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Malcolm X Talks to Young People: Speeches in the United States, Britain, and Africa QUOTES

Malcolm X Talks to Young People: Speeches in the United States, Britain, and Africa QUOTES

1 " You can’t hate the roots of the tree without ending up hating the tree. You can’t hate your origin without ending up hating yourself. You can’t hate the land, your motherland, the place that you come from, and we can’t hate Africa without ending up hating ourselves. The Black man in the Western Hemisphere—North America, Central America, South America, and in the Caribbean—is the best example of how one can be made, skillfully, to hate himself that you can find anywhere on this earth. "

― Malcolm X , Malcolm X Talks to Young People: Speeches in the United States, Britain, and Africa

2 " You get your freedom by not being confined. You get freedom by letting your enemy know that you'll do anything to get your freedom. You'll get it. It's the only way you'll get it...So dont you run around here trying to make friends with somebody who's depriving you of your rights. They're not your friends. No, they're your enemies. Treat them like that and fight them, and you'll get your freedom. And after you get your freedom, your enemey will respect you. He will respect you. I say that with no hate. I have no hate in me. I don't have any hate, but I've got some sense...I'm not going to let somebody who hates me to tell me to love him. I'm not that way out. "

― Malcolm X , Malcolm X Talks to Young People: Speeches in the United States, Britain, and Africa

3 " They know that as long as they keep us undereducated, or with an inferior education, it’s impossible for us to compete with them for job openings. And as long as we can’t compete with them and get a decent job, we’re trapped. We are low-wage earners. We have to live in a run-down neighborhood, which means our children go to inferior schools. They get inferior education. And when they grow up, they fall right into the same cycle again. This is the American way. This is the American democracy that she tries to sell to the whole world as being that which will solve the problems of other people too. "

― Malcolm X , Malcolm X Talks to Young People: Speeches in the United States, Britain, and Africa

4 " By making our people in the Western Hemisphere hate Africa, we ended up hating ourselves. We hated our African characteristics. We hated our African identity. We hated our African features. So much so that you would find those of us in the West who would hate the shape of our nose. We would hate the shape of our lips. We would hate the color of our skin and the texture of our hair. This was a reaction, but we didn’t realize that it was a reaction. "

― Malcolm X , Malcolm X Talks to Young People: Speeches in the United States, Britain, and Africa

5 " And concerning anything in this society involved in helping Negroes, the federal government shows an inability to function. But it can function in South Vietnam, in the Congo, in Berlin, and in other places where it has no business. But it can't function in Mississippi. "

― Malcolm X , Malcolm X Talks to Young People: Speeches in the United States, Britain, and Africa

6 " Either you are a citizen or you are not a citizen at all. If you are citizen, you are free; if you're not a citizen you are a slave. "

― Malcolm X , Malcolm X Talks to Young People: Speeches in the United States, Britain, and Africa

7 " When you have an organization that's neither political nor religious and doesn't take part in the civil rights struggle, what can it call itself? It's in a vacuum. "

― Malcolm X , Malcolm X Talks to Young People: Speeches in the United States, Britain, and Africa