malcolm's musings

"what do you think is responsible for race prejudice in the u.s.?
ignorance and greed. and a skillfully designed program of miseducation that goes right along with the american system of exploitation and oppression. if the entire american population were properly educated - by properly educated, i mean given a true picture of the history and contributions of the black man, i think many whites would be less racist in their thinking. they would have more respect for the black man as a human being. knowing what the black man's contribution to science and civilization have been in the past, the white man's feelings of superiority would at least be partially negated. also, the feelings of inferiority that the black man has would be replaced by a balanced knowledge of himself. he'd feel more like a human being. he'd function more like a human being, in a society of human beings.
so it takes education to eliminate it. and just because you have colleges and universities, doesn't mean you have education. the colleges and universities in the american educational system are skillfully used to miseducate."

"i believe in recognizing every human being as a human being - neither white, black, brown, or red; and when you are dealing with humanity as a family, there's no question of integration or intermarriage. it's just one human being marrying another human being, or one human being living around and with another human being."

"i believe in a society in which people can live like human beings on the basis of equality."

"it's easy to become a satellite today without even being aware of it. this country can seduce god. yes, it has that seductive power, the power of dollarism. you can cuss out colonialism, imperialism, and all other kinds of isms, but it's hard for you to cuss that dollarism. when they drop those dollars on you, your soul goes."

"it is impossible for capitalism to survive, primarily because the system of capitalism needs some blood to suck. capitalism used to be like an eagle, but now it's more like a vulture. it used to be strong enough to go and suck anybody's blood whether they were strong or not. but, now it has become more cowardly, like the vulture, and it can only suck the blood of the helpless. as the nations of the world free themselves, then capitalism has less victims, less to suck, and it becomes weaker and weaker. it's only a matter of time in my opinion before it will collapse completely."

"it isn't a president who can help or hurt; it is the system. and this system is not only ruling us in america, it is ruling the world. nowadays, when a man is running for president of the united states, he is not running for the president of the united states alone; he has to be acceptable to other areas of the world where american influence rules. if johnson had been running all by himself, he would not have been acceptable to anyone. the only thing that made him acceptable to the world was that the shrewd capitalists, the shrewd imperialists, knew that the only way the people would turn toward the fox would be if you showed them a wolf. so, they created a ghastly alternative. and it had the whole world, including people who call themselves marxists, hoping that johnson would beat goldwater.
i have to say this; those who claim to be enemies of the system were on their hands and knees waiting for johnson to get elected, because he is supposed to be a man of peace. and at that moment he had troops invading the congo and south vietnam! he even has troops in areas where other imperialists have already withdrawn. peace corps to nigeria, mercernaries to the congo!"

"we shouldn't take sides either way with any of these parties. in my opinion, we should reserve our political action for the situation at hand, in no way identifying with either party or selling ourselves to either party, but taking political action that's for the good of human beings and that will eliminate these injustices. i, for one, do not think that the present man who's in the white house is morally capable of taking the kind of action necessary to eliminate these things."

"i haven't changed. i just see things on a broader scale. we nationalists used to think we were militant. we were just dogmatic. it didn't bring us anything. now i know it's smarter to say you are going to shoot a man for what he is doing to you than because he is white. if you attack him because he is white, you give him no out. he can't stop being white. we've got to give the man a chance. he probably won't take it, the snake. but we've got to give him the chance.
we've got to be more flexible. why, when some of our friends in africa didn't know how to do things, they went ahead and called in some german technicians. and they had blue eyes.
i'm not going to be in anybody's straightjacket. i don't care what a person looks like or where they come from. my mind is wide open to anybody who will help get the ape off our backs."

"i believe that there will ultimately be a clash between the oppressed and those who do the oppressing. i believe that there will be a clash between those who want freedom, justice, and equality for everyone and those who want to continue the system of exploitation. i believe that there will be that kind of clash, but i don't think it will be based on the color of the skin, as elijah muhammad had taught it. however, i do think you'll find that the european powers, which are the former colonial powers, if they're not able to readjust their thinking of superiority toward the darker skinned people, who they have been made to think are inferior, then the lines can easily be drawn - they can easily be lumped into racial groups and it will be a racial war."

two minutes on vietnam; address myself to vietnam for two minutes? it's a shame - that's one second. it is, it's a shame. you put the government on the spot when you even mention vietnam. they feel embarrased, you notice that? they wish they would not even have to read the papers about south vietnam, and you can't blame them. it's just a trap they let themselves get into.
but they're trapped, they can't get out. you notice i said "they." they are trapped, they can't get out. if they pour more men in, they'll get deeper. if they pull the men out, it's a defeat. and they should have known it in the first place.
france had about 200,000 frenchmen over there, and the most highly mechanized modern army sitting on this earth. and those little rice farmers ate them up, and their tanks, and everything else. yes, they did, and france was deeply entrenched, had been there a hundred or more years. now, if she couldn't stay there and was entrenched, why, you are out of your mind if you think sam can get in over there.
but we're not supposed to say that. if we say that, we're anti-american, or we're seditious, or we're subversive, or we're advocating something that's not intelligent.
so, that's two minutes, sir."

"if the united states justifies its entry into the congo with its military forces simply because the head of state asks them, then castro, who is the legal head of state in cuba, was well within his rights to ask russia to put missiles in cuba. it's the same argument - if one is sovereign, both are sovereign.
but they don't use law - they use law for their interests. they don't go by law, international, federal, local - nothing! they go by whatever is expedient to prtoect the interests that are at stake."