Malcolm X Speaks: Selected Speeches and Statements

by Malcolm X, George Breitman (Editor)

FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Politics, Race, African American, Biography, Philosophy

240 pages, Library Binding

First published January 1, 1965

About the author

Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little), also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, was an American Black Muslim minister and a spokesman for the Nation of Islam.

After leaving the Nation of Islam in 1964, he made the pilgrimage, the Hajj, to Mecca and became a Sunni Muslim. He also founded the Muslim Mosque, Inc. and the Organization of Afro-American Unity. Less than a year later, he was assassinated in Washington Heights on the first day of National Brotherhood Week.

Historian Robin D.G. Kelley wrote, "Malcolm X has been called many things: Pan-Africanist, father of Black Power, religious fanatic, closet conservative, incipient socialist, and a menace to society. The meaning of his public life — his politics and ideology — is contested in part because his entire body of work consists of a few dozen speeches and a collaborative autobiography whose veracity is challenged. Malcolm has become a sort of tabula rasa, or blank slate, on which people of different positions can write their own interpretations of his politics and legacy.

Reviews

[Muberra · Rating 5 out of 5]

“America needs to understand Islam, because this is the one religion that erases the race problem from its society. Throughout my travels in the Muslim world, I have met, talked to, and even eaten with, people who would have been considered 'white' in America, but the religion of Islam in their hearts has removed the 'white' from their minds. They practice sincere and true brotherhood with other people irrespective of their color.” –Malcolm X

[★Codie Abibliophobic ★ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good lord, these speeches are timeless and indescribable. Just read it.

[Chris Day · Rating 5 out of 5]

Considering the limited number of work by Brother Malcolm, this collection is invaluable. After leaving the Nation of Islam, not much is made of Malcolm's time between leaving, his hajj to Mecca, and his assassination; "Malcolm X Speaks" covers Malcolm's philosophical and political maturation as documented in press conferences, speeches, lectures, interviews, etc. From his early stages as a Black Nationalist to full on militant socialist, this collection gives an unprecedented insight into the mind of the greatest black American radical since Marcus Garvey.

[Marc · Rating 5 out of 5]

Malcolm X sadly gets less recognition than he deserves. I've always liked Malcolm more than King mainly because I believe with his line of reasoning and with the fact that Malcolm realized that he was wrong about white people. While I have read the autobiography and see the movie and a documentary or two, I still felt like I didn't get to know about the man.

I bought this book because I not only wanted to hear the words of Malcolm X, but I wanted to take them all in context. There is a little bit of editing and author's notes, but that's a very small percentage. Most of the speeches are whole.

What surprised me is that I did "hear" Malcolm's words. I thought that reading his speeches would lose the effect, but it didn't. His words are still powerful after all these years and you can clearly get a feel for his voice.

The only downside is that sadly, these speeches are selected. Personally, I wanted more speeches before he broke off from the Muslim Nation that he worked in. There's only a few here.

Great stuff and I hope to learn more about Malcolm X!

[Jack Wolfe · Rating 4 out of 5]

For historical import, this is of course five stars. As a reading experience I'm giving it just four because Malcolm's strengths as an orator don't always translate well to print. The man had a rhetorical style like no other, and you can definitely hear his voice in his words. Still, he was not a supremely gifted writer like Martin Luther King, and after a while, these transcribed speeches get a little... I don't know... predictable? Take one of these speeches on its own, and its hard not to be moved. But take a lot of them together, and you start wishing you could actually just hear a recording of Malcolm, or have been there as part of his audience... something is lost on the page. But whatever. You still gotta read this stuff. Malcolm's oratorical gifts, I think, were his no-bullshit style of plain-speaking (an American tradition, interestingly enough), his powerful use of metonymy ("ballot or bullet") and metaphor (all the animal references, the wick and the powder keg, etc), and his willingness to provoke and disturb (the guy knew the power of controversy, for sure). These gifts make his speeches incredibly engaging and pretty easy to read (stylistically, anyway), forty years later. It's interesting to see, with hindsight, what Malcolm got right (a whole lotta things) and what he got... err... not quite right (his skepticism of America unfortunately did not extend to other countries, many of whose dictators Malcolm seems to turn a blind eye to). For an understanding of the 60's, then, this is an essential read, if not quite a human rights prose masterpiece.

