We want to be recognised and respected as human beings ... Our motto is By Any Means Necessary. Malcolm X, interview BBC 1964
I don’t think there’s any gradual coming together. ibid.
You can’t legislate good will. ibid.
When ghetto living seems normal, you have no shame, no privacy. Malcolm X
Whether we are Christians or Muslims or nationalists or agnostics or atheists, we must first learn to forget our differences. If we have differences, let us differ in the closet; when we come out in front, let us not have anything to argue about until we get finished arguing with the man. Malcolm X, speech Cleveland, Ohio, 3rd April 1964
Why am I as I am? To understand that of any person, his whole life, from birth must be reviewed. All of our experiences fuse into our personality. Everything that ever happened to us is an ingredient. Malcolm X, The Autobiography of Malcolm X
You have to realize that up until about 1959, Africa was dominated by the colonial powers. And by the colonial powers of Europe having complete control over Africa, they projected Africa always in a negative light – jungles, savages, cannibals, nothing civilized. Malcolm X
You and I have never seen democracy – all we’ve seen is hypocrisy. When we open our eyes today and look around America, we see America not through the eyes of someone who has enjoyed the fruits of Americanism. We see America through the eyes of someone who has been the victim of Americanism. We don’t see any American dream. We’ve experienced only the American nightmare. Malcolm X
You can’t separate peace from freedom because no-one can be at peace unless he has his freedom. Malcolm X
You don’t have a peaceful revolution. You don’t have a turn-the-other-cheek revolution. There’s no such thing as a non-violent revolution. Revolution is bloody. Revolution is hostile. Revolution knows no compromise. Revolution overturns and destroys everything that gets in its way. Malcolm X, Message to the Grassroots
You don’t have to be a man for freedom. All you have to be is an intelligent human being. Malcolm X
You’re not supposed to be so blind with patriotism that you can’t face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who says it. Malcolm X
Everywhere he’s gone he’s created havoc. Everywhere he’s gone he’s created destruction. So I charge him. I charge him with being the greatest kidnapper on this Earth. I charge him with being the greatest murderer on this Earth. I charge him with being the greatest robber and enslaver on this Earth. I charge the white man with being the greatest swine-eater on this earth, the greatest drunkard on this Earth. He can’t deny the charges. You can’t deny the charges. We are living proof of those charges. Malcolm X, 1992 starring Denzel Washington & Angela Bassett & Albert Hall & Al Freeman & Delroy Lindo & Spike Lee & Theresa Randle & Kate Vernon & Ernest Thomas & Christopher Plummer & Tommy Hollis et al, director Spike Lee
They rode into the moonlight on horses as suddenly as they had come. ibid. commentary
That’s West Indian Archie. Some of this. Some of that. ibid.
Like every hustler, I was trapped … We were all victims of the American social order. Until that time, there are three things that I was always afraid of: a job, a bust, and jail. But I realised then that I wasn’t afraid of anyone. I was an animal. ibid.
The building of a new nation begins with a woman. ibid.
My faith had been shattered in a way I can’t fully describe. ibid.