BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//InvisionCommunity Events 5.0.18//EN METHOD:PUBLISH CALSCALE:GREGORIAN REFRESH-INTERVAL:PT15M X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT15M X-WR-CALNAME:RMCommunityCalendar NAME:RMCommunityCalendar BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Europe/London TZURL:https://tzurl.org/zoneinfo/Europe/London X-LIC-LOCATION:Europe/London BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+0000 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZNAME:BST DTSTART:20250330T020000Z RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=3;BYDAY=-1SU END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0000 TZNAME:GMT DTSTART:20251026T020000Z RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=10;BYDAY=-1SU END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:MALCOLM X - inaugural Organization Of Afro American Unity sp eech DTSTAMP:20250724T024446Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:419-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n While in Ghana in May 1964\, Malcolm decided to form the Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU). Malcolm returned to New York t he following month to create the OAAU and on June 28 gave his first public address on behalf of the new organization at the Audubon Ballroom in Harl em. \n\n\n\n TEXT\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/blogs/entry/359-malcolm-x- inaugural-organization-of-afro-american-unity-speech/\n\n\n\n OR\n\n\n\n S alaam Alaikum\, Mr. Moderator\, our distinguished guests\, brothers and si sters\, our friends and our enemies\, everybody who’s here.\n\nAs many o f you know\, last March when it was announced that I was no longer in the Black Muslim movement\, it was pointed out that it was my intention to wor k among the 22 million non-Muslim Afro-Americans and to try and form some type of organization\, or create a situation where the young people – ou r young people\, the students and others – could study the problems of o ur people for a period of time and then come up with a new analysis and gi ve us some new ideas and some new suggestions as to how to approach a prob lem that too many other people have been playing around with for too long. And that we would have some kind of meeting and determine at a later date whether to form a black nationalist party or a black nationalist army.\n\ nThere have been many of our people across the country from all walks of l ife who have taken it upon themselves to try and pool their ideas and to c ome up with some kind of solution to the problem that confronts all of our people. And tonight we are here to try and get an understanding of what i t is they’ve come up with.\n\nAlso\, recently when I was blessed to make a religious pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca where I met many people from all over the world\, plus spent many weeks in Africa trying to broade n my own scope and get more of an open mind to look at the problem as it a ctually is\, one of the things that I realized\, and I realized this even before going over there\, was that our African brothers have gained their independence faster than you and I here in America have. They’ve also ga ined recognition and respect as human beings much faster than you and I.\n Just ten years ago on the African continent\, our people were colonized. T hey were suffering all forms of colonization\, oppression\, exploitation\, degradation\, humiliation\, discrimination\, and every other kind of -ati on. And in a short time\, they have gained more independence\, more recogn ition\, more respect as human beings than you and I have. And you and I li ve in a country which is supposed to be the citadel of education\, freedom \, justice\, democracy\, and all of those other pretty-sounding words.\n\n So it was our intention to try and find out what it was our African brothe rs were doing to get results\, so that you and I could study what they had done and perhaps gain from that study or benefit from their experiences. And my traveling over there was designed to help to find out how.\n\nOne o f the first things that the independent African nations did was to form an organization called the Organization of African Unity. This organization consists of all independent African states who have reached the agreement to submerge all differences and combine their efforts toward eliminating f rom the continent of Africa colonialism and all vestiges of oppression and exploitation being suffered by African people. Those who formed the organ ization of African states have differences. They represent probably every segment\, every type of thinking. You have some leaders that are considere d Uncle Toms\, some leaders who are considered very militant. But even the militant African leaders were able to sit down at the same table with Afr ican leaders whom they considered to be Toms\, or Tshombes\, or that type of character. They forgot their differences for the sole purpose of bringi ng benefits to the whole. And whenever you find people who can’t forget their differences\, then they’re more interested in their personal aims and objectives than they are in the conditions of the whole. Well\, the Af rican leaders showed their maturity by doing what the American white man s aid couldn’t be done. Because if you recall when it was mentioned that t hese African states were going to meet in Addis Ababa\, all of the Western press began to spread the propaganda that they didn’t have enough in co mmon to come together and to sit down together. Why\, they had Nkrumah the re\, one of the most militant of the African leaders\, and they had Adoula from the Congo. They had Nyerere there\, they had Ben Bella there\, they had Nasser there\, they had Sekou Toure\, they had Obote\; they had Kenyat ta I guess Kenyatta was there\, I can’t remember whether Kenya was inde pendent at that time\, but I think he was there. Everyone was there and de spite their differences\, they were able to sit down and form what was kno wn as the Organization of African Unity\, which has formed a coalition and is working in conjunction with each other to fight a common enemy. Once w e saw what they were able to do\, we determined to try and do the same thi ng here in America among Afro Americans who have been divided by our enemi es. So we have formed an organization known as the Organization of Afro Am erican Unity which has the same aim and objective – to fight whoever get s in our way\, to bring about the complete independence of people of Afric an descent here in the Western Hemisphere\, and first here in the United S tates\, and bring about the freedom of these people by any means necessary .\n\nThat’s our motto. We want freedom by any means necessary. We want j ustice by any means necessary. We want equality by any means necessary. We don’t feel that in 1964\, living in a country that is supposedly based upon freedom\, and supposedly the leader of the free world\, we don’t th ink that we should have to sit around and wait for some segregationist con gressmen and senators and a President from Texas in Washington\, D. C.\, t o make up their minds that our people are due now some degree of civil rig hts. No\, we want it now or we don’t think anybody should have it.\n\nTh e purpose of our organization is to start right here in Harlem\, which has the largest concentration of people of African descent that exists anywhe re on this earth. There are more Africans in Harlem than exist in any city on the African continent. Because that’s what you and I are Africans. Y ou catch any white man off guard in here right now\, you catch him off gua rd and ask him what he is\, he doesn’t say he’s an American. He either tells you he’s Irish\, or he’s Italian\, or he’s German\, if you ca tch him off guard and he doesn’t know what you’re up to. And even thou gh he was born here\, he’ll tell you he’s Italian. Well\, if he’s It alian\, you and I are African even though we were born here.\nSo we start in New York City first. We start in Harlem– and by Harlem we mean Bedfor d – Stuyvesant\, any place in this area where you and I live\, that’s Harlem with the intention of spreading throughout the state\, and from the state throughout the country\, and from the country throughout the Wester n Hemisphere. Because when we say Afro American\, we include everyone in t he Western Hemisphere of African descent. South America is America. Centra l America is America. South America has many people in it of African desce nt. And everyone in South America of African descent is an Afro-American. Everyone in the Caribbean\, whether it’s the West Indies or Cuba or Mexi co\, if they have African blood\, they are Afro Americans. If they’re in Canada and they have African blood\, they’re Afro Americans. If they’ re in Alaska\, though they might call themselves Eskimos\, if they have Af rican blood\, they’re Afro Americans.\n\nSo the purpose of the Organizat ion of Afro American Unity is to unite everyone in the Western Hemisphere of African descent into one united force. And then\, once we are united am ong ourselves in the Western Hemisphere\, we will unite with our brothers on the motherland\, on the continent of Africa. So to get right with it\, I would like to read you the “Basic Aims and Objectives of the Organizat ion of Afro American Unity\;” started here in New York\, June\, 1964.\ n\n“The Organization of Afro American Unity\, organized and structured b y a cross section of the Afro American people living in the United States of America\, has been patterned after the letter and spirit of the Organiz ation of African Unity which was established at Addis Ababa\, Ethiopia\, i n May of 1963.\n\n“We\, the members of the Organization of Afro American Unity\, gathered together in Harlem\, New York:\n\n“Convinced that it i s the inalienable right of all our people to control our own destiny\;\n\n “Conscious of the fact that freedom\, equality\, justice and dignity are central objectives for the achievement of the legitimate aspirations of t he people of African descent here in the Western Hemisphere\, we will ende avor to build a bridge of understanding and create the basis for Afro Amer ican unity\;\n\n“Conscious of our responsibility to harness the natural and human resources of our people for their total advancement in all spher es of human endeavor\;\n\n“Inspired by our common determination to promo te understanding among our people and cooperation in all matters pertainin g to their survival and advancement\, we will support the aspirations of o ur people for brotherhood and solidarity in a larger unity transcending al l organizational differences\;\n\n“Convinced that\, in order to translat e this determination into a dynamic force in the cause of human progress c onditions of peace and security must be established and maintained\;” – And by “conditions of peace and security\,” [we mean] we have to e liminate the barking of the police dogs\, we have to eliminate the police clubs\, we have to eliminate the water hoses\, we have to eliminate all of these things that have become so characteristic of the American so called dream. These have to be eliminated. Then we will be living in a condition of peace and security. We can never have peace and security as long as on e black man in this country is being bitten by a police dog. No one in the country has peace and security. “Dedicated to the unification of all p eople of African descent in this hemisphere and to the utilization of that unity to bring into being the organizational structure that will project the black people’s contributions to the world\;\n\n“Persuaded that the Charter of the United Nations\, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights \, the Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights are the pr inciples in which we believe and that these documents if put into practice represent the essence of mankind’s hopes and good intentions\;\n\n“De sirous that all Afro American people and organi¬zations should henceforth unite so that the welfare and well being of our people will be assured\;\ n\n“We are resolved to reinforce the common bond of purpose between our people by submerging all of our differences and establishing a nonsectaria n\, constructive program for human rights\;\n\n“We hereby present this c harter.