Chapter IX: Part TWO: The Prophet’s Voice (4)

MALCOLM X: Yes, sir, that is what The Honorable Elijah Muhammad teaches us. The white devil’s time is up; it has been up for almost fifty years now. It has taken us that long to get the deaf, dumb, and blind black men in the wilderness of North America to wake up and understand who they are. You see, sir, when a man understands who he is, who God is, who the devil is ... then he can pick himself up out of the gutter; he can clean himself up and stand up like a man should before his God. This is why we teach that in order for a man to really understand himself he must be part of a nation; he must have some land of his own, a God of his own, a language of his own. Most of all he must have love and devotion for his own kind.

LOMAX: Wouldn’t you say the Negro has a nation--America?

MALCOLM X: Sir, how can a Negro say America is _his_ nation? He was brought here in chains; he was put in slavery and worked like a mule for three hundred years; he was separated from his land, his culture, his God, his language!

The Negro was taught to speak the white man’s tongue, worship the white God, and accept the white man as his superior.

This is a white man’s country, and the Negro is nothing but an ex-slave who is now trying to get himself integrated into the slave master’s house.

And the slave master doesn’t want you! You fought and bled and died in every war the white man waged, and he still won’t give you justice. You nursed his baby and cleaned behind his wife, and he still won’t give you freedom; you turned the other cheek while he lynched you and raped your women, but he still won’t give you equality. Now, you integration-minded Negroes are trying to force yourselves on your former slave master, trying to make him accept you in his drawing room; you want to hang out with his women rather than with women of your own kind.

LOMAX: Are you suggesting that all of us who fight for integration are after a white woman?

MALCOLM X: I wouldn’t say _all_ of you, but let the evidence speak for itself. Check up on these integration leaders, and you will find that most of them are either married to or hooked up with some white woman. Take that meeting between James Baldwin and Robert Kennedy; practically everybody there was interracially married. Harry Belafonte is married to a white woman; Lorraine Hansberry is married to a white man; Lena Horne is married to a white man.

Now how can any Negro, man or woman, who sleeps with a white person speak for me? No black person married to a white person can speak for me!

LOMAX: Why?

MALCOLM X: Why? Because only a man who is ashamed of what he is will marry out of his race. There has to be something wrong when a man or a woman leaves his own people and marries somebody of another kind. Men who are proud of being black marry black women; women who are proud of being black marry black men.

This is particularly true when you realize that these Negroes who go for integration and intermarriage are linking up with the very people who lynched their fathers, raped their mothers, and put their kid sisters in the kitchen to scrub floors. Why would any black man in his right mind want to marry a lyncher, a murderer, a rapist, a dope peddler, a gambler, a hog eater.... Why would any black man want to marry a _devil_ ... for that’s just what the white man is.

LOMAX: I have heard you say that a thousand times, but it always jolts me. Why do you call the white man a devil?

MALCOLM X: Because that’s what he is. What do you want me to call him, a saint? Anybody who rapes, and plunders, and enslaves, and steals, and drops hell bombs on people ... anybody who does these things is nothing but a devil.

Look, Lomax, history rewards all research. And history fails to record one single instance in which the white man--as a people--did good. They have always been devils; they always will be devils, and they are about to be destroyed. The final proof that they are devils lies in the fact that they are about to destroy themselves. Only a devil--and a stupid devil at that--would destroy himself!

Now why would I want to integrate with somebody marked for destruction?

The Honorable Elijah Muhammad teaches us to get away from the devil as soon and as fast as we can. This is why we are demanding a separate state. Tell the slave master we will no longer beg for crumbs from his table; let him give us some land of our own so we can go for ourselves. If he doesn’t give us some land, there is going to be hell to pay. As I said at Howard University and Queens College, once the white man let the Negro get an education, the Negro began to want what the white man has. But he let Negroes get education and now they are demanding integration; they want to have exactly what he has. And the white man is not going to give it to them!

LOMAX: But we have made some gains....

