Chapter VII: Part TWO: The Prophet’s Voice (2)

God has come to close out the entire Old World ... the Old World in which for the past 6,000 years practically the entire earth has been deceived, conquered, colonized, ruled, enslaved, oppressed and exploited by the CAUCASIAN RACE.

When Pharaoh’s civilization had reached its peak, and his time to rule over the slaves was up, God appeared unto Moses and revealed to him that He had something different for his people. Likewise, God has told Mr. Muhammad that He has something different for his People (the so-called Negroes) here in America today, something that up until now has never before been revealed ... Mr. Muhammad teaches us that this Old World has seen nothing yet ... the REAL THING is yet to come.

The Black Muslims who follow Mr. Muhammad are not only making our exit out of the door of the Old World, but the door to the New World is yet to be opened ... and what is inside that door is yet to be revealed.

This present teaching of Mr. Muhammad among your 20 million ex-slaves is only to prepare us to walk out of this wicked Old World in as intelligent, pleasant, and peaceful a way as is possible.

This present teaching among the so-called American Negroes is designed only to show proof to us why we should give up this wicked Old House. The roof is leaking; the walls are collapsing, and we find it is no longer able to support the tremendous weight caused by our continued presence in it.

And since the knowledge of the deterioration and eventual collapse of this Old Building has come to Mr. Muhammad from Almighty God Himself, whose proper name is ALLAH, the Lord of all the Worlds, the Master of the Judgment Day ... The Honorable Elijah Muhammad is pointing these dangerous present conditions and future events out to you who have enslaved us, as well as to us.

With the proper support and guidance our people can get out of this sagging Old Building before it collapses.

But this support and guidance that we need actually consists of being taught: a thorough knowledge of the origin, history and nature of the Caucasian race, as well as a thorough knowledge of our own black nation. We must have a knowledge of the true origin and history and the white man’s Christian religion, as well as an understanding of the Islamic religion that prevails primarily among our brothers and sisters in Africa and Asia.

You will probably ask us: Why then, if this Old House is going to collapse or go up in smoke, are the Black Muslims asking for some states to be set aside for us right here in this country ... it’s like asking for a chance to retain rooms in a house that you claim is doomed for total destruction?

God is giving America every opportunity to repent and atone for the crime she committed when she enslaved our people, just as God gave Pharaoh a chance to repent before He finally destroyed him because he was too proud to free his slaves and give them complete justice.

We are asking you for territory here only because of the great opposition we receive from this government in our efforts to awaken our people, unite them, separate them from their oppressors, and return them to our own land and people.

You should never make the drastic mistake of thinking that Mr. Muhammad has no place to take his followers in the World of Islam. No sir! He is not shut out there like many of you wish to believe. All who accept Islam and follow him have been offered a home in the Muslim World.

Our people have been oppressed and exploited here in America for 400 years, and now with Mr. Muhammad we can leave this wicked land of bondage, but our former slave master is yet opposing his efforts and is unjustly persecuting his followers who have left the Christian church and accepted the religion of Islam.

This is further proof that our Caucasian slave master does not want us or trust us to leave him and live elsewhere on this earth, and yet if we stay here among them he continues to keep us at the very lowest level of his society.

Pick up any daily paper or magazine and examine the anti-Muslim propaganda and the false charges leveled against our beloved religious leader by some of America’s leading reporters. This only points up the fact that the Caucasian race is never willing to let any black man who is not their puppet or parrot speak for our people or lead our people out of their enslaving clutches without giving him great opposition.

The Caucasian slave master has opposed all such leaders in the past, and even today he sanctions and supports only those Negro spokesmen who parrot his doctrines, his ideas ... or those who accept his so-called “advice” on how our people should carry on our struggle against his 400 years of tyranny.

The Christian world has failed to give the black man justice. This Christian government has failed to give 20 million ex-slaves justice for our 310 years of free slave labor. Despite this, we have been better Christians even than those who taught us Christianity. We have been America’s most faithful servants during peace time, and her bravest soldiers during war time. And still, white Christians have been unable to recognize us and accept us as fellow human beings. Today we can see that the Christian religion of the Caucasian race has failed us. Thus the black masses are turning away from the church back to the religion of Islam.

The government sends its agents among our people to tell lies: they have a well-organized all-out effort to harass them, in an effort to frighten those of our people in this country who wish to accept the religion of Islam, and unite under the spiritual guidance and divine leadership of The Honorable Elijah Muhammad.

Therefore, Mr. Muhammad has declared to you, and to your government, that if you don’t want your 20 million ex-slaves to leave you and return to our own land and people ... and since your actions have proved that the Caucasian race will not accept these 20 million ex-slaves here among them as complete equals ... then let us separate ourselves from you right here, into a separate territory that we can call our own, and on which we can do something for ourselves and for our own kind.

Since we cannot live among the Caucasians in peace, and there is not enough time left for us (this new Negro) to wait for the Caucasian race to be “re-educated” and freed of their racial prejudices, and their inbred beliefs and practices of white supremacy ... I repeat: Let our people be separated from you, and give us some territory here that we can call our own, and live in peace among ourselves.

