This, from Malcolm X:
Trapped! Double trapped, triple trapped! Anywhere we go, we find that we’re trapped, and every kind of solution that someone comes up with is just another trap. But the political and economic philosophy of black nationalism – the economic philosophy of black nationalism shows our people the importance of setting up these little stores and developing them and expanding them into larger operations. Woolworth didn’t start out big like they are today; they started out with a dime store and expanded and then expanded and expanded until the day they’re all over the country and all over the world and they’re getting some of everybody’s money. General Motors, the same way – it started out a little rat-race type operation and it expanded and expanded until today it’s where it is right now. And you and I have to make a start and the best place to start is right in the community where we live.
So our people not only have to be re-educated to the importance of supporting black business, but the black man himself must be made aware of the importance of going into business. And, once you and I go into business we own and operate at least the businesses within our community. What we will be doing is developing a situation wherein we will actually be able to create employment for the people in the community. Once you can create some employment in the community where you live, it will eliminate the necessity for you and me to act ignorantly and disgracefully boycotting some cracker someplace else, trying to beg him for a job.
Any time you have to rely on your enemy for a job, you’re in bad shape.
He is your enemy. You wouldn’t be in this country if some enemy hadn’t kidnapped you and brought you here. On the other hand, some of you think you came here on the Mayflower.
[…]
We suffer political oppression. Economic exploitation. And social degradation. All of them from the same enemy. The government has failed us; you can’t deny that. Any time you live in the 20th century and you’re walking around here singing “we shall overcome” the government has failed. That’s part of what’s wrong with you – you do too much singing. Today, it’s time to stop singing and start swinging.
[…]
The white liberals, who have been posing as our friends, have failed us. And once we see that all these other sources to which we’ve turned have failed – we stop turning to them and turn to ourselves. We should be a self-help program, a “do it yourself” philosophy. A “do it right now” philosophy. An “It’s already too late” philosophy. This is what you and I need to get with.
[…]
When we look at other parts of this Earth on which we live, we find black, brown, red, and yellow people. In Africa and Asia, are getting their independence. They’re not getting it by singing “we shall overcome” – noooo – they’re getting it through nationalism. Every nation in Asia gained its independence through the philosophy of nationalism. Every nation on the African continent that has gotten its independence brought it about through the philosophy of nationalism. And it will take black nationalism to bring about the freedom of 22 million Afro-Americans here in this country where we have suffered colonialism for the past 400 years.
America is just as much a colonial power as England ever was. America is just as much a colonial power as France ever was. In fact, America is more so a colonial power than they, because she’s a hypocritical colonial behind it. What do you call second-class citizenship? “Colonization”! Second-class citizenship is nothing but 20th century slavery. They don’t have second-class citizenship in any other government on this earth; they just have slaves and people who are free. Well, this country is a hypocrite. They try and make you think they set you free by calling you a “second-class citizen.” No, you’re nothing but a 20th century slave.
Just as it took nationalism to remove colonialism from Asia and Africa, it’ll take black nationalism today to remove colonialism from the backs and the minds of 22 million Afro-Americans here in this country. Looks like it might be the year of the ballot or the bullet.
Because negroes have listened to the trickery and the lies and the false promises of the white man now for too long, and they’re fed up. They’ve become disenchanted. They’ve become disillusioned. They’ve become dissatisfied. All this has built up frustrations in the black community that makes the black community throughout America today more explosive than all the atomic bombs the Russians can invent. Whenever you’ve got a racial powder-keg sitting in your lap, you’re in more trouble than if you had an atomic powder-keg sitting in your lap. When a racial powder-keg goes off it doesn’t care who it knocks out of the way.
Understand this: it’s dangerous. Because what can the white man use, now, to fool us? After he put down that march on Washington – and you see all through that now – he tricked you; he had you marching down to Washington. Yeah, he had you marching back and forth between the feet of a dead man named Lincoln and another dead man named George Washington singing “we shall overcome.”
