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"You can?™t separate the militancy that?™s displayed on the African continent from the militancy that?™s displayed right here among American Blacks. The positive image that is developing of Africans is also developing in the minds of Black Americans, and consequently they develop a more positive image of themselves. Then they take more positive steps--actions. So you can?™t separate the African revolution from the mood of the Black man in America. Neither could the colonization of Africa be separated from the menial position that the Black man in this country was satisfied to stay in for so long. Since Africa has gotten its independence through revolution, you?™ll notice the stepped-up cry against discrimination that has appeared in the Black community. "
"Everybody would like to reach his objectives peacefully. But I?™m also a realist. The only people in this country who are asked to be nonviolent are Black people. I?™
ve never heard anybody go to the Ku Klux Klan and teach them nonviolence, or to the [John] Birch Society and other right-wing elements. Nonviolence is only preached to Black Americans, and I don?™t go along with anyone who wants to teach our people nonviolence until someone at the same time is teaching our enemy to be nonviolent. I believe we should protect ourselves by any means necessary when we are attacked by racists...."
"The Democratic Party is responsible for the racism that exists in this country, along with the Republican Party."
"You waste your time involving yourself in any kind of organization that is not directly connected with our brothers and sisters on the African continent. Can I prove it? Yes. There was a time in this country when they used to use the _expression_ about Chinese, 'He doesn't have a Chinaman's chance.'
"Remember when they used to say that about the Chinese? You don't hear them saying that nowadays. Because the Chinaman has
more chance now than they do....
"It was not until China became independent and strong that Chinese people all over the world became respected.... Once China became independent and strong and feared, then wherever you saw a Chinaman, he was independent, he was strong, he was feared and he was respected. It's the same way with you and me.... You and I have to get our people behind us, our people in our own motherland and fatherland. Just as a strong China has produced a respected Chinaman, a strong Africa will produce a respected Black man anywhere that Black man goes on this earth. It's only with a strong Africa, an independent Africa and a respected Africa that wherever those of African origin or African heritage or African likeness go, they will be respected.... And all thinking people today who have been oppressed are revolutionary. Any time you find somebody today who's afraid of the word revolution, get him on out of your way. He's living in the wrong era. He's b
ehind the times. He hasn't awakened yet. This is the era of revolution....
"
"We've got to link up with our people who are in the Caribbean, in Trinidad, in Jamaica, in all the islands, and we've got to link up with our people who are in Central America and South America. Everywhere you see someone who looks like us, we've got to get together. And once we get together, brothers, we can get some action, because we'll find we are not the underdog.
"
"Probably there is no better example of criminal activity against an oppressed people than the role the U.S. has been playing in the Congo, through her ties with Tshombe and the mercenaries. You can?™t overlook the fact that Tshombe gets his money from the U.S. The money he uses to hire these mercenaries--these paid killers imported from South Africa--comes from the United States. The pilots that fly these planes have been trained by the U.S. The bombs themselves that are blowing apart the bodies of women and c
hildren come from the U.S. So I can only view the role of the United States in the Congo as a criminal role. And I think the seeds she is sowing in the Congo she will have to harvest. The chickens that she has turned loose over there have got to come home to roost."
"It shows the real ignorance of those who control the American power structure. If France, with all types of heavy arms, as deeply entrenched as she was in what then was called Indochina, couldn?™t stay there, I don?™t see how anybody in their right mind can think the U.S. can get in there--it?™s impossible. So it shows her ignorance, her blindness, her lack of foresight and hindsight; and her complete defeat in South Vietnam is only a matter of time...."
"It is impossible for capitalism to survive, primarily because the system of capitalism needs some blood to suck. Capitalism used to be like an eagle, but now it?™s more like a vulture. It used to be strong enough to go and suck anybody?™s
blood whether they were strong or not. But now it has become more cowardly, like the vulture, and it can only suck the blood of the helpless. As the nations of the world free themselves, then capitalism has less victims, less to suck, and it becomes weaker and weaker. It?™s only a matter of time in my opinion before it will collapse completely."
"...I hope that all of us can sit down with a cool head and a clear mind and analyze the situation, in the back room, anywhere, analyze the situation; and after we give the proper analysis of what we're confronted by, then let us be bold enough to take whatever steps that analysis says must be taken. Once we get it, then let's do it, and we'll be able to get some kind of result in this freedom struggle. "
Omowale Malcolm X
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