\n\n“I–Establishment.\n\n“The Organization of Afro American U nity shall include all people of African descent in the Western Hemisphere \, as well as our brothers and sisters on the African continent.” Which means anyone of African descent\, with African blood\, can become a member of the Organization of Afro American Unity\, and also any one of our brot hers and sisters from the African continent. Because not only it is an org anization of Afro American unity meaning that we are trying to unite our p eople in the West\, but it’s an organization of Afro American unity in t he sense that we want to unite all of our people who are in North America\ , South America\, and Central America with our people on the African conti nent. We must unite together in order to go forward together. Africa will not go forward any faster than we will and we will not go forward any fast er than Africa will. We have one destiny and we’ve had one past.\n\nIn e ssence\, what it is saying is instead of you and me running around here se eking allies in our struggle for freedom in the Irish neighborhood or the Jewish neighborhood or the Italian neighborhood\, we need to seek some all ies among people who look something like we do. It’s time now for you an d me to stop running away from the wolf right into the arms of the fox\, l ooking for some kind of help. That’s a drag.\n\n“II–Self Defense.\ n\n“Since self preservation is the first law of nature\, we assert the A fro American’s right to self defense.\n\n“The Constitution of the Unit ed States of America clearly affirms the right of every American citizen t o bear arms. And as Americans\, we will not give up a single right guarant eed under the Constitution. The history of unpunished violence against our people clearly indicates that we must be prepared to defend ourselves or we will continue to be a defenseless people at the mercy of a ruthless and violent racist mob.\n\n“We assert that in those areas where the governm ent is either unable or unwilling to protect the lives and property of our people\, that our people are within our rights to protect themselves by w hatever means necessary.”I repeat\, because to me this is the most impor tant thing you need to know. I already know it. “We assert that in those areas where the government is either unable or unwilling to protect the l ives and property of our people\, that our people are within our rights to protect themselves by whatever means necessary.”\n\nThis is the thing y ou need to spread the word about among our people wherever you go. Never l et them be brainwashed into thinking that whenever they take steps to see that they’re in a position to defend themselves that they’re being unl awful. The only time you’re being unlawful is when you break the law. It’s lawful to have something to defend yourself. Why\, I heard Presiden t Johnson either today or yesterday\, I guess it was today\, talking about how quick this country would go to war to defend itself. Why\, what kind of a fool do you look like\, living in a country that will go to war at th e drop of a hat to defend itself\, and here you’ve got to stand up in th e face of vicious police dogs and blue eyed crackers waiting for somebody to tell you what to do to defend yourself!\n\nThose days are over\, they ’re gone\, that’s yesterday. The time for you and me to allow ourselve s to be brutalized nonviolently is passé. Be nonviolent only with those w ho are nonviolent to you. And when you can bring me a nonviolent racist\, bring me a nonviolent segregationist\, then I’ll get nonviolent. But d on’t teach me to be nonviolent until you teach some of those crackers to be nonviolent. You’ve never seen a nonviolent cracker. It’s hard for a racist to be nonviolent. It’s hard for anyone intelligent to be nonvio lent. Everything in the universe does something when you start playing wit h his life\, except the American Negro. He lays down and says\, ” Beat m e\, daddy.” So it says here: “A man with a rifle or a club can only be stopped by a person who defends himself with a rifle or a club.” That ’s equality. If you have a dog\, I must have a dog. If you have a rifle\ , I must have a rifle. If you have a club\, I must have a club. This is eq uality. If the United States government doesn’t want you and me to get r ifles\, then take the rifles away from those racists. If they don’t want you and me to use clubs\, take the clubs away from the racists. If they d on’t want you and me to get violent\, then stop the racists from being v iolent. Don’t teach us nonviolence while those crackers are violent. Tho se days are over.\n\n“Tactics based solely on morality can only succeed when you are dealing with people who are moral or a system that is moral. A man or system which oppresses a man because of his color is not moral. I t is the duty of every Afro-American person and every Afro-American commun ity throughout this country to protect its people against mass murderers\, against bombers\, against lynchers\, against floggers\, against brutalize rs and against exploiters.\n\n“I might say right here that instead of th e various black groups declaring war on each other\, showing how militant they can be cracking each other’s heads\, let them go down South and cra ck some of those crackers’ heads. Any group of people in this country th at has a record of having been attacked by racists – and there’s no re cord where they have ever given the signal to take the heads of some of th ose racists – why\, they are insane giving the signal to take the heads of some of their ex-brothers. Or brother X’s\, I don’t know how you pu t that.\n\nIII– Education\n\n“Education is an important element in the struggle for human rights. It is the means to help our children and our p eople rediscover their identity and thereby increase their self respect. E ducation is our passport to the future\, for tomorrow belongs only to the people who prepare for it today.”\n\nAnd I must point out right there\, when I was in Africa I met no African who wasn’t standing with open arms to embrace any Afro-American who returned to the African continent. But o ne of the things that all of them have said is that every one of our peopl e in this country should take advantage of every type of educational oppor tunity available before you even think about talking about the future. If you’re surrounded by schools\, go to that school.\n\n“Our children are being criminally shortchanged in the public school system of America. The Afro-American schools are the poorest run schools in the city of New York . Principals and teachers fail to understand the nature of the problems wi th which they work and as a result they cannot do the job of teaching our children.” They don’t understand us\, nor do they understand our probl ems\; they don’t. “The textbooks tell our children nothing about the g reat contributions of Afro-Americans to the growth and development of this country.”\n\nAnd they don’t. When we send our children to school in t his country they learn nothing about us other than that we used to be cott on pickers. Every little child going to school thinks his grandfather was a cotton picker. Why\, your grandfather was Nat Turner\; your grandfather was Toussaint L’Ouverture\; your grandfather was Hannibal. Your grandfat her was some of the greatest black people who walked on this earth. It was your grandfather’s hands who forged civilization and it was your grandm other’s hands who rocked the cradle of civilization. But the textbooks t ell our children nothing about the great contributions of Afro Americans t o the growth and development of this country.\n\n“The Board of Educati on’s integration plan is expensive and unworkable\; and the organization of principals and supervisors in New York City’s school system has refu sed to support the Board’s plan to integrate the schools\, thus dooming it to failure before it even starts.”The Board of Education of this city has said that even with its plan there are 10 percent of the schools in H arlem and the Bedford Stuyvesant community in Brooklyn that they cannot im prove.” So what are we to do? “This means that the Organization of Afr o American Unity must make the Afro American community a more potent force for educational self improvement.\n\n“A first step in the program to en d the existing system of racist education is to demand that the 10 percent of the schools the Board of Education will not include in its plan be tur ned over to and run by the Afro-American community itself.” Since they s ay that they can’t improve these schools\, why should you and I who live in the community\, let these fools continue to run and produce this low s tandard of education? No\, let them turn those schools over to us. Since t hey say they can’t handle them\, nor can they correct them\, let us take a whack at it.\nWhat do we want? “We want Afro-American principals to h ead these schools. We want Afro-American teachers in these schools.” Mea ning we want black principals and black teachers with some textbooks about black people. ” We want textbooks written by Afro-Americans that are ac ceptable to our people before they can be used in these schools.\n\n“The Organization of Afro-American Unity will select and recommend people to s erve on local school boards where school policy is made and passed on to t he Board of Education.” And this is very important.\n\n“Through these steps we will make the 10 percent of the schools that we take over educati onal showplaces that will attract the attention of people from ail over th e nation.” Instead of them being schools turning out pupils whose academ ic diet is not complete\, we can turn them into examples of what we can do ourselves once given an opportunity.\n\n“If these proposals are not met \, we will ask Afro-American parents to keep their children out of the pre sent inferior schools they attend. And when these schools in our neighborh ood are controlled by Afro Americans\, we will then return our children to them.