[Bashir Elsamani · Rating 5 out of 5]

Malcolm being not a big fan of non violent approach caused press and other people to call him a hater, racist and violent man, in his defense he says that he respect non violent protestors and their courage, at the same time he sees violent approach is mereley self defense, and that black racism is only a reaction of the racism and the opression the faced from KKK and the rigged system.
I also admire how he tried to connect black american to their brothers in Africa.
The book focus on the Orthodox muslim Malcolm's speeches and statements.

[Sean · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an excellent collection of some of Malcolm X's most important speeches. However, a few omit sizeable selections from some of the speeches, much of the time leaving out important parts. Still, this is one of the best books on Malcolm X's political thought there is, perhaps only surpassed by "By Any Means Necessary" by the same author.

[MissSophie · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading this and writing my term paper about one of Malcolm's speeches, I have a newfound admiration of this man and the opinions and values he represented!

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Malcolm X was a remarkably gifted public speaker, but there are a lot of gifted public speakers. What made X an orator, a leader, and a legend is that he actually had something to say. He has so many amazing phrases that you can ignore some of the tautologies and flaws in the rhetoric (or you can use the flaws to sharpen your own mind). The problem with reading a collection of speeches is the same as the problem with reading a collection of poetry: it is meant to be read aloud, so for someone like me it takes a longer time to read, because I actually have to force myself to slow down and imagine the words as they would have been spoken (I like to imagine them in Denzel Washington's voice, too, since I am more familiar with his version of X's voice than Malcolm X's actual voice).

Also, reading Malcolm X pisses me off. I don't feel bad; it's supposed to. In fact, if you don't get pissed off reading Malcolm X's speeches, you are either not paying attention or not trying hard enough. His language is meant to be inflammatory, especially to the bourgesoise do-nothing white liberal middle-class (read: me), who say that we're willing to fight for human rights and continue to wait for someone else to tell us what to do. Malcolm X was a conservative to the core - liberal hippies advocate peace and love because the idea of serious violence, of real revolution, of a materialist inversion frankly scares the shit out of us. I don't know how to put it better. The problem with conservatives is that a lot of times they're right, in an absolute sense, but the world is not made of absolute ideals.

[Abdullah Sayed · Rating 5 out of 5]

Malcolm X Speaks is an amazing documentation of the work and life of Malcolm X. It describes how many of his beliefs and ideas changed through his life, and changed his views on the world. The book has a simple structure that makes it efficient, and understandable. All the major speeches are included in the book, each one starting with an introduction and description written by the author George Breitman. I immensely enjoyed the book as it allowed me to see how Malcolm X changed through out his life, and what type of world he lived in. Malcolm's speeches often describe the larger world, and their connection and relevance to the rest of the world. In his speeches he would cite events and happenings from all around the world. The book allows us to appreciate the effort made by so many individuals during the explosive '60s. It allows us to discern the difference between Malcolm's most effective speeches and the ones he gave earlier in his career. I recommend this book for anyone interseted in this time period. Even if you are not, I think you will greatly appreciate Malcolm X's brilliance.

[Roger DeBlanck · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have many literary and cultural heroes and Malcolm X is among those I revere most. His speeches and statements reveal his extraordinary willingness to change his mind from early in his career when he erroneously concluded all whites were devils to transforming his views after embracing true Islam with a vision for brotherhood by working with anyone committed to eradicating racism.

Malcom never wavered in his commitment to racial justice and equality, and his life most fully represents a journey of growth. Reading the power and intelligence of his spoken words makes clear how brilliant, perceptive, and clairvoyant he was about history, politics, government, and the course of action needed to achieving change which would give everyone the right to realize their humanity.

Malcolm made America better when he made us uneasy and forced us to want to improve by demanding we see and face the truth of how hypocritical and diabolical American democracy can be. At the same time, he also warned us of the consequences if America continued its racist treatment of Blacks and nonwhite others.

Malcom never called for violence, nor did he ever try to incite his followers to commit violence, rather he declared the justification of self-defense, and he questioned why whites could be violent without repercussions, while Blacks were expected to be patient, meek, and nonviolent in waiting for their human rights.

Malcolm stated over and over how he believed in peace and nonviolence, so he is often grossly misunderstood when voicing his logic of reminding everyone that no one who is oppressed, exploited, or brutalized should resign to long suffering and not choose to fight as a natural and justified response if one’s life is threatened.