MALCOLM X: What gains? All you have gotten is tokenism--one or two Negroes in a job or at a lunch counter so the rest of you will be quiet. It took the United States Army to get one Negro in the University of Mississippi; it took troops to get a few Negroes in white schools at Little Rock and another dozen places in the South. It has been nine years since the Supreme Court decision outlawing segregated schools, yet less than ten per cent of the Negro students in the South are in integrated schools. That isn’t integration, that’s tokenism! In spite of all the dogs, and fire hoses, and club-swinging policemen, I have yet to read of anybody eating an integrated hamburger in Birmingham.

You Negroes are not willing to admit it yet, but integration will not work. Why, it is against the white man’s nature to integrate you into his house. Even if he wanted to, he could no more do it than a Model T can sprout wings and fly. It isn’t in him.

Now The Honorable Elijah Muhammad says it would be the easiest thing in the world for the white man to destroy the Black Muslims. We contend that the white man is a devil. If he is not a devil, let him prove it!

He can’t do it, Lomax; it isn’t in him; it is against his nature.

He’ll keep on granting tokenism; a few big Negroes will get big jobs, but the black masses will catch hell as long as they stay in the white man’s house.

The only possible way out for the white man is to give us some land of our own; let us get out, get away from his wicked reign and go for ourselves.

But the white man will not do that, either. He is going to keep you integration-minded Negroes cooped up here in this country, and when you discover that the white man is a trickster, a devil, that he has no intentions of integrating, then you Negroes will run wild. That will be the time....

LOMAX: The time for what?

MALCOLM X: Only The Honorable Elijah Muhammad can answer that!

LOMAX: This is strong gospel, Minister Malcolm; many people, Negro and white, say what you preach amounts to hate, that your theology is actually anti-Semitic. What is your comment to that?

MALCOLM X: The white people who are guilty of white supremacy are trying to hide their own guilt by accusing The Honorable Elijah Muhammad of teaching black supremacy when he tries to uplift the mentality, the social, mental, and economic condition of the black people in this country. Jews who have been guilty of exploiting the black people in this country, economically, civically, and otherwise, hide behind--hide their guilt by accusing The Honorable Elijah Muhammad of being anti-Semitic, simply because he teaches our people to go into business for ourselves and try and take over the economic leadership in our own community.

And since the white people collectively have practiced the worst form of hatred against Negroes in this country and they know that they are guilty of it, now when The Honorable Elijah Muhammad comes along and begins to list the historic deed--the historic attitude, the historic behavior of the white man in this country toward the black people in this country, again, the white people are so guilty, and they can’t stop doing these things to make Mr. Muhammad appear wrong, so they hide their wrong by saying “he is teaching hatred.” History is not hatred. Actually we are Muslims because we believe in the religion of Islam. We believe in one God. We believe in Muhammad as the Apostle of God. We practice the principles of the religion of Islam, which mean prayer, charity, fasting, brotherhood, and The Honorable Elijah Muhammad teaches us that since the Western society is deteriorating, it has become overrun with immorality, that God is going to judge it and destroy it, and the only way the black people who are in this society can be saved is not to integrate into this corrupt society but separate ourselves from it, reform ourselves, lift up our moral standards and try and be godly--try to integrate with God--instead of trying to integrate with the white man, or try and imitate God instead of trying to imitate the white man.

LOMAX: It is suggested also that your movement preaches violence.

MALCOLM X: No, sir. The black people of this country have been victims of violence at the hands of the white men for four hundred years, and following the ignorant Negro preachers, we have thought that it was godlike to turn the other cheek to the brute that was brutalizing us. Today The Honorable Elijah Muhammad is showing black people in this country that, just as the white man and every other person on this earth has God-given rights, natural rights, civil rights, any kind of rights that you can think of, when it comes to defending himself, black people--we should have the right to defend ourselves also. And, because The Honorable Elijah Muhammad makes black people brave enough, men enough to defend ourselves no matter what the odds are, the white man runs around here with a doctrine that Mr. Muhammad is advocating violence when he is actually telling Negroes to defend themselves against violent people.

LOMAX: Reverend Martin Luther King teaches a doctrine of nonviolence. What is your attitude toward this philosophy?

MALCOLM X: The white man supports Reverend Martin Luther King, subsidizes Reverend Martin Luther King, so that Reverend Martin Luther King can continue to teach the Negroes to be defenseless--that’s what you mean by nonviolent--be defenseless in the face of one of the most cruel beasts that has ever taken people into captivity--that’s this American white man, and they have proved it throughout the country by the police dogs and the police clubs. A hundred years ago they used to put on a white sheet and use a bloodhound against Negroes. Today they have taken off the white sheet and put on police uniforms and traded in the bloodhounds for police dogs, and they’re still doing the same thing. Just as Uncle Tom, back during slavery, used to keep the Negroes from resisting the bloodhound or resisting the Ku Klux Klan by teaching them to love their enemies or pray for those who use them despitefully, today Martin Luther King is just a twentieth-century or modern Uncle Tom or religious Uncle Tom, who is doing the same thing today to keep Negroes defenseless in the face of attack that Uncle Tom did on the plantation to keep _those_ Negroes defenseless in the face of the attack of the Klan in that day.

Now, the goal of Dr. Martin Luther King is to give Negroes a chance to sit in a segregated restaurant beside the same white man who has brutalized them for four hundred years. The goal of Martin Luther King is to get Negroes to forgive the people, the people who have brutalized them for four hundred years, by lulling them to sleep and making them forget what those whites have done to them, but the masses of black people today don’t go for what Martin Luther King is putting down.

LOMAX: Minister Malcolm, you often speak of unity among our people. Unity for what?

MALCOLM X: The Honorable Elijah Muhammad teaches us that God now is about to establish a kingdom on this earth based upon brotherhood and peace, and the white man is against brotherhood and the white man is against peace. His history on this earth has proved that. Nowhere in history has he been brotherly toward anyone. The only time he is brotherly toward you is when he can use you, when he can exploit you, when he will oppress you, when you will submit to him, and since his own history makes him unqualified to be an inhabitant or a citizen in the kingdom of brotherhood, The Honorable Elijah Muhammad teaches us that God is about to eliminate that particular race from this earth. Since they are due for elimination, we don’t want to be with them. We are not trying to integrate with that which we know has come to the end of its rope. We are trying to separate from it and get with something that is more lasting, and we think that God is more lasting than the white man.

LOMAX: Then your movement does not share the integration goals of the NAACP, CORE, Martin Luther King’s movement, and the Student Nonviolent movement.

MALCOLM X: You don’t integrate with a sinking ship. You don’t do anything to further your stay aboard a ship that you see is going to go down to the bottom of the ocean. Moses tried to separate his people from Pharaoh, and when he tried, the magicians tried to fool the people into staying with Pharaoh, and we look upon these other organizations that are trying to get Negroes to integrate with this doomed white man as nothing but modern-day magicians, and The Honorable Elijah Muhammad is a modern-day Moses trying to separate us from the modern-day Pharaoh. Until the white man in America sits down and talks with The Honorable Elijah Muhammad, he won’t even know what the race problem--what makes the race problem what it is. Just like Pharaoh couldn’t get a solution to his problem until he talked to Moses, or Nebuchadnezzar or Belshazzar couldn’t get a solution to his problem until he talked to Daniel, the white man in America today will never understand the race problem or come anywhere near getting a solution to the race problem until he talks to The Honorable Elijah Muhammad. Mr. Muhammad will give him God’s analysis, not some kind of political analysis or psychologist’s analysis, or some kind of clergyman’s analysis, but God’s analysis. That’s the analysis that Moses gave Pharaoh; that’s the analysis that Daniel gave Belshazzar. Today we have a modern Belshazzar and a modern Pharaoh sitting in Washington, D. C.