\n\n“The Organization of Afro American Unity recognizes the tremen dous importance of the complete involvement of Afro-American parents in ev ery phase of school life. The Afro American parent must be willing and abl e to go into the schools and see that the job of educating our children is done properly.” This whole thing about putting all of the blame on the teacher is out the window. The parent at home has just as much responsibil ity to see that what’s going on in that school is up to par as the teach er in their schools. So it is our intention not only to devise an educatio n program for the children\, but one also for the parents to make them awa re of their responsibility where education is concerned in regard to their children.\n\n“We call on all Afro-Americans around the nation to be awa re that the conditions that exist in the New York City public school syste m are as deplorable in their does as they are here. We must unite our effo rts and spread our program of self improvement through education to every Afro American community in America.\n\n“We must establish all over the c ountry schools of our own to train our own children to become scientists\, to become mathematicians. We must realize the need for adult education an d for job retraining programs that will emphasize a changing society in wh ich automation plays the key role. We intend to use the tools of education to help raise our people to an unprecedented level of excellence and self respect through their own efforts.\n\n“IV – Politics and Economics. ”\n\nAnd the two are almost inseparable\, because the politician is depe nding on some money\; yes\, that’s what he’s depending on.\n\n“Basic ally\, there are two kinds of power that count in America: economic power and political power\, with social power being derived from those two. In o rder for the Afro-Americans to control their destiny\, they must be able t o control and affect the decisions which control their destiny: economic\, political\, and social. This can only be done through organization.\n\n “The Organization of Afro-American Unity will organize the Afro American community block by block to make the community aware of its power and its potential\; we will start immediately a voter registration drive to make every unregistered voter in the Afro-American community an independent vot er.”\n\nWe won’t organize any black man to be a Democrat or a Republic an because both of them have sold us out. Both of them have sold us out\; both parties have sold us out. Both parties are racist\, and the Democrati c Party is more racist than the Republican Party. I can prove it. All yo u’ve got to do is name everybody who’s running the government in Washi ngton\, D. C.\, right now. He’s a Democrat and he’s from either Georgi a\, Alabama\, Texas\, Mississippi\, Florida\, South Carolina\, North Carol ina\, from one of those cracker states. And they’ve got more power than any white man in the North has. In fact\, the President is from a cracker state. What’s he talking about? Texas is a cracker state\, in fact\, t hey’ll hang you quicker in Texas than they will in Mississippi. Don’t you ever think that just because a cracker becomes president he ceases bei ng a cracker. He was a cracker before he became president and he’s a cra cker while he’s president. I’m going to tell it like it is. I hope you can take it like it is.\n\n“We propose to support and organize politica l clubs\, to run independent candidates for office\, and to support any Af ro-American already in office who answers to and is responsible to the Afr o-American community.” We don’t support any black man who is controlle d by the white power structure. We will start not only a voter registratio n drive\, but a voter education drive to let our people have an understand ing of the science of politics so they will be able to see what part the p olitician plays in the scheme of things\; so they will be able to understa nd when the politician is doing his job and when he is not doing his job. And any time the politician is not doing his job\, we remove him whether h e’s white\, black\, green\, blue\, yellow or whatever other color they m ight invent.\n\n“The economic exploitation in the Afro-American communit y is the most vicious form practiced on any people in America.” In fact\ , it is the most vicious practiced on any people on this earth. No one is exploited economically as thoroughly as you and I\, because in most countr ies where people are exploited they know it. You and I are in this country being exploited and sometimes we don’t know it. “Twice as much rent i s paid for rat-infested\, roach crawling\, rotting tenements.”\n\nThis i s true. It costs us more to live in Harlem than it costs them to live on P ark Avenue. Do you know that the rent is higher on Park Avenue in Harlem t han it is on Park Avenue downtown? And in Harlem you have everything else in that apartment with you roaches\, rats\, cats\, dogs\, and some other o utsiders disguised as landlords. “The Afro-American pays more for food\, pays more for clothing\, pays more for insurance than anybody else.” An d we do. It costs you and me more for insurance than it does the white man in the Bronx or somewhere else. It costs you and me more for food than it does them. It costs you and me more to live in America than it does anybo dy else and yet we make the greatest contribution.\n\nYou tell me what kin d of country this is. Why should we do the dirtiest jobs for the lowest pa y? Why should we do the hardest work for the lowest pay? Why should we pay the most money for the worst kind of food and the most money for the wors t kind of place to live in? I’m telling you we do it because we live in one of the rottenest countries that has ever existed on this earth. It’s the system that is rotten\; we have a rotten system. It’s a system of e xploitation\, a political and economic system of exploitation\, of outrigh t humiliation\, degradation\, discrimination – all of the negative thing s that you can run into\, you have run into under this system that disguis es itself as a democracy\, disguises itself as a democracy. And the things that they practice against you and me are worse than some of the things t hat they practiced in Germany against the Jews. Worse than some of the thi ngs that the Jews ran into. And you run around here getting ready to get d rafted and go someplace and defend it. Someone needs to crack you up ‘si de your head.\n\n“The Organization of Afro American Unity will wage an u nrelenting struggle against these evils in our community. There shall be o rganizers to work with our people to solve these problems\, and start a ho using self-improvement program.” Instead of waiting for the white man to come and straighten out our neighborhood\, we’ll straighten it out ours elves. This is where you make your mistake. An outsider can’t clean up y our house as well as you can. An outsider can’t take care of your childr en as well as you can. An outsider can’t look after your needs as well a s you can. And an outsider can’t under¬stand your problems as well as y ou can. Yet you’re looking for an outsider to do it. We will do it or it will never get done.\n\n“We propose to support rent strikes.” Yes\, n ot little\, small rent strikes in one block. We’ll make Harlem a rent st rike. We’ll get every black man in this city\; the Organization of Afro- American Unity won’t stop until there’s not a black man in the city no t on strike. Nobody will pay any rent. The whole city will come to a halt. And they can’t put all of us in jail because they’ve already got the jails full of us.\n\nConcerning our social needs I hope I’m not frighte ning anyone. I should stop right here and tell you if you’re the type of person who frights\, who gets scared\, you should never come around us. B ecause we’ll scare you to death. And. you don’t have far to go because you’re half dead already. Economically you’re dead- dead broke. Just got paid yesterday and dead broke right now.\n\n“V Social.\n\n“This o rganization is responsible only to the Afro-American people and the Afro-A merican community.” This organization is not responsible to anybody but us. We don’t have to ask the man downtown can we demonstrate. We don’t have to ask the man downtown what tactics we can use to demonstrate our r esentment against his criminal abuse. We don’t have to ask his consent\; we don’t have to ask his endorsement\; we don’t have to ask his permi ssion. Anytime we know that an unjust condition exists and it is illegal a nd unjust\, we will strike at it by any means necessary. And strike also a t whatever and whoever gets in the way.\n\n“This organization is respons ible only to the Afro-American people and community and will function only with their support\, both financially and numerically. We believe that ou r communities must be the sources of their own strength politically\, econ omically\, intellectually\, and culturally in the struggle for human right s and human dignity.\n\n“The community must reinforce its moral responsi bility to rid itself of the effects of years of exploitation\, neglect\, a nd apathy\, and wage an unrelenting struggle against police brutality.” Yes. There are some good policemen and some bad policemen. Usually we get the bad ones. With all the police in Harlem\, there is too much crime\, to o much drug addiction\, too much alcoholism\, too much prostitution\, too much gambling.\nSo it makes us suspicious about the motives of Commissione r Murphy when he sends all these policemen up here. We begin to think that they are just his errand boys\, whose job it is to pick up the graft and take it back downtown to Murphy. Anytime there’s a police commissioner w ho finds it necessary to increase the strength numerically of the policeme n in Harlem and\, at the same time\, we don’t see any sign of a decrease in crime\, why\, I think we’re justified in suspecting his mo¬tives. H e can’t be sending them up here to fight crime\, because crime is on the increase. The more cops we have\, the more crime we have. We begin to thi nk that they bring some of the crime with them.\n\nSo our purpose is to or ganize the community so that we ourselves since the police can’t elimina te the drug traffic\, we have to eliminate it. Since the police can’t el iminate organized gambling\, we have to eliminate it. Since the police can ’t eliminate organized prostitution and all of these evils that are dest roying the moral fiber of our community\, it is up to you and me to elimin ate these evils ourselves. But in many instances\, when you unite in this country or in this city to fight organized crime\, you’ll find yourselve s fighting the police department itself because they are involved in the o rganized crime. Wherever you have organized crime\, that type of crime can not exist other than with the consent of the police\, the knowledge of the police and the cooperation of the police.\n\nYou’ll agree that you ca n’t run a number in your neighborhood without the police knowing it. A p rostitute can’t turn a trick on the block without the police knowing it. A man can’t push drugs anywhere along the avenue without the police kno wing it. And they pay the police off so that they will not get arrested. I know what I’m talking about I used to be out there. And I know you c an’t hustle out there without police setting you up. You have to pay the m off.