malcolm x the ballot or the bullet.docx

1、malcolm x the ballot or the bulletmalcolm x: the ballot or the bulletmr. moderator, brother lomax, brothers and sisters, friends and enemies: i just cant believe everyone in here is a friend, and i dont want to leave anybody out. the question tonight, as i understand it, is the negro revolt, and whe

2、re do we go from here? or what next? in my little humble way of understanding it, it points toward either the ballot or the bullet.before we try and explain what is meant by the ballot or the bullet, i would like to clarify something concerning myself. im still a muslim; my religion is still islam.

3、thats my personal belief. just as adam clayton powell is a christian minister who heads the abyssinian baptist church in new york, but at the same time takes part in the political struggles to try and bring about rights to the black people in this country; and dr. martin luther king is a christian m

4、inister down in atlanta, georgia, who heads another organization fighting for the civil rights of black people in this country; and reverend galamison, i guess youve heard of him, is another christian minister in new york who has been deeply involved in the school boycotts to eliminate segregated ed

5、ucation; well, i myself am a minister, not a christian minister, but a muslim minister; and i believe in action on all fronts by whatever means necessary.although im still a muslim, im not here tonight to discuss my religion. im not here to try and change your religion. im not here to argue or discu

6、ss anything that we differ about, because its time for us to submerge our differences and realize that it is best for us to first see that we have the same problem, a common problem, a problem that will make you catch hell whether youre a baptist, or a methodist, or a muslim, or a nationalist. wheth

7、er youre educated or illiterate, whether you live on the boulevard or in the alley, youre going to catch hell just like i am. were all in the same boat and we all are going to catch the same hell from the same man. he just happens to be a white man. all of us have suffered here, in this country, pol

8、itical oppression at the hands of the white man, economic exploitation at the hands of the white man, and social degradation at the hands of the white man.now in speaking like this, it doesnt mean that were anti-white, but it does mean were anti-exploitation, were anti-degradation, were anti-oppress

9、ion. and if the white man doesnt want us to be anti-him, let him stop oppressing and exploiting and degrading us. whether we are christians or muslims or nationalists or agnostics or atheists, we must first learn to forget our differences. if we have differences, let us differ in the closet; when we

10、 come out in front, let us not have anything to argue about until we get finished arguing with the man. if the late president kennedy could get together with khrushchev and exchange some wheat, we certainly have more in common with each other than kennedy and khrushchev had with each other.if we don

11、t do something real soon, i think youll have to agree that were going to be forced either to use the ballot or the bullet. its one or the other in 1964. it isnt that time is running out - time has run out!1964 threatens to be the most explosive year america has ever witnessed. the most explosive yea

12、r. why? its also a political year. its the year when all of the white politicians will be back in the so-called negro community jiving you and me for some votes. the year when all of the white political crooks will be right back in your and my community with their false promises, building up our hop

13、es for a letdown, with their trickery and their treachery, with their false promises which they dont intend to keep. as they nourish these dissatisfactions, it can only lead to one thing, an explosion; and now we have the type of black man on the scene in america today - im sorry, brother lomax - wh

14、o just doesnt intend to turn the other cheek any longer.dont let anybody tell you anything about the odds are against you. if they draft you, they send you to korea and make you face 800 million chinese. if you can be brave over there, you can be brave right here. these odds arent as great as those

15、odds. and if you fight here, you will at least know what youre fighting for.im not a politician, not even a student of politics; in fact, im not a student of much of anything. im not a democrat. im not a republican, and i dont even consider myself an american. if you and i were americans, thered be

16、no problem. those honkies that just got off the boat, theyre already americans; polacks are already americans; the italian refugees are already americans. everything that came out of europe, every blue-eyed thing, is already an american. and as long as you and i have been over here, we arent americans yet.well, i am one who doesnt believe in deluding myself. im not going to sit at your table and watch you eat, with nothing