The 80 best phrases of Malcolm X
El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, better known as Malcolm X, he was a celebrated American speaker and activist, born in the city of Omaha during the year 1925.
The life of this well-known civil rights fighter was really exciting, he was admitted to prison, he made a pilgrimage to Mecca and also traveled throughout Africa as well as the Soviet Union, a lifestyle that as we can imagine very few people possessed by that epoch.
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Famous quotes from Malcolm X
His motivational speeches helped an entire generation of African Americans, urging them to always fight for their rights and for their well-deserved place in American society. Unfortunately, Malcolm X was assassinated on February 21, 1965, a loss that no doubt all of American society deeply regretted.
Below you can enjoy the 80 best phrases of Malcolm X, who was surely one of the greatest human rights fighters in all of history.
1. A new world order is being created, and it is up to us to prepare so that we can take our rightful place.
If we don't prepare for the future, we will never make it good for us. A phrase that can certainly apply to anyone.
2. What I want to know is how the white man, with black blood dripping from his fingers, can have the audacity to ask black people [why do they] hate him?
African Americans have been deeply abused over the centuries, something that has undoubtedly fostered a deep sense of hatred to creep into many of them.
3. Yes, I am an extremist. The black race... it is in very bad condition. You show me a black man who is not an extremist and I will show you one who needs psychiatric care!
The situation they have to face in many cases is dire, that is why it is very normal that most of them have really very extreme thoughts.
4. I find it hard to believe that... Christians accuse black Muslims of teaching racial supremacy or... I hate, because his own story and... the teachings are full of it.
As the saying goes, do what I say but don't do what I do, some people should try to lead by their own example if they want to be heard by everyone.
5. Sitting at the table does not make you a diner, unless you eat some of what is on that plate. Being here in the United States does not make you an American. Being born here in the United States does not make you an American.
American society must promote racial integration by all means, because until this happens, it cannot consider itself a totally egalitarian society.
6. The holiest city on earth. The source of truth, love, peace and brotherhood.
The laws that are created in Washington D.C. they should try to help their entire population as a whole, not just a small part of it.
7. I am not racist. I am against all forms of racism and segregation, all forms of discrimination. I believe in human beings, and that all human beings should be respected as such, regardless of their color.
Skin color or religion should not create differences between us, all human beings should always be treated with the same respect and consideration.
8. The white man is afraid of the truth... I'm the only black man they've ever been close to who knows he's telling the truth. It's his fault that bothers them, not me.
Some people simply do not want to accept humanity's slave past, some very unpleasant historical facts that simply seem impossible to many of us today. today.
9. Be peaceful, courteous, obey the law, respect everyone; But if someone lays their hand on you, send them to the cemetery.
Malcolm X encouraged all those who saw him not to be bent by adversity, we should all have the right to defend ourselves if the situation warrants it.
10. We are not Americans, we are Africans who are in the United States. We were kidnapped and brought here against our will from Africa. We didn't land on Plymouth Rock, that rock fell on us.
Many Europeans spent a long time kidnapping people in Africa to then sell them on North American soil, something for which many today have not yet asked sorry.
11. It is time for martyrs now, and if I am to be one, it will be for the cause of brotherhood. That is the only thing that can save this country.
Malcolm was a man who would always fight for his ideals, even if it ultimately cost him his life.
12. You cannot separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless they have their freedom.
Without freedom, peace simply cannot exist, since one always necessarily needs the other to be able to carry it out.
13. People involved in a revolution do not become part of the system; destroy the system... The black revolution is not a revolution because it condemns the system and then asks the system that it has condemned to accept them.
The African American people simply wanted to be heard and taken into consideration, they never intended to foster a true revolution in the United States.
14. One of the things that grew the Black Muslim movement was its emphasis on African things. This was the secret of the growth of the black Muslim movement. African blood, African origin, African culture, African ties. And you would be surprised: we found that deep down in the subconscious of the black man in this country, he is even more African than American.
African Americans found in Islam a connection to their ancestors, a connection that since the kidnapping of their ancestors all of them had lost.
15. The price of freedom is death.
The slaves were almost never freed, for them the only way out of the situation in which they always found themselves used to be death.
16. Power never takes a step back, only in the face of more power.
We must never let the problems that appear in our life overtake us, if we are persistent and determined, we will certainly always be able to overcome them.
17. Time is on the side of the oppressed today, it is against the oppressor. The truth is on the side of the oppressed today, it is against the oppressor. You do not need anything else.
Malcolm knew that with the truth in hand, in the end the world would agree with him. Unfortunately he agreed too late for him.
18. Black men have a pretty hard time in our own fight for justice, and we already have enough enemies to make the drastic mistake of attacking us and adding more weight to an already unbearable.
African Americans should always try to support each other, otherwise they will never be able to successfully cope with all those problems that sporadically appear.
19. Talking like this does not mean that we are anti-white, but it does mean that we are anti-exploitation, we are anti-degradation, we are anti-oppression.
Malcolm just wanted blacks to have the same rights and obligations as whites. An equality that unfortunately according to the criteria of many people does not yet exist today.
20. Once it was, yes. But now I have turned away from anything that is racist.
There came a time when Malcolm said enough, as a man he simply could not continue living in the same way that he had done until then.
21. We do not condemn preachers as individuals, but we condemn what they teach. We urge preachers to teach the truth, to teach our people the only important rule of thumb: unity of purpose.
Those who share wrong beliefs should undoubtedly be penalized for it, the truth always has to be the only dogma by which as individuals we must guide ourselves.
22. I don't even call it violence when it's self-defense; I call it intelligence.
Whenever we are attacked, we must defend ourselves, since it is logical to think that every human being must have the innate right to self-defense.
23. If violence is wrong in America, violence is wrong abroad. If it's wrong to be violent defending black women and black children and black babies and black men, then it is wrong for the United States to recruit us and make us violent abroad in defense of her. And if it is right for the United States to recruit us and teach us to be violent in defense of it, then it is right for you and I to do whatever it takes to defend our own people here in this country.
African Americans also had the right to study or play sports, they should never be enlisted against their will.
24. Nonviolence is fine as long as it works.
Unnecessary violence should never be welcomed, but on certain exceptional occasions it is logical that frustration ends up leading us unequivocally towards it.
25. I am for violence if non-violence means that we continue to postpone a solution to the American black man problem just to avoid violence.
African Americans had to stop being trampled on by their white compatriots, an absurd race war that unfortunately is still going on today.
26. There can be no black and white drive until there is some black drive. We cannot think of joining with others until after we have joined for the first time. We cannot think of being acceptable to others until we have first proven ourselves acceptable.
African Americans had to accept themselves first, before being accepted by the rest of society. A totally fundamental requirement so that these in block could demand all those rights that really belong to them.
27. My alma mater was books, a good library. I could spend the rest of my life reading, just satisfying my curiosity.
Reading is a fantastic activity that can be beneficial for all people and as we see in this quote, Malcolm X decided to dedicate a lot of his free time to this activity.
28. I think there will finally be a clash between the oppressed and those who oppress. I think there will be a confrontation between those who want freedom, justice and equality for all and those who want to continue with the systems of exploitation.
American society was at that time going through a momentous moment, because after the known as the civil rights movement, African-Americans would never again go with the head down.
29. We declare our right on this earth to be a human being, to be respected as human beings, to receive the rights of a human being in this society, on this earth, on this day, which we intend to bring into existence by any means necessary.
All Americans certainly deserve to be treated with the same respect and consideration, regardless of their race, religion, or gender.
30. I believe in human rights for all, and none of us is qualified to judge ourselves, and therefore none of us should have that authority.
The field of human rights is still very sensitive today, as unfortunately many countries around the world still do not respect many of those minorities that for years have inhabit.
31. The only way to gain freedom for ourselves is to identify with all the oppressed people in the world. We are blood brothers to the people of Brazil, Venezuela, Haiti and Cuba.
For Malcolm, all those descendants of former slaves had to wake up and begin to fight for their interests, no matter what country they were in.
32. I am neither a fanatic nor a dreamer. I am a black man who loves peace and justice, and loves his people.
The race of a person should not be a factor that directly influences his chances of success, while this happens, the society in which we all find ourselves will not be completely fair to all population.
33. Dr. King wants the same as me. Liberty.
Both men, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, sought the same goal for their people, freedom.
34. In all our actions, proper value and respect for time determines success or failure.
The speeches of this speaker had to be studied to the millimeter, otherwise they would never have the desired impact and depth among the audience.
35. The black revolution is controlled by cunning white liberals, by the government itself. But the Black Revolution is controlled only by God.
God was always a very important figure for him, especially after being able to find his true religion, Islam.
36. I have often reflected on the new perspectives that reading opened for me. In prison I knew that reading had forever changed the course of my life. As I see it today, the ability to read awakened in me a latent craving to be mentally alive.
Reading was an activity which opened a new world of possibilities for him, thanks to it his academic training undoubtedly improved remarkably.
37. A race of people is like an individual man; Until you use your own talents, take pride in your own history, express your own culture, affirm your own identity, you can never fulfill yourself.
All of us should be proud of the person we are, regardless of what race we belong to or what color our skin is.
38. The media are the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent innocent and to make the guilty innocent, and that is power. Because they control the minds of the masses.
The media obviously have a great impact within our society, because with their news they can manipulate the opinion of the people with tremendous ease.
39. People don't realize how a book can change a man's life.
Books are really very powerful weapons, thanks to them we can all become a completely different person.