He made a chump out of you.
First elipsis, I deleted about 3 minutes where Malcolm makes the case that black people have become divided by religion and unity is more important than faith. It’s a good point but I think it detracts from the economic argument he’s making and I don’t feel like transcribing it.
Second elipsis, I deleted some joking about Muhammad Ali’s not being a very good singer.
Third elipsis, more about religion. Malcolm has to work to make sure he’s not being seen as an islamic separatist against christians because that distracts from his message of black nationalism.
The speech is quite long and it’s delivered in an angry, fast, high-energy burst of rhetoric. Malcolm X was probably a better speaker than Martin Luther King; as you can see he did not veer into sounding conciliatory at all. His points are good, and he refers back to them, lacing forward and backward through his arguments like a baptist preacher, so his overall sound would be familiar to his audience.
There is another part in the speech which is one of my favorites, but there’s a long piece I don’t want to elide to get there. He talks about Patrick Henry and says Patrick Henry said “give me liberty or give me death” but he didn’t have 22 million black Americans on his side and he was only talking about a few thousand Englishmen. Damn, that’s good stuff. He also comments about Vietnam, that black Americans are being expected to go stand up against 220 million Chinese and they’re supposed to come back to the US and be afraid of a couple hundred thousand southern crackers.
Malcom’s argument is brilliant and he touches on a lot of key points. He ropes in the relative danger of the Soviet nuclear threat compared to insurgency and does not forget to mention that the US government stupidly taught a lot of black men how to use M-16s in Vietnam. At one point (I may post it some other time) he points out the fact that 22 million black Americans represent a huge swing vote-bloc that, if it could act with any coordination at all, could become the controlling factor in American politics. He was right. He still expressed some hope that white America might adhere to some of its ideals. He was to be fatally disillusioned – the Ballot Or Bullet speech was April 3, 1964 and he was killed in February 1965. King was killed in 1968.
Malcolm’s speaking style is relentless, crystal clear, and angry. As one of those “white liberals” that he complains about, there were several times that I felt like cringing. His rhetoric pulls the crowd along so hard that if he told them, “OK it’s time to go riot” they would have. You can see immediately why the US government was terrified of Malcolm and considered him a serious threat. I would not be at all surprised to find out that some of the CIA’s secret files from the period will show that Malcolm’s killers were part of the CIA’s Project Mockingbird (which was going on in parallel with FBI’s COINTELPRO) Oh: somebody shot him; we can close the case now:
Yes, sure, but I cannot help thinking about how nationalism is terrible in other aspects. Also, it’s white people’s nationalism that resulted in treating other cultures as inferior.
I agree that nationalism is a problem.
I suspect Malcolm would say it’s a first step. I’m pretty anti-nationalist myself so I translate what he says into “organize!”
Maybe how you interpret his words is correct and what he actually meant. Or maybe he actually wanted to promote nationalism, and you are reinterpreting his words, because you like this guy. I know too little about Malcolm X to want to speculate about what he actually meant. And, of course, I agree with the overall message in this speech, it’s just that when people mention nationalism as a good thing, this bit is something I mostly disagree with.
Besides, it’s possible to convey this message without promoting nationalism: “There’s a group of people who abuse us. Let’s join forces, let’s organize, cooperate, and work together in order to make the world more just.” Here we have a quote: “It will take black nationalism to bring about the freedom of 22 million Afro-Americans here in this country where we have suffered colonialism for the past 400 years.” It could be changed into, “It will take black solidarity…”
Andreas Avester@#3:
“It will take black solidarity…”
I’m not a fan at all of Malcolm’s Nation of Islam perspective; I think that he had fallen under the sway of some con-men. In my opinion, that is what religion is for: a divide-and-conquer political con.
It always seemed to me that when Malcolm was talking about “black nationalism” he was trying to set up echoes in his speech for “nation of islam”, using the same semiotic tricks as a protestant revival minister uses (emphasis on “tricks”) So when I listen to Malcolm I hear a lot of signals of verbal manipulation and it gets my guard up.