LOMAX: I am struck by the fact that each of the biblical figures you mentioned--Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar, and Belshazzar--came to a rather sorry end. Are you willing to complete the analogy and say the American white establishment will come to a bitter end, perhaps be destroyed?

MALCOLM X: I have spoken on this many times, and I am sure you know what The Honorable Elijah Muhammad teaches on this. But since we are on record I will--as they sometimes say in Harlem--make it plain.

Now, sir, God is going to punish this wicked devil for his misdeeds toward black people. Just as plagues were visited on Pharaoh so will pestilences and disasters be visited on the white man. Why, it has already started: God has begun to send them heat when they expect cold; he sends them cold when they expect heat. Their crops are dying, their children are being born with all kinds of deformities, the rivers and the lakes are coming out of the belly of the earth to wash them away.

Not only that, but God has started slapping their planes down from the sky. Last year [1962] God brought down one of their planes loaded with crackers whose fathers had lynched your and my brothers and sisters. They were from your state, Lomax, down there in Georgia where both you and Mr. Muhammad come from. Now, long before that plane crash I predicted [in Los Angeles] that God was going to strike back at the devil for the way white cops brutalized our brothers in Los Angeles. When the plane fell, I said this was God’s way of letting his wrath be known. Now for that I was called names--some of these Uncle Tom Negroes rushed into print to condemn me for what I said. But what was wrong with what I said? Everybody has a God and believes that his God will deliver him and protect him from his enemies! Why can’t the black man have a God? What’s so wrong when a black man says his God will protect him from his white foe? If Jehovah can slay Philistines for the Jews, why can’t Allah slay crackers for the so-called Negro.

I said much the same thing when that submarine--the _Thresher_--went down to the bottom of the sea. I realize that there were some originals [Negroes] on board, but that simply underlines my point that the so-called Negro should not integrate with white people. He should stay as far as possible from them at all times.

LOMAX: Just a moment, if I may, Minister Malcolm. Now, you talk about separation from the white man.

MALCOLM X: Yes, sir.

LOMAX: You even take it so far as to suggest that we shouldn’t even get on airplanes and ships with white people. Am I correct in that?

MALCOLM X: Yes, sir, on the whole. Yes.

LOMAX: But Minister Malcolm, few people, Negro or white, travel as much as you and I do. You spend much of your life getting on and off aircraft. Don’t you fear that you just might be aboard when God sees fit to slap down a jet and kill a few score white people?

MALCOLM X: Sir, my faith in God is such that I am not afraid. I know that I will not die until my time comes. But if I am aboard one of these vessels, I will be happy to give my life to see some of these white devils die. Like Samson, I am ready to pull down the white man’s temple, knowing full well that I will be destroyed by the falling rubble.

LOMAX: But Minister Malcolm, you make no accommodation for the changes that have come about as a result of the Negro Revolt. What do you think will be the results of the current demonstrations against segregation?

MALCOLM X: Lomax, as you know, these Negro leaders have been telling the white man everything is all right, everything is under control, and they have been telling the white man that Mr. Muhammad is wrong, don’t listen to him. But everything that Mr. Muhammad has been saying is going to come to pass, is now coming to pass. Now the Negro leaders are standing up saying that we are about to have a racial explosion. You’re going to have a racial explosion, and a racial explosion is more dangerous than an atomic explosion. It’s going to explode because black people are dissatisfied; they’re dissatisfied not only with the white man, but they’re dissatisfied with these Negroes who have been sitting around here posing as leaders and spokesmen for black people and actually making the problem worse instead of making the problem better.

LOMAX: Do you deny that Negroes are now getting the protection of the Federal Government; after all, both the President and the Attorney General have come to our aid.

MALCOLM X: You never will get protection from the Federal Government. Just like King is asking Kennedy to go to Alabama to stand in a doorway--to put his body in a doorway. That’s like asking the fox to protect you from the wolf! The masses of black people can see this, and it is only the Negro leadership, the bourgeois, hand-picked, handful of Negroes who think that