cream in, you
won't even know you ever had coffee. It used to
be hot, it becomes cool. It used to be strong,
it becomes weak. It used to wake you up, now
it'll put you to sleep. This is what they did
with the march on Washington. They joined it.
They didn't integrate it; they infiltrated it.
They joined it, became a part of it, took it
over. And as they took it over, it lost its
militancy. They ceased to be angry. They ceased
to be hot. They ceased to be uncompromising.
Why, it even ceased to be a march. It became a
picnic, a circus. Nothing but a circus, with
clowns and all. You had one right here in
Detroit, I saw it on television, with clowns
leading it, white clowns and black clowns. I
know you don't like what I'm saying, but I'm
going to tell you anyway. 'Cause I can prove
what I'm saying. If you think I'm telling you
wrong, you bring me Martin Luther King and A.
Philip Randolph and James Farmer and those other
three, and see if they'll deny it over a
microphone.
No, it was a sellout. It was a takeover. When
James Baldwin came in from Paris, they wouldn't
let him talk, 'cause they couldn't make him go
by the script. Burt Lancaster read the speech
that Baldwin was supposed to make; they wouldn't
let Baldwin get up there, 'cause they know
Baldwin's liable to say anything. They
controlled it so tight, they told those Negroes
what time to hit town, how to come, where to
stop, what signs to carry, what song to sing,
what speech they could make, and what speech
they couldn't make; and then told them to get
out town by sundown. And everyone of those Toms
was out of town by sundown. Now I know you don't
like my saying this. But I can back it up. It
was a circus, a performance that beat anything
Hollywood could ever do, the performance of the
year. Reuther and those other three devils
should get a Academy Award for the best actors
'cause they acted like they really loved Negroes
and fooled a whole lot of Negroes. And the six
Negro leaders should get an award too, for the
best supporting cast.
Is
This Speech Dangerous?
Google flagged
this page to contain "dangerous or derogatory
content."
While we agree
with Google's zero tolerance policy for inciting
hatred, our goal here is to make history
accessible. These things have been said, and we
can judge by studying consequent events how
these words have played out.
Ideally, we learn
from history. But we won't for sure if it is not
taught.
Also called the
Persian Wars, the Greco-Persian Wars were
fought for almost half a century from 492 BC -
449 BC. Greece won against enormous odds. Here
is more:
