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The End of White World Supremacy: Four Speeches
The classic collection of major speeches, now bundled with an audio download of Malcolm X delivering two of them.
Malcolm X remains a touchstone figure for black America and in American culture at large. He gave African Americans not only their consciousness but their history, dignity, and a new pride. No single individual can claim more important responsibility for a social and historical leap forward such as the one sparked in America in the sixties. When, in 1965, Malcolm X was gunned down on the stage of a Harlem theater, America lost one of its most dynamic political thinkers. Yet, as Michael Eric Dyson has observed, “he remains relevant because he spoke presciently to the issues that matter black identity, the politics of black rage, the expression of black dissent, the politics of black power, and the importance of consolidating varieties of expressions within black communities—different ideologies and politics—and bringing them together under a banner of functional solidarity.”
The End of White World Supremacy contains four major speeches by Malcolm X, “Black Man's History,” “The Black Revolution,” “The Old Negro and the New Negro,” and the famous “The Chickens Are Coming Home to Roost” speech ("God's Judgment of White America"), delivered after the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Several of the speeches include a discussion with the moderator, among whom Adam Clayton Powell, or a question-and-answer with the audience. This new edition bundles with the book an audio download of Malcolm's stirring delivery of “Black Man's History” in Harlem's Temple No.7 and “The Black Revolution” in the Abyssinian Baptist Church.
Malcolm X remains a touchstone figure for black America and in American culture at large. He gave African Americans not only their consciousness but their history, dignity, and a new pride. No single individual can claim more important responsibility for a social and historical leap forward such as the one sparked in America in the sixties. When, in 1965, Malcolm X was gunned down on the stage of a Harlem theater, America lost one of its most dynamic political thinkers. Yet, as Michael Eric Dyson has observed, “he remains relevant because he spoke presciently to the issues that matter black identity, the politics of black rage, the expression of black dissent, the politics of black power, and the importance of consolidating varieties of expressions within black communities—different ideologies and politics—and bringing them together under a banner of functional solidarity.”
The End of White World Supremacy contains four major speeches by Malcolm X, “Black Man's History,” “The Black Revolution,” “The Old Negro and the New Negro,” and the famous “The Chickens Are Coming Home to Roost” speech ("God's Judgment of White America"), delivered after the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Several of the speeches include a discussion with the moderator, among whom Adam Clayton Powell, or a question-and-answer with the audience. This new edition bundles with the book an audio download of Malcolm's stirring delivery of “Black Man's History” in Harlem's Temple No.7 and “The Black Revolution” in the Abyssinian Baptist Church.
168 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1971
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About the author
Malcolm X
123 books3,156 followersMalcolm X (born Malcolm Little), also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, was an American Black Muslim minister and a spokesman for the Nation of Islam.
After leaving the Nation of Islam in 1964, he made the pilgrimage, the Hajj, to Mecca and became a Sunni Muslim. He also founded the Muslim Mosque, Inc. and the Organization of Afro-American Unity. Less than a year later, he was assassinated in Washington Heights on the first day of National Brotherhood Week.
Historian Robin D.G. Kelley wrote, "Malcolm X has been called many things: Pan-Africanist, father of Black Power, religious fanatic, closet conservative, incipient socialist, and a menace to society. The meaning of his public life — his politics and ideology — is contested in part because his entire body of work consists of a few dozen speeches and a collaborative autobiography whose veracity is challenged. Malcolm has become a sort of tabula rasa, or blank slate, on which people of different positions can write their own interpretations of his politics and legacy.
After leaving the Nation of Islam in 1964, he made the pilgrimage, the Hajj, to Mecca and became a Sunni Muslim. He also founded the Muslim Mosque, Inc. and the Organization of Afro-American Unity. Less than a year later, he was assassinated in Washington Heights on the first day of National Brotherhood Week.
Historian Robin D.G. Kelley wrote, "Malcolm X has been called many things: Pan-Africanist, father of Black Power, religious fanatic, closet conservative, incipient socialist, and a menace to society. The meaning of his public life — his politics and ideology — is contested in part because his entire body of work consists of a few dozen speeches and a collaborative autobiography whose veracity is challenged. Malcolm has become a sort of tabula rasa, or blank slate, on which people of different positions can write their own interpretations of his politics and legacy.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 118 reviews
March 31, 2021
“The so-called Negro are childlike people - you’re like children. No matter how old you get, or how bold you get, or how wise you get, or how rich you get, or how educated you get, the white man still calls you what? Boy! Why, you are a child in his eyesight! And you ARE a child. Anytime you have to let another man set up a factory for you and you cannot set up a factory for yourself, you’re a child; anytime another man has to open up businesses for you and you cannot open up businesses for yourself and your people, you’re a child; anytime another man sets up schools and you don’t know how to set up your own schools, you’re a child. Because a child is someone who sits around and waits for his father to do for him what he should be doing for himself, or what he is too young to do for himself, or what he is too dumb to do for himself. So the white man, knowing that here in America all the Negro has done - I hate to say it, but it’s the truth - all you and I have done is build churches and let the white man build factories. You and I build churches and let the white man build schools. You and I build churches and let the white man build up everything for himself. Then after you build the church you have to go and beg the white man for a job, and beg the white man for some education. Am I right or wrong? Do you see what I mean? It’s too bad but it’s true. And it’s history.”
One of the greatest orators of all time, Malcolm X asked all the right questions. He could make the scales not just fall away but fly away from your eyes. My problem with Malcolm’s early ideology, and I say this with a great deal of reverence and respect for the man, is that he traded one yoke of lies and deceptions for another. He could clearly see the hypocrisy of christianity yet he fell headlong - hook, line and sinker - for a false prophet of islam. And just as he was figuring that out, BECAUSE he was figuring that out, he was assassinated.
One of the greatest orators of all time, Malcolm X asked all the right questions. He could make the scales not just fall away but fly away from your eyes. My problem with Malcolm’s early ideology, and I say this with a great deal of reverence and respect for the man, is that he traded one yoke of lies and deceptions for another. He could clearly see the hypocrisy of christianity yet he fell headlong - hook, line and sinker - for a false prophet of islam. And just as he was figuring that out, BECAUSE he was figuring that out, he was assassinated.
December 14, 2015
The introduction to Malcolm X The End of White Supremacy is filled with real History that you won’t read in text books. Although I disagree with Malcolm X on some major points, he will always be my favorite civil rights leader!
Malcolm X The End of White Supremacy contains four speechs: The Black Revolution, The Old Negro and The New Negro and God’s Judgement of White America.
Quotes I found profound:
…Then you have the Negro. When he is not bragging about being a Christian he’s bragging that he’s a white man, or he wants to be white….
There are black people in America who have mastered the mathematical sciences, have become professors and experts in physics, are able to toss sputniks out there in the atmosphere out in space….medicine…but very seldom do we have black men in America who have mastered the knowledge of the history of the black man himself….And because of his lack of knowledge concerning the history of the black man,…he’s always confined, he’s always relegated to the same low rung of the ladder that the dumbest of our people are relegated to
…Your knowledge of history tells you that God couldn’t call His religion Christianity because Christianity is only two thousand years old….what was God’s religion called before the birth of Christ?
...all you and I have done is build churches and let the white man build factories…schools…everything for himself. Then after you build the church you have to go and beg the white man for a job and beg the white man for some education.
