INTRODUZIONE MALCOLM X: The decade of the 60s saw civil rights move to the forefront of domestic policy.

Amidst racial tension and protest, Malcolm X emerged as one of the most influential leaders of the period. A fiery orator, Malcolm X urged blacks to live separately from whites and to win their freedom by any means necessary. Although he believed in the value of violent protests to secure the freedom of his people, Malcolm X sought cooperation from Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights activists who believed in non-violent protest. A petty criminal from Omaha, Nebraska, Malcolm Little joined the Nation of Islam while in prison in 1946. After his release from prison six years later, Malcolm dropped his surname Little and replaced it with an X in reference to the unknown name of his slave ancestors. Malcolm quickly rose to prominence in the N.O.I.. In 1964 he split with the N.O.I. to form his own more politically active group, the Organization of Afro-American Unity. By this time some members of the Nation of Islam labeled Malcolm X as a traitor for his criticism of leader Elijah Muhammed. On February 2, 1965 Malcolms life was brought to an abrupt end while speaking in New York City. Three militant members of the Nation of Islam were convicted for his murder. Footage of Malcolm X, particularly of his speeches, is rare. What appears here is a segment of one of his speeches. This is typical of his rhetoric, although its date and occasion are not known. As with most of his speeches, one has the feeling that his immediate audience is not as important to him as a wider national audience. The implicit warning is clear to those blocking the freedoms and liberty of his people. His rhetoric is tough, his audience aroused and his opponents concerned. Watch now as Malcolm X demonstrates why he was considered one of that eras most controversial leaders.

Democracy is Hypocrisy Malcolm X

You dont scare Negroes today with no badge or no white skin or no white sheet or no white anything else. The police the same way; they put their club upside your head and turn around and accuse you of attacking them. Every case of police brutality against a Negro follows the same pattern. They attack you, bust you all upside your mouth and then take you to court and charge you with assault. What kind of democracy is that? What kind of (uh) freedom is that? What kind of social or political system is it when a black man has no voice in court? Has no nothing on his side other than what the white man chooses to give you? My brothers and sisters we have to put a stop to this and it will never be stopped until we stop it ourselves. They attack the victim and then the criminal who attacked the victim accuses the victim of attacking him. This is American justice. This is American democracy and those of you who are familiar with it know that in American democracy is hypocrisy. Now if Im wrong put me in jail, but if you cant prove that in democracy is not hypocrisy then dont put your hands on me. Democracy is hypocrisy. If democracy means freedom why arent our people free? If democracy means justice why dont we have justice? If democracy means equality then why dont we have equality? Twenty million black people in this country have been like boys in the white mans house. He even calls us boys. Dont care how big you get he calls you boy. You can be a professor; to him youre just another boy. I heard him calling the Ralph ??Bunch?? Why hes a good old boy. Who are you? You dont know. Dont tell me Negro, thats nothing. What were you before the white man named you a Negro? And where were you? And what did you have? What was yours? What language did you speak then? What was your name? It couldnt have been Smith or Jones or Bunch?? or Powell. That wasnt your name. They dont have those kind of names where you and I came from. No. What was your name? And why dont you now know what your name was then? Where did it go? Where did you lose it? Who took it? And how did he take it? What tongue did you speak? How did the man take your tongue? Where is your history? How did the man wipe out your history? How did the man, what did the man do to make you as dumb as you are right now? And if we cant do it we should hush our mouth. If you cant do it for yourself, what the white man is doing for himself, dont say youre equal with the white man. If you cant set up a factory like he sets up a factory dont talk that old equality

talk. Get off the welfare. Get out of that compensation line. Be a man. Earn what you need for your own family. Then your family respects you. Theyre proud to say thats my father. Shes proud to say thats my husband. Father means youre taking care of those children. Just cause you made them that dont mean youre a father. Anybody can make a baby, but anybody cant take care of them. Anybody can go and get a woman, but anybody cant take care of a woman. Yes, we hate leavingness. We hate drunkenness. We hate (uh) dope addiction. We hate nicotine. We hate all of the vices that the white man has taught us to partake in and he accuses us of hating him. Why, because the white man knows youre more dangerous sober than you are drunk. Yes, you are more dangerous sober than you are drunk. Hes not worrying about no dancing, singing, clowning Negro. Hes worried about you when you stop dancing, when you stop singing, when you stop clowning and start thinking. Then he gets worried and you should keep him worried. And now you know you need someone to teach you t o respect your woman. You say well what about the white woman. No, youve been respecting her. Every time you see a Negro man he got his hat off showing his teeth to some fair skinned white woman. And the mistake that you and I have made is leaving our women unprotected. Anybody can get to her. Any old white man can come and pat a black woman. Can he not? And we are teaching the white man keep his hands and his eyes of our women.