40. I want Dr. King to know that he did not come to Selma to make his job difficult. I really came thinking that I could make it easier. If whites realize the alternative, they may be more willing to listen to Dr. King.
Malcolm saw himself as a man with far more radical ideas than Dr. King, although both ultimately pursued the same ideals.
41. The power in defense of freedom is greater than the power in the name of tyranny, because the power of a just cause is based on conviction and leads to determined and uncompromising action.
If we know that we are in possession of the truth, we cannot make mistakes, truth and justice must always be for us the two fundamental pillars of our society.
42. With regard to non-violence, it is criminal to teach a man not to defend himself when he is the constant victim of brutal attacks.
In Malcolm X's view, African Americans should wake up, they couldn't sit still while white supremacists continually abused them.
43. I believe in the brotherhood of all men, but I don't believe in wasting brotherhood on anyone who doesn't want to practice it with me. The brotherhood is a two-way street.
Only by respecting others do we also deserve to be respected, whoever does not respect their fellow citizens on a continuous basis does not have to be respected by them.
44. You need to be a guerrilla because you are alone. In conventional warfare, you have tanks and lots of other people with you to back you up - planes over your head and all that kind of stuff. But a guerrilla is alone. All you have is a rifle, some slippers, and a plate of rice, and that's all you need, and a lot of heart.
The fight for civil rights was certainly a very complicated fight, since many detractors of his speeches used to demonstrate against him with great assiduity.
45. There is nothing in our book, the Qur'an, that teaches us to suffer peacefully. Our religion teaches us to be smart. Be peaceful, courteous, obey the law, respect everyone; But if someone lays their hand on you, send them to the cemetery. That is a good religion.
If they don't respect us, we shouldn't respect them either, as human beings we should never allow third parties to abuse us.
46. When a person places an appropriate value on freedom, there is nothing under the sun that he will not do to acquire that freedom. Every time you hear a man say that he wants freedom, but in the next breath he will tell you what he won't do to get it, or what he doesn't believe in doing to get it, he won't. He believes in freedom. A man who believes in freedom will do anything under the sun to acquire or preserve his freedom.
Freedom should be a fundamental and inalienable right of all people, all human beings regardless of where we come from, we deserve to be treated in the same way before the law.
47. They put your mind in a bag and take it wherever they want.
The media often confuse us with their way of transmitting the news, we must not allow them to manipulate us and believe in our minds wrong ideas.
48. You don't have to be a man to fight for freedom. All you have to do is be an intelligent human being.
All of us should have an equal chance of success within the society we inhabit, regardless of our race, religion, or sexual orientation.
49. The real names of our people were destroyed during slavery. My ancestors' last name was taken from them when they were brought to America and made slaves, and then they were given the name of the slave master, which we rejected, we rejected that name today and we reject. I never acknowledge it at all.
Malcolm changed his name to a Muslim name, a name that undoubtedly from his point of view represented him to a far greater extent. Other great African Americans of the time also supported this idea, such as Muhammad Ali or Kareem Abdul-jabbar.
50. I believe in a religion that believes in freedom. Every time I have to accept a religion that doesn't allow me to fight a battle for my people, I say to hell with that religion.
In Islam he found a religion that really represented him, after his trip to Mecca, Malcolm openly declared himself a Sunni Muslim.
51. We are not violent towards people who are not violent towards us.
Those who treat us well deserve to be respected by us, non-violence should be the most common practice in anyone's life.
52. I don't see an American dream, I see an American nightmare.
African Americans in the 1960s had no place in the so-called “American dream,” something this celebrated speaker simply couldn't understand.
53. I am the man you think you are. If you want to know what I will do, find out what you will do. I'll do the same, only more.
We can all be what we want in the future, but in order to achieve it today we must begin to fight for that dream.
54. What is a Dixiecrat? A Democrat A Dixiecrat is nothing more than a Democrat in disguise.
Dixiecrat was a segregationist party which was operating during the year 1948 in the United States. A party that adopted the southern flag as its own and fought so that African Americans could never have full rights in the United States.
55. The day the black man takes an uncompromising step and realizes that he is within his rights, when his own freedom is compromised, to use whatever means necessary to achieve freedom from him or stop that injustice, I don't think he will be alone.
African Americans had to support each other if they wanted to be heard, for only unity among all of them, it would allow them to fight with enough force for the recognition of their rights.
56. Being an old farmer myself, the chickens that came home to sleep never made me sad; they have always made me happy.
Nature can give us very revealing lessons, such as knowing that it is in the group that we are actually most powerful.
57. For my part, I believe that if you give people a deep understanding of what confronts them and the causes basic principles that produce it, they will create their own program, and when people create a program, they action.
Information is undoubtedly power, since information once we have it allows us to create a unique and personal idea on a specific topic.
58. When life in the ghetto seems normal, you have no shame or privacy.
The ghettos are totally exclusive with respect to minorities, because living in them these people will never be able to integrate in an effective way, within the society they inhabit.
59. If you have a dog, you must have a dog. If you have a rifle, you must have a rifle. If you have a club, you must have a club. This is equality.
All human beings deserve to have the same resources, obviously giving priority to the individual work carried out by each person.
60. Do not be in a hurry to condemn because he does not do what you do or think as you think or as fast. There was a time when you didn't know what you know today.
We have all made mistakes in the past, but in the same way, everyone has the right to change over the years.
61. I feel like a man who has been asleep for a bit and under someone else's control. I feel like what I'm thinking and saying now is for me. Before it was by and by the guidance of Elijah Muhammad. Now I think with my own mind, sir!
When he left the group known as the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X as we see felt a great sense of freedom, the freedom to think and act for himself.
62. Having ever been a criminal is not a disgrace. To remain a criminal is misfortune.
Over time he learned from his mistakes, Malcolm luckily realized how he did not want to live the rest of his life.
63. I have more respect for a man who lets me know where he stands, even if he is wrong, than the one who appears as an angel and is nothing but a demon.
Being honest with ourselves is the first step to being honest with others, without honesty our life will never be anything more than a simple lie.
64. You cannot hate the roots of a tree and you cannot hate the tree. You cannot hate Africa and not hate yourself.
African Americans had to recognize themselves and also recognize their own roots, because if a person does not know where he comes from, he can never know where he wants to go.
65. My black brothers and sisters, of all religious beliefs, or of no religious beliefs, we all have in common the greatest binding bond that we could have. We are all black!
Their race gave them the strongest bond that can exist, they all had to fight together if they wanted to be recognized as full citizens by American society.
66. Segregation is what a superior imposes on an inferior. The separation is done voluntarily by two equals.
The segregation that at that time was lived in the United States should undoubtedly end, since then both white and black must be treated in the same way no matter where they are, honoring the civil rights law signed in 1964 by Lyndon B Johnson.
67. I just don't believe that when people are being unjustly oppressed, they let someone else set rules for them by which they can get out of that oppression.
Many of the laws of those years restricted the individual freedoms of the people, something that luckily could be corrected with the passage of time.
68. It is difficult for an intelligent person to be non-violent.
When someone is fully aware that they are experiencing an injustice, it is something very logical that their blood boils.
69. In the past, the best weapon the white man has ever had has been his ability to divide and conquer. If I take my hand and slap you, you don't even feel it. It may sting you because these digits are separate. But all I have to do to put it back in place is put those digits together.
As they say, divide and conquer, a technique that Europeans used very commonly to make use of human slavery.
70. When we see that our problem is so complicated and so comprehensive in its intent and content, we realize that it is no longer a black problem, confined only to the American Negro; that it is no longer an American problem, confined only to the United States, but rather a problem for humanity.
All men deserve to be free and have the same inalienable rights, regardless of where they come from or inhabit.
71. I want to get blacks out of the ghetto and put them in good neighborhoods, in good houses.
They also deserved to possess wealth, Malcolm with his fight would not allow blacks to be outraged any longer.
72. If you turn the other cheek, you can be enslaved for 1,000 years.
Not being combative can be an easy path to slavery, both men and women must always fight for their rights and recognition.
73. Good education, housing, and employment are imperatives for blacks, and I will support them in their fight to achieve these. objectives, but I will tell blacks that while they are necessary, they cannot solve the main black problem.
African Americans also deserve to have a decent standard of living, something that segregation did not allow for a long time.
74. You cannot legislate good will, that comes through education.
Without education, people will never be able to develop their full potential, that is why education must be a totally fundamental and mandatory aspect in the life of any person.
75. America is the first country that can have a bloodless revolution.
Over the years, the United States has changed a lot, but unfortunately it seems that on racial issues we still have a long way to go.
76. Do you know what integration really means? It means mixed marriages. That is the real point behind it. You can't have it without mixed marriages. And that would result in the disintegration of both races.
Mixed marriages were very frowned upon at that time, a type of couple that as we all know today is very common in almost every country in the world.
77. Integration will not bring a man out of the grave.
We cannot go back in time, for this reason crimes of racial hatred must always be judged with the utmost forcefulness.
78. You must not be so blind to patriotism that you cannot face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who says or does it.
Patriotism cannot hide behind racism, African Americans have built a good part of what is now the United States, without them this great nation would never have been the same.
79. Education is our passport to the future, because tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today.
Malcolm X knew perfectly the power of education, with it African Americans could become the man or woman they want to be tomorrow.
80. For me, what is worse than death is betrayal. He will see, he could conceive death, but he could not conceive betrayal.
There is nothing worse than a false friend, because one can always distrust enemies but not a supposed friend who really is not.