COLLECTED SPEECHES, DEBATES AND INTERVIEWS

We won’t follow any leader today who comes on the basis of political party.Both parties, Democrat and Republican, are controlled by the same peoplewho have abused our rights, and who have deceived us with false promisesevery time an election rolls around.Mr. Muhammad grieves over the disunity that exists even among theintellectuals and professional so-called Negroes. It is these “educated” socalled Negroes who should be leading us out of this maze of misery andwant. They possess the academic know-how, great amounts of technicalskills.but they can’t use it for the benefit of their own kind simply becausethey themselves are also disunited. If these intellectuals and professionalso-called Negroes would unite, not only Harlem would benefit, but it willbenefit our people all over the world.Mr. Muhammad says disunity is our number one stumbling block, and thisdisunity exists only because we lack knowledge of SELF, our own kind. Socalled Negro “intellectuals” seem to think integration is the answer. But, isit? “Integrate” means to become as one unit. How can these “intellectuals”expect the white man to accept us into his social unit, political unit, oreconomic unit when we are not yet in unity, as a unit, among our ownkind?We, the Muslims, are for brotherhood, but not for integration! What is thedifference? Brotherhood is based on love, which automatically producesvoluntary acts of sincere benevolence. But integration produces hypocrisy,It forces the white man to pose as a “liberal,” to be pretensive and false.Thus, “benevolent” acts which are “forced by integration laws” areproducing white hypocrites, and reducing chances of creating a “mutualworking agreement” between the two races.Your thirst for integration makes the white man think you want only tomarry his daughter. We Muslims who follow Mr. Muhammad don’t thinkGod ever intended for black men to marry white women. Mr. Muhammadand his followers are violently opposed to intermarriage.This is conveniently and purposely misinterpreted by our enemies to meanthat we are anti-white, anti-Christian, and anti-American simply becausewe refuse to chase after the white man’s women! Let the white man keep hiswomen, and let us keep ours.

Some Negroes who love race-mixing, and want white women, are angryat Mr. Muhammad because he teaches against race-mixing.so they sliparound and make the white man think we are anti-white. I’m surprised thatthe white man is dumb enough to believe these Uncle Toms, who stoop solow, like JUDAS, to be stool pigeons against their own kind.We have oceans of dark people on this earth: in Africa, Asia, and even herein America. Our women are the most beautiful, like a bouquet of flowers.Why should we chase white women?In this “changing” world today, what would we do, married to a whitewoman? Her people don’t want you in their neighborhood around them,and our fast awakening people don’t want you to bring her back intoour neighborhood any more to live around us. Thus, you both become a“misfit”, unwelcomed and unwanted in either society.where can you go?Because we Muslims look at this as it is and face reality does not mean weare anti-white. We don’t want his white mother, his white sister, nor hiswhite daughter. We want only an equal chance on this earth, but to have anequal chance we must have the same thing the white man himself neededbefore he could get this nation started.WE MUST HAVE SOME LANDOF OUR OWN!Why do we want some land of our own? Because land is essential tofreedom. How else can 20 million black people who now constitute anation in our own right, a NATION WITHIN A NATION, expect tosurvive forever in a land where we are the last ones hired and the first onesfired.simply because we have no land of our own?For over 400 years we have been very faithful to our American slavemasters. Now God is warning them through Mr. Muhammad that theyshould be nice enough to give us some land so we can separate ourselvesfrom them and get started for ourselves.This is no more than what the white man should do. It is in completeaccord with the Christian religion. Their bible says that when a slave is setfree, his slave master should give him something to help him get started onhis own.never send him away empty-handed.If the Hebrews in the bible numbered only 600,000 in the land of theirbondage, and God was concerned with giving them freedom in a land

of their own, a land “flowing with milk and honey”.then what about 20million so-called Negroes here in America, who have the “freedom” only tolook for a job?Can you not see that our former “leaders” have been fighting for the wrongthing.the wrong kind of freedom? Mr. Muhammad says we must havesome land where we can work hard for ourselves, make ourselves equal,and live in dignity. Then and only then we won’t have to beg the white manfor the crumbs that fall occasionally from his table. No one respects orappreciates a beggar.Since we say Lincoln freed us, let us avail ourselves of that freedom byuniting together and doing something for our own kind. But, we must havesome of this earth. We have been in America over 400 years. We have beencalled “free” 100 years, and yet he still calls us “the white man’s burden.”We Muslims don’t want to be a burden on America any longer. God hasgiven Mr. Muhammad a divine message, program, and solution. WEMUST HAVE SOME LAND! The white man should be glad to give hisloyal “slaves” some land so we can get out of his way and go for ourselves.We will then set up our own farms, factories, businesses, and schools.andshow him how much we appreciate the education he has given us, by usingit to become self-sustaining.economically and otherwise.We want some land where we can create unity, harmony and brotherhood.and live together in peace. Since America now sees that this false show ofintegration and intermarriage will not work, she should make immediatesteps to set aside a few of these states for us, and put us there for ourselves.If America will repent and do this, God will overlook some of our wickeddeeds (as in the days of Nineveh). but if America refuses to give Mr.Muhammad what God instructed him to ask for.then, like the biblicalhouses of Egypt and Babylon.slave empires of the bible.God will erasethe American government and the entire race that it favors and represents,from this planet.and God will then give the whole earth back to theoriginal owners, the black man!

Malcolm X at Queens College(May 5, 1960)We thank you for inviting us here today to present our views on this topic:“The Negro’s Position in the Recent American Society.” But, to understandour views you must first know something about our religion, Islam.The Creator of the Universe, whom many of you call God or Jehovah, isknown to the Muslims by the name Allah. Since the Muslims believe allprophets came from that one God and therefore all taught one and thesame religion, rightly called Islam, which means the complete submissionand obedience to Allah.One who practices this Divine Obedience is called a Muslim, commonlyknown, spelled, and referred to here in the West as Moslem. There are over600 million Muslims on this earth, predominantly in Africa and Asia, andwe here in America under the Divine Guidance of Mr. Elijah Muhammadare an integral part of the vast World of Islam that stretches from the ChinaSeas to the sunny shores of West Africa.A unique situation faces the black man here in America because of hisunique condition, thus his acceptance of Islam and into Islam affects himuniquely.differently than all other converts to Islam.Mr. Elijah Muhammad is our Divine Leader and Teacher here in America.He believes in and obeys God 100 per cent and is teaching and workingamong us to fulfill God’s Divine Purpose.What is this purpose? God’s purpose today, just as it was in biblical days, isthe complete separation of the so-called Negroes from their slave master.as the bible says concerning today: “Let every man be under his own vineand fig tree.”The best biblical example of this is the enslavement of the Hebrews inthe land of Egypt under Pharaoh.a free man and some slaves who were“strangers in a land not their own,” and how Jehovah chose Moses toseparate them from their slave master.

Since the slave master today declares his “former” slaves are free, Mr.Muhammad says that for the betterment of our future and that of ourformer slave master God has declared we also must be separated.To many of you here in this college auditorium, this sounds ridiculous; tosome it even sounds insane. But 20 million black people here in Americanow number a nation in their own right. Do you believe a nation withinanother nation can be successful, especially when they both have equaleducation?Once the slave has his master’s education, the slave wants to be like hismaster, wants to share his master’s property, and wants to exercise the sameprivileges as his master.This is the core of America’s troubles today; and there will be no peace forAmerica as long as 20 million so-called Negroes are here begging for theequal rights which America knows she will never grant us.Even the limited education America has granted her ex-slaves has alreadyproduced great unrest.and Almighty God says the only way for Americato ever have peace is for us to be separated from her.and therefore Mr.Muhammad teaches us that we must have some land of our own.If we receive equal education, how long do you expect us to remain yourpassive servants, or second-class citizens? There is no such thing as secondclass citizens. We are full citizens or we are not citizens at all!When you teach a man the science of government he wants an equal partor position in that government or else he wants to be a master in thatgovernment himself. He demands equality with his master.No man with equal education will serve you. The only way you cancontinue to rule us is with a superior knowledge, or by continuing to holdequal education from our people.America has not given us equal education, but she has given us enough tomake us want more and to make us demand equality of opportunity, whichis causing great unrest. Thus, the only solution is complete separation! Youbelieve in the fulfillment of biblical prophecy, that a great day of separationis coming, and that the knowledge of truth will cause this separation. We

are living at that time today!You are not common people here in this college audience. You are students,scholars, professors; you have education enough to weigh current events aswell as history against the truth of what Mr. Muhammad is teaching.For over 300 years our parents served yours. During slavery our parentsdidn’t ask your parents for civil rights. Our parents did not have enougheducation to do so. They were taught by their educated white masters thatthey were born inferiors.born to serve the whites.“superior” whites whorestricted them without citizenship even after the so-called emancipationproclamation.Today Mr. Muhammad sees nothing but the destruction of both races ifthey stay together. Integration will cause disintegration of both.A child stays within the mother until the time of birth. When the time ofbirth arrives, the child must be separated, or it will destroy its mother anditself. The mother can’t carry that child after its time.The child wants to be free; it cries for a world of its own. If the mother willnot give it up naturally, the doctors must forcibly take it from her.whichsometimes causes her death. If she can set it free naturally and easily, somuch the better.if not, it must be taken.Twenty million so-called Negroes in America today number a nationwithin a nation and are crying for freedom. We must be freed. We must beborn. We must be separated.or cause the destruction of both! Separationis the only solution today. Is this insane? Is this so ridiculous?During slavery our parents would have been put to death for advocatingintegration with the white man.and now that God has declared this isthe day of separation, the white man wants, or at least is talking about,integration with his ex-slave.America can solve her present problems and avoid a worse crisis by settingup some separate states for us right here in America.Remember the Hebrews in biblical Egypt. After their 400 years of bondageto Pharaoh were up, God had to fulfill his promise to them that he hadmade through Abraham.but their biblical slave master would not let them

go.Thus it cost the slave master his own freedom, his country, and his life foropposing God’s Plan to separate His people from their slave master and setthem in a land of their own.God would not have destroyed the slave master if he would have listened.but just as America is today, the biblical slave master, Pharaoh, wasalso too rich, too strong, and too proud to listen to Moses.whom theycontemptuously looked upon only as an inarticulate ex-slave.Mr. Muhammad is opposed today, both by his own people and by whites,simply because he advocates complete freedom, justice, and equality forAmerica’s 20 million so-called Negroes.America is a free nation. Why should America oppose Mr. Muhammad forteaching freedom for her 20 million so-called Negroes? He is not asking foran “integrated society” which would only lead to the dreaded intermarriagewith America’s white sons and daughters. He is demanding completeseparation where we will have complete freedom, justice, and equality in aland of our own.And, if God is with Mr. Muhammad today to separate us and put us ina land wherein we can form our own nation equal with other civilizednations.would you want God to destroy your country like he did biblicalEgypt.for opposing his divine plan?

Bayard Rustin Debate(November, 1960)Malcolm X: In the past two years, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad hasbecome the most talked about black man in America because he is havingsuch miraculous success in getting his program over among the so-calledNegro masses. Time magazine last year wrote that he has eliminated fromamong his followers alcohol, dope addiction, profanity—all of whichstems from disrespect of self. He has successfully eliminated stealing andcrime among his followers. Time also pointed out that he has eliminatedadultery and fornication, and prostitution, making black men respect theirwomen, something that has been characteristically absent among our men.Time also pointed out that Muslims, followers of Elijah Muhammad, haveeliminated juvenile delinquency.When you think about it, Time was giving Mr. Muhammad credit forbeing one of the greatest moral reformers that has appeared among the socalled Negroes yet. A few months later, U.S. News & World Report pointedout that Mr. Muhammad was successful in stressing the importance ofeconomics. The point behind his program, farms to feed our people,factories to manufacture goods for ourselves, businesses to create jobs forourselves, is to be economically independent rather than sit around waitingfor the white man to give us jobs. What the Honorable Elijah Muhammadhas been teaching is not what we have been accused of: nationalism.Nationalism is the political approach to the problems that are confrontingthe so-called Negro in America.The aim of the black nationalist is the same as the aim of the Muslim.We are pointing toward the same goal. But the difference is in method.We say the only solution is the religious approach; this is why we stressthe importance of a moral reformation. I would like to stress that Mr.Muhammad is not a politician. He does not believe politics is the solutionto the so-called Negro’s problem. It will take God. God will have to havea hand in it, because the problem of the so-called Negro is different fromthe problems of any other black people anywhere on this earth since thebeginning of time. Every condition of the so-called Negro was preordainedand prophesied. And we believe that we are living in the fulfillment of thatprophecy today. We believe that our history in America, our experiences atthe hands of slave masters, is in line with Biblical prophecy. And we believe

that Mr. Muhammad’s presence among so- called Negroes here in Americais in line with Biblical prophecies.Host: Does this involve the creation of a separate state in America?Malcolm X: It involves the creation of a black state for the black man ifnot in America then somewhere on this earth. If not abroad, then herein America. Primarily it involves acquiring some land that the black mancan call his own. If the powers that be don’t want it here, then they shouldmake it possible for us to do it somewhere else.Host: It does involve politics, then.Malcolm X: Any religion that does not take into consideration the freedomand the rights of the black man is the wrong religion. But politics assuch is not the solution. But the divine solution would have to have thatingredient in it. You can call it politics if you want, but the overall problemof the so-called Negro in America is not a political problem as such, it isan economic problem, a social problem, a mental problem, and a spiritualproblem. Only God can solve the whole problem.Bayard Rustin: I am very happy to be here and I think Malcolm X canclarify some of the questions he has brought up in my mind. I believe thegreat majority of the Negro people, black people, are not seeking anythingfrom anyone. They are seeking to become full-fledged citizens. Theirancestors have toiled in this country, contributing greatly to it. The UnitedStates belongs to no particular people, and in my view the great majorityof Negroes and their leaders take integration as their keyword, whichmeans that rightly or wrongly they seek to become an integral part of theUnited States. We have, I believe, much work yet to do, both politically andthrough the courts, but I believe we have reached the point where mostNegroes, from a sense of dignity and pride, have organized themselves todemand to become an integral part of all the institutions of the U.S. Weare doing things by direct action which we feel will further this cause. Webelieve that justice for all people, including Negroes, can be achieved. Thisis not a unique position, and while a controversial one it is certainly not ascontroversial as the one Malcolm X supports. Therefore I would like to askhim this question: The logic of your position is to say to black people inthis country: “We have to migrate and set up some state in Africa.” It seemsto me that this is where you have to come out.

Malcolm X: Well, Mr. Rustin, let me say this about “full-fledged” or as theysay “first-class” citizenship. Most of the so-called Negro leaders have gotthe Negro masses used to thinking in terms of sec

Malcolm X at Yale University (October 20, 1962) Twenty Million Black People in a Political, Economic, and Mental Prison (January 23, 1963) Alex Haley Interviews Malcolm X (May, 1963)!e Black Revolution (June, 1963)!e Old Negro and the New Negro (September, 1963) Malcolm X at UC Berkeley (October 11, 1963) A Message to the Grassroots (November .