Race, Equality, & Freedom Poli 110J 15 I seek the truth

Here is a black man caged behind bars, probably for years, put there by the white man. Usually the convict comes from among those bottom-of-the-pile Negroes, the Negroes who throughout their entire lives have been kicked about, treated like childrenNegroes who have never met one white man who didnt either try to take something from them or do something to them. (211)

You dont even know who you are, Reginald had said. You dont even know, the white devil has hidden it from you, that you are from a race of people of ancient civilizations, and riches in gold and kings. (186) – History & education Slavery Opium war – History had been whitened (187) – This Negro had been taught to worship an alien God having the same blond hair, pale skin, and blue eyes as the slavemaster. (188)

This History of Yacub Muslim used to refer both to members of the Nation of Islam and followers of orthodox Islam The humans resulting, he knew, would be, as they became lighter, and weaker, progressively also more susceptible to wickedness and evil. – Affirmation of blackness – Devaluation of whiteness

Conversion If you will take one step toward AllahAllah will take two steps toward you. (181) I was going through the hardest thing, also the greatest thing, for any human being to do; to accept that which is already within you, and around you. (189) The very enormity of my previous lifes guilt prepared me to accept the truth. (189)

Ordering I had never dreamed of anything like that atmosphere among black people who had learned to be proud they were black, who had learned to love other black people instead of being jealous and suspicious Prayer, ablution, family order Even the children spoke to other children with mutual respect and dignity…. Beautiful! (224) – Order, cleanliness, & respect – The problem is not with us...

A new self For me, my X replaced the white slavemaster name of Little which some blue eyed devil named Little had imposed upon my paternal forebears. (229) – Break with the past – Rejection of whiteness

Think of hearing wives, mothers, daughters being raped! And you were too filled with fear of the rapist to do anything about it? (232) – Fear, power, & violence

The whole point in a joke Do you know what white racists call black Ph.Ds? He said something like, I believe I happen to not be aware of thatyou know, one of these ultra-proper talking Negroes. And I laid the word down on him, loud: Nigger! (327)

If Malcolm X were not a Negro, his autobiography would be little more than a journal of abnormal psychology, the story of a burglar, dope pusher, addict, and jailbird with a family history of insanitywho acquires messianic delusions and sets forth to preach an upside-down religion of brotherly hatred. Saturday Evening Post, Sept. 12, 1965

For the white man to ask the black man if he hates him, is just like the rapist asking the raped, or the wolf asking the sheep, Do you hate me? The white man is in no moral position to accuse anyone else of hate! (277)

The Jew will never forget that lesson [of the Holocaust]… they used violence to force the British to help them take Palestine, and then the Jews set up Israel, their own countrythe one thing that every race of man in the world respects, and understands. (320) – Why is this something universally understood?

The Transformative Power of Truth Marcuse and the destructive & soteriological potential of the Truth over fact – Asceticism – Order – Transformation Nation of Islams 6-step recovery program 1. Admit youre a junkie – Usually fished by a converted friend & former junkie, overcoming distrust & suspicion

2. Understand why youre a junkie – Narcotizing themselves against being a black man in the white mans America. Helps to prove inferiority of the black man. (300) – Whats a black man buying Whiteys dope for but to make Whitey richerkilling yourself! – The Muslim often collects audiences of junkies. They listen only because they know the clean-cut proud Muslim had earlier been like them. (299)

3. The way to quit drugs is through the message of the Nation of Islam – Brought to a Muslim restaurant, the addict hears himself called, genuinely, Brother, Sir, and Mr. No one cares about his past.

4. The message of the Nation gives lets the addict realize that he has the inner strength to change. – For the first time he is feeling the effect of black self-pride. Thats a powerful motivation for a man who has been existing in the mud of society. In fact, once he is motivated no one can change more completely than the man who has been at the bottom. I call myself the best example of that.

5. Voluntarily go cold turkey – When the ordeal is over, he will never forget these brothers who stood by him during this time. He will never forget that it was the Nation of Islams program which rescued him from the special hell of dope. (301)

6. The convert in turn goes fishing – The ex-addict, when he is proud, clean, renewed, can scarcely wait to hit the same junkie jungle he was in, to fish out some buddy and salvage him! (301)

The only thing that anybody… could ever find me guilty of, was being open-minded. I said I was seeking for the truth… (428) – Deep commitment to truth – His faith in the Hon. Elijah Muhammed was the core of his being It felt as though something in nature had failed, like the sun, or the stars. (351) Who is he now?

The last conversion Takes the Hajj – On the Hajj, You could be a king or a peasant and no one would know. – Everything about the pilgrimage atmosphere accented the Oneness of Man under one God (380) – Kindness & brotherhood with all Muslims, even those who would be white – The holy city of Mecca had been the first time that I had ever stood before the Creator of All and felt like a complete human being. (420) Double consciousness

White & black people not the problem, whiteness and blackness are the problem – That morning was when I first began to reappraise the white man. It was when I first began to perceive that white man, as commonly used, means complexion only secondarily; primarily it described attitudes and actions. In America, white man meant specific attitudes and actions toward the black man, and toward all other non-white men. (383) Whiteness is essentially defined in US by rejection of & dominance over non-whites

While approach to race changes, militancy does not – Racial cooperation I dont mind shaking hands with human beings. Are you one? (418) – Black militancy – Not black nationalism, but black inter-nationalism.

To come right down to it, if I take the kind of things in which I believe, then add to that the kind of temperament that I have, plus the one hundred percent dedication I have to whatever I believe inthese are the ingredients which make it just about impossible for me to die of old age. (435)

If I cant be safe among my own kind, where can I be? (497)

Ossie Davis Eulogy Malcolm said to hell with that! Get up off your knees and fight your own battles. Thats the way to win back your self-respect. Thats the way to make the white man respect you. And if he wont let you live like a man, he certainly cant keep you from dying like one!

Ossie Davis Eulogy Malcolm X, John Brown, and responsibility

Ossie Davis Eulogy It was impossible to remain defensive and apologetic about being a negro in his presence. He wouldnt let you. And you always left his presence with the sneaky suspicion that maybe, after all, you were a man!