\n\nThe police are all right. I say there’s some good ones and som e bad ones. But they usually send the bad ones to Harlem. Since these bad police have come to Harlem and have not decreased the high rate of crime\, I tell you brothers and sisters it is time for you and me to organize and eliminate these evils ourselves\, or we’ll be out of the world backward s before we even know where the world was.\n\nDrug addiction turns your li ttle sister into a prostitute before she gets into her teens\; makes a cri minal out of your little brother before he gets in his teens drug addictio n and alcoholism. And if you and I aren’t men enough to get at the root of these things\, then we don’t even have the right to walk around here complaining about it in any form whatsoever. The police will not eliminate it. “Our community must reinforce its moral responsibility to rid itsel f of the effects of years of exploitation\, neglect\, and apathy\, and wag e an unrelenting struggle against police brutality.”\n\nWhere this polic e brutality also comes in the new law that they just passed\, the no knock law\, the stop and-frisk law\, that’s an anti Negro law. That’s a law that was passed and signed by Rockefeller. Rockefeller with his old smile \, always he has a greasy smile on his face and he’s shaking hands with Negroes\, like he’s the Negro’s pappy or granddaddy or great uncle. Ye t when it comes to passing a law that is worse than any law that they had in Nazi Germany\, why\, Rockefeller couldn’t wait till he got his signat ure on it. And the only thing this law is designed to do is make legal wha t they’ve been doing all the time.\n\nThey’ve passed a law that gives them the right to knock down your door without even knocking on it. Knock it down and come on in and bust your head and frame you up under the disgu ise that they suspect you of something. Why\, brothers\, they didn’t hav e laws that bad in Nazi Germany. And it was passed for you and me\, it’s an anti Negro law\, because you’ve got an anti-Negro governor sitting u p there in Albany – I started to say Albany\, Georgia – in Albany\, Ne w York. Not too much difference. Not too much difference between Albany\, New York\, and Albany\, Georgia. And there’s not too much difference bet ween the government that’s in Albany\, New York\, and the government in Albany\, Georgia.\n\n“The Afro-American community must accept the respon sibility for regaining our people who have lost their place in society. We must declare an all out war on organized crime in our community\; a vice that is controlled by policemen who accept bribes and graft must be expose d. We must establish a clinic\, whereby one can get aid and cure for drug addiction.”\n\nThis is absolutely necessary. When a person is a drug add ict\, he’s not the criminal\; he’s a victim of the criminal. The crimi nal is the man downtown who brings drug into the country. Negroes can’t bring drugs into this country. You don’t have any boats. You don’t hav e any airplanes. You don’t have any diplomatic immunity. It is not you w ho is responsible for bringing in drugs. You’re just a little tool that is used by the man downtown. The man that controls the drug traffic sits i n city hall or he sits in the state house. Big shots who are respected\, w ho function in high circles those are the ones who control these things. A nd you and I will never strike at the root of it until we strike at the ma n downtown.\n\n“We must create meaningful\, creative\, useful activities for those who were led astray down the avenues of vice.”The people of t he Afro- American community must be prepared to help each other in all way s possible\; we must establish a place where unwed mothers can get help an d advice.” This is a problem\, this is one of the worst problems in our. . . [A short passage is lost here as the tape is turned.]\n\n“We must s et up a guardian system that will help our youth who get into trouble.” Too many of our children get into trouble accidentally. And once they get into trouble\, because they have no one to look out for them\, they’re p ut in some of these homes where others who are experienced at getting in t rouble are. And immediately it’s a bad influence on them and they never have a chance to straighten out their lives. Too many of our children have their entire lives destroyed in this manner. It is up to you and me right now to form the type of organizations wherein we can look out for the nee ds of all of these young people who get into trouble\, especially those wh o get into trouble for the first time\, so that we can do something to ste er them back on the right path before they go too far astray.\n\n“And we must provide constructive activities for our own children. We must set a good example for our children and must teach them to always be ready to ac cept the responsibilities that are necessary for building good communities and nations. We must teach them that their greatest responsibilities are to themselves\, to their families and to their communities.\n\n“The Orga nization of Afro-American Unity believes that the Afro American community must endeavor to do the major part of all charity work from within the com munity. Charity\, however\, does not mean that to which we are legally ent itled in the form of government benefits. The Afro-American veteran must b e made aware of all the benefits due to him and the procedure for obtainin g them.”\n\nMany of our people have sacrificed their lives on the battle front for this country. There are many government benefits that our people don’t even know about. Many of them are qualified to receive aid in all forms\, but they don’t even know it. But we know this\, so it is our du ty\, those of us who know it\, to set up a system where¬ in our people wh o are not informed of what is coming to them\, we inform them\, we let the m know how they can lay claim to everything that they’ve got coming to t hem from this government. And I mean you’ve got much coming to you. “T he veterans must be encouraged to go into business together\, using GI loa ns\,” and all other items that we have access to or have available to us .\n\n“Afro Americans must unite and work together. We must take pride in the Afro American community\, for it is our home and it is our power\,” the base of our power.\n\n“What we do here in regaining our self respec t\, our manhood\, our dignity and freedom helps all people everywhere who are also fighting against oppression.” Lastly\, concerning culture and t he cultural aspect of the Organization of Afro American Unity.\n\n” ‘A race of people is like an individual man\; until it uses its own talent\, takes pride in its own history\, expresses its own culture\, affirms its own selfhood\, it can never fulfill itself.’ ”\n\n“Our history and o ur culture were completely destroyed when we were forcibly brought to Amer ica in chains. And now it is important for us to know that our history did not begin with slavery. We came from Africa\, a great continent\, wherein live a proud and varied people\, a land which is the new world and was th e cradle of civilization. Our culture and our history are as old as man hi mself and yet we know almost nothing about it.”\n\nThis is no accident. It is no accident that such a high state of culture existed in Africa and you and I know nothing about it. Why\, the man knew that as long as you an d I thought we were somebody\, he could never treat us like we were nobody . So he had to invent a system that would strip us of everything about us that we could use to prove we were somebody. And once he had stripped us o f all human chacteristics stripped us of our language\, stripped us of our history\, stripped us of all cultural knowledge\, and brought us down to the level of an animal – he then began to treat us like an animal\, sell ing us from one plantation to another\, selling us from one owner to anoth er\, breeding us like you breed cattle.\n\nWhy\, brothers and sisters\, wh en you wake up and find out what this man here has done to you and me\, yo u won’t even wait for somebody to give the word. I’m not saying all of them are bad. There might be some good ones. But we don’t have time to look for them. Not nowadays.\n“We must recapture our heritage and our id entity if we are ever to liberate ourselves from the bonds of white suprem acy. We must launch a cultural revolution to unbrainwash an entire people. ” A cultural revolution. Why\, brothers\, that’s a crazy revolution. W hen you tell this black man in America who he is\, where he came from\, wh at he had when he was there\, he’ll look around and ask himself\, “Wel l\, what happened to it\, who took it away from us and how did they do it? ” Why\, brothers\, you’ll have some action just like that. When you le t the black man in America know where he once was and what he once had\, w hy\, he only needs to look at himself now to realize something criminal wa s done to him to bring him down to the low condition that he’s in today. \n\nOnce he realizes what was done\, how it was done\, where it was done\, when it was done\, and who did it\, that knowledge in itself will usher i n your action program. And it will be by any means necessary. A man does n’t know how to act until he realizes what he’s acting against. And yo u don’t realize what you’re acting against until you realize what they did to you. Too many of you don’t know what they did to you\, and this is what makes you so quick to want to forget and forgive. No\, brothers\, when you see what has happened to you\, you will never forget and you’ll never forgive. And\, as I say\, all of them might not be guilty. But most of them are. Most of them are.\n\n“Our cultural revolution must be the means of bringing us closer to our African brothers and sisters. It must b egin in the community and be based on community participation. Afro-Americ ans will be free to create only when they can depend on the Afro-American community for support\, and Afro-American artists must realize that they d epend on the Afro-American community for inspiration.”\n\nOur artists we have artists who are geniuses\; they don’t have to act the Stepin Fetch it role. But as long as they’re looking for white support instead of bla ck support\, they’ve got to act like the old white supporter wants them to. When you and I begin to support the black artists\, then the black art ists can play that black role. As long as the black artist has to sing and dance to please the white man\, he’ll be a clown\, he’ll be clowning\ , just another clown. But when he can sing and dance to please black men\, he sings a different song and he dances a different step. When we get tog ether\, we’ve got a step all our own. We have a step that nobody can do but us\, because we have a reason for doing it that nobody can understand but us.\n\n“We must work toward the establishment of a cultural center i n Harlem\, which will include people of all ages and will conduct workshop s in all of the arts\, such as film\, creative writing\, painting\, theate r\, music\, and the entire spectrum of Afro American history.\n\n“This c ultural revolution will be the journey to our rediscovery of ourselves. Hi story is a people’s memory\, and without a memory man is demoted to the level of the lower animals.” When you have no knowledge of your history\ , you’re just another animal\; in fact\, you’re a Negro\; something that’s nothing. The only black man on earth who is called a Negro is one who has no knowl¬edge of his history. The only black man on earth who is called a Negro is one who doesn’t know where he came from. That’s the one in America. They don’t call Africans Negroes.\nWhy\, I had a white man tell me the other day\, “He’s not a Negro.” Here the man was bla ck as night\, and the white man told me\, “He’s not a Negro\, he’s a n African.” I said\, “Well\, listen to him.” I knew he wasn’t\, bu t I wanted to pull old whitey out\, you know. But it shows you that they k now this. You are Negro because you don’t know who you are\, you don’t know what you are\, you don’t know where you are\, and you don’t know how you got here. But as soon as you wake up and find out the positive an swer to all these things\, you cease being a Negro. You become somebody.\n \n“Armed with the knowledge of our past\, we can with confidence charter a course for our future. Culture is an indispensable weapon in the freedo m struggle. We must take hold of it and forge the future with the past.” And to quote a passage from Then We Heard the Thunder by John Killens\, i t says: “He was a dedicated patriot: Dignity was his country\, Manhood w as his gov¬ernment\, and Freedom was his land.'” Old John Killens.\n\nT his is our aim. It’s rough\, we have to smooth it up some. But we’re n ot trying to put something together that’s smooth. We don’t care how r ough it is. We don’t care how tough it is. We don’t care how backward it may sound. In essence it only means we want one thing. We declare our r ight 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 a ny means necessary.\n\nI’m sorry I took so long. But before we go farthe r to tell you how you can join this organization\, what your duties and re sponsibilities are\, I want to turn you back into the hands of our master of ceremonies\, Brother Les Edmonds.\n\n[A collection is taken. Malcolm re sumes.]\n\nOne of the first steps we are going to become involved in as an Organization of Afro-American Unity will be to work with every leader and other organization in this country interested in a program designed to br ing your and my problem before the United Nations. This is our first point of business. We feel that the problem of the black man in this country is beyond the ability of Uncle Sam to solve it. It’s beyond the ability of the United States government to solve it. The government itself isn’t c apable of even hearing our problem\, much less solving it. It’s not mora lly equipped to solve it.\n\nSo we must take it out of the hands of the Un ited States government. And the only way we can do this is by internationa lizing it and taking advantage of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights\, the United Nations Charter on Human Rights\, and on that ground b ring it into the UN before a world body where¬ in we can indict Uncle Sam for the continued criminal injustices that our people experience in this government.\n\nTo do this\, we will have to work with many organizations a nd many people. We’ve already gotten promises of support from many diffe rent organizations in this country and from many different leaders in this country and from many different independent nations in Africa\, Asia\, an d Latin America. So this is our first objective and all we need is your su pport. Can we get your support for this project?\n\nFor the past four week s since my return from Africa\, several persons from all walks of life in the Afro-American community have been meeting together\, pooling knowledge and ideas and suggestions\, forming a sort of a brain trust\, for the pur pose of getting a cross section of thinking\, hopes\, aspirations\, likes and dislikes\, to see what kind of organization we could put together that would in some way or other get the grass roots support\, and what type of support it would need in order to be independent enough to take the type of action necessary to get results.\nNo organization that is financed by w hite support can ever be independent enough to fight the power structure w ith the type of tactics necessary to get real results. The only way we can fight the power structure\, and it’s the power structure that we’re f ighting we’re not even fighting the Southern segregationists\, we’re f ighting a system that is run in Washington\, D. C. That’s the seat of th e system that we’re fighting. And in order to fight it\, we have to be i ndependent of it. And the only way we can be independent of it is to be in dependent of all support from the white community. It’s a battle that we have to wage ourselves.\n\nNow\, if white people want to help\, they can help. But they can’t join. They can help in the white community\, but th ey can’t join. We accept their help. They can form the White Friends of the Organization of Afro-American Unity and work in the white community on white people and change their attitude toward us. They don’t ever need to come among us and change our attitude. We’ve had enough of them worki ng around us trying to change our attitude. That’s what got us all messe d up. So we don’t question their sincerity\, we don’t question their m otives\, we don’t question their integrity. We just encourage them to us e it somewhere else in the white community. If they can use all of this si ncerity in the white community to make the white community act better towa rd us\, then we’ll say\, “Those are good white folks.” But they do n’t have to come around us\, smiling at us and showing us all their teet h like white Uncle Toms\, to try and make themselves acceptable to us. The White Friends of the Organization of Afro American Unity\, let them work in the white community.\n\nThe only way that this organization can be inde pendent is if it is financed by you. It must be financed by you. Last week I told you that it would cost a dollar to join it. We sat down and though t about it all week long and said that charging you a dollar to join it wo uld not make it an organization. We have set a membership joining fee\, if that’s the way you express it\, at $2.00. It costs more than that\, I t hink\, to join the NAACP.\n\nBy the way\, you know I attended the NAACP co nvention Friday in Washington\, D. C.\, which was very enlightening. And I found the people very friendly. They’ve got the same kind of ideas you have. They act a little different\, but they’ve got the same kind of ide as\, because they’re catching the same hell we’re catching. I didn’t find any hostility at that convention at all. In fact\, I sat and listene d to them go through their business and learned a lot from it. And one of the things I learned is they only charge\, I think\, $2.50 a year for memb ership\, and that’s it. Well\, this is one of the reasons that they have problems. Because any time you have an organization that costs $2.50 a ye ar to belong to\, it means that that organization has to turn in another d irection for funds. And this is what castrates it. Because as soon as the white liberals begin to support it\, they tell it what to do and what not to do.\n\nThis is why Garvey was able to be more militant. Garvey didn’t ask them for help. He asked our people for help. And this is what we’re going to do. We’re going to try and follow his books.\n\nSo we’re goi ng to have a $2.00 joining fee and ask every member to contribute a dollar a week. Now\, the NAACP gets $2.50 a year\, that’s it. And it can’t e ver go anywhere like that because it’s always got to be putting on some kind of drive for help and will always get its help from the wrong source. And then when they get that help\, they’ll have to end up condemning al l the enemies of their enemy in order to get some more help. No\, we conde mn our enemies\, not the enemies of our enemies. We condemn our enemies.\n \nSo what we are going to ask you to do is\, if you want to become a membe r of the Organization of Afro-American Unity\, it will cost you $2.00. We are going to ask you to pay a dues of a dollar a week. We will have an acc ountant\, a bookkeeping system\, which will keep the members up to date as to what has come in\, what has been spent\, and for what. Because the sec ret to success in any kind of business venture – and anything that you d o that you mean business\, you’d better do in a businesslike way – the secret to your success is keeping good records\, good organized records.\ n\nSince today will be the first time that we are opening the books for me mbership\, our next meeting will be next Sunday here. And we will then hav e a membership. And we’ll be able to announce at that time the officers of the Organization of Afro-American Unity. I’ll tell you the top office r is the chairman\, and that’s the office I’m holding. I’m taking th e responsibility of the chairman\, which means I’m responsible for any m istakes that take place\; anything that goes wrong\, any failures\, you ca n rest them right upon my shoulders. So next week the officers will be ann ounced.\n\nAnd this week I wanted to tell you the departments in this orga nization that\, when you take out your membership\, you can apply to work in. We have the department of education. The department of political actio n. For all of you who are interested in political action\, we will have a department set up by brothers and sisters who are students of political sc ience\, whose function it will be to give us a breakdown of the community of New York City. First\, how many assemblymen there are and how many of t hose assemblymen are black\, how many congressmen there are and how many o f those congressmen are black. In fact\, let me just read something real q uick and I’ll show you why it’s so necessary. Just to give you an exam ple.\n\nThere are 270\,000 eligible voters in the twenty first senatorial district. The twenty first senatorial district is broken down into the ele venth\, seventh\, and thirteenth assembly districts. Each assembly distric t contains 90\,000 eligible voters. In the eleventh assembly district\, on ly 29\,000 out of 90\,000 eligible voters exercise their voting rights. In the seventh assembly district\, only 36\,000 out of the 90\,000 eligible voters vote. Now\, in a white assembly district with 90\,000 eligible vote rs\, 65\,000 exercise their voting rights\, showing you that in the white assembly districts more whites vote than blacks vote in the black assembly districts. There’s a reason for this. It is because our people aren’t politically aware of what we can get by becoming politically active.