What He Said: 14 Thoughts And Analysis By Malcolm X That Are Mind Blowingly Relevant Today 4

If Malcolm X were still living, he’d be 90 years old this week. Blunt-spoken and incisive, ff any man expressed the anger, struggle and insistence of black people for freedom it was Malcolm X. As his place in history continues to evolve, his words remain surprisingly vibrant, relevant and true.

Malcolm on patriotism:

“You’re not to be so blind with patriotism that you can’t face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who does it or says it.”

Malcolm on truth:

“I’m for truth, no matter who tells it. I’m for justice, no matter who it is for or against. I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.”

Malcolm on the power of education:

“People don’t realize how a man’s whole life can be changed by one book.”

Malcolm on self-defense:

“Be peaceful, be courteous, obey the law, respect everyone; but if someone puts his hand on you, send him to the cemetery.”

Malcolm on capitalism:

“You show me a capitalist, and I’ll show you a bloodsucker”

Malcolm on liberation:

“Truth is on the side of the oppressed.”

Malcolm on the power of corporate media:

“If you’re not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.”

Malcolm on America:

“I see America through the eyes of the victim. I don’t see any American dream — I see an American nightmare.”

Malcolm on brotherhood:

“I believe in the brotherhood of man, all men, but I don’t believe in brotherhood with anybody who doesn’t want brotherhood with me. I believe in treating people right, but I’m not going to waste my time trying to treat somebody right who doesn’t know how to return the treatment”

Malcolm on Islam:

“America needs to understand Islam, because this is the one religion that erases from its society the race problem. Throughout my travels in the Muslim world, I have met, talked to, and even eaten with people who in America would have been considered white, but the white attitude was removed from their minds by the religion of Islam. I have never before seen sincere and true brotherhood practiced by all together, irrespective of their color.”

Malcolm on black unity:

“There can be no black-white unity until there is first some black unity. There can be no workers’ solidarity until there is first some racial solidarity. We cannot think of uniting with others, until after we have first united among ourselves. We cannot think of being acceptable to others until we have first proven acceptable to ourselves. One can’t unite bananas with scattered leaves.”

Malcolm on the need to alter our narrative of America:

“We are African, and we happened to be in America. We’re not American. We are people who formerly were Africans who were kidnapped and brought to America. Our forefathers weren’t the Pilgrims. We didn’t land on Plymouth Rock. The rock was landed on us. We were brought here against our will. We were not brought here to be made citizens. We were not brought here to enjoy the constitutional gifts that they speak so beautifully about today.”

Malcolm on the connection between American racism and colonialism:

“But despite the fact that I saw that Islam was a religion of brotherhood, I also had to face reality. And when I got back into this American society, I’m not in a society that practices brotherhood… And so, since I could see that America itself is a society where there is no brotherhood and that this society is controlled primarily by racists and segregationists — and it is — who are in Washington, D.C., in positions of power. And from Washington, D.C., they exercise the same forms of brutal oppression against dark-skinned people in South and North Vietnam, or in the Congo, or in Cuba, or in any other place on this earth where they’re trying to exploit and oppress. This is a society whose government doesn’t hesitate to inflict the most brutal form of punishment and oppression upon dark-skinned people all over the world…” Malcolm X, Feb 14, 1965, Ford Auditorium, Detroit

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