The prevailing narrative is that he had a falling-out with the leadership of the NOI, who had him killed. At the time when he gave that speech, he was already under threat – his house had been firebombed and he had been getting threatening phone calls and drive-bys. So I can understand and sympathize with his concern for solidarity and downplaying religious differences. Differences that supposedly got him killed 3 months later.
It’s also pretty easy to see how he could have been seen as a huge threat to the white establishment, whose political arm, the CIA and FBI, were running covert penetration operations into radical movements, injecting agents that were intended to promote violence (so the movements could be shut down). It’s not at all out of the question that he was assassinated by government agents embedded in the NOI. There were similar agents and similar operations going on against the Black Panther Party and the Weather Underground, which also got people killed.
[Malcolm was originally a powerful recruiter for the NOI, which had a leadership structure that enjoyed the fruits of power – i.e.: women, good food, and nice loot. Malcolm was unhappy about that, and spoke against it, which is why they felt he was a threat. As you can imagine, a man like Malcolm was good at making enemies.]
That strategy might have worked in 1965, even made sense through the 90s. Now? How, in this land in this time, could any small retail operation stay alive, let alone expand, in the world of Amazon Prime? That economic dream is over.
Just an Organic Regular Expression@#5:
How, in this land in this time, could any small retail operation stay alive, let alone expand, in the world of Amazon Prime? That economic dream is over.
Yes, those doors have been closed to everyone. I’m sure Malcolm would say that’s not an accident. I think it’s an accident of capitalist greed; if it’s not Amazon it’d be WAL-MART.
One can still shop locally and pay more. Unfortunately the establishment has figured that out. I remember I was listening to a podcast about the fate of a bunch of Palestinians who tried to open a mushroom growing operation and the Israelis kept stepping on their supply-chain and sales outlets. Got to keep the loonies on the path.
I’m not saying Malcolm was right about everything! This posting came out of my awareness that he did a very good job of understanding the situation he was in at the time he was in it, and I think his analysis, his rhetoric, and his way of framing things are all brilliant. Still got him killed. And, as he appeared to be predicting, the civil rights movement got fobbed off into a step in the right direction – into an economic trap.
Marcus:
Regarding his brilliant way of framing things, seems to me that advocating for revolution is bound to be problematic for the establishment.
Also, getting oneself killed is not what I would call a good job, unless it’s a case of suicide.
John Morales@#8:
Regarding his brilliant way of framing things, seems to me that advocating for revolution is bound to be problematic for the establishment.
That was the point of the exercise.
Also, getting oneself killed is not what I would call a good job, unless it’s a case of suicide.
Perhaps he believed that much in what he was doing, that he was willing to proceed anyway.
Marcus, if that was the point, it failed abysmally. I mean, I get the civil rights aspect, but there was a whole lot more to it, no?
And yet, that’s the focus of your piece.
aka ‘martyrdom’. Not something I find admirable, I’d rather admire the Nelson Mandelas of the world, who endure and survive and make a real difference.
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This post did make me curious about NOI, and so I had a bit of a look, and wow!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nation_of_Islam#Beliefs_and_theology
(Something to die for, apparently)
and yet, sadly today, South Africa is one of the most violent and politically corrupt countries on the continent (despite its many accomplishments and the difficulties of recreating their society without descending into a Zimbabwe-style violent kleptocracy)
Minister Louis Farrakhan: “First, the program starts with number one. That is number four. The first part of that program is that we want freedom, a full and complete freedom. The second is, we want justice. We want equal justice under the law, and we want justice applied equally to all, regardless of race or class or color. And the third is that we want equality. We want equal membership in society with the best in civilized society. If we can get that within the political, economic, social system of America, there’s no need for point number four. But if we cannot get along in peace after giving America 400 years of our service and sweat and labor, then, of course, separation would be the solution to our race problem.”