\n\nS o what we have to have is a program of political education to show them wh at they can get if they take political action that’s intelligently direc ted. Less than 25 percent of the eligible voters in Harlem vote in the pri mary election. Therefore\, they have not the right to place the candidate of their choice in office\, as only those who were in the primary can run in the general election. The following number of signatures are required t o place a candidate to vote in the primaries: for assemblyman it must be 3 50 signatures\; state senator\, 750\; countywide judgeship\, 1\,000\; boro ugh president\, 2\,250\; mayor\, 7\,500. People registered with the Republ ican or Democratic parties do not have to vote with their party.\n\nThere are fifty eight senators in the New York state legislature. Four are from Manhattan\; one is black. In the New York state assembly\, there are 150 a ssemblymen. I think three are black\; maybe more than that. According to c alculation\, if the Negro were proportionately represented in the state se nate and state assembly\, we would have several representatives in the sta te senate and several in the state assembly. There are 435 members in the United States House of Representatives. According to the census\, there ar e 22 million Afro Americans in the United States. If they were represented proportionately in this body\, there would be 30 to 40 members of our rac e sitting in that body. How many are there? Five. There are 100 senators i n the United States Senate. Hawaii\, with a population of only 600 thousan d\, has two senators representing it. The black man\, with a population of in excess of 20 million\, is not represented in the Senate at all. Worse than this\, many of the congressmen and representatives in the Congress of the United States come from states where black people are killed if they attempt to exercise the right to vote.\n\nWhat you and I want to do in thi s political department is have our brothers and sisters who are experts in the science of politics acquaint our people in our community with what we should have\, and who should be doing it\, and how we can go about gettin g what we should have. This will be their job and we want you to play this role so we can get some action without having to wait on Lyndon B. Johnso n\, Lyndon B. Texas Johnson.\n\nAlso\, our economics department. We have a n economics department. For any of you who are interested in business or a program that will bring about a situation where the black man in Harlem c an gain control over his own economy and develop business expansion for ou r people in this community so we can create some employment opportunities for our people in this community\, we will have this department.\n\nWe wil l also have a speakers bureau because many of our people want to speak\, w ant to be speakers\, they want to preach\, they want to tell somebody what they know\, they want to let off some steam. We will have a department th at will train young men and young women how to go forth with our philosoph y and our program and project it throughout the country\; not only through out this city but throughout the country.\nWe will have a youth group. The youth group will be designed to work with youth. Not only will it consist of youth\, but it will also consist of adults. But it will be designed to work out a program for the youth in this country\, one in which the youth can play an active part.\n\nWe also are going to have our own newspaper. You need a newspaper. We believe in the power of the press. A newspaper is not a difficult thing to run. A newspaper is very simple if you have the right motives. In fact\, anything is simple if you have the right motives. The Muhammad Speaks newspaper\, I and another person started it myself in my basement. And I’ve never gone past the eighth grade. Those of you wh o have gone to all these colleges and studied all kinds of journalism\, ye llow and black journalism\, all you have to do is contribute some of your journalistic talent to our newspaper department along with our research de partment\, and we can turn out a newspaper that will feed our people with so much information that we can bring about a real live revolution right h ere before you know it.\n\nWe will also have a cultural department. The ta sk or duty of the cultural department will be to do research into the cult ure\, into the ancient and current culture of our people\, the cultural co ntributions and achievements of our people. And also all of the entertainm ent groups that exist on the African continent that can come here and ours who are here that can go there. Set up some kind of cultural program that will really emphasize the dormant talent of black people.\n\nWhen I was i n Ghana I was speaking with\, I think his name is Nana Nketsia\, I think h e’s the minister of culture or he’s head of the culture institute. I w ent to his house\, he had a – he had a nice\, beautiful place\; I starte d to say he had a sharp pad. He had a fine place in Accra. He had gone to Oxford\, and one of the things that he said impressed me no end. He said t hat as an African his concept of freedom is a situation or a condition in which he\, as an African\, feels completely free to give vent to his own l ikes and dislikes and thereby develop his own African personality. Not a c ondition in which he is copying some European cultural pattern or some Eur opean cultural standard\, but an atmosphere of complete freedom where he h as the right\, the leeway\, to bring out of himself all of that dormant\, hidden talent that has been there for so long.\n\nAnd in that atmosphere\, brothers and sisters\, you’d be surprised what will come out of the bos om of this black man. I’ve seen it happen. I’ve seen black musicians w hen they’d be jamming at a jam session with white musicians – a whole lot of difference. The white musician can jam if he’s got some sheet mus ic in front of him. He can jam on something that he’s heard jammed befor e. If he’s heard it\, then he can duplicate it or he can imitate it or h e can read it But that black musician\, he picks up his horn and starts bl owing some sounds that he never thought of before. He improvises\, he crea tes\, it comes from within. It’s his soul\, it’s that soul music. It ’s the only area on the American scene\nwhere the black man has been fre e to create. And he his mastered it. He has shown that he can come up with something that nobody ever thought of on his horn.\n\nWell\, likewise he can do the same thing if given intellectual independence. He can come up w ith a new philosophy. He can come up with a philosophy that nobody has hea rd of yet. He can invent a society\, a social system\, an economic system\ , a political system\, that is different from anything that exists or has ever existed anywhere on this earth. He will improvise\; he’ll bring it from within himself. And this is what you and I want.\n\nYou and I want to create an organization that will give us so much power we can sit down an d do as we please. Once we can sit down and think as we please\, speak as we please\, and do as we please\, we will show people what pleases us. And what pleases us won’t always please them. So you’ve got to get some p ower before you can be yourself. Do you understand that? You’ve got to g et some power before you can be yourself. Once you get power and you be yo urself\, why\, you’re gone\, you’ve got it and gone. You create a new society and make some heaven right here on this earth.\n\nAnd we’re goin g to start right here tonight when we open up our membership books into th e Organization of Afro-American Unity. I’m going to buy the first member ships myself – one for me\, my wife\, Attillah\, Qubilah\, these are my daughters\, Ilyasah\, and something else I expect to get either this week or next week. As I told you before\, if it’s a boy I’m going to name h im Lumumba\, the greatest black man who ever walked the African continent. \n\nHe didn’t fear anybody. He had those people so scared they had to ki ll him. They couldn’t buy him\, they couldn’t frighten him\, they co uldn’t reach him. Why\, he told the king of Belgium\, “Man\, you may l et us free\, you may have given us our independence\, but we can never for get these scars.” The greatest speech – you should take that speech an d tack it up over your door. This is what Lumumba said: “You aren’t gi ving us anything. Why\, can you take back these scars that you put on our bodies? Can you give us back the limbs that you cut off while you were her e?” No\, you should never forget what that man did to you. And you bear the scars of the same kind of colonization and oppression not on your body \, but in your brain\, in your heart\, in your soul\, right now.\nSo\, if it’s a boy\, Lumumba. If it’s a girl\, Lumumbah.\n\n[Malcolm introduce s several people from the platform and from the audience\, then continues: ]\n\nIf I passed over some of the rest of you\, it’s because my eyes a ren’t too good\, my glasses aren’t too good. But everybody here are pe ople who are from the street who want some kind of action. We hope that we will be able to give you all the action you need. And more than likely we ’ll be able to give you more than you want. We just hope that you stay w ith us. Our meeting will be next Sunday night right here. We want you to b ring all of your friends and we’ll be able to go forward. Up until now\, these meetings have been sponsored by the Muslim Mosque\, Inc. They’ve been sponsored and paid for by the Muslim Mosque\, Inc. Beginning next Sun day\, they will be sponsored and paid for by the Organization of Afro Amer ican Unity.\n\nI don’t know if I’m right in saying this\, but for a pe riod of time\, let’s you and me not be too hard on other Afro-American l eaders. Because you would be surprised how many of them. have expressed sy mpathy and support in our efforts to bring this situation confronting our people before the United Nations. You’d be surprised how many of them\, some of the last ones you would expect\, they’re coming around. So let ’s give them a little time to straighten up. If they straighten up\, goo d. They’re our brothers and we’re responsible for our brothers. But if they don’t straighten up\, then that’s another point.\n\nAnd one thin g that we are going to do\, we’re going to dispatch a wire\, a telegram that is\, in the name of the Organization of Afro-American Unity to Martin Luther King in St. Augustine\, Florida\, and to Jim Forman in Mississippi \, worded in essence to tell them that if the federal government doesn’t come to their aid\, call on us. And we will take the responsibility of sl ipping some brothers into that area who know what to do by any means neces sary.\n\nI can tell you right now that my purpose is not to become involve d in a fight with Black Muslims\, who are my brothers still. I do everythi ng I can to avoid that because there’s no benefit in it. It actually mak es our enemy happy. But I do believe that the time has come for you and me to take the responsibility of forming whatever nucleus or defense group i s necessary in places like Mississippi. Why\, they shouldn’t have to cal l on the federal government – that’s a drag. No\, when you and I know that our people are the victims of brutality\, and all times the police in those states are the ones who are responsible\, then it is incumbent upon you and me\, if we are men\, if we are to be respected and recognized\, i t is our duty. . . [A passage is lost here through a defect in the tape.]