Talk:Malcolm X

"Be peaceful, be courteous, obey the law, respect everyone; but if someone puts his hand on you, send him to the cemetery." appears on both attributed and Malcolm X speaks, where should it fit?

I have a concern: The picture of Malcolm X is from the Spike Lee movie, it is not a photo of the actual man.

Coffee Speech
Does anybody have the words for the speech he made about coffee and adding cream to it etc. It is used at the start of "Bring tha Noise" from "It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold us Back" by "Public Enemy". Thanks. TheTrojanHought 17:11, 13 August 2008 (UTC)

A rather humorous analogy. Here you go - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Message_to_the_Grass_Roots#Key_excerpts: “It's just like when you've got some coffee that's too black, which means it's too strong. What you do? You integrate it with cream, you make it weak. If you pour too much cream in, you won't even know you ever had coffee. It used to be hot, it becomes cool. It used to be strong, it becomes weak. It used to wake you up, now it'll put you to sleep.”

American Polemic : An Examination of Truth, Justice and the American Way
Has anyone even see this source? According to Amazon it is out of print (and yet was published in 2007?) and that appears to be the only sign of its existence. I'm removing the quote because it is disingenuous to attribute quotes to X without some way of verifying the source and then the reliability of that source. Should anyone feel it should be reinstated, it is this:

The death of over 120 white people is a very beautiful thing. * Speech in Los Angeles upon learning of a plane crash (3 June 1962), as quoted in American Polemic : An Examination of Truth, Justice and the American Way (2007)‎ by Theodore Mettlach, p. 219

Malcolm X; By any Means necessary speech (1972) - correction
We declare our right on this earth TO BE A MAN, to be human being, to be respected as a human being, to be given the rights of a human being in this society, on this earth, in this day, which we intend to bring into existence by any means necessary.

Please correct

Unsourced

 * If you can provide a precise and verifiable source for any quote on this list please move it to.


 * The media’s the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that’s power. Because they control the minds of the masses.


 * Do you know what they call a negro scholar? Ph.D.? Professor? They call him a nigger.
 * Unable to verify source provided:


 * I think there are plenty of good people in America, but there are also plenty of bad people in America and the bad ones are the ones who seem to have all the power and be in these positions to block things that you and I need. Because this is the situation, you and I have to preserve the right to do what is necessary to bring an end to that situation, and it doesn't mean that I advocate violence, but at the same time I am not against using violence in self-defense. I don't even call it violence when it's self-defense, I call it intelligence.

On page 224 of Malcolm X Speaks (Grove Press, 1965): Of Black people voting in the South: "But I don't believe sending them in and telling them to be non-violent was intelligent." Source was cited as interview in Young Socialist, May-April 1965.


 * 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.


 * I for one believe that if you give people a thorough understanding of what confronts them and the basic causes that produce it, they'll create their own program, and when the people create a program, you get action.


 * The economic philosophy of black nationalism only means that our people need to be re-educated into the importance of controlling the economy of the community in which we live, which means that we won't have to constantly be involved in picketing and boycotting other people in other communities in order to get jobs.


 * Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.


 * We declare our right on this earth to be a human being, to be respected as a human being, to be given the rights of a human being in this society, on this earth, in this day, which we intend to bring into existence by any means necessary.


 * When a person places the proper value on freedom, there is nothing under the sun that he will not do to acquire that freedom. Whenever you hear a man saying he wants freedom, but in the next breath he is going to tell you what he won't do to get it, or what he doesn't believe in doing in order to get it, he doesn't believe in freedom. A man who believes in freedom will do anything under the sun to acquire... or preserve his freedom.


 * This religion recognizes all men as brothers. It accepts all human beings as equals before God, and as equal members in the Human Family of Mankind. I totally reject Elijah Muhammad's racist philosophy, which he has labeled 'Islam' only to fool and misuse gullible people as he fooled and misused me. But I blame only myself, and no one else for the fool that I was, and the harm that my evangelical foolishness on his behalf has done to others.


 * It's a crime, it's a crime what people don't know about their history. And we have not only to learn history, but I invite you to that other excitement, the excitement of unlearning history, unlearning the history that you learned.


 * We declare our right on this earth to be a man, to be a human being, to be respected as a human being, to be given the rights of a human being in this society, on this earth, in this day, which we intend to bring into existence by any means necessary.


 * It is only after the deepest darkness that the greatest light can come; it is only after extreme grief that the greatest joy can come; it is only after slavery and prison that the greatest appreciation of freedom can come. —  1965


 * Yes, I'm an extremist. The black race here in North America is in extremely bad condition. You show me a black man who isn't an extremist and I'll show you one who needs psychiatric attention! — Cited in The Autobiography.


 * I've had enough of somebody else's propaganda. I'm for truth, no matter who tells it. I'm for justice, no matter who it is for or against. I'm a human being first and foremost, and as such I'm for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole. — From 1965, The Autobiography.


 * I remember one night at Muzdalifa with nothing but the sky overhead, I lay awake amid sleeping Muslim brothers and I learned that pilgrims from every land —  every colour, and class, and rank; high officials and the beggar alike  —  all snored in the same language.


 * America needs to understand Islam, because this is the one religion that erases from its society the race problem. — From a letter Malcolm X wrote to his wife and, concurrently, Muslim Mosque, Inc., toward the end of his pilgrimage to Mecca; cited in The Autobiography.


 * They called me the 'angriest Negro in America'. I wouldn't deny that charge.


 * Whites can help us, but they can't join us. There can be no black/white unity, until there is first some black unity. — From the press conference at which he announced the formation of Muslim Mosque, Inc.; cited in The Autobiography.


 * The only way we'll get freedom for ourselves is to identify ourselves with every oppressed people in the world. We are blood brothers to the people of Brazil, Venezuela, Haiti,...Cuba — yes, Cuba too. June 10, 1964.


 * Anytime you beg another man to set you free, you will never be free. Freedom is something that you have to do for yourself.


 * There is no better than adversity. Every defeat, every heartbreak, every loss, contains its own seed, its own lesson on how to improve your performance the next time.


 * I did many things as a [Black] Muslim that I'm sorry for now. I was a zombie then — like all [Black] Muslims — I was hypnotized, pointed in a certain direction and told to march. Well, I guess a man's entitled to make a fool of himself if he's ready to pay the cost.


 * The price of freedom is death. — NYC, June 1964

Superfluous "a" or "the", or should it be "a/the"?
I don't feel bold enough to correct what seems to be a mere typographical error because it might have appeared in such a way when it was published. I'm referring to this quote where there seems to be a superfluous "a" near the middle of the phrase, unless of course it is the "the" which is superfluous. Could someone more knowledgeable than me check out the source and act accordingly. Another possibility is that it should appear with a dash (/) between them, thus: "…it can make the criminal look like he's a/the victim and…"  Oclupak (talk) 16:47, 3 August 2014 (UTC)
 * "The press is so powerful in its image-making role, it can make the criminal look like he's  a the  victim and make the victim look like he's the criminal."