What kept Malcolm X The End of White Supremacy from being a five star read for me was I couldn’t buy into “The Honorable Elijah Muhammad teaches us…” because I see no difference in any of the religions. I also couldn’t buy into all white people are bad.
When you read Malcolm X The End of White Supremacy be mindful that these speeches were written while Mr. X was still a member of Elijah Muhammad church and although I disagreed with some of his thoughts he did make valid points.
It will take a reader who has an open-mind and who is not egocentric or narcissist to keep reading until the book’s conclusion.
The New York Times described Maxcolm X as an extraordinary and twisted man who wasted his many true gifts to evil purpose. Isn’t it typical of the New York Times to get it wrong.
Malcolm X The End of White Supremacy contains four speechs: The Black Revolution, The Old Negro and The New Negro and God’s Judgement of White America.
Quotes I found profound:
…Then you have the Negro. When he is not bragging about being a Christian he’s bragging that he’s a white man, or he wants to be white….
There are black people in America who have mastered the mathematical sciences, have become professors and experts in physics, are able to toss sputniks out there in the atmosphere out in space….medicine…but very seldom do we have black men in America who have mastered the knowledge of the history of the black man himself….And because of his lack of knowledge concerning the history of the black man,…he’s always confined, he’s always relegated to the same low rung of the ladder that the dumbest of our people are relegated to
…Your knowledge of history tells you that God couldn’t call His religion Christianity because Christianity is only two thousand years old….what was God’s religion called before the birth of Christ?
...all you and I have done is build churches and let the white man build factories…schools…everything for himself. Then after you build the church you have to go and beg the white man for a job and beg the white man for some education.
What kept Malcolm X The End of White Supremacy from being a five star read for me was I couldn’t buy into “The Honorable Elijah Muhammad teaches us…” because I see no difference in any of the religions. I also couldn’t buy into all white people are bad.
When you read Malcolm X The End of White Supremacy be mindful that these speeches were written while Mr. X was still a member of Elijah Muhammad church and although I disagreed with some of his thoughts he did make valid points.
It will take a reader who has an open-mind and who is not egocentric or narcissist to keep reading until the book’s conclusion.
The New York Times described Maxcolm X as an extraordinary and twisted man who wasted his many true gifts to evil purpose. Isn’t it typical of the New York Times to get it wrong.
Read
July 29, 2024I’m not going to rate this one because it seems unfair to do so. This is not one you read for entertainment purposes. I found these speeches interesting and it helped me understand the thinking of Malcolm X better.
May 29, 2021
Well, The End of White World Supremacy: Four Speeches by Malcolm X is one of the worst books I've had the displeasure of reading. The first speech starts off strong by stressing the importance of history, but then he goes into a bizarre trip down fantasy land where he says that white people are devils engineered over hundreds of years by the black scientist named Yacub who wanted to use them to control and ransac the world. That Brown people are weaker and morally inferior to black people, that Yellow people are weaker and morally inferior to Brown people, and that white people are the most inferior, most weak people on planet earth because they are genetically altered to be so. It is their nature to lie, steal, and kill. That is, apparently, why we like dogs and keep them as pets, for dogs are filthy beasts that are most akin to white people. Great start. What follows after this is advocacy for racial separation, a seizure of 1/7th the wealth and land of the country, likening any random white person as a rapist to every black person, and worse like the idea that a black person imagines pride in the US, or identifies with the achievements in the US, is akin to being an uncle tom, was also mentioned. Oh, and Malcolm X thought Martin Luther King is a race traitor and a puppet of white authority.
I picked this book up because Malcolm X is described as a misunderstood figure, and a great many people that I trust have at one point or another endorsed him. I figured this might reveal to me something useful about the man, to add color and nuance to a figure that was largely maligned by some figures. Malcolm X, I was told, had a lot of valuable things to say about white supremacy. What better book to find out more than one named after the very issue I was interested in learning more about?
If he is misunderstood, books like this - and his own words - are the reason why.
60/100
I picked this book up because Malcolm X is described as a misunderstood figure, and a great many people that I trust have at one point or another endorsed him. I figured this might reveal to me something useful about the man, to add color and nuance to a figure that was largely maligned by some figures. Malcolm X, I was told, had a lot of valuable things to say about white supremacy. What better book to find out more than one named after the very issue I was interested in learning more about?
If he is misunderstood, books like this - and his own words - are the reason why.
60/100
June 6, 2020
As a non-Black, non-American, I hadn’t come across Malcolm X much except for knowing that he was one of the voices for the Black community during the Civil Rights movement. My reintroduction to him was when I came across some clips and quotes while comparing the parallels of politics in my own country. His view on liberals, his thoughts on progression of the Black community in a White owned America resonated with the place of minorities everywhere. I was very enamoured by his personality and that led me to his autobiography. But not having the time to proceed with it, I decided to read this short collection of his four speeches.
The End of White World Supremacy is a collection of his speeches before he left The Nation of Islam, an organisation which shaped his Muslim identity while he was being mentored by one of the Ministers, Elijah Muhammad. The book starts off with a anecdote on when Malcolm first was noticed by the author. This was the part of the book where I knew that I wanted to learn more about Malcolm X.
His speeches prominently show that Malcolm believed that Islam is the only solution to racial inequality. He was unflinching in that belief and was passionate while he advocated for a separation from the White America. He despaired over the fact that the Black community didn’t know its origin, didn’t know its history, and that led them to bow down to the White man. He states that it would be impossible for the Black community to live equally in the present America and integration would be a farce and injustice to their problems. He wanted America to pay repatriations for the enslavement of his ancestors and provide them means of passage back to Africa with adequate resources or a part of America with money for about 20-25 years while they became an independent people. All of these four speeches highlight this demand.
Considering the present scenario, his thoughts on integration and demand for separation seem almost visionary. In fact, they show what a deep understanding Malcolm had of the society that had moulded him. I found his words to be witty, impactful and unapologetic! I know that a pilgrimage to Mecca changed his view on certain topics — like Black supremacy — and I’m curious to see how the drift from Nation of Islam and his denouncement of it shaped his then politics and demands.
Whether you agree with him or not, there’s no doubt that Malcolm X was one of the most enigmatic speakers to talk on racial justice.
Some of the quotes that stayed with me:
“Whenever you exalt black, that’s not propaganda; when you exalt white, that’s propaganda.”
“And I pointed out to the students: when someone sticks a knife into my back nine inches and then pulls it out six inches they haven’t done me any favor. And if they pull that knife which they stuck in my back all the way out they still have not done me any favor. They should not have stabbed me in the back in the first place.”
“You don’t have to go behind bars to be in jail in this country. If you are born in this country with black skin you are already in jail, you are already confined, you are already watched over by a warden who poses as your mayor and poses as your governor and poses as your President”
“The American government is trying to trick her twenty-two million ex-slaves with promises that she never intends to keep.”
“The black revolution is the struggle of the nonwhites of this earth against their white oppressors. The black revolution has swept white supremacy out of Africa, out of Asia, and is getting ready to sweep it out of Latin America. Revolutions are based upon land. Revolutionaries are the landless against the landlord. Revolutions are never peaceful, never loving, never nonviolent. Nor are they ever compromising. Revolutions are destructive and bloody. Revolutionaries don’t compromise with the enemy; they don’t even negotiate. Like the flood in Noah’s day, revolution drowns all opposition, or like the fire in Lot’s day, the black revolution burns everything that gets in its path.”
