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      “By Any Means Necessary...”
      MALCOLM X SPEAKS


      Revolutionary Black Liberation Leader in the U.S.
      1925-1965


      Our method is: any means necessary. That’s our motto. We’re not restricted to this, or confined to that. We reserve the right to use any means necessary to protect our humanity, or to make the world see that they respect us as human beings. Any means necessary.

      When I say that, I don’t mean anything illegal. The government—You’re being treated criminally. The criminal is the one who’s illegal. The one who’s responsible for these criminal conditions, he’s a criminal, he’s illegal. And whatever you’ve got to do to stop this crime from being committed against you, as far as I’m concerned you’re not illegal.

      So that’s our first step at the international level. And politically, we devise and support any program that’s designed to give the Black man in this country an opportunity to participate as a citizen, a free citizen, in this political system and in this society.

      Excerpt from speech to civil rights workers from Mississippi, January 1, 1965



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