“By any means necessary” was his way of making clear how he sought methods and alliances that enabled cooperation in working with anyone to solve the nightmarish racial problems that whites created in America. Moreover, he reminded us how pride in self, community, and heritage are vital for gaining the complete measure of one’s citizenry.

Malcolm made perhaps his greatest impact by demanding we all take action to ensure every American is accepted, and whenever anyone challenged his right to equality and wanted him gone from his country, he refused to back down and instead showed us how to rise with our best self and defend our human dignity to belong.

[Sugarpunksattack Mick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Malcolm X Speaks is the best collection of Malcolm X's speeches because it spans the largest amount of time, covers the most important speeches of his life, and allows the reader to see the continuity of Malcolm's revolutionary thinking as well as his development. The second best being 'Malcolm X Speeches: February 1965', but only because it covers a more narrow scope.

[Kimberly]

Malcom was able to draw from others experience as well as his own studies to shape and push ideas of black identity in the national dialogue in an intelligent, charasmatic, inspirational way. His speeches are the building blocks to his success and you know they say genius is in the details.

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mah man, Malcolm, still fighting the good fight in 2017.

[iara · Rating 4 out of 5]

4*

[Anthony Hagen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Text on the page self-evidently isn’t the best medium to experience these speeches, but it’s helpful to see Malcolm’s rhetoric in a more readerly, intellectual way. Malcolm’s ideas are, of course, unassailable and stunningly present-day.

[Rowan Cross · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75⭐️
This book was very interesting. I loved many of the things this man stated and said. The book makes jt easy to understand because before all the speeches it explains where he did it and what was happening when he did.

It was a very nice read.

[Arielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

2017 Reading Challenge - A book that's been mentioned in another book

Malcolm X Speaks: Selected Speeches and Statements - these speeches were mentioned in Between the World and Me by Ta Nehisi Coates, which I read last year.

I read this book in college, but wanted to revisit it now that I have re-read The Autobiography of Malcolm X, and was reading Taylor Branche's works that I found very problematic in their handling of Black nationalism and Malcolm X specifically.

These speeches are incredibly relevant to the times we live in. His reflections on our society so accurately explain why things are the way they are, and how things play out. It is disheartening (but not surprising) that so little has changed since 1964/1965.

Malcolm X speaks to the universality the resistance to American imperialism in developing countries. He claims the Black experience in America as one of colonialism, tying in the resistance in this country to the broader struggle worldwide. He also gives voice to the validity of Black people reacting to and pushing against racism and bigotry in varied forms and why it is every bit the right of individuals to react as they choose. He refuses to buy into respectability politics. Malcolm X, fundamentally, is a wonderful example of a truly intellectual mind, i.e. a person who is on a journey and learning new things and reflecting on them every day. He is in no way stagnant or set in his ways, he isn't bound by an ideology in these writings. While he acknowledges the time in his life that an ideology was important to him, he has grown beyond that and explains why. I recommend this book to anyone who wants a more nuances understanding of Malcolm X himself, and why his legacy as a thought leader and champion of civil rights continues to be relevant today.

[O. Couto · Rating 5 out of 5]

Malcolm X foi e ainda é, inquestionavelmente, um dos maiores líderes do movimento negro da história, engajado em fomentar a consciência racial nos afro-americanos. Seus pensamentos, embora - por motivos óbvios - sejam articulados em no contexto estadunidense, levantam reflexões universais e importantes sobre a necessidade de se internacionalizar a luta contra o racismo, ancestralidade e a ineficiência da não violência. Seus discursos são tão poderosos que é possível imaginar as intervenções e aplausos da platéia durante a leitura!
Todos deveriam ler pelo menos parte desse compilado de discursos, cartas e entrevista.

[Crystal Belle · Rating 5 out of 5]

the ballot or the bullet speech is timeless and my favorite speech of the book.

[Zainab · Rating 5 out of 5]

Usually when people are sad, they don't do anything. They just cry over their condition. But when they get angry, they bring about a change.

[Lulu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can you imagine what the world would look like today if great leaders like Malcolm X, Patrice Lumumba, and Martin Luther King, Jr were actually allowed to live and grow old?!?!

[SJ L · Rating 5 out of 5]

This review is for the Autobiography of Malcolm X.

There are few leaders, but within the real of leaders there are different leadership types. Having finished Malcom X’s autobiography for the second time, I asked myself who he is as a person, what kind of leader is he, what did he stand for, and why was he perceived by the country the way he was? I’ll state this from the beginning - I really like Malcolm X, I think he was intentionally harsh to make his larger points, and more than anything else I admire that he never compromised his own beliefs, even to protect himself near the end of his life, and was willing to evolve these beliefs. Yet the fact remains - he didn’t “accomplish” as much as King, and certainly isn’t remembered with a halo around his head. Is the point of a leader like Malcolm to challenge the status quo and accelerate their advancements?
Before I babble on, here’s what I think X was: a leader who challenged the status quo, almost a third party candidate in that regard, more concerned with addressing the larger issues than accomplishing short term compromises, dedicated to the ideals he stood for at the highest level, more concerned for advocating for these ideas than even protecting his own life.
First, let’s examine what kind of person he was. He grew up one of 8 children during the Great Depression in the north (where there was plenty of racism). His father was (most likely) murdered, his mother became mentally unstable and spent the last decades of her life in an institution (these weren’t the nicest places back then, especially for women, not to even mention blacks. As an interesting side note Woody Guthrie’s mother suffered a similar end). One of his first memories is escaping the family house in the middle of the night when two whites came to burn it down and his father fired a pistol to defend the family. Weeks later, when the police came to inquire about the pistol (blacks had to obtain a permit to own a handgun, and you can imagine how that process went) his father pointed to the hunting guns and lied about the pistol. Pause to consider no one was ever charged in the incident, but somehow the police found out about the gun (the only people who could have tipped them off the ones who burned down the house) and they didn’t charge the whites they instead came to interrogate the black man. The seeds of his distrust were planted at a young age.
Malcolm had incredible academic potential, but following the death of his father and his mother’s institutionalization, his behavior began to unravel. He spent a year in a reform school, did very well (though he resented being a “mascot”), but finished formal schooling in 8th grade. He spent several years in Harlem, acting as a street thug, before being thrown in prison for years and utterly transforming his life around Islam. Specifically, around the teachings of Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam.
It was with the Nation of Islam that Malcolm X changed his name to X and became the face of the chruch and one of the most important and misunderstood Civil Rights leaders. Malcolm X wasn’t afraid to criticize whites, Christianity, complacent blacks who he called “Uncle Toms,” other Civil Rights leaders, or the pace and style of reform. He attended the March on Washington but called it the “Farce on Washington,” not content with the hippie elements to the march, the displays of affection between whites and blacks, and the nonviolent agreement to clear the streets before the curfew (as Malcolm sees it) set by white politicians and agreed to by black Civil Rights leaders. It turned “into a picnic.”
He wasn’t afraid to take swipes at anyone or anything he felt wasn’t working towards the human rights of blacks in America. In this regard, he reminds me of Frederick Douglass, who said “I would rather be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, than be false and incur my own abhorrence.” X says “I’m telling it like it is! You never have to worry about me biting my tongue if something I know as truth is on my mind.”
X was blessed with a brilliant mind and a sharp tongue, he was the perfect spokesperson, knowing how to read the pulse of his audience, knowing what traps to watch out for based on the kinds of questions he was asked, and absolutely unafraid to go toe to toe with anyone. Pity the fool who stepped into the intellectual boxing ring with Malcom because he was brilliant, fast, unafraid.
He also contained the ingredients to be a compelling messenger and had the perfect story. People still love this story. They screwed us. I am one of you. Join me to screw them back. This story usually works in enraging the crowd (ask Donald Trump), and what makes X even more compelling is his legitimacy in being one of the group.
Speaking of unafraid, X stood against corruption within his own church even with tremendous risk to his personal safety. For over a decade he dedicated himself fully to Elijah Muhammad, only to discover that Elijah wasn’t practicing what he preached with sexual purity (he had children with two, possibly three of his secretaries). At that point he had a choice, ignore it and don’t bring attention to it, or go public with the knowledge.
I think that MLK would have chosen to ignore that information. Speaking of different leadership types, MLK was more political than X, choosing short term compromises to achieve larger victories. X, however, represents complete and utter devotion to an ideal. Given the Socratic choice (stay and die or leave and live), X chooses death in going public with the information he learned.
On NPR the other day I heard a fascinating story which gives some more context. X was the member who recruited Casus Clay to the Nation of Islam and the two were quite close friends. If it wasn’t for X, Casus Clay would have never become Mohammed Ali. When X left the Nation of Islam, Mohammed Ali ended his friendship with him. X tried to patch it up before he died once, but Ali ignored him. Apparently that was one of Ali’s life long regrets, that he didn’t accept the peace offering and continue his friendship with X.
This brings us to the question of legacy. What I find so fascinating about X is how he evolved his beliefs and somehow is still remembered as the fiery, dangerous leader. After a pilgrimage to Mecca, X returns to the United States now convinced that blacks and whites can be working together and that peace is the ultimate victory. Ironic that he would be assassinated one year and two weeks after his turn of heart.
X was unafraid to change his mind, and begin to speak for brotherhood between whites and blacks near the end of his life. As admirable as the ability to stare down your to be assassins is the ability to evolve your beliefs over time.
It amazes me that X isn’t held in the same esteem as MLK, but it doesn’t surprise me. X was not afraid to say what needed to be said and offend others, this defined his leadership but also tainted his legacy. He stood for the truth, and those who achieve excellence can expect to be misunderstood and treated differently. He represented more than violence, but simplifying him to a violent character allows us to overlook his legacy, impact, and the validity of the criticisms he issued throughout his life. With X, MLK is not embraced by the white community as the approved messenger for Civil Rights. Even the way we remember King glosses over some of the more difficult points (his infidelities and anti-war stances near the end of his life). The way we overlook X says a good deal about modern society.
The world wasn’t ready for X, but we should be thankful for him. Malcolm X was a leader who gave the ultimate sacrifice, and deserves to be remembered as someone who advocated for a greater and more complete truth than the sound bites can represent.

Quotes
It has always been my belief that I, too, will die by violence. I have done all that I can to be prepared. 4
After the fire, I remember that my father was called in and questioned about a permit for the pistol with which he had shot at the white men who set the fire. I remember that the police were always dropping by our house, shoving things around, “just checking” or “looking for a gun.” The pistol they were looking for – which they never found, and for which they wouldn’t issue a permit – was sewed up inside the pillow. 6
Early in life, I had learned that if you want something, you had better make some noise. 11
[After he sees his mother in a mental institution] I knew I wouldn’t be back to see my mother again because it could make me a very vicious and dangerous person – knowing how they looked at us as numbers and as a case in their book, not as human beings. 27
It seemed that white boys felt that I, being a Negro, just naturally knew more about “romance,” or sex, than they did – that I instinctively knew more about what to do and say with their own girls. [21st century update, this still happens, a good white friend told me with complete sincerity once I was more sexual than him because I am Hispanic] 37
[Classic teacher stepping on a person’s aspiration example] Mr. Ostrowskil looked surpised…”Malcolm, one of life’s first needs is for us to be realistic. Don’t misunderstand me, now. We all here like you, you know that. But you’ve got to be realistic about being a nigger. A lawyer – that’s no realistic goal for a nigger. You need to think about something you can be. You’re good with your hands – making things. Everyone admires your carpentry shop work. Why don’t you plan on carpentry?”...it was a surprising thing that I had never thought of it that way before, but I realized that whatever I wasn’t, I was smarter than nearly all of those white kids. But apparently I was still not intelligent enough, in their eyes, to become whatever I wanted to be.. I’ve often thought if Mr. Ostrowski had encouraged me to become a lawyer, I would today probably be among some city’s professional black bourgeoisie, sipping cocktails…my primary concern would be to grab a few more crumbs from the groaning board of the two-faced whites with whom they’re begging to “integrate.” 46
I was going to become one of the most depraved parasitical hustlers among New York’s eight million people – four million of whom work, and the other four million of whom live off them. 87
[One of his hustles was arranging prostitution between white customers and black prostitutes, another experience I think deepened his distrust and disgust for whites. Also you can see why a person who openly discusses the following wasn’t embraced by the white community] I wouldn’t tell all the things I’ve seen [which according to Hemmingway is the most powerful way to tell it, ps that’s right after he talks about how one prostitute used to whip men who requested that so you can imagine how absurd the stuff he won’t discuss must be]. I used to wonder, later one, when I was in prison, what a psychiatrist would make of it all. And so many of these men held responsible positions; they exercised guidance, influence, and authority over others. / In prison later, I’d think, too, about another thing. Just about all of those whites specifically expressed as their preference black, black, “the blacker the better.” 136
The full story is the best way that I know to have it seen, and understood, that I had sunk to the very bottom of the American white man’s society when – son now, in prison – I found Allah and the religion of Islam and it completely transformed my life. 174
[Ironically, X was in prison when Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in baseball] I’ll never forget the prison sensation created that day in April, 1947, when Jackie Robinson was brought up to play with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Jackie Robinson had, then, his most fanatic fan in me. When he played, my ear was glued to the radio, and no game ended without my refiguring his average up through his last turn at bat. 179
I was going through the hardest thing, also the greatest thing, for any human being to do; to accept that which is already within you, and around you. 189
[Of rediscovering the joy of learning] I was so fascinated that I went on – I copied the dictionary’s next page. And the same experience came when I studied that…I suppose it was inevitable that as my world-base broadened, I could for the first time pick up a book and read and now begin to understand what the book was saying…In fact, up to then, I never had been so truly free in my life. 199
Four hundred years of black blood and sweat invested here in America, and the white man still has the black man begging for what every immigrant fresh off the ship can take for granted the minute he walks down the gangplank. 207
Not long ago, an English writer telephoned me from London, asking questions. One was, “What’s your alma mater?” I told him, “Books”…prison enabled me to study far more intensively than I would have if my life had gone differently and I had attended some college. 207
I will tell you that, right there, in prison, debating, speaking to a crowd, was an exhilarating to me as the discovery of knowledge through reading had been. 212
[on the name change] The Muslim’s “X” symbolized the true African family name that he never could know. For me, my “X” replaced the white slavemaster name of “Little” upon which some blue-eyed devil name Little had imposed upon my paternal forebears. 229
I found my poor, ignorant, brainwashed black brothers mostly too deaf, dumb, and blind, mentally, morally, and spiritually, to respond. [He shares this point with MLK, who bemoaned the spiritual poverty of his time. Which brings us to the question, can you be anything special if you’re “piss poor morally?” (TI) I’m not sure you can, but the post-modern world doesn’t like that conversation no sir.]229
[X shares the story of his own father] That raping, red-headed devil was my grandfather! That close yes! My mother’s father! She didn’t speak of it, can you blame her? She said she never laid eyes on him! She was glad for that! I’m glad for her! If I could drain away his blood that pollutes my body, and pollutes my complexion, I’d do it! I hate every drop of the rapists’ blood that’s in me! 232
[Proposes to his wife over the telephone, he’s a hilarious dude.] It was about ten in the morning when I got inside Detroit. Getting gas at a filling station, Ijust went to their pay phone on a wall; I telephoned Sister Betty X…She said, “oh, hello, Brother Minister-“ I just said it to her direct: “Look, do you want to get married?” Naturally she acted all surprised and shocked. The more I thought about it, to this day I believe she was only putting on an act. Because women know. They know. She said, just like I knew she would, “Yes.” Then I said, well, I didn’t have a whole lot of time, she’d better catch a plan to Detroit. 265
I’m telling it like it is! You never have to worry about me biting my tongue if something I know as truth is on my mind. 314
*It was like being on a battlefield – with intellectual and philosophical bullets. It was exciting battling with ideas. I got so I could feel my audiences’ temperaments. I’ve talked with other public speakers; they agree that this ability is native to any person who has the “mass appeal” gift, who can get through to and move people. It’s a psychic radar. As a doctor, with his finger against a pulse, is able to feel the hear rate, when I am up there speaking, I can feel the reaction to what I am saying. 325
As long as I did nothing [about Muhammad’s infidelities], I felt it was the same as being disloyal. I felt that as long as I sat down, I was not helping Mr. Muhammad – when somebody needed to be standing up…And that was how, after twelve years of never thinking for as much as five minutes about myself, I became able finally to muster the nerve, the strength, to start facing the facts, to think for myself. 343
[The pilgrimage to Mecca] The feeling hit me that there really wasn’t any color problem here. The effect was as though I had just stepped out of a prison. 370
To me the earth’s most explosive and pernicious evil is racism, the inability of God’s creatures to live as One, especially in the Western world…Even I was myself astounded [at the change of heart]. But there was precedent in my life for this letter. My whole life had been a chronology of – changes. 389
In the past, yes, I have made sweeping indictments of all white people. I never will be guilty of that again – as I know now that some white people are truly sincere, that some truly are capable of being brotherly toward a black man. The true Islam has shown me that a blanked indictment of all white people is wrong as when whites make blanket indictments against blacks. 416
Anything I do today, I regard as urgent. No man is given but so much time to accomplish whatever his life's work. 435
It is only after the deepest darkness that the greatest joy can come; it is only after slavery and prison that the sweetest appreciation of freedom can come. 437
Every morning when I wake up, now, I regard it as having another borrowed day...I know that I could die suddenly. 439

[Stella Hansen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant as always. So much of what Malcolm says is so pertinent now;

“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, mercenaries to the Congo!”

“I, for one, would like to impress, especially upon those who call themselves leaders, the importance of realizing the direct connection between the struggle of the Afro-American in this country and the struggle of our people all over the world. As long as we think - as one of my good brothers mentioned out of the side of his mouth here a couple of Sundays ago - that we should get Mississippi straightened out before we worry about the Congo, you'll never get Mississippi straightened out. Not until you start realizing your connection with the Congo.”

“They're doing the same thing as when they dropped it on the Japanese at Hiroshima. They don't even think about dropping it on Congolese. And you, running around here getting all upset because a few white hostages die, you're out of your minds, out of your minds. They take the press with their ability to control you with image-making, and they make mass murder, cold-blooded mur-der, look like a humanitarian project. All these thousands of black people dying, butchered, and you have no compassion in your hearts whatsoever for them, because the victim has been made to look like he's the criminal and the criminal has been made to look like he's the victim.”

[Antonio Miller-Perez · Rating 4 out of 5]

The only downside to this book is it becomes redundant and repetitive after a while, but that is the nature of this kind of text, good rhetoric requires repetition just like any quality education. Malcolm X is one of history's most talented rhetoricians and displayed the wisdom of his most succinct advice "Make it plain." I think people unacquainted with the extent of Malcolm's political analysis and his broad scope of perspective will be surprised to find frequent attacks charged at capitalism, imperialism, and calls for internationalism. As well as defenses against the Chinese Communist revolution an indictment against Taiwan and the KMT and other counter-revolutionary forces across the world particularly Tshombe. But all this sentiment is elaborated in such a way that practically anybody and everybody could understand. Malcolm speaks the way willing sincere people want to be spoken to, with intent, patience, and confidence all the qualities of a good teacher and student. Malcolm may not present as the most erudite political scientist or a tenure college professor, but he's probably one of the greatest teachers to ever live. He teaches us how to teach by pure example even decades later after his death.

[Ryan O'Malley · Rating 5 out of 5]

You don’t have to agree with everything Malcolm says to find his work brilliant and fascinating. These speeches are all post his time in the Nation of Islam and I find that fascinating. He is so clear and consistent throughout his speeches.

[Dean Rago · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read. There are only a handful of rhetoric masters that we can study through primary sources. Malcolm X might be the most relevant and powerful of the last 100 years.

[S · Rating 4 out of 5]

This felt like a pretty streamlined and good examination of some of Malcolm X's key ideas and goals, I learned a bit about him in school at various points and this was a good extension of that; there were a lot of interesting and important concepts we missed that I wish had been covered and his words are still so relevant. I would've liked to see maybe a few more earlier statements to see how these ideas had been changed and developed over the course of his life instead of just the last year, but that's a very minor complaint especially given that it's probably the most refined and stands well by itself anyway.

[Meris Stella · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish whoever I lent this book to would give it back. Malcolm X was the son of Reverend Little, but turned to crime and was jailed, where he discovered Islam. His famous "Chickens coming home to Roost" speech, where he explains that the violence of the American war machine had returned in the assassination of John F Kennedy, is mentioned by Saint John the Evangelist in Revelations. In my book, 'Revelations Journey', I explain that "Fowls will feast on kings, captains and mighty men, free and bond, great and small", forsees Martin Luther King, Alberta King, John and Robert Kennedy, Malcolm X, Reverend Little, the Christian and Islamic martyrs of 1960s America.

[Berke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Malcolm X is zo kkkkkkkr slim niemand doet t als hem