Having read this, I’m now more curious than ever to read Malcolm X’s autobiography to learn what shaped him to become the person he was.
The End of White World Supremacy is a collection of his speeches before he left The Nation of Islam, an organisation which shaped his Muslim identity while he was being mentored by one of the Ministers, Elijah Muhammad. The book starts off with a anecdote on when Malcolm first was noticed by the author. This was the part of the book where I knew that I wanted to learn more about Malcolm X.
His speeches prominently show that Malcolm believed that Islam is the only solution to racial inequality. He was unflinching in that belief and was passionate while he advocated for a separation from the White America. He despaired over the fact that the Black community didn’t know its origin, didn’t know its history, and that led them to bow down to the White man. He states that it would be impossible for the Black community to live equally in the present America and integration would be a farce and injustice to their problems. He wanted America to pay repatriations for the enslavement of his ancestors and provide them means of passage back to Africa with adequate resources or a part of America with money for about 20-25 years while they became an independent people. All of these four speeches highlight this demand.
Considering the present scenario, his thoughts on integration and demand for separation seem almost visionary. In fact, they show what a deep understanding Malcolm had of the society that had moulded him. I found his words to be witty, impactful and unapologetic! I know that a pilgrimage to Mecca changed his view on certain topics — like Black supremacy — and I’m curious to see how the drift from Nation of Islam and his denouncement of it shaped his then politics and demands.
Whether you agree with him or not, there’s no doubt that Malcolm X was one of the most enigmatic speakers to talk on racial justice.
Some of the quotes that stayed with me:
“Whenever you exalt black, that’s not propaganda; when you exalt white, that’s propaganda.”
“And I pointed out to the students: when someone sticks a knife into my back nine inches and then pulls it out six inches they haven’t done me any favor. And if they pull that knife which they stuck in my back all the way out they still have not done me any favor. They should not have stabbed me in the back in the first place.”
“You don’t have to go behind bars to be in jail in this country. If you are born in this country with black skin you are already in jail, you are already confined, you are already watched over by a warden who poses as your mayor and poses as your governor and poses as your President”
“The American government is trying to trick her twenty-two million ex-slaves with promises that she never intends to keep.”
“The black revolution is the struggle of the nonwhites of this earth against their white oppressors. The black revolution has swept white supremacy out of Africa, out of Asia, and is getting ready to sweep it out of Latin America. Revolutions are based upon land. Revolutionaries are the landless against the landlord. Revolutions are never peaceful, never loving, never nonviolent. Nor are they ever compromising. Revolutions are destructive and bloody. Revolutionaries don’t compromise with the enemy; they don’t even negotiate. Like the flood in Noah’s day, revolution drowns all opposition, or like the fire in Lot’s day, the black revolution burns everything that gets in its path.”
Having read this, I’m now more curious than ever to read Malcolm X’s autobiography to learn what shaped him to become the person he was.
October 10, 2022
“White, that’s their color but devil - that’s what they are. These aren’t white people. You’re not using the right language when you say ‘the white man.’ You call it the devil. When you call him devil, you’re calling him by his name.”
February 16, 2021
With movies like “One Night in Miami” and “Judas and the Black Messiah” coming out, this short book is a helpful introduction to the powerful rhetoric of Malcolm X. Steeped in the context of the national of Islam and the civil rights movement, Malcolm X offered a vigorous alternative of decolonized knowledge that seemed promising to many. Thankful to become increasingly acquainted with his voice.
December 13, 2020
An interesting introduction to Malcom X. I Highly recommend reading through these speeches. Malcom X was an effective orator who makes an extremely compelling argument for the need of reparations and how only through truly repenting for the sins of slavery can white america heal the nation and halt it's inevitable collapse.
April 27, 2020
Very interesting. Listened on audible Aug 5.2019. well-narrated. Probably better than reading with eyes for this one.
First speech is from 1962. Entitled "Black Man's History." Very intriguing speech that starts with the premise that the difference between African Americans and white people is that African Americans don't know their history. He talks about black being the original color of humans and proposes that Islam is much, much older than all other religions. Spends a lot of time on Islam history and dunks on the Jews for a while.
The most interesting part of this speech to me is his telling of a sort of theological creation and world history in which the Jacob of the old testament is a trickster who six thousand years ago was able to trick the Islamic leaders into giving him his own group of people who were prophecied to take over for a duration of six thousand years before being brought down again. Jacob's people, he says (note: he repeatedly ascribes all of these teachings to "the honorable Elijah Muhammad") were/are the white people. I thought this was fascinating. I think it is in this speech that he talks about how white people (especially white women) love dogs, while Black people don't, and uses this as an example of white people's devil nature. I don't believe this particular account of history, but I find it no less likely than many other religious believers' ideas and, regardless of its historical veracity, very intriguing as a sort of parable/metaphor/or just plain story.
In the second speech, he speaks on the need for African Americans to not integrate or segregate, but separate. That African Americans should be given a space, either back in Africa or at least a 1/7 of the more fertile, mineral rights US land and a 20 year financing to get started.
The question and answer section is really interesting bc he gets asked some pretty pointed questions. He's very charismatic and smart.
In one of the later speeches he lays out how the big six civil rights leaders are just white liberal’s puppets. And also how the March on Washington was controlled by shrewd politicians to be completely compliant (even that white liberals joined in the march and kept it from going to Pentagon and other buildings where they would've caused more problems on the streets). I wonder how much of what he talks about here is still true today. And as a white liberals myself, am I just the same?
First speech is from 1962. Entitled "Black Man's History." Very intriguing speech that starts with the premise that the difference between African Americans and white people is that African Americans don't know their history. He talks about black being the original color of humans and proposes that Islam is much, much older than all other religions. Spends a lot of time on Islam history and dunks on the Jews for a while.
The most interesting part of this speech to me is his telling of a sort of theological creation and world history in which the Jacob of the old testament is a trickster who six thousand years ago was able to trick the Islamic leaders into giving him his own group of people who were prophecied to take over for a duration of six thousand years before being brought down again. Jacob's people, he says (note: he repeatedly ascribes all of these teachings to "the honorable Elijah Muhammad") were/are the white people. I thought this was fascinating. I think it is in this speech that he talks about how white people (especially white women) love dogs, while Black people don't, and uses this as an example of white people's devil nature. I don't believe this particular account of history, but I find it no less likely than many other religious believers' ideas and, regardless of its historical veracity, very intriguing as a sort of parable/metaphor/or just plain story.
In the second speech, he speaks on the need for African Americans to not integrate or segregate, but separate. That African Americans should be given a space, either back in Africa or at least a 1/7 of the more fertile, mineral rights US land and a 20 year financing to get started.
The question and answer section is really interesting bc he gets asked some pretty pointed questions. He's very charismatic and smart.
In one of the later speeches he lays out how the big six civil rights leaders are just white liberal’s puppets. And also how the March on Washington was controlled by shrewd politicians to be completely compliant (even that white liberals joined in the march and kept it from going to Pentagon and other buildings where they would've caused more problems on the streets). I wonder how much of what he talks about here is still true today. And as a white liberals myself, am I just the same?
June 8, 2015
When you read this book, you just fell more in love with this great man, Malcolm X.
This books contains four of his speeches before his separation with the Nation of Islam. During the read, you find more about his man's intelligence and ingeniousness. You will know why he is still loved by people and why he is still quoted and mentioned in other people's talks and writings.
This books contains four of his speeches before his separation with the Nation of Islam. During the read, you find more about his man's intelligence and ingeniousness. You will know why he is still loved by people and why he is still quoted and mentioned in other people's talks and writings.
January 4, 2023
...when someone sticks a knife into my back nine inches and then pulls it out six inches they haven’t done me any favor. And if they pull that knife which they stuck in my back all the way out they still have not done me any favor. They should not have stabbed me in the back in the first place.
I can see now what was, at one time, so terrifying about the Nation of Islam. I'd known its adherents had preached uprising, I even knew they used the phrase "white devil," but I suppose I was naive to the literalism with which they meant it. I felt like I listened to these speeches from several different vantage points simultaneously: I listened to them as a window into a peculiar psuedo-historical, religious narrative, as a master class in rhetoric, and as a way of understanding one small chapter of Malcolm X's philosophical evolution.
I listened to them while observing my own psychological distance from their content. How was it that I felt no insult when Malcolm X compared white people to dogs?
How was it that I felt no threat when he foretold the end of the white race?
These ideas should be insulting, should be threatening to a white woman like me... and yet, I hear them as a historical relic, as a set of failed ideas, powerful in their time but no more.
I'm compelled by the idea that the successes of the civil rights movement in the 60s were driven by the interplay of the strategic nonviolence of MLK and SNCC, etc. and both the organized violence of the Black Power movement and the more organic violent urban uprisings that took place all over the country. I think we, as a country, and white people in particular, tend to give all the credit to the nonviolent marches and civil disobedience.
At the same time, when it comes to my own activism, I find myself only really playing one role: the role of the can't-we-all-just-get-along compromiser. The insider pushing for incremental change. I think many people would laugh to consider me activist at all. I don't think I have the constitution of a real rebel or revolutionary.
But I admire that work.
And, somewhere deep down, I often find myself rooting for my own loss, rooting for this conciliatory, incremental work to be made pointless in the face of sweeping, revolutionary change. Is this cowardice or self-awareness? Both.
I can see now what was, at one time, so terrifying about the Nation of Islam. I'd known its adherents had preached uprising, I even knew they used the phrase "white devil," but I suppose I was naive to the literalism with which they meant it. I felt like I listened to these speeches from several different vantage points simultaneously: I listened to them as a window into a peculiar psuedo-historical, religious narrative, as a master class in rhetoric, and as a way of understanding one small chapter of Malcolm X's philosophical evolution.
I listened to them while observing my own psychological distance from their content. How was it that I felt no insult when Malcolm X compared white people to dogs?
The Honorable Elijah Muhammad says that within one thousand years after the white people were up in the caves they were on all fours. And they were living in the outdoors where it's cold, just as cold over there as it is outside right now. They didn't have clothes. So by being out there in the cold their hair got longer and longer. Hair grew all over their bodies. By being on all fours, the end of their spine begin to grow. They grew a little tail that came out from the end of their spine...Oh yes, this was the white man, brother, up in the caves of Europe. He had a tail that long. You ever notice that anything that walks on all fours has a tail? That which straightens up doesn't have a tail, because when you get down, you see, you just make that spine come right on out. And just like a dog, he was crawling around up there. He was hairy as a dog. He had a tail like a dog. He had a smell like a dog. And nothing could get along with him but another dog.
How was it that I felt no threat when he foretold the end of the white race?
So, brothers and sisters, my time has expired. I just wanted to point out that the white man, a race of devils, was made six thousand years ago. This doesn't mean to tell you that this implies any kind of hate. They're just a race of devils. They were made six thousand years ago, they were made to rule for six thousand years, and their time expired...
These ideas should be insulting, should be threatening to a white woman like me... and yet, I hear them as a historical relic, as a set of failed ideas, powerful in their time but no more.
I'm compelled by the idea that the successes of the civil rights movement in the 60s were driven by the interplay of the strategic nonviolence of MLK and SNCC, etc. and both the organized violence of the Black Power movement and the more organic violent urban uprisings that took place all over the country. I think we, as a country, and white people in particular, tend to give all the credit to the nonviolent marches and civil disobedience.
At the same time, when it comes to my own activism, I find myself only really playing one role: the role of the can't-we-all-just-get-along compromiser. The insider pushing for incremental change. I think many people would laugh to consider me activist at all. I don't think I have the constitution of a real rebel or revolutionary.
But I admire that work.
And, somewhere deep down, I often find myself rooting for my own loss, rooting for this conciliatory, incremental work to be made pointless in the face of sweeping, revolutionary change. Is this cowardice or self-awareness? Both.
April 26, 2023
rlly a foundational text of the WAKE UP SHEEPLE variety. malcolm x knows, been known, and makes aware, what the hell is going on with the world as it still perpetuates white supremacy’s exceptionalistic ever increasing death trip trajectory. devastation it’s only expense and only resultant. blind to everything that isn’t expense and result, calculated meticulously as if not squander n bitterly enforced as if benevolently granted, all with only death in mind. malcolm x really came out n said, most ppl are scared to say shit but i’m not! and then he was murdered for it.
these r crucial provocations delivered w searing intensities akin to their undeniable necessity. in a world where the black telling of black mythologies black realities black histories black religion has become dangerous enough to even be seen as stern provocations. provocations in which change is made possible because it always has been. how can we look to place and space and care when a white imperial mindset leaves us barren bereft utterly detached? why, you should open up your minds and your heads and your hearts and realise you have been led by a lie.
these r crucial provocations delivered w searing intensities akin to their undeniable necessity. in a world where the black telling of black mythologies black realities black histories black religion has become dangerous enough to even be seen as stern provocations. provocations in which change is made possible because it always has been. how can we look to place and space and care when a white imperial mindset leaves us barren bereft utterly detached? why, you should open up your minds and your heads and your hearts and realise you have been led by a lie.
June 1, 2021
This made me look into the history of this man, and now I need to read the speeches from the last few months of his life, where his views changed. His constant references to NIO are pretty sad to hear, given how they eventually killed him. Overall, he made many astute observations that gave me a better understanding of the race issue but I think some realities have changed since his time and I think there are more than 2 black Americas today.
July 26, 2022
this was definitely an interesting read ! though very heavy in the means of religion and what malcom x had to say back in the 50s and 60s. because of this i haven’t given this a 5/5 as i am not religious, and it felt too “preachy” for me. though malcom x was a very smart and articulate man and you are able to see that throughout these speeches
December 4, 2025
Very interesting. Malcom X has some very valid points. It also shows how a religious doctrine is very misleading. I understand he changed his tune after visiting Mecca. Interesting read
Read
December 19, 2020I didn't want to rate this (because honestly where would I even go trying to do so?) so I haven't. Not to mention I did end up skimming many of passages for reasons I will explain below so it didn't feel appropriate, much in the same way I don't rate book I have DNF'd! Despite this I have many a complicated thought about this collection of speeches by the civil rights leader Malcolm X.
There are many phrases across all of these speeches that I agree wholeheartedly with and strike a massive chord with me. In particular, in the speech of "the Old Negro and the New Negro", mentions of white southern/conservatives being blatantly oppressive like a wolf, and the more "liberal" white northerners masking their oppression like "foxes" still holds true to this day; racism and anti-blackness need not to be so blatan to be damaging the Black community. Often, insidious acts of oppression can be most harmful and dangerous that blatant acts of prejudice. Additionally, his call for reparations for African-Americans is something I believe strongly in, and though I don't necessarily wholly agree with his stance on intergration and separation I understand the reasoning. It is a fact that in history, and of course in present day America, that white Americans oppress Black people in America and thus the inherent distrust and fear towards white people from Black Americans would lend to a stance moreso towards separation rather than intergration. Also, a common theme seen in these speeches, for the black community to band together against the white man's plan of "dividing and conquering", is something that also aligns with my own philosophies; the urge for proximity to whiteness (whether this manifests in colourism, featurism, etc) stems from white supremacy and we must dismantle this way of thinking for both internal and external growth.
In "God's Judgement of White America", the passages highlighting how white liberals so often co-opt black movements in the name of allyship (in this case, he is specifically speaking on the Marches on Washington) are so so so important and still relevant today. White liberals, or even non-black liberals, whitewash black marches and protests so much so that they lose their original meaning, power, passion, and sometimes intent. It becomes performative and this speech is something that all activists should listen to in order to understand the harm behind performative allyship or activism. Non-black people should not speak over us in the case of issues pertaining specifically to black people, but instead make our voices louder. When "infiltration" of movements happens, it becomes a "performance" as Malcolm X eloquently put.
However, I struggled to not skim through large passages of text; this isn't due to my lack of interest or boredom but because of the blatant anti-semitism, particularly in "Black Man's History". I have done my research and I do understand the historical tensions between the African-American and Jewish-American communities, particularly in the early-mid 20th century but this understanding did not alleviate my discomfort on reading blatant anti-semitic stereotypes and discourse. This doesn't diminish the work that Malcolm X has done for the Black American community, however I have noticed that anti-semitism is something that black communities across the world often fail to acknowledge and we need to do better in this regard. The fact that this is not mentioned more often or even in the reviews (at least, I have not noticed it mentioned frequently) is telling of the work we need to do. This goes for prevailing anti-blackness in other communities but as I am not part of those, I cannot speak on this.
Additionally, I failed to enjoy the religious subtext to these speeches. I disagree with many of the religious arguments brought up in this book but as I am not educated enough in this aspect, I won't speak to much on it. However, I feel like I did not learn much from a religious standpoint from these speeches but thats a personal opinion.
I'm glad I read these fully (I have previously listened to some of his other speeches and excerpts of these) and despite my various disagreements I don't feel like I lost anything by reading this short collection.
There are many phrases across all of these speeches that I agree wholeheartedly with and strike a massive chord with me. In particular, in the speech of "the Old Negro and the New Negro", mentions of white southern/conservatives being blatantly oppressive like a wolf, and the more "liberal" white northerners masking their oppression like "foxes" still holds true to this day; racism and anti-blackness need not to be so blatan to be damaging the Black community. Often, insidious acts of oppression can be most harmful and dangerous that blatant acts of prejudice. Additionally, his call for reparations for African-Americans is something I believe strongly in, and though I don't necessarily wholly agree with his stance on intergration and separation I understand the reasoning. It is a fact that in history, and of course in present day America, that white Americans oppress Black people in America and thus the inherent distrust and fear towards white people from Black Americans would lend to a stance moreso towards separation rather than intergration. Also, a common theme seen in these speeches, for the black community to band together against the white man's plan of "dividing and conquering", is something that also aligns with my own philosophies; the urge for proximity to whiteness (whether this manifests in colourism, featurism, etc) stems from white supremacy and we must dismantle this way of thinking for both internal and external growth.
In "God's Judgement of White America", the passages highlighting how white liberals so often co-opt black movements in the name of allyship (in this case, he is specifically speaking on the Marches on Washington) are so so so important and still relevant today. White liberals, or even non-black liberals, whitewash black marches and protests so much so that they lose their original meaning, power, passion, and sometimes intent. It becomes performative and this speech is something that all activists should listen to in order to understand the harm behind performative allyship or activism. Non-black people should not speak over us in the case of issues pertaining specifically to black people, but instead make our voices louder. When "infiltration" of movements happens, it becomes a "performance" as Malcolm X eloquently put.
However, I struggled to not skim through large passages of text; this isn't due to my lack of interest or boredom but because of the blatant anti-semitism, particularly in "Black Man's History". I have done my research and I do understand the historical tensions between the African-American and Jewish-American communities, particularly in the early-mid 20th century but this understanding did not alleviate my discomfort on reading blatant anti-semitic stereotypes and discourse. This doesn't diminish the work that Malcolm X has done for the Black American community, however I have noticed that anti-semitism is something that black communities across the world often fail to acknowledge and we need to do better in this regard. The fact that this is not mentioned more often or even in the reviews (at least, I have not noticed it mentioned frequently) is telling of the work we need to do. This goes for prevailing anti-blackness in other communities but as I am not part of those, I cannot speak on this.
Additionally, I failed to enjoy the religious subtext to these speeches. I disagree with many of the religious arguments brought up in this book but as I am not educated enough in this aspect, I won't speak to much on it. However, I feel like I did not learn much from a religious standpoint from these speeches but thats a personal opinion.
I'm glad I read these fully (I have previously listened to some of his other speeches and excerpts of these) and despite my various disagreements I don't feel like I lost anything by reading this short collection.
December 30, 2013
When I first heard about Malcolm X and the men and women that were part of his followers I couldn't imagine that they could find evil and hate in every white person. This was the period I read about when he was with Elijah Muhammad. Then the more I read about the history of black people in the world the more I could see that you could have a hatred that intense, that blinding. The history of Indigenous peoples in the world during colonial times are the most atrocious. The genocides that are barely spoken of today is horrific. I read more about Malcolm X and his transformation beyond Elijah Muhammad and know that is the path to follow. Regardless of your colour, background, sex, faith and anything else we as human beings can unite together. Here was a very intelligent man, profound and well researched, reading his speeches was like a revelation, altho' I will admit there is some reading between the lines to be done here. I've never read the bible but because of Malcolm X I did locate a bible and find the section he referred to and that did make me wonder "Let us create man" when before God had said in the bible "Let there be..." Altho' I'm not so sure of his then theory on the creation of the white people. With that I did feel rather bewildered. Otherwise it is a very impressive collection, however, it would have added interesting insight if the editor had added his experience with Malcolm X after the period Elijah Muhammad.
November 24, 2007
The four speeches in this book demonstrate the clarity and power of Malcolm X's ideas. His description of US global policy is scathing. The speeches are all from the early 1960's before Malcolm X left the Nation of Islam and offer some insight into those beliefs.
Among the speeches is the famous Chickens Come Home To Roost, so named because of an answer Malcolm X gave in response to a question concerning the late President John Kennedy. It was Malcolm X's answer, that the Presidents death was "chickens coming home to roost", which resulted in the Honorable Elijah Muhammad silencing him.
Malcolm X left the Nation Of Islam a short time later. The question/answer session is not in the book, but reading the text of speech establishes the tone of not only that evening's talk but of Malcolm X's thoughts during that pivotal moment in his life.
Three of the speeches in this book are available free on the web:
God's Judgement of White America (The Chickens Come Home to Roost)
The Black Revolution
Black Man's History
June 19, 2018
When your mind is a weapon, you are never unarmed. Malcolm is very educated, brilliant man. The four speeches describtion of US policy very well demonstrates the sad and important truth about the world we live in. The speeches are all from the early 1960's before Malcolm X left the Nation of Islam and some other ideas, he hated the white man back then, and he had every right to it, but I'm glad that later after his visit in Mecca where he saw that everybody was treated equally, he had put that away. This book offers some insight into those beliefs, not fully developed and not fully based on facts.
June 11, 2020
I always find it difficult to review and rate non-fiction titles, and it’s harder than ever when it comes to my thoughts on this collection. Featuring four of Malcolm X’s speeches, the discourse in this book is heavily centred around race and religion. As an agnostic I found it a little hard to get my head around some of the religious content (particularly comparing sexual attraction to magnets, that the same sexes repel because opposites attract) but I tried to keep an open mind and I feel I have learnt a lot about Muslims and the religion of Islam. A good place to begin learning about an icon of American history.
May 5, 2023
Anti-Semitic, decisive & racist, Malcolm X was a product of his time.
Reading this in 2023. I don’t think it helps anyone, besides for history. Yes, there have been So Many massive injustices; the slave trade, abandonment in the Reformation & Cointelpro, among Many others. As a white liberal myself, Malcom X would hate me the most, but I can’t understand the assumption that all whites are evil, even those who just want to help his cause. But perhaps if I were in his shoes I would be full of hate as well?
Reading this in 2023. I don’t think it helps anyone, besides for history. Yes, there have been So Many massive injustices; the slave trade, abandonment in the Reformation & Cointelpro, among Many others. As a white liberal myself, Malcom X would hate me the most, but I can’t understand the assumption that all whites are evil, even those who just want to help his cause. But perhaps if I were in his shoes I would be full of hate as well?
July 21, 2020
I didn't expect so much patronising flattery and unscientific claptrap in the opening speech. Very little of this collection is agelessly thundering in exposing the crimes of imperialism, the prison walls of America, and the artifice of white liberal allyship.
July 21, 2010
Yikes. Unfortunate the way some people go about change, he obviously didn't have the answers then; because, according to some radicals, we don't have the answer now.
September 24, 2010
My grandfather wrote this book and I know as someone close to him he chose the speeches very carefully I'm glad to see people getting something out of his legacy.
September 28, 2022
“Black Man’s History” had me glued. Definitely recommend.
July 10, 2023
This is a book of Malcolm X's speeches and as such they lose a little bit in the transition from him actually speaking to the page, but they are still worth reading. They aren't any comfort to a white man like me, but they aren't supposed to be, and if I felt comforted instead of confronted by reading them I'd either be an idiot or Malcolm X would have failed in what he set out to do.
He did not.
Make no mistake: the Malcolm X of this book was a radical. He was not there to make people feel good nor to promote unity or forgiveness. He had a change in perspective later, after a visit to Mecca and encounter with traditional Islam (rather than Elijah Muhammad's splinter-group the Nation of Islam), but that is not the Malcolm X of this book. This book is Malcolm X at the height of his power, Malcolm X as firebrand, as bomb thrower, as revolutionary. He was perhaps the most powerful orator of the Civil Rights Struggle of the late 1950s and early 1960s, and that was one of the reasons why white America and the government found him so dangerous, a pheneomenon he himself addresses in his speeches.
In those speeches are hard truths here about what evils the United States perpetrated against its black population over the years, and some even harder prescriptions on how to fix them. The Malcolm X of this era was no integrationalist, and had hard words for those who were. (This book presents a needed correction to the incorrect notion that Dr. Martin Luther King spoke for all black Americans when he wrote and spoke in the 1960s.) Malcolm X's words still have weight and power even sixty years later, and where he uses logic (rather than religion), his points are still difficult to refute with any honesty.
But that gets at something else about him, something I didn't really realize in the speeches I'd heard before or the things I'd read about him--the basis of his belief really was religion, really was in the teachings of the Nation of Islam as given by Elijah Muhammad, who Malcolm X demonstrates a great deal of reverance and loyalty toward. And this obvious loyalty and respect makes it that much more astonishing and admirable that when Malcolm X realized Elijah Muhammad was not the man he told his followers he was, when he demonstrated that he was a hypocrite, Malcolm X's admiration for the man did not cloud his judgement. With all his fire and passion, Malcolm X stood up to his mentor, to the man who had helped shape his worldview, and challenged him on both religious grounds and the grounds of Elijah Muhammad's egregious personal misconduct.
Having come out of a religious background marred by the same sort of misconduct that befell the Nation of Islam, I can tell you how impressive it is when people do the right thing--as Malcolm X did--rather than the easy thing, when they stand for justice rather instead of just bowing to a powerful and respected religious figure, and when they challenge not just the evil outside the flock but also the evil inside the fold.
That refusal to yield to injustice and misconduct would cost Malcolm X his life, cut short in his prime. I wish we could have seen the man Malcolm X would have become, seen the way he would have grown and changed and challenged the rest of the world to change as well. When the world lost Malcolm X, it lost perhaps the greatest revolutionary of that time, and we--even the white liberals like myself, whom the Malcolm X of this book's era heaped his greatest scorn upon--are all the worse off for it, whether we recognize it or not.
He did not.
Make no mistake: the Malcolm X of this book was a radical. He was not there to make people feel good nor to promote unity or forgiveness. He had a change in perspective later, after a visit to Mecca and encounter with traditional Islam (rather than Elijah Muhammad's splinter-group the Nation of Islam), but that is not the Malcolm X of this book. This book is Malcolm X at the height of his power, Malcolm X as firebrand, as bomb thrower, as revolutionary. He was perhaps the most powerful orator of the Civil Rights Struggle of the late 1950s and early 1960s, and that was one of the reasons why white America and the government found him so dangerous, a pheneomenon he himself addresses in his speeches.
In those speeches are hard truths here about what evils the United States perpetrated against its black population over the years, and some even harder prescriptions on how to fix them. The Malcolm X of this era was no integrationalist, and had hard words for those who were. (This book presents a needed correction to the incorrect notion that Dr. Martin Luther King spoke for all black Americans when he wrote and spoke in the 1960s.) Malcolm X's words still have weight and power even sixty years later, and where he uses logic (rather than religion), his points are still difficult to refute with any honesty.
But that gets at something else about him, something I didn't really realize in the speeches I'd heard before or the things I'd read about him--the basis of his belief really was religion, really was in the teachings of the Nation of Islam as given by Elijah Muhammad, who Malcolm X demonstrates a great deal of reverance and loyalty toward. And this obvious loyalty and respect makes it that much more astonishing and admirable that when Malcolm X realized Elijah Muhammad was not the man he told his followers he was, when he demonstrated that he was a hypocrite, Malcolm X's admiration for the man did not cloud his judgement. With all his fire and passion, Malcolm X stood up to his mentor, to the man who had helped shape his worldview, and challenged him on both religious grounds and the grounds of Elijah Muhammad's egregious personal misconduct.
Having come out of a religious background marred by the same sort of misconduct that befell the Nation of Islam, I can tell you how impressive it is when people do the right thing--as Malcolm X did--rather than the easy thing, when they stand for justice rather instead of just bowing to a powerful and respected religious figure, and when they challenge not just the evil outside the flock but also the evil inside the fold.
That refusal to yield to injustice and misconduct would cost Malcolm X his life, cut short in his prime. I wish we could have seen the man Malcolm X would have become, seen the way he would have grown and changed and challenged the rest of the world to change as well. When the world lost Malcolm X, it lost perhaps the greatest revolutionary of that time, and we--even the white liberals like myself, whom the Malcolm X of this book's era heaped his greatest scorn upon--are all the worse off for it, whether we recognize it or not.
July 26, 2020
Had to DNF at 40% cos I was just so baffled and angry and it was hurting my head. I’m not gonna turn my notes into anything coherent but they’re pasted unedited below.
- I probably don’t know enough about him, but my impression from this so far is not great - he seems to advocate for violence, segregation and supremacy, where I want to see peace, unity and equality. He’s angry, and I get why, but for me his approach doesn’t seem like the answer.
- I feel like there’s an argument here around the whole ‘reverse racism’ thing? Some people say Black people can’t be racist to white people and yes, systemic racism doesn’t exist in that direction and obviously the difference is the structural side of things, and the power dynamic and stuff, so I get that it’s a whole different conversation to the issue of racism against Black people and it’s never gonna have even a fraction of the impact, but as an individual, if you’re claiming that your race is superior and preaching about/preparing for a black vs white war where one side will be wiped out... are you not racist? That seems like it fits with the definition of hating an entire group of people for the colour of their skin? Yeah there’s justification in hating the white *system* that has oppressed you but surely taking it to a place of ‘white = bad’ is that kind of eye for an eye shit that we don’t need?
- He’s intelligent and he knows how to say what he wants to say in a way people will listen - I can seem why he would’ve been charismatic and convincing
- I have problems with organised religion, and this comes across particularly preachy, extremist and cult-like so I’m not down with that approach. It’s arrogant, supremacist bullshit. I fail to see how anything that teaches ‘this is the right belief and all others must convert or face eternal damnation’ could ever be anything but bigoted and negative.
- It said something in the introduction about how when X delivered the speech someone likened him to Hitler ‘even though he didn’t say anything anti-Semitic’ - erm, yes he fucking did? I mean, even if he hadn’t said anything specific to Jews he was anti-everything-other-than-Black-Muslim, but he literally said ‘they know how to rob you’, he absolutely was perpetuating those anti-Semitic views?!
- I feel really uncomfortable reading this because I feel like I’m *supposed* to hold him up as an icon and if I disagree then I’m not supporting Black people but, just, no? I read a review where the reader essentially said they fundamentally disagreed with his whole ethos, but still rated it 5 stars? That just seems like white guilt and peer pressure?
- He’s banging on about being enlightened and able to think for himself thanks to Elijah Muhammad while literally parroting a load of stuff Muhammad has told him to think. He’s so horny for this guy and has clearly been 100% radicalised by him. He no doubt has a lot of intelligence and passion but also comes across pretty naive.
- This is absolutely fucking bizarre. If this exact speech was being made by John on the street corner, it’d be dismissed as nonsensical ravings. And if John was white and the races were flipped around, he’d probably be arrested for hate speech.
- Sorry, the moon was created by exploding a chunk of the earth off into space? The white man was genetically engineered by a mad scientist? Am I misunderstanding this? If it supposed to be metaphor? I am the embodiment of that monkey cat meme. Nothing makes sense anymore. I can’t.
- I probably don’t know enough about him, but my impression from this so far is not great - he seems to advocate for violence, segregation and supremacy, where I want to see peace, unity and equality. He’s angry, and I get why, but for me his approach doesn’t seem like the answer.
- I feel like there’s an argument here around the whole ‘reverse racism’ thing? Some people say Black people can’t be racist to white people and yes, systemic racism doesn’t exist in that direction and obviously the difference is the structural side of things, and the power dynamic and stuff, so I get that it’s a whole different conversation to the issue of racism against Black people and it’s never gonna have even a fraction of the impact, but as an individual, if you’re claiming that your race is superior and preaching about/preparing for a black vs white war where one side will be wiped out... are you not racist? That seems like it fits with the definition of hating an entire group of people for the colour of their skin? Yeah there’s justification in hating the white *system* that has oppressed you but surely taking it to a place of ‘white = bad’ is that kind of eye for an eye shit that we don’t need?
- He’s intelligent and he knows how to say what he wants to say in a way people will listen - I can seem why he would’ve been charismatic and convincing
- I have problems with organised religion, and this comes across particularly preachy, extremist and cult-like so I’m not down with that approach. It’s arrogant, supremacist bullshit. I fail to see how anything that teaches ‘this is the right belief and all others must convert or face eternal damnation’ could ever be anything but bigoted and negative.
- It said something in the introduction about how when X delivered the speech someone likened him to Hitler ‘even though he didn’t say anything anti-Semitic’ - erm, yes he fucking did? I mean, even if he hadn’t said anything specific to Jews he was anti-everything-other-than-Black-Muslim, but he literally said ‘they know how to rob you’, he absolutely was perpetuating those anti-Semitic views?!
- I feel really uncomfortable reading this because I feel like I’m *supposed* to hold him up as an icon and if I disagree then I’m not supporting Black people but, just, no? I read a review where the reader essentially said they fundamentally disagreed with his whole ethos, but still rated it 5 stars? That just seems like white guilt and peer pressure?
- He’s banging on about being enlightened and able to think for himself thanks to Elijah Muhammad while literally parroting a load of stuff Muhammad has told him to think. He’s so horny for this guy and has clearly been 100% radicalised by him. He no doubt has a lot of intelligence and passion but also comes across pretty naive.
- This is absolutely fucking bizarre. If this exact speech was being made by John on the street corner, it’d be dismissed as nonsensical ravings. And if John was white and the races were flipped around, he’d probably be arrested for hate speech.
- Sorry, the moon was created by exploding a chunk of the earth off into space? The white man was genetically engineered by a mad scientist? Am I misunderstanding this? If it supposed to be metaphor? I am the embodiment of that monkey cat meme. Nothing makes sense anymore. I can’t.
November 30, 2021
I wish I was taking a seminar because I have so many questions and comments on this work still. I have two main criticisms and one main praise. They are in the use of non-secularism, the portrayal of other minority groups, and the importance of reparations respectively.
Im concerned about the lack of secularism in the separatist state, as well as the claim that only Elijah Muhammad could serve as the righteous leader of the movement. Based on this book, the speeches essentially suggest that an authoritarian structure (be it God or in a patronizing sense only those “smart” enough to lead) can guide the supposed liberation. A reckoning and liberation is needed, but should the foundation of the new state come from a hierarchal, patriarchal religion?
Also the comments on middle class and elite African Americans as having lost their black identity is concerning. Wish there was more here about his interpretation of what black identity means to him. I think this topic continues to have important implications as the Republican Party (and dems too for that matter) utilizes tokenism to obscure policy that clearly hurts the majority of black people in the country.
The book also mischaracterized Chinese and Cuban immigrants in the United States, completely discounting these groups’ experiences with racism and colonialism over their states own history. Chinatowns exist due to racism and xenophobic policies, not because they just thought it was nice to establish a community. Chinese business owners in Chinatown also did and do not always own their building nor land and so the assertion that they’ve escaped white capitalist oppression ignores their experience with subjugation. To the points made about Cubans: first not all Cubans are white. Many are black. The island itself was colonized and imperialized. It’s economy was built off slavery too. It seems counterintuitive to tell Cubans they shouldn’t come to the United States when many of them have experienced the racist and exploitative system imposed upon them by the Spanish, British, and Americans. I would hope he changed tune on his stance on Cubans as the demographics of their migration changed over time.
The theme of reparations though continues to be an important message. I think the empowerment and self determination are critical to his success as a leader and inspired his community in important ways. Reparations are one policy choice today that can begin to reckon with the oppression of African Americans in the US, though I disagree with Malcom X’s ultimate goal for a separate state rooted in a patriarchal, authoritarian religion (this isn’t just a critique of Islam but Christianity is corrosive to democracy too).
Note: I don’t know what to rate this in terms of stars because it’s not really that type of book.
Im concerned about the lack of secularism in the separatist state, as well as the claim that only Elijah Muhammad could serve as the righteous leader of the movement. Based on this book, the speeches essentially suggest that an authoritarian structure (be it God or in a patronizing sense only those “smart” enough to lead) can guide the supposed liberation. A reckoning and liberation is needed, but should the foundation of the new state come from a hierarchal, patriarchal religion?
Also the comments on middle class and elite African Americans as having lost their black identity is concerning. Wish there was more here about his interpretation of what black identity means to him. I think this topic continues to have important implications as the Republican Party (and dems too for that matter) utilizes tokenism to obscure policy that clearly hurts the majority of black people in the country.
The book also mischaracterized Chinese and Cuban immigrants in the United States, completely discounting these groups’ experiences with racism and colonialism over their states own history. Chinatowns exist due to racism and xenophobic policies, not because they just thought it was nice to establish a community. Chinese business owners in Chinatown also did and do not always own their building nor land and so the assertion that they’ve escaped white capitalist oppression ignores their experience with subjugation. To the points made about Cubans: first not all Cubans are white. Many are black. The island itself was colonized and imperialized. It’s economy was built off slavery too. It seems counterintuitive to tell Cubans they shouldn’t come to the United States when many of them have experienced the racist and exploitative system imposed upon them by the Spanish, British, and Americans. I would hope he changed tune on his stance on Cubans as the demographics of their migration changed over time.
The theme of reparations though continues to be an important message. I think the empowerment and self determination are critical to his success as a leader and inspired his community in important ways. Reparations are one policy choice today that can begin to reckon with the oppression of African Americans in the US, though I disagree with Malcom X’s ultimate goal for a separate state rooted in a patriarchal, authoritarian religion (this isn’t just a critique of Islam but Christianity is corrosive to democracy too).
Note: I don’t know what to rate this in terms of stars because it’s not really that type of book.
March 4, 2022
- Book Review: "The End Of White World Supremacy" by Malcolm X - 📚
This book is a collection of four speeches given by Malcolm X during the height of his career as a civil rights activist.
The four speeches are as follows:
1. Black Man's History: a speech that gives an unusual / supernatural history where white human beings were allegedly created by a rogue black scientist.
2. The Black Revolution: unlike other civil rights leaders of the time, Malcolm X advocated for a complete SEPARATION for Black Americans rather than INTEGRATION. He puts forth his case and justification for his viewpoint.
3. The Old Negro and the New Negro: a speech where Malcolm X gives examples of the diminishing power and influence of "white nations" including the colonial powers Britain, France, and The Netherlands and foresees that the future belongs to non-whites.
4. God's judgement of white America (The Chickens Are Coming Home to roost): the speech where the infamous comment "the chickens are coming home to roost" was mentioned during a Q&A session with the audience in reaction to the assassination of President Kennedy. This incident led to a turning point in the life of Malcolm X as he made a clean break with the Nation Of Islam.
As with his autobiography, the book is a fascinating insight into the virulent racial tensions in America in the 1960s and the seemingly immutable struggle to bring about improvement.
As such, the book is well deserving of high marks.
My rating: 4.5/stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐️🌙
This book is a collection of four speeches given by Malcolm X during the height of his career as a civil rights activist.
The four speeches are as follows:
1. Black Man's History: a speech that gives an unusual / supernatural history where white human beings were allegedly created by a rogue black scientist.
2. The Black Revolution: unlike other civil rights leaders of the time, Malcolm X advocated for a complete SEPARATION for Black Americans rather than INTEGRATION. He puts forth his case and justification for his viewpoint.
3. The Old Negro and the New Negro: a speech where Malcolm X gives examples of the diminishing power and influence of "white nations" including the colonial powers Britain, France, and The Netherlands and foresees that the future belongs to non-whites.
4. God's judgement of white America (The Chickens Are Coming Home to roost): the speech where the infamous comment "the chickens are coming home to roost" was mentioned during a Q&A session with the audience in reaction to the assassination of President Kennedy. This incident led to a turning point in the life of Malcolm X as he made a clean break with the Nation Of Islam.
As with his autobiography, the book is a fascinating insight into the virulent racial tensions in America in the 1960s and the seemingly immutable struggle to bring about improvement.
As such, the book is well deserving of high marks.
My rating: 4.5/stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐️🌙
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April 19, 2023I had not read any actual speeches of Malcolm X, so I snagged this book. The influence of Elijah Muhammad permeates all of these speeches, and I next want to see what Malcolm X had to say after he discovered Muhammad was not who he purported to be.
It's not fun to read about how white people are devils, but I can't fault anger at conditions in American in the 1960s. There's plenty of historical evidence that supports the argument. The part where Malcolm X discusses how the wealth of the United States was built on the backs of the enslaved, for example? That part is true.
It may seem shocking to some that Malcolm X considered Martin Luther King, Jr to be a traitor and puppet of white authority. I can only imagine how difficult it had to be to watch Black marchers being attacked by dogs and water hoses and billy clubs. The desire to defend oneself is natural. What Malcolm X says about being stabbed in the back nine inches and having the knife pulled out only three also makes a great deal of sense.
These three speeches are far from comprehensive, so I'll be seeking out later speeches, too. I have to appreciate the rhetorical skills of these speeches as well.
It's not fun to read about how white people are devils, but I can't fault anger at conditions in American in the 1960s. There's plenty of historical evidence that supports the argument. The part where Malcolm X discusses how the wealth of the United States was built on the backs of the enslaved, for example? That part is true.
It may seem shocking to some that Malcolm X considered Martin Luther King, Jr to be a traitor and puppet of white authority. I can only imagine how difficult it had to be to watch Black marchers being attacked by dogs and water hoses and billy clubs. The desire to defend oneself is natural. What Malcolm X says about being stabbed in the back nine inches and having the knife pulled out only three also makes a great deal of sense.
These three speeches are far from comprehensive, so I'll be seeking out later speeches, too. I have to appreciate the rhetorical skills of these speeches as well.
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