According to recent news dispatches appearing in daily papers throughout this nation: In prisons all over the country the wardens are unjustly persecuting the inmates who want to change from the Christian religion and accept the religion of Islam and follow the spiritual guidance of The Honorable Elijah Muhammad.

These prison wardens even admit that when the inmates change from Christianity to Islam they become model prisoners, but despite this they are being persecuted and prevented from reading the Holy Quran, the same Holy Book that is read daily by hundreds of millions of our darker brothers and sisters in Africa and Asia.

When the true facts about this religious persecution are made known among the 725 million Muslims in the World of Islam, that strategic area that stretches from the China Seas to the shores of West Africa, how do you think the American Caucasians will then look in the eyes of those non-white people there?

The very fact that there is a concerted effort against Islam by wardens across the country is proof that the American government is trying to stamp out the religion of Islam here in a frantic effort to keep it from spreading among her 20 million ex-slaves whom she continues to confine to the lowly role of second-class citizenship.

Further proof of this is the fact that these 20 million so-called Negroes have never even been taught about the religion of Islam during the entire 400 years since the Caucasian first brought our people here away from our African Muslim culture in chains ... and despite the fact that Islam is, and always has been, the prevailing religion among our people in Africa.

Now the American Caucasian, in a last act of desperation, is accusing Mr. Muhammad of not being a true Muslim, and of not teaching true Islam. If the American Caucasian knows so much about true Islam, and has suddenly become such an authority on it, why hasn’t he taught it to his 20 million ex-slaves before now?

Also, the American Caucasian today loves to print glaring headlines saying that the orthodox Muslims don’t recognize or accept Mr. Muhammad and his Black Muslims as true Muslims.

“Divide and rule” has long been the Caucasian strategy to continue their colonization of dark people. The American Caucasian actually has colonized 20 million black people here in this country simply by dividing us from our African brothers and sisters for 400 years, converting us to his Christian religion, and then by teaching us to call ourselves “Negroes” ... and telling us we were no longer African ... (I guess he says this because our exposure to this “superior” white culture makes us “different” ... so-called “civilized.”)

As hundreds of thousands of the ex-slaves here in America today refuse to attend the church of the Caucasians who enslaved us, shunning all further use of the word “Negro,” and because we are accepting ALLAH as our God, Islam as our religion, and The Honorable Elijah Muhammad as our religious leader and teacher ... now the Americans who enslaved us are reverting back to the old trick of their fellow colonialists ... “divide and rule” ... by trying to separate us from the Muslim World, thinking that they can in this way alienate us from our people in Africa and Asia who also serve and follow Almighty God, ALLAH.

There are probably 100,000 of what you (whites) call orthodox Muslims in America, who were born in the Muslim World, and who willingly migrated here. But, despite the fact that Islam is a propagating religion, all of these foreign Muslims combined have not been successful in converting 1,000 Americans to Islam.

On the other hand, they see that Mr. Muhammad, all by himself, has hundreds of thousands of his fellow ex-slaves turning Eastward toward Mecca five times daily giving praises to the Great God ALLAH.

No true Muslim, in his right mind, would denounce or deny this meek and humble little black man, who was himself born in Georgia, the very worst part of this country, as a leader, a defender of the faith, a propagator of the faith, who has rekindled the light of Islam here in the West.

His Caucasian opposers have never gotten even one responsible Muslim official to criticize or denounce Mr. Muhammad. They succeed only in getting some jealous or envious little peddler or merchant who migrated here and wants to be recognized as some sort of leader himself, and who will therefore accept the Caucasian’s thirty pieces of silver to attack this man of God.

How would Mr. Muhammad ever make a trip into the forbidden areas of Arabia, and visit the Holy Cities of Mecca and Medina ... being welcomed and honored by its most respected religious leaders ... the great Imams themselves ... if he himself was not recognized as a great religious man, and a man of God, doing miraculous works by spreading ALLAH’s name here in the West among the 20 million ex-slaves of America?

How could Mr. Muhammad visit the capitals of the Muslim World, and be received by its respected leaders, if he too was not recognized and respected as a Muslim leader by them?

He visited Al-Azhar, the oldest Mosque and Muslim University in the world, and had tea with the Chief Imam, the Grand Sheikh Shaltuat, who kissed him on his forehead in true Muslim fashion ... yet the American Caucasians, hoping to block his success among our people, continue to oppose him and say he is not a true Muslim.

Again you will say: Why then don’t he and his followers leave this house of bondage right now, and go and live in the Muslim World? All of the Black Muslims can live in the Muslim World tomorrow, but The Honorable Elijah Muhammad wants justice for the entire 20 million so-called Negroes.

You and your Christian government make the problem even more complicated. You don’t want your 20 million ex-slaves to leave you, yet you won’t share equal justice with them right here.

Since you don’t want them to leave this country with us, and you won’t give them equal justice among your kind ... then we will agree only if you let us separate ourselves from you right here.

Just give us a portion of this country that we can call our own. Put us in it. Then give us everything we need to start our own civilization here ... that is, support us for 20 to 25 years, until we are able to go for ourselves. This is God’s plan. This is God’s solution. This is justice, and compensation for our 310 years of free slave labor.

Otherwise America will reap the full fury of God’s wrath, for her crimes against our people here are many. As your bible says: “He that leads into captivity shall go into captivity; he that kills with the sword shall be killed by the sword.” This is the law of justice and this is in your own Christian scriptures.

The black masses are shaking off the drugs, or narcotic effect of the token integration promises. A cup of tea in a white restaurant is not sufficient compensation for 310 years of free slave labor. The black masses as represented by the Black Muslims will never be satisfied until we have some land that we can call our own.

Again I repeat: we are not asking for territory here because Mr. Muhammad has no place else to take us. But, to benefit the entire 20 million so-called Negroes, 20 million ex-slaves, who, despite the fact that the Emancipation Proclamation was issued 100 years ago.... These oppressed people are still begging their former slave master for recognition as human beings ... therefore, Mr. Muhammad is asking this government to stop toying with our people, stop fooling them year in and year out with false promises of token integration.

Token integration will not solve our problem. This is a false solution. A “token” solution. It is a hypocritical approach to the problem, a tricky scheme devised by you, and propagated by your Negro puppets whom you yourself have appointed as our “leaders” and “spokesmen.”

Integration is not good for either side. It will destroy your race, and your government knows it will also destroy ours ... and the problem will still remain unsolved.

God has declared that these 20 million ex-slaves must have a home of their own. After 400 years here among the Caucasians, we are absolutely convinced that we can never live together in peace, unless we are willing to remain subservient to our former masters ... therefore, immediate and complete separation is the only solution.

NAACP Attorney Thurgood Marshall has admitted publicly that six years since the Supreme Court decision on DESEGREGATION of the schools, only 6 per cent desegregation has taken place. This is an example of integration!

A kidnaper, a robber, an enslaver, a lyncher is just another common criminal in the sight of God, and the above-mentioned criminal acts have been committed on a mass scale for 400 years by your race against America’s 20 million so-called Negroes.

It is true that today America professes to be sorry for her crimes against our people, and she says she wants to repent, and in her desire to atone or make amends she offers her 20 million ex-slaves flowery promises of “token” integration.

Many of these downtrodden victims want to forgive America; they want to forget the crimes you have committed against them, and some are even willing to accept the formula of “token integration” that you yourself have devised as the solution to correct the problems created by your criminal acts against them.

In a court of justice the criminal can confess his crimes and throw himself on the mercy of the court if he has truly repented, but neither the criminal nor his victims have any say-so in suggesting the sentence that is to be passed upon the guilty ... or the price that the confessed criminal must pay. This is left in the hands of the Judge. We are living in the Day of Judgment right now. God is the Judge that our American slave master must now answer to.

God is striking this great country with tornadoes, storms, floods, rain, hail, snow ... and terrific earthquakes are yet to come. Your people are being afflicted with increasing epidemics of illness and disease, divine plagues that God is striking you with because of your criminal acts against the 20 million ex-slaves ... and today instead of repenting and truly compensating our people for their 310 years of free slave labor that built up this great country for you, you buy out the Negro leaders with 30 pieces of silver and get them to sell our people on accepting your “token integration.”

When one uses a “token” on the bus or streetcar that “token” is a substitute for the real money. Token means “a substitute,” that which takes the place of the real thing.

Token integration takes the place of the real thing. Two black students at Georgia University is TOKEN integration. Four black children in New Orleans white schools is TOKEN integration. A handful of black students in the white schools in Little Rock is TOKEN integration. None of this is REAL integration; it is only a pacifier designed to keep these awakening black babies from crying too loud.

The white man’s violent rebellion, and relentless struggle against TOKEN integration is sufficient to prove what would happen if the Negro leaders demanded REAL INTEGRATION.

Also, according to the above-mentioned rate of speed since the desegregation decisions of the Supreme Court, it will take us another thousand years to get the white man in the South sufficiently “re-educated” to accept our people in their midst as equals ... and if the rest of the truth is told, it will also take the white man here in the North, West and East just as long as his brother in the South ... if the frightened Uncle Tom leadership ever stops accepting his master’s “tokens” and begins to demand the real thing.

To many of you here at the Harvard Law School Forum this evening, this sounds ridiculous; to some it even sounds insane. But these 20 million black people here in America now number a nation in their own right. Do you believe a nation within another nation can be successful? Especially when they both have equal education?

Once the slave has his master’s education, the slave wants to be like his master, wants to share his master’s property, and even wants to exercise the same privileges as his master even while he is yet in his master’s house.

This is the CORE of America’s troubles today; and there will be no peace for America as long as 20 million so-called Negroes are here BEGGING for the rights which America knows she will never grant us.

Even this limited education America has granted her ex-slaves has already produced great unrest ... and Almighty God says the only way for America to ever have any future peace or prosperity is for her 20 million ex-slaves to be SEPARATED from her ... and it is for this reason that Mr. Muhammad teaches us that we must have some land of our own.

If we receive equal education, how long do you expect us to remain your passive servants, or second-class citizens? There is no such thing as a second-class citizen. We are FULL CITIZENS or we are not citizens at all.

When you teach a man the science of government he wants an equal part (or position) in that government ... or else he wants a government himself. He begins to demand equality with his master.

No man with equal education will serve you. The only way you can continue to rule us is with a superior knowledge, or by continuing to withhold equal education from our people.

America has not given us equal education, but she has given us enough to make us want more ... and to make us demand equality of opportunity ... and this is causing unrest ... plus international embarrassment ... thus the only solution is immediate SEPARATION.

As your colleges and universities turn out an ever increasing number of so-called Negro graduates with education equal to yours, they will automatically increase their demands for equality in EVERYTHING else. This equal education will increase their spirit of equality and make them feel that they should have EVERYTHING that you have, and their increasing demands will become a perpetual headache for you ... and continue to cause you international embarrassment.

In fact, the same Negro students you are turning out today will soon be demanding the same things you now hear being demanded by Mr. Muhammad and the Black Muslims.

In my conclusion: I must remind you that since your own Christian bible states that God is coming in the “last days,” or at the “end of the Old World,” and that God’s coming would bring about a GREAT SEPARATION ... and since we see all sorts of signs throughout the earth that indicate that THE TIME OF GOD’S COMING is upon us ... why don’t you repent while there is yet time?

Do justice by your faithful ex-slaves. Give us some land of our own right here, some SEPARATE STATES, so we can separate ourselves from you ... then everyone will be satisfied, and perhaps we will all be able to then live happily ever after, as your own Christian bible says ... “every one under his own vine and fig tree.”

Otherwise: all of you who are sitting here, your government, and your entire race will be destroyed and removed from this earth by Almighty God, ALLAH. I thank you.

3. MALCOLM X

ON “UNITY”

_Malcolm X delivered this speech at a so-called “unity” rally on the streets of Harlem early in the spring of 1960. As the text indicates, politics was in the air, and the Black Muslims were calling for “unity” among Negro leaders._

_The stage was set for the rally when the Black Muslims telegraphed some fifteen outstanding Negro leaders, asking them to participate in the affair. None of them came, but this did not stop Malcolm X from unburdening himself. Here again we see Malcolm X on the defensive, but in a somewhat different way. In the first half of the speech Malcolm is pulling in his horns; he is saying “unity,” “freedom,” “peace.” He is suggesting a summit meeting of Negro leaders. “Let’s have our arguments behind closed doors,” Malcolm shouts, “but let’s come out unified.”_

_At that juncture, however, nobody was willing to practice summitry with the Black Muslims._

_Malcolm used this speech to point up the Black Muslim concern for morality; he attacks the dope, crime, and prostitution of Harlem as well as those--black and white--who thrive upon these evils._

_As expected, Malcolm concludes with the call for a separate state; he restates his Harvard offer: the white race can be spared from destruction if they give the Negro a separate state._

_The rally lasted five hours; thirteen black nationalist groups were represented, and some four thousand people blocked off 125th Street and Seventh Avenue at the peak of the rally._

AS-SALAAM-ALAIKUM, BELOVED BROTHERS AND SISTERS, WELCOME TO OUR HARLEM FREEDOM RALLY.

When we say “our” we do not mean Muslim nor Christian, Catholic nor Protestant, Baptist nor Methodist, Democrat nor Republican, Mason nor Elk. By “our” Harlem Freedom, we mean the black people of Harlem, the black people of America, and the black people all over this earth.

The largest concentration of black people on earth is right here in Harlem, so we are gathered here today in Harlem Square to a Freedom Rally, of black people, by black people, and for the benefit of black people.

We are not here at this Rally because we have already gained freedom. No! We are gathered here rallying for the freedom which we have long been promised, but have as yet not received. This Rally is for that perfect freedom which up until now this government has not granted us. There would be no need to protest to the government if we were already free.

Freedom is essential to life itself. Freedom is essential to the development of the human being. If we don’t have freedom we can never expect justice and equality. Only after we have freedom do justice and equality become a reality.

Today we are gathered at this Rally to hear from our leaders who have been acting as our spokesmen, and representing us to the white man downtown. We want to know how our leaders really think, how they talk, how they feel ... and most important of all, we want them to know how we feel.

Many of these leaders have suddenly become “experts on Harlem” and as such are often regarded by the white man as the “voice of Harlem.” If this must be the case, then we want the voice of these leaders to ring sometimes in Harlem too.

Leaders have differences, and these differences ofttimes cause serious division among the masses. But the HOUR is too short today for black people to afford the luxury of “differences.”

Again I repeat, we are not gathered here today because we are Muslims or Christians, Protestants or Catholics, Baptists or Methodists, Democrats or Republicans, Masons or Elks ... but because as a collective mass of black people we have been colonized, enslaved, lynched, exploited, deceived, abused, etc.

As a collective mass of black people we have been deprived, not only of civil rights, but even our human rights, the right to human dignity ... the right to be a human being!

This Freedom Rally is to be a united effort by all our leaders. We have set aside all petty differences, and in the Spirit of Bandung we have come together on this same platform, wherein each one can voice his personal feelings and his personal solution to this grave crisis we face.

The Western World today faces a great catastrophe. It stands on the brink of disaster. Mr. Muhammad says the only way our people can avoid the fiery destruction that God Himself will soon unleash upon this wicked world is for our people to come together among themselves in unity and practice true brotherhood. Mr. Muhammad says God is with us to unite our people into one brotherhood, and to aid those that are oppressed, and to uplift those who are downtrodden.

The Western World, filled with evil and wickedness, is groping and stumbling blindly through spiritual darkness toward its inevitable doom. Mr. Muhammad says we must qualify ourselves so that God’s spiritual light will guide us past the pitfalls of destruction.

The Western World is filled with drunkenness, dope addiction, lying, stealing, gambling, adultery, fornication, prostitution and hosts of other evils. These evils must be removed if the world is to have peace. These evils are the primary cause of troubles all over the earth. These evils promote greed and lust, increase wickedness and unrest, and destroy all hopes for peace.

You want peace. I want peace. Everyone craves for a world of peace. Mr. Muhammad says anyone who will submit to the God of Peace will have peace. Even the white man himself can prolong his time today if he will submit to the God of Peace, and give freedom, justice, and equality to the “people of God” ... the so-called Negroes here in America.

The city of Nineveh in the bible to whom Jonah was sent to warn is a good prophetic example of today. They were actually spared because they repented when the warning came to them from God. God will spare our slave master today too if he will repent.

The whole dark world wants peace. When I was in Africa last year I was deeply impressed by the desire of our African Brothers for peace, but even they agree that there can be no peace without freedom from colonialism, foreign domination, oppression and exploitation.

The God of Peace and Righteousness is about to set up His kingdom of peace and righteousness here on this earth. Knowing that God is about to establish His righteous government, Mr. Muhammad is trying to clean up our morals and qualify us to enter into this new righteous nation of God.

The American so-called Negroes must recognize each other as brothers and sisters ... stop carrying guns and knives to harm each other, stop drinking whiskey, taking dope, reefers, and even cigarettes. No more gambling! Save your money. Stop fornication, adultery and prostitution. Elevate the black woman; respect her and protect her. Let us rid ourselves of immoral habits and God will be with us to protect and guide us.

Then, we must form a platform that will be good for all of our own people, as well as for others. As black people we must unite. We must recognize and give intelligent active support to our political leaders who fight for us unselfishly, sincerely, and fearlessly.

But, to prove their sincerity and their right for the support of the black masses, these leaders must first display fearlessness, intelligence, and unity among themselves. They must stop their public bickering with each other. They must stop attacking each other in front of the white man, and for the benefit of the white man.

If the black leaders must have differences of opinion, learn to go into the closet with each other, but when you come from behind closed doors, show a united front in the face of the one who is a common enemy to all of us.

Mr. Muhammad has invited all of the leaders here today for that purpose. He wants our people united, but unity will never exist among the black masses as long as our leaders are not united.

We want to get behind leaders who will fight for us ... leaders who are not afraid to demand freedom, justice, and equality. We do not want leaders who are hand picked for us by the white man. We don’t want any more Uncle Toms. We don’t want any more leaders who are puppets or parrots for the white man.

We want brave leaders as our spokesmen, who are not afraid to state our case, who can intelligently demand what we need, what we want, and what is rightfully ours. We don’t want leaders who are beggars, who feel they must compromise with the enemy. And we don’t want leaders who are selfish or greedy ... who will sell us out for a few pieces of silver.

A big election is coming up this year. What kind of leaders do we want in office? Which ones will the black masses get behind? Mr. Muhammad has thousands of followers, and millions of sympathizers. He will place his weight behind any fearless black leaders who will stand up and help the so-called American Negroes get complete and immediate freedom.

If these black leaders are afraid that to be identified with us they will irk the white man, or lose the white man’s favor or his support, then they can no longer expect the support of the black masses.

They call us racial extremists. They call Jomo Kenyatta also a racial extremist and Tom Mboya a moderate. It is only the white man’s fear of men like Kenyatta that makes him listen to men like Mboya. If it were not for the extremists, the white man would ignore the moderates. To be called a “moderate” in this awakening dark world today, that is crying for freedom, is to receive the “kiss of death” as spokesmen or leaders of the masses ... for the masses are ready to burst the shackles of slavery whether the “moderates” will stand up or not.

We have many black leaders who are unafraid, especially when they know the black masses stand behind them. Many of them are qualified to represent us not only in this United States government, but could also represent us in this government if we are given 100 per cent citizenship and the opportunity for FIRST-CLASS participation ... or else we can get behind these same leaders in setting up an independent government of our own.

We, the black masses, don’t want these leaders who seek our support coming to us representing a certain political party. They must come to us today as black leaders representing the welfare of black people.

We won’t follow any leader today who comes on the basis of political party. Both parties (Democrat and Republican) are controlled by the same people who have abused our rights, and who have deceived us with false promises every time an election rolls around.

Mr. Muhammad grieves over the disunity that exists even among the intellectuals and professional so-called Negroes. It is these “educated” so-called Negroes who should be leading us out of this maze of misery and want. They possess the academic know-how, great amounts of technical skills ... but they can’t use it for the benefit of their own kind simply because they themselves are also disunited. If these intellectuals and professional so-called Negroes would unite, not only Harlem would benefit, but it will benefit our people all over the world.