\ n\nJohnson knew that when he sent [Allen] Dulles down there. Johnson has f ound this out. You don’t disappear. How are you going to disappear? Why\ , this man can find a missing person in China. They send the CIA all the w ay to China and find somebody. They send the FBI anywhere and find somebod y. But they can’t find them whenever the criminal is white and the victi m is black\, then they can’t find them.\n\nLet’s don’t wait on any m ore FBI to look for criminals who are shooting and brutalizing our people. Let’s you and me find them. And I say that it’s easy to do it. One of the best organized groups of black people in America was the Black Muslim s. They’ve got all the machinery\, don’t think they haven’t\; and th e experience where they know how to ease out in broad daylight or in dark and do whatever is necessary by any means necessary. They know how to do t hat. Well\, I don’t blame anybody for being taught how to do that. You ’re living in a society where you’re the constant victim of brutality. You must know how to strike back.\n\nSo instead of them and us wasting ou r shots\, I should say our time and energy\, on each other\, what we need to do is band together and go to Mississippi. That’s my closing message to Elijah Muhammad: If he is the leader of the Muslims and the leader of o ur people\, then lead us against our enemies\, don’t lead us against eac h other.\n\nI thank you for your patience here tonight\, and we want each and every one of you to put your name on the roll of the Organization of A fro- American Unity. The reason we have to rely upon you to let the public know where we are is because the press doesn’t help us\; they never ann ounce in advance that we’re going to have a meeting. So you have to spre ad the word over the grapevine. Thank you. Salaam Alaikum.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\ n\n REFERRAL\n\n\n\n https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/sp eeches-african-american-history/1964-malcolm-x-s-speech-founding-rally-org anization-afro-american-unity/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Basic Unity Program\n\n\ n\n \n Restoration: \"In order to release ourselves from the oppression o f our enslavers then\, it is absolutely necessary for the Afro-American to restore communication with Africa.\"\n \n \n Reorientation: \"We can lea rn much about Africa by reading informative books and by listening to the experiences of those who have traveled there.\"\n \n \n Education: \"The Organization of Afro-American Unity will devise original educational metho ds and procedures which will liberate the minds of our children. We will . .. encourage qualified Afro-Americans to write and publish the textbooks n eeded to liberate our minds ... educating them [our children] at home.\"\n \n \n Economic Security: \"After the Emancipation Proclamation ... it wa s realized that the Afro-American constituted the largest homogeneous ethn ic group with a common origin and common group experience in the United St ates and\, if allowed to exercise economic or political freedom\, would in a short period of time own this country. We must establish a technician b ank. We must do this so that the newly independent nations of Africa can t urn to us who are their brothers for the technicians they will need now an d in the future.\"\n \n \n Self Defense: \"In order to enslave a people a nd keep them subjugated\, their right to self defense must be denied. We e ncourage the Afro-Americans to defend themselves against the wanton attack s of the racist aggressors whose sole aim is to deny us the guarantee of t he United Nations Charter of Human Rights and of the Constitution of the U nited States.\"\n \n\n\n\n 02252026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Citation\n\n\n\n ht tps://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12490-malcolm-x-inaugural-organization-of-afro-am erican-unity-speech/#findComment-80321\n\n\n\n osted just now\n\n\n\n @Pr ofD \n\n\n\n   2 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n Yes. It would give B lack folks a platform. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n well ok\, but what will be the goal? Malcolm cited the points. And from them\, he states a number of goa ls. \n\n\n\n 1) communication channel with africa\, which makes sense cau se chinese/dominicans/puerto ricans/jews with israel/indians/russians/ghan aians/agnlo saxon protestant whites.... all but one  immigrant group in t he usa willingly came from another land they constantly communicated with. The problem is our forebears were enslaved\, the link was cut. And as sai d non Black DOS  groups prove\, the link is very grassroots\, it isn't a grandiose. You leave china\, your cousin and mom are still there. It isn't fancy.\n\n\n\n 2) becoming more learned about Africa\, I argue this has b een done. Can it be more? yes\, but the goal can't be one hundred percent with over fifty million people. But libraries\, private libraries still ex ist in the usa\, they exist in NYC. \n\n\n\n 3) Textbooks written by blac k folk\, it is hilarious to me\, I asked in this very forum\, for us all t o work together on a history book project and... I will not name names\, b ut the interest wasn't present. if a set of black people online who all to ut black empowerment can't... \n\n\n\n 4) a bank\, the freedmans bank exi sted but it failed\, carver bank is still in existence but boutique. \n\n \n\n 5)A self defense organization or culture needs to be made. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Of the five goals\, only one can make money on its own. The ot her four are all expenses.\n\n\n\n 1) Communication channels require money /resources. The usa has spent alot of money on underwater physical lines . Satellites are in themselves cheap but placing them and their upkeep is e xpensive. \n\n\n\n 2) libraries are expensive. Through the self reliance this library will have to be private\, which is not unheard of today but w ill be expensive. Location matters to. \n\n\n\n 3)Textbooks are expensive . Ebooks people can is less expensive\, but they forget the devices to rea d them are not inexpensive\, and more likely to weaken/wither  over time than a book. \n\n\n\n 5) weapons cost money\, especially if you are to fa bricate yourself.  yes mass market weapons are cheap cause the market is flooded\, but to truly make a gun from scratch in bulk will be expensive.  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n So of the plans he mentioned\, 4 is the one\, that c an actually make money on its own and isn't a natural expense. \n\n\n\n T he problem today is most of the banks in the usa of largest size all had c orrupt origins. Chase is the rockefellers\, who used it for various things . black people dont have a rockkefeller family to finance a bank. Bank of america was originally financed by the italian american mob. Black people don't have an illegal fiscal operating industry like that. Hang Seng banki ng corporation comes from hong kong which at one time was the opium capito l of the world\, and had primary fiscal trafficking in and out of china. B ig banks have very dirty histories. Small banks\, rarely have the scale to do much. The only bank that went to jail/court  for the banking crisis w as a small bank from new york city\, a chinese american bank \,\, whose ma in clients were the street vendors in chinatown. and by my recollection th ey never traded in the shadow crypto banks like goldman sachs and company who begged for a welfare check\, far worse than any fiscally poor black wo man ever did\,  while not being demanded to change their operating proced ures\, or welfare to work. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n What do you think the goal should be?  And yes\, a goal must be. \n\n\n\n I Argue\, the goal shoul d be one thing only. A black party of governance in the usa. My reason bei ng is the reason I have supported this idea alone in the usa for black peo ple for a while. When I look at the history of Black DOSers everything has been tried financially. Any financial goal is merely a repeat of somethin g already tried and after two hundred and fifty years\, I argue trying is being hard headed\, not wise. But\, doing something you never did before i s even in failure a new experience\, that will teach something you have no experience in. \n\n\n\n I say a black party of governance is the best go al for such an OAAU if existed.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   2 hours ago\, Pro fD said:\n\n\n\n A whole lot of those young Black people to whom he was s peaking back in the early 1960s grew up to 1) sell out\, 2) live in fear & amp\; 3) take comfort under the system of racism white supremacy.\n\n\n\n hmmmm\n\n\n\n your answer here generates many questions. I will take it in parts.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 1) define selling out explicitly? I think selli ng out needs specific definition because non blacks live in the usa\, they are not going away. What does selling out mean\, exactly? buying from a n on black store? going into business partnership with non blacks? marrying a non black? I think we blacks leave the definition of such things open\, going back to that textbook malcolm talked about and it will lead to probl ems down the road. cause what happens when the head of human resources for the OAAU wants to marry a white woman? Sellig out being described explict ly today \, makes the scenarios tomorrow easier to handle. \n\n\n\n 2) wh en you say fear what do you mean? I  have never been afraid among my own people. I have seen some blacks talk about the neighborhood in fear but in my mind\, that isn't fear\, that is dislike. It is complicated when you d islike your own people but you can't move away from them\, it is easier th en to tout dislike. \n\n\n\n 3) well .. what defines comfort? It seems to me what you mean by comfort is black people who have reached a certain fi nancial level who aren't engaging in the greater village. I have seen fisc ally poor people in or out of the united sates of america and I have found no fiscal poor person anywhere to be comfortable. Living on the street is not comfortable. Living day to day is not comfortable. Now maybe I simply don't comprehend what you mean by comfort or what group you are talking a bout explicitly\, but I will like to be enlightened. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n But based on your three points. \n\n\n\n The questions are\, how does an OAAU\, prevent members or exmembers or non members in the black populace i n the usa from[ however you define the following] : selling out\, living i n fear\, taking comfort while oppressed? \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 02252026\n\n \n\n  \n\n\n\n Citation\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12490-malcolm- x-inaugural-organization-of-afro-american-unity-speech/#findComment-80330\ n\n\n\n osted just now\n\n\n\n @ProfD\n\n\n\n   2 hours ago\, ProfD s aid:\n\n\n\n Black empowerment &\; reparations for the original sin of slavery.