The End of White World Supremacy

Four Speeches

Malcolm X

• Editorial: Arcade
• Año: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781628728668
• Edición: 1
• Categoría: Sozialwissenschaften
• Categoría: Afroamerikanische Studien

The classic collection of major speeches, now bundled with an audio download of Malcolm X delivering two of them. Malcolm X remains a touchstone figure for black America and in American culture at large. He gave African Americans not only their consciousness but their history, dignity, and a new pride. No single individual can claim more important responsibility for a social and historical leap forward such as the one sparked in America in the sixties. When, in 1965, Malcolm X was gunned down on the stage of a Harlem theater, America lost one of its most dynamic political thinkers. Yet, as Michael Eric Dyson has observed, "he remains relevant because he spoke presciently to the issues that matter today: black identity, the politics of black rage, the expression of black dissent, the politics of black power, and the importance of consolidating varieties of expressions within black communities—different ideologies and politics—and bringing them together under a banner of functional solidarity." The End of White World Supremacy contains four major speeches by Malcolm X, including: "Black Man's History, " "The Black Revolution, " "The Old Negro and the New Negro, " and the famous "The Chickens Are Coming Home to Roost" speech ("God's Judgment of White America"), delivered after the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Several of the speeches include a discussion with the moderator, among whom Adam Clayton Powell, or a question-and-answer with the audience. This new edition bundles with the book an audio download of Malcolm's stirring delivery of "Black Man's History" in Harlem's Temple No.7 and "The Black Revolution" in the Abyssinian Baptist Church.

The Old Negro and the New Negro

In 1963, with Malcolm X already a national figure and the Muslim cause for which he was the most articulate spokesman clearly gaining ground among the black masses of America, The Saturday Evening Post published an article entitled “Merchants of Hate.” It was nothing very new for Malcolm or the Muslims. Four years before there had been a major television program aired about the Muslims called “The Hate That Hate Produced,” and during the intervening years the “hate” image had been promulgated by virtually all the major newspapers and magazines of the country. One of the most frequently asked questions that Malcolm had to confront in those days was: “Mr. Malcolm X, why do you teach black supremacy, and hate?” That question, or its many variants, Malcolm relates, was like a red flag being waved in front of him. But he learned to field it with characteristic wit, such as the example he cites in his autobiography: “For the white man to ask the black man if he hates him is just like the rapist asking the raped, or the wolf asking the sheep, ‘Do you hate me?’ The white man is in no moral position to accuse anyone else of hate!”

It is to this article, “Merchants of Hate” that Malcolm refers several times in the following speech-interview.

MALCOLM X: With regard to The Saturday Evening Post article, it’s just about what you would expect from a nationally circulated magazine that is writing about a group of black people not under the influence or control of the white man. To me the magazine article was, by and large, a great deal of propaganda. The very fact that it is named “Merchants of Hate” gives a clue to the purpose or objective that the people who were responsible for the article had in mind. I think that the white man has a great deal of nerve to refer to any black people as merchants of hate in the face of the hell that black people have caught in this country at the hands of the white man, even at a time when the whites are admitting that they have brutalized black people for four hundred years. They kidnapped us and brought us here; they deprived us of our rights; they made us slaves; they sold our people from one plantation to another, from one auction block to another. And even right now, 1963, they have to confess they are still depriving the black people here in America, not only of civil rights but even of human rights. And behind all of this mistreatment and abuse that whites have inflicted upon the black people in this country, again I say, I think that a white man in a magazine published by white people has a whole lot of nerve charging black people with teaching some kind of hate about them. If black people in this country behind the deeds they have experienced at the hands of the white man don’t hate him because of what they have done to him, why a person would be wasting his time trying to teach someone hate behind that. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad doesn’t teach hate, he teaches black people to love each other.

MODERATOR: Was there anything in that article, Malcolm X, relative to the Muslims that was true?

MALCOLM X: There could have been. I think when it says that The Honorable Elijah Muhammad teaches us to reform ourselves of the vices and evils of this society, drunkenness, dope addiction, how to work and provide a living for our family, take care of our children and our wives—when it pointed out these aspects it was speaking truth, but this is a thing that black people have to guard against. Oftentimes a propagandist who is shrewd will tell just enough truth to make you believe that he is being objective and to get you to listen and then he starts injecting the negative side, and this is where we become resentful.

MODERATOR: They did make some mention in the article, however, of the growing strength of the Black Muslims.

MALCOLM X: Not because they wanted to but because they had to. I think the white man has to face the fact that black people in this country are tired of sitting around waiting for the white man to make up his mind that we are human beings. Therefore, the type of so-called Negro leadership that represents this hat-in-hand, patient, wait-another-hundred-years approach, that type of leadership is losing its grip on the mind of the masses of people. So when a man like The Honorable Elijah Muhammad steps forth in the midst of the so-called Negroes and calls it just like it is, and shows the black people that we don’t have to compromise with the white man because we are right—right is on our side—and when right is on your side, and when what a man is doing to you is wrong, you don’t have to sit around and give him another hundred years to get his house in order. It is this type of approach that The Honorable Elijah Muhammad is using that makes the masses of black people see that he is the man for them. And it is also helping his growth.

MODERATOR: Mention was made in the article of the business prospects, of progress made by the Muslims, and in so doing accusations were made in the article that most of the businesses of the Black Muslims are very small neighborhood businesses. Is that true?

MALCOLM X: Well, sir, when the white man himself was starting out his businesses in this country they all started out as neighborhood businesses. Woolworth started out with one store and over the years he has developed a chain into a tremendous economic enterprise. Sears, Roebuck—all of your big chain businesses or your industries that the white man has today were started as small businesses. Any business that you can point out started out small, and this is where the Negro has made his mistake. He wants to start out right now exactly as the white man is. He doesn’t realize that you have to start out small and develop into that which you ultimately will become. And The Honorable Elijah Muhammad has actually showed his business ingenuity by showing how to start out small and develop our businesses—make them grow—and then our business ability grows right along with that business. And there is nothing wrong with that. And also that article did point out the fact that most of the businesses aren’t owned by the Nation of Islam or the Muslim group per se, but rather most of the businesses are owned by the individual Muslims, and this is true. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad encourages every so-called Negro that respects the religion of Islam to stand on his own two feet and start doing something for himself. So the money that we used to throw away when we were Christians—nightclubbing and drinking and smoking and participating in these other acts of immorality—the money that we save when we become Muslims—we channel it into these small business enterprises and try to develop them to where they can provide some job opportunities for the rest of our people. And I can cite a good example in New York where we have one particular brother who, when he was a Christian, was a drunkard. He was a mechanic. He used to work for the white man. And when he came to Muhammad’s Mosque in New York he immediately stopped drinking and he started saving his money and he opened up a little two-by-four, or two-bit, garage in a store on 115th Street, and within three or four years he had saved up enough money to buy himself a home on Long Island plus expand his small business into a five-story garage, where he now employs fifty or so persons. Which means he is now in a position to create employment for Negroes. And he has done this only since becoming a Muslim. He is only an example of what The Honorable Elijah Muhammad has taught black men to do across the country. Instead of begging the white man for what he has, he says we should get together and start doing something for ourselves. As long as a lot of these Negroes want to continue to beg from the white man and sit around and wait for the crumbs to fall from the white man’s table, they don’t like what Mr. Muhammad is forcing them to do: stand on their own two feet. So they slip up to the white man and whisper in his ear and make the white man think—the gullible white man think—that The Honorable Elijah Muhammad is teaching hate and trying to develop some kind of an army to overthrow the white man. And as long as the white man listens to that type of Negro he will end up overthrowing himself.

MODERATOR: Malcolm, I understand that you were at the Irvine Auditorium at the University of Pennsylvania today as a guest of the youth chapter of the NAACP and the report that I received was that you had better than three thousand people out there, with a number of people standing outside who were not able to gain entrance. Is that true?

MALCOLM X: That’s correct.

MODERATOR: I am wondering what your subject was and what you talked about out there.

MALCOLM X: Well, before I tell you the subject I want to comment on that crowd. You’ll find that this is a pattern that we run into across the country. Wherever a Muslim makes an appearance and gives a lecture, no matter what type of crowd comes out, even a capacity crowd, very seldom will you read too much about it in the press. Very seldom will you get any indication from the press that the people in that city or in that community or in that college or in that university are showing any genuine interest in what the Muslim has to say. But when an integrationist like King or someone else comes into the city, if he talks to five people this will be blown up in the press and it will be made to appear that this is the man who represents the black masses, and that all of the black masses endorse the type of peaceful-suffering, hat-in-hand, tongue-in-cheek doctrine that is usually displayed on those occasions. So basically one of the reasons why you never hear too much about occasions like this is because of that fact. Now, my subject today dealt with primarily two different Negroes: the old Negro and the new Negro.

MODERATOR: Will you tell us something about it?

MALCOLM X: I will. This is the thing that whites need to be made aware of, that there is an old Negro and a new Negro. The old Negro is the one that the white man is familiar with. The new Negro is the one that has resuited from the teachings of The Honorable Elijah Muhammad, and the whites in this country are not too familiar with this type. Back in slavery they also had two types, and to understand the types today you have to understand the two types that existed during slavery. During slavery, historians agree, there were what were known as the house Negro and the field Negro. The house Negro was the one who lived in the master’s house, ate the master’s food, at the master’s table usually—after the master had finished with it. He dressed like the master, which means he wore the same type of clothing that the master did, but usually it was clothing handed down to him by the master. He identified the master’s house as his own. If the master said, “We have a fine house here,” the house Negro would say, “Yes, our house is a fine house.” Whenever the master said, “We,” he said, “We.” If the master said, “We have good food on our table,” the house Negro would chime in and say, “Yes, we have plenty of food, boss, on our table.” The house Negro would also indentify himself so closely with his master that when the master was sick the house Negro would say, “What’s the matter, boss, we’s sick?” When the master was sick he was sick. If the master’s house caught on fire the house Negro would fight harder to put the flames out or keep the flames from enveloping the master’s house than the master would himself. If someone were to come to the . . .

MODERATOR: He would naturally say, “We’s sick,” because the master was sick . . .

MALCOLM X: Oh yes, he would say, “We’s sick” or “We’s in trouble.” If the master was in trouble, he would say, “Boss, we is sure in trouble.”

MODERATOR: Well, I can understand where he might be in trouble if the master was in trouble, but I can’t understand how he could be sick if the master was sick!

MALCOLM X: Oh, yes. This type of Negro loved the master so much—he never felt pain for himself; he only was in pain when his master was in pain. And this is very important to understand because you cannot understand the present-day twentieth century house Negro or twentieth century Uncle Tom until you have a real understanding of the Uncle Tom who lived on the plantation before the Emancipation Proclamation. And that type of Negro never identified himself with the other slaves. He always thought he was above the field Negroes. The field Negroes were the masses. The house Negroes were the minority whereas the field Negroes were in the majority. Now, sir, if someone came to that house Negro and said, “Let’s separate, let’s run,” the house Negro would look at that person like he was crazy and tell him, “Run where? How would I live, how would I sleep if I leave my master’s house? How would I eat if my master didn’t feed me? How would I clothe myself if my master wasn’t here to give me some clothes?” Well, that’s the house Negro.

Now you have the other type of Negro—the field Negro. The field Negro was the one who really caught hell. He was the one who was dissatisfied. He was the one who was oppressed. He was the one who was downtrodden and exploited most. He was the one who felt the brunt of the master’s whip, the lash of the master’s whip—and he hated his master. If his master got sick, he didn’t say, “Are we sick?” He prayed that his master would die. If his master’s house caught on fire he prayed for a strong wind to come up and bum the plantation down. He never identified himself with his master in any way whatsoever. And if someone came to that Negro, that field Negro, that mass element, and said, “Let’s go, let’s separate, let’s leave the master and strike out on our own,” he wouldn’t even ask where. He would leave. He wouldn’t even ask you how. He would leave. He wouldn’t ask you any questions at all. As soon as you said, “Come on, let’s go,” he’d be gone.

Now just as you have the house Negro and the field Negro a hundred years ago, in America today you have a house Negro and a field Negro. You have the modern counterpart of that slavery-time Uncle Tom, only the one today is a twentieth century Uncle Tom. He doesn’t wear a handkerchief around his head, sir. He wears a top hat. He speaks with a Harvard accent or a Howard accent. Sometimes he is a lawyer or a judge or a doctor or he is an ambassador to the UN. He represents the government in all the international conferences. He runs to the Congo and tries to settle differences there, but he can’t go to Mississippi and settle differences that his own people are confronted with in the face of these Mississippi southerners. This is the twentieth-century house Negro. He wants to live with his master. He wants to force his way into his master’s neighborhood. He wants to force his way into his master’s schools. He wants to force his way into his master’s industry. He identifies himself with his master so much that when his master says, “Our society,” he says, “Yes boss, our society.” When his master says, “Our army, our armed forces,” or “Our astronauts are floating around the earth,” he says, “Yes.” Now here is a Negro, mind you, talking about his astronauts floating around in space someplace or talking about his industry out here called General Motors or talking about his mayor in City Hall or his President in the White House. Every time the white man says, “We” that type of Negro says, “Yes, we.” Now when he hears the white man say how rich we are, that Negro runs around talking about how rich we are, how enlightened we are, how educated we are, or this is the free world or this is a free country, and at the same time he is begging the white man for civil rights and integration and all that kind of stuff he doesn’t have. He is a twentieth century Uncle Tom. He is a house Negro. He is no different from that house Negro during slavery other than that he is living in the twentieth century. But he identifies himself with the white man. He is never sick until the white man is sick. If you attack the white man, that Negro will open up his mouth to defend the white man better than the white man can defend himself.

Now then, you have the masses of black people in this country who are the offshoot of the field Negro, during slavery. They are the masses. They are the ones who are jobless. They are the last hired and the first fired. They are the ones who are forced to live in the ghetto and the slum. They are the ones who are not allowed to integrate. They are not the handpicked Negroes who benefit from token integration. They are not the bourgeoisie who get the crumbs that fall from the white man’s table. They are not the ones who can slip into the White House or these big hotels when the doors are opened up. These are the ones who still are forced to live in the ghetto or forced to live in the slum or forced to get a third-rate education or forced to work in the worst form of job. They benefit in no way, shape, or form whatsoever from this thing that is called democracy. And that type of Negro—when you come to him—field Negro, this mass level type of so-called Negro—and tell him, “Let’s separate,” he doesn’t ask you anything about “Where shall we go?” He doesn’t question Mr. Muhammad’s method of bringing about separation. He just says, “OK, let’s separate. We are catching hell in this system we are in now. Let’s separate.” He has the same reaction to what The Honorable Elijah Muhammad is teaching today that the field Negroes would have if a man came during slavery and told those slaves, “Come on, let’s go.”

This was emphasized at the University of Pennsylvania today, to make the white people see that they are dealing with two different types of Negro. This integrationist Negro is the one who doesn’t want to be black—he is ashamed to be black—and he knows that he can’t be white. So he calls himself a Negro—an American Negro—which means he is neither black nor white. He doesn’t want to be black and can’t be white, so he is called a Negro. And since he is living in this American society he is always seeking a role for himself on the American stage. And since he knows that America is a white country and all of the economy, the politics, the civic life of America is controlled by the white man—the whole stage is controlled by the white man—whenever he sees himself on the American stage, he sees himself as a minority in the company of a white majority. So he is the underdog, and as an underdog he regards himself as a minority. He adopts the beggar role—the role of a beggar. And for everything that type of Negro seeks for himself he takes a begging attitude, a condescending attitude. So also, sir, he never looks at himself on the world stage. Usually his knowledge is limited to right here, to America, and he thinks of himself as an American in the American context which always keeps him in the role of a minority. But now when it comes to the international stage he can’t see it. He is not interested in a role on the international stage. He only wants a minority role in America.

But there is another type of Negro on the scene. This type doesn’t call himself a Negro. He calls himself a black man. He doesn’t make any apology for his black skin. He doesn’t make any apology for being in America because he knows he was brought here forcibly by the white man. It’s the white man’s fault that he is here. It’s the white man who created the problem here in America that they call a race problem. This type of...