Mr. Muhammad says disunity is our number one stumbling block, and this disunity exists only because we lack knowledge of SELF (our own kind). So-called Negro “intellectuals” seem to think integration is the answer. But, is it? “Integrate” means to become as one unit. How can these “intellectuals” expect the white man to accept us into his social unit, political unit, or economic unit when we are not yet in unity (as a unit) among our own kind?

We, the Muslims, are for “Brotherhood,” but not for integration! What is the difference? Brotherhood is based on love, which automatically produces voluntary acts of “sincere benevolence.” But integration produces hypocrisy. It forces the white man to pose as a “liberal,” to be pretensive and false. Thus, “benevolent” acts which are “forced by integration laws” are producing white hypocrites, and reducing chances of creating a “mutual-working-agreement” between the two races.

Your thirst for integration makes the white man think you want only to marry his daughter. We (Muslims) who follow Mr. Muhammad don’t think God ever intended for black men to marry white women. Mr. Muhammad and his followers are violently opposed to intermarriage.

This is conveniently and purposely misinterpreted by our enemies to mean that we are anti-white, anti-Christian, and anti-American (simply because we refuse to chase after the white man’s women!). Let the white man keep his women, and let us keep ours.

Some Negroes who love race-mixing, and want white women, are angry at Mr. Muhammad because he teaches against race-mixing ... so they slip around and make the white man think we are anti-white. (I’m surprised that the white man is dumb enough to believe these Uncle Toms, who stoop so low, like JUDAS, to be stool pigeons against their own kind.)

We have oceans of dark people on this earth: in Africa, Asia, and even here in America. Our women are the most beautiful, like a bouquet of flowers. Why should we chase white women?

In this “changing” world today, what would we do married to a white woman? Her people don’t want you in their neighborhood around them, and our fast awakening people don’t want you to bring her back into our neighborhood any more to live around us. Thus, you both become a “misfit” ... unwelcomed and unwanted in either society ... where can you go?

Because we Muslims look at this as it is and face reality does not mean we are anti-white. We don’t want his white mother, his white sister, nor his white daughter. We want only an equal chance on this earth, but to have an equal chance we must have the same thing the white man himself needed before he could get this nation started ... WE MUST HAVE SOME LAND OF OUR OWN!

Why do we want some land of our own? Because land is essential to freedom. How else can 20 million black people who now constitute a nation in our own right, a NATION WITHIN A NATION, expect to survive forever in a land where we are the last ones hired and the first ones fired ... simply because we have no land of our own?

For over 400 years we have been very faithful to our American slave masters. Now God is warning them through Mr. Muhammad that they should be nice enough to give us some land so we can separate ourselves from them and get started for ourselves.

This is no more than what the white man should do. It is in complete accord with the Christian religion. Their bible says that when a slave is set free, his slave master should give him something to help him get started on his own ... never send him away empty-handed.

If the Hebrews in the bible numbered only 600,000 in the land of their bondage, and God was concerned with giving them freedom in a land of their own, a land “flowing with milk and honey” ... then what about 20 million so-called Negroes here in America, who have the “freedom” only to look for a job?

Can you not see that our former “leaders” have been fighting for the wrong thing ... the wrong kind of freedom? Mr. Muhammad says we must have some land where we can work hard for ourselves, make ourselves equal, and live in dignity. Then and only then we won’t have to beg the white man for the crumbs that fall occasionally from his table. No one respects or appreciates a beggar.

Since we say Lincoln freed us, let us avail ourselves of that freedom by uniting together and doing something for our own kind. But, we must have some of this earth. We have been in America over 400 years. We have been so-called “free” 100 years, and yet he still calls us “the white man’s burden.”

We Muslims don’t want to be a burden on America any longer. God has given Mr. Muhammad a divine message, program, and solution. WE MUST HAVE SOME LAND! The white man should be glad to give his loyal “slaves” some land so we can get out of his way and go for ourselves.

We will then set up our own farms, factories, business, and schools ... and show him how much we appreciate the education he has given us, by using it to become self-sustaining ... economically and otherwise.

We want some land where we can create unity, harmony and brotherhood ... and live together in peace. Since America now sees that this false show of integration and intermarriage will not work, she should make immediate steps to set aside a few of these states for us, and put us there to ourselves.

If America will repent and do this, God will overlook some of our wicked deeds (as in the days of Nineveh) ... but if America refuses to give Mr. Muhammad what God instructed him to ask for ... then, like the biblical houses of Egypt and Babylon (slave empires of the bible), God will erase the American government and the entire race that it favors and represents, from this planet ... and God will then give the whole earth back to the original owners, the black man!

4. MALCOLM X’s

“UNIVERSITY SPEECH”

_The following is Malcolm X’s “university speech,” a long lecture he used in the hope of converting students--particularly Negroes--on various university campuses during 1961-1962. It is of some interest that this speech was given at Atlanta University, the great citadel of Negro learning in the Deep South, and Dr. Lonnie Cross, chairman of the department of mathematics, not only joined the movement but became assistant to Jeremiah X, minister of the Atlanta Temple._

_This lecture contains a unique passage. It will be recalled that in his Harvard speech Malcolm chastised Moslems from the East who had migrated to America but failed to gather converts. In this speech he goes further; in a stinging passage Malcolm flatly accuses Moslems from the East of attempting to turn “our slave masters” (the American white man) into good Moslems. He accuses orthodox Moslems of “passing us by” and attempting to proselytize the foes of the Negro rather than the Negro himself._

_This is without doubt the strongest position any Muslim has ever taken against the orthodox Moslem movement and further underscores my contention that the Black Muslims are not really concerned about orthodox Islam. They need the façade of world-wide Islam, of course, but the Black Muslim movement is a home-grown operation with home-grown aims and ideas. Nowhere is that more clearly stated than in this “university speech.”_

Islam, the natural religion of black mankind, is sweeping through and resurrecting black America like a “flaming fire,” under the Divine Guidance of Messenger Elijah Muhammad.

Fools try to ignore facts, but wise men must face facts to remain wise. Fools refuse to change from their silly ways and beliefs, but the mental powers of the wise man encourage mental flexibility and enable him to keep an OPEN MIND. This gives him the ability to re-adjust himself whenever it becomes necessary for a CHANGE.

As fast as added “light” increases the wise man’s ability to understand, he changes his “course” or his “pace” according to the newly revealed facts before him.

Fools, however, just blunder on, blindly, heedless of the ever-changing conditions on the road over which they must travel ... thus, the BLIND DRIVERS and their “cars” usually end up in the DITCH.

In the past, the “religious roads” leading through black America presented smooth sailing for the “Old Touring Cars” (Churches) of Christianity. They met few obstacles and had little opposition or competition. The “drivers” (preachers) had it easy. Their “course” was never challenged. They ruled supreme on the religious roads of black America.

However, today time is making a great CHANGE. The religious roads of black America have suddenly become blocked by a ROCKY BARRIER, and all the black and white preachers combined are incapable of removing it. The firm, down-to-earth, thought-provoking teachings of the religion of Islam are now obstructing this path over which it was once easy sailing for these preachers of white man’s Christianity.

Islam poses both a challenge and a threat because Islam is the “resurrecting power.” Thousands of so-called Negroes are beginning for the first time to think for themselves, since turning away from the segregated Christian church, and are rejoining the ranks of their black brothers and sisters of the East. Their age-old faith is the religion of Islam, the religion of our foreparents, the true religion of black mankind.

The Spiritual Leader and Teacher of the many thousands of “New Believers” here in black America is Messenger Elijah Muhammad.

Before we heard the teachings of Messenger Muhammad, we (American so-called Negroes) were in the grave of ignorance. We had been taught by our Christian slave master, as well as by our own ignorant religious leaders, that God had cursed us black and sentenced us to a lifetime of servitude to the Christian white race.

The same slave master’s Christian religion promised us that we (Negroes) would sprout wings after death and fly up into the sky where God would have a place especially prepared for us.

Since we poor “cursed” slaves were not to get anything on earth while we were alive, we soon learned to expect it only after death, “up in the sky.” Thus, this earth, and all its vast riches which we ourselves originally owned, was left to the deceitful maneuverings of the white race, for them to build a heaven for themselves and their own kind “in THIS life.”

Such religious teachings were purposely designed to make us (so-called Negroes) feel inferior to the white Christian slave master. Soon he was successful in making us fear him, obey him, and worship him ... instead of the true Supreme Being, the God of our own foreparents, Almighty God, ALLAH.

Messenger Muhammad has taught us how we eventually became like the beggar Lazarus of the bible (Luke 16:20): Our condition became very sore. We sat here amid the rubbish of the Western World, at the feet of the rich, white Christians ... begging for the crumbs (civil rights and token integration) to fall from their table. But from this very same slave master whom our foreparents had made rich, by giving freely of their slave labor for nearly 400 years (Gen. 15:13), we received only the hardest and dirtiest jobs at the lowest wages; the poorest houses in the ghettos at the highest rent; the poorest food and clothing at the highest prices. Our schools were like shacks, and were staffed by teachers who knew and could teach only that which the slave master dictated to them.

Messenger Muhammad has taught us how we (so-called Negroes) were kidnaped from the East by the white Christian slave master, brought to America in chains, and robbed of our own God, His religion, our language, culture, names, flag, and even our own nationality. After robbing us of all that we originally could proudly call our own, then the slave master taught us to call ourselves “Negroes.” He told us that we were to be called “Negroes” because he found us along the banks of the Niger River.

Messenger Muhammad asks us today: “Since when does one’s nationality originate from a river?” This same slave master taught us that “negro” means “black” in Spanish. Messenger Muhammad again asks us why, then, do not the dark, Spanish-speaking people in Spain, South and Central America accept it (Negro) as their nationality too? Messenger Muhammad says that we too should get our NATIONality from the NATION that our foreparents originated (as do all other recognized peoples).

The bible speaks of how we were purposely cut off from our own kind after being robbed of our identity by the cruel Christian slave master (Ezekiel 37:11; Psalms 137:1-9, 83:4). The slave master then took our names, language, and religion from us so we would have to accept his, obey him, and worship him (Dan. 1:6-7).

Messenger Muhammad has given us many scriptures to prove his teachings to us are true and in accord with the prophecies of the bible. He says it is we (so-called Negroes) in America who were robbed and made deaf, dumb, and blind to the knowledge of our own God and of our own selves; so that today we are like DRY BONES IN THE VALLEY (spiritually dead, and in a mental grave of ignorance).

We are now able to speak only the slave master’s tongue, and are still being called the same “slave names” given to our fathers during slavery by the slave master ... names such as Jones, Smith, Powell, King, Bunche, Diggs, Dawson, etc. These are all SLAVE NAMES, names of the very same slave master who has shown characteristics of his beast-like nature in his treatment of us. The original names of our foreparents were cut off from them, kept secret from us by the “beast” (Rev. 15:2), and therefore today we do not know what our real names should be. We have really been robbed!

All other people have their own religion, which teaches them of a God with whom they themselves can associate. A God who at least looks like one of their own kind. But, we (so-called Negroes), after 400 years of masterful brainwashing by the slave master, picture our “god” with the same blond hair, pale skin, and cold blue eyes of our murderous slave master.

His Christian religion teaches us that black is a curse; thus, we who accepted the slave master’s religion found ourselves loving and respecting everything and everyone except black, and could picture God as being anything else but BLACK. In fact, many so-called Negroes would rather believe that God is INVISIBLE, a “colorless spirit,” than to admit even the possibility of his being black. Yet Daniel saw Him with kinky hair (like lamb’s wool) in the seventh chapter of Daniel, ninth verse. How grossly deceived we have been!

Messenger Muhammad says that the teachers and religious leaders of our own kind here in America were as blind to the REAL TRUTH as we; therefore, they themselves were not even qualified to lead us beyond that which the slave master had falsely taught them. HOW CAN THE BLIND LEAD THE BLIND? Thus, we remained in the DITCH (the GRAVE of spiritual ignorance, mental bondage) which was dug for us to fall into by our white Christian slave master.

Not only did our own preachers and educators here fail to give us the truth, our darker brothers who were born in the East came here from the East and neglected to convert us back to the original religion (ISLAM) of our foreparents. Many of our brothers from the East even failed to recognize us as their long-lost brothers (“lost sheep”) who had been kidnaped from the Nation of Islam 400 years ago, and made to dwell here in this strange land, among these wicked people who are not of our own kind (Gen. 15:13), nor of our own choice.

Our brothers from the East passed us by, and instead, tried to lecture on Islam to our slave master, thinking, so foolishly, that they would be able to turn the slave master into a righteous Muslim ... knowing all the time that the same slave master was the very one who had kidnaped, robbed, enslaved, and lynched (murdered) their long-lost brothers. Yes, our brothers from the East came here and seemed to be apologists for Islam, instead of rightly spreading it, or defending it from the sly insults of the unbelieving slave master.

Messenger Muhammad teaches us that Almighty God, ALLAH, is all-powerful and independent. ALLAH needs no one to apologize for Him. Islam, His True Religion, is not a religion of compromise. Islam is truth itself, and this truth has long been kept a secret from us.

For 400 years, we (so-called Negroes) were deprived of Islam (life) by our white slave master, who in turn indoctrinated (brainwashed) us with his false religion of Christianity ... and like the biblical Lazarus, we soon became so dead mentally and spiritually, that our attitude (disposition) became offensive (stank) in the nostrils of the intelligent and civilized world. Our kind in the East failed to recognize us as their long-lost brothers (the lost sheep). Our people in the East forgot us completely, and we, too, soon forgot our blood-ties with them.

But Almighty God ALLAH forgets not. As He promised in the Old Testament (Mal. 4:5) that He would send ELIJAH to the “lost sheep” (the so-called Negroes of America) in the “last days” (of the white man’s world), to teach us the truth that would free us from our white slave master, and turn our hearts and minds back toward our own kind (our fathers in the East). And, in the last days of this wicked world, the hearts of our people in the East would be turned once again toward us (Isaiah 43:5).

We who have been raised by ELIJAH from the “grave” that was dug for us by the slave master, bear witness that this same ELIJAH, who was predicted to come, has been raised from our midst today and is even now with us here in America in the person of The Honorable Elijah Muhammad. He is the “first begotten” from this grave of ignorance, from the midst of we (so-called Negroes) who have long been a mentally dead people. He is the “First Fruit” raised from us who slept, and he has been raised from this grave by Almighty God, ALLAH Himself.

Examine his works among us, for his works are sufficient testimony to his identity. Only a fool, or an envious person, would fail to see the greatness of this man after examining his work. We who have been raised from the grave by him bear witness of his work.

In a short time, Messenger Muhammad is accomplishing what our educators and religious leaders here failed to do for 100 years, and what our brothers from the East neglected to do. Messenger Muhammad has brought our minds out of the sky (where the ignorant preachers had sent it), and has made us better able to face the reality of living. He has restored life (truth) to our long-lost dead people. Who else other than Almighty God, ALLAH, could have given Messenger Muhammad the power to do what all others have failed to do?