Just read a horrible summary in Harper’s of the (race-based) vote rigging and voter disenfranchisement going on right now and spreading. Especially, but not only in the Usual Places (i.e. that fascist tool in Georgia won election by almost the same number of votes as he, as Secretary of State for George, kicked off the voter roles). Minister Farrakhan would probably agree that they need to be moving onto Number 4.
bmiller, ahem: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_African_countries_by_Human_Development_Index
(Mind you, I’ve been to SA, seen the walled enclaves, the electric fences and spikes and barbed wire and armed guards, and the shantytowns and whatnot. But, still, one of the worst, it ain’t)
aka ‘apartheid’.
Farrakhan and Elija Muhammad are religious scammers. The beliefs of NOI are ridiculous, but no more ridiculous than mormonism or christianity. I feel bad for Malcolm because he fell for NOI bullshit hook, line, and sinker.
I don’t need to agree with everything Malcolm believed or said, to appreciate his historical importance and his way of parsing apart the lies of the US.
His historical importance?
I was hitherto only aware that it was a name in USA’s black emancipation movement, and that he flamed out pretty quickly.
If he did, he was not that smart or cluey; I’d rather imagine he thought it was a tool he could use for higher goals, but it was a bit too two-sided. That would be kinder.
[“My My, Hey Hey (Out Of The Blue)”]
John Morales:
You do have a point. I was responding to discussions the other day on corruption in the ANC, but by African standards, South Africa remains a high point for sure.
For example, this is a rather horrific litany of abuse (Kenya. Daniel arap Moi just died, wealthy at age 91): https://maasaiboys.wordpress.com/2020/02/08/all-dead-men-are-good/
Ugh.
Confirms, once again, the dangers of nationalism and authoritarianism.
I don’t know the ultimate source of that list, but it seems….sketchy….to me. LIBYA above SOUTH AFRICA? After what the French and Brits and the Peace Prize President did to the country? Maybe Kadaffi had built strong enough infrastructure that it has simply not totally collapsed yet?
Surprised about Algeria, too. They have been restive for decades. Oil?
Interesting list, though!
John Morale @#16
I don’t know when I heard of Malcolm X, certainly sometime in my teens, ie the 1970s. He was talked of with respect in certain circles in the UK, and with horror in others. Maybe you are just too young?
ach sorry left the s off the end of your name, I have got to get a new keyboard.
Jazzlet, no worries about the typos. But my lack of knowledge is more indicative of my lack of interest in the specifics of the black struggle in the USA than of my age — I will be 60 this year.
One of the reasons I like reading this blog is that it increases my knowledge base and provides me with external perspectives. I now know more than I did before reading this post, so it’s all good for me.
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bmiller, it’s Wikipedia, sources are provided, including the methodology if you drill in.
“The table below presents the latest Human Development Index (HDI) for countries in Africa as included in the United Nations Development Programme’s Human Development Report, released on 9 December 2019 and based on data collected in 2018” [hyperlinks elided]
(I did share your surprise regarding Libya’s ranking)
John Morales: I saw that after I posted. I remain shocked about Libya and even Algeria, though. Know nothing about Gabon. I assume the latter also has oil. :)
Yeppers! “Abundant petroleum and foreign private investment have helped make Gabon one of the most prosperous countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, with the 7th highest HDI[6] and the fourth highest GDP per capita (PPP) (after Mauritius, Equatorial Guinea and Seychelles) in the region. GDP grew by more than 6% per year from 2010 to 2012. However, because of inequality in income distribution, a significant proportion of the population remains poor.” The Wiki.
Know nothing about Gabon. I assume the latter also has oil. :)
Gabon also has increasingly rare ebony trees.
Take a look at the GINI map, though. South Africa is, shockingly (or maybe as expected) one of the worst.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cc/2017%2C_Coeficiente_de_Gini%2C_Mapa_del_mundo.svg/1920px-2017%2C_Coeficiente_de_Gini%2C_Mapa_del_mundo.svg.png