\n\n\n\n When  the OAAU finishes its job\, what does black empowe rment look like and what doesn't it look like? Or are you suggesting OAAU need be in perpetuity which is dysfunctional. \n\n\n\n When will you be s atisfied reparations is given? A goal has to have a moment where it is rea lized and that means what is as well as what isn't. What isn't reparations in your view?\n\n\n\n   2 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n Technology changes the way information is stored &\; accessed.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Black folks are walking around with devices that provide immediate access to information &\; knowledge.\n\n\n\n BAsed on malcolms points I argue those devices aren't what malcolm was talking about. Did black people make those devices? did black people make the ground lines and satellite netwo rks to carry signals to and fro those devices? do black people own the dat a storage locations to create the apperance of seamless instant connection . Did black people design the protocol/rules system for the data? The blac k empowerment you mentioned first\, where does that exist with black peopl e using devices designed/created/manufactured by nonblacks?\n\n\n\n   2 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n I've always been a huge proponent of Bla ck-owned banks.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Do you use one? Which is the best black bank in the usa in your opinion?\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   2 hours ago\, P rofD said:\n\n\n\n Another very important institution of which I'm a huge proponent.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n I also believe Black folks should be profic ient in self-defense &\; weapons training.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Black fol ks don't seem to have a problem buying technology or weapons by any means necessary. \n\n\n\n well... would weapons/training saved\, abner louima? would weapons/training saved emitt till or trayvon martin? would weapons/t raining saved eric garner or randy evers or sandra bland or breonna taylor or sonya massey? Even the white militants don't fare well against law enf orcement\, so how can black people attacked by white law enforcers be bett er off with weapons or training? \n\n\n\n   2 hours ago\, ProfD said: \n\n\n\n Black folks do not have to be corrupt in order to generate wealth .\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n We can use our natural gifts\, talents\, knowledge\, skills &\; abilities to harvest wealth.\n\n\n\n Certain levels of wealt h can't be obtained absent cheating/ corruption/illegality/crime/ or whate ver you want to call it. Again\, the financial history of the usa is the p roof. No one of a certain level of wealth in the usa didn't get there with out a legal\, I repeat legal crime./injuries to others. And the law can't protect from fiscal legal crimes\, which can attack in the upper levels of finance. \n\n\n\n   2 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n Black empowerm ent\, self-sufficiency &\; autonomy. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Self sufficie ncy defined as what? All the land in the usa is owned\, and mostly owned b y whites or owned by state governments who are dominated by whites. So\, t hat means any idea of self sufficiency for circa fifty three million peopl e will have a huge overhead cost that will undercut fiscal growth. It is g oing backwards to go forwards. Very expensive and taking into account rand om situations will be a very long term program which doesn't help. Autonom y? please define this. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   2 hours ago\, ProfD said :\n\n\n\n Undermining Black empowerment &\; promoting white supremacy.\ n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  what actions can a black person do that do not underm ine black empowerment? What actions can black people do that don't promote white supremacy? \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   2 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n \n\n Fear of dismantling the system of white supremacy.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Does this fear apply to black people who don't feel afriad while don't fe el the need to act in a way that your OAAU would deem fearful?\n\n\n\n  \ n\n\n\n if a black man is married to a white woman and both own their own business\, if she wants to invest in his business is he promoting white su premacy? If a black woman does a hostiel takeover over a black owned firme d\, financed by whites\, is she undermining black empowerment? If a black man owns a business and doesn't invest in any of the initiatives of the OA AU but enjoys his life\, is he afraid of dismantling oppressive systems to blacks in the usa? \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   2 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n \n\n\n An unwillingness to fight the system of white supremacy. \n\n\n\n   6 hours ago\, richardmurray said:\n\n\n\n So if a black elected off icial is the mayor of a city and doesn't change the police department with a record of abuse towards blacks\, said official is unwilling to fight wh ite terror ?\n\n\n\n   2 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n An organizati on becomes like a fist. It is more powerful than individual fingers. The s trength in numbers makes people stronger.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Collectively sharing gifts\, talents\, knowledge\, skills &\; abilities &\; a wi llingness to fight leads to power.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Therein lies the re ason a great deal of effort goes into discouraging Black unity. The enemy already knows the outcome.\n\n\n\n yeah ok\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 02252026\n\n \n\n  \n\n\n\n Citation\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12490-malcolm- x-inaugural-organization-of-afro-american-unity-speech/#findComment-80335\ n\n\n\n sted just now\n\n\n\n @ProfD \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   3 hours ag o\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n IMO\, there's no such thing as a best bank consi dering the purposes it serves.\n\n\n\n IS there such a thing as a worst ba nk? which black bank is the worst\, or that doesn't exist either? \n\n\n\ n   3 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n People are less inclined to atta ck those they believe are armed. Black folks should be allowed open &\; carry permits too.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n you used the word people all my exa mples were of black peope murdered by law enforcement and i have seen law enforcement against the armed\, law enforcement is not less inclined to at tack when they think someone is armed. I don't know where you get that fro m. \n\n\n\n   3 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n Jay-Z &\; Beyonce have a combined net worth of billions of dollars.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n beyon ces mother used her other girls to support her daughter and didn't give th em an even cut. that is a fiscal crime. Jay Z by his own admission hustled illegally in his earliest years which is a crime that most can't do . aga in\, everyone with levels of money has done negativities to get there. it is the reality of fiscal capitalism. The myth is that you can make large l evels of money without a cheat in somewhere. It is a simple truth of fisca l capitalism\, the higher the monetary scale the more crimes whether legal or not. \n\n\n\n   3 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n   5 hours ag o\, richardmurray said:\n\n\n\n if a black man is married to a white wom an and both own their own business\, if she wants to invest in his busines s is he promoting white supremacy?\n\n\n\n No. That isn't promoting white supremacy. \n\n\n\n If a black man is married to a white woman and both o wn their own businesses and he invest in her business  as a minority shar eholder\, is he promoting white supremacy?\n\n\n\n   3 hours ago\, Pro fD said:\n\n\n\n   5 hours ago\, richardmurray said:\n\n\n\n If a bla ck woman does a hostiel takeover over a black owned firmed\, financed by w hites\, is she undermining black empowerment?\n\n\n\n No. She's redistribu ting wealth if the firm truly becomes Black-owned.\n\n\n\n so in your view blacks are free to fight amongst themselves financially\, cause that is w hat any hostile takeover is. It is a legal financial fight. You can't have your cake and eat it too. You said Black empowerment ....\n\n\n\n  \n\n\ n\n   3 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n It looks like unity across the Black disaposa.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Hostile takeovers of black owned firms by blacks doesn't bring unity but is allowed in your view. \n\n\n\n    3 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n   5 hours ago\, richardmurray said :\n\n\n\n If a black man owns a business and doesn't invest in any of the initiatives of the OAAU but enjoys his life\, is he afraid of dismantling oppressive systems to blacks in the usa? \n\n\n\n No. He's comfortable un der the system of racism white supremacy.\n\n\n\n What is a black man owns a business in his home country\, the usa\, and doesn't view the usa as a system of white supremacy but of individuals\, fighting each other for teh top of the fiscal capitalistic pile. Your saying as he enjoys his life\, that he is comfortable under the system of white terror\, but the black ma n in question and others like him will never be unified philosophically to black people who view the usa as a country of white terror not individual cannibalism. So your unity across the black diaspora goal for black empow erment is dysfunctional or can't apply\, unless you plan on using a mind c ontrol machine/drugs/manipulation devices on said black man but then of co urse\, that is slavery which I will never condone and definitely a crime\, whether legal or not.\n\n\n\n   3 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n    5 hours ago\, richardmurray said:\n\n\n\n So if a black elected offici al is the mayor of a city and doesn't change the police department with a record of abuse towards blacks\, said official is unwilling to fight white terror ?\n\n\n\n Correct. Black elected officials have an obligation to s erve &\; protect Black folks by any means necessary.\n\n\n\n This is no t legally true\, every elected officials in the usa has an obligation to a ll the people under their jurisdiction and not limited to the people who a re representative of their phenotypical race. that is the whole point of t he constitutional assertion\, that is the whole point of  James Forten/fr ederick douglass/MLK jr/ Barrack Obama none of these black men viewed gove rnment officials of the usa having an obligation to serve any one particul ar group or anyone else in some cases. Again\, in the usa\, before the 190 0s most people \, including whites\, thought being an elected officials wa s for the elected person's benefit. The way you view black empowerment wit h black elected officials goes counter to their reality in the usa or thei r legal parameters. \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250221 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR