Revolutionary Black Liberation Leader in the U.S
1925-1965
“We are living in a society that is by and large controlled by a people who believe in racism, and practice segregation and discrimination and racism. We believe in and I say that it is controlled, not by the well-meaning whites, but controlled by the segregationists, the racists. And you can see by the pattern that this society follows all over the world. Right now in Asia you have the American army dropping bombs on darkskinned people…
It’s racism. Racism practiced by America. Racism which involves a war against the dark-skinned people in Asia, another form of racism involving a war against the dark-skinned people in the Congo, as it involves a war against the dark-skinned people in Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Rochester, New York. So we’re not against people because they’re white. But we’re against those who practice racism. We’re against those who drop bombs on people because their color happens to be of a different shade than yours. And because we’re against it, the press says we’re violent. We’re not for violence. We’re for peace. But the people that we’re up against are for violence. You can’t be peaceful when you’re dealing with them. They accuse us of what they themselves are guilty of. This is what the criminal always does. They’ll bomb you, then accuse you of bombing yourself. They’ll crush your skull, then accuse you of attacking him. This is what the racists have always done the criminal, the one who has criminal processes developed to a science. Their practice is criminal action. And then use the press to make you victim—look like the victim is the criminal, and the criminal is the victim. This is how they do it.
Excerpt from Malcolm X's speech “Not Just an American Problem, But a World Problem” at the Corn Hill Methodist Church in Rochester, New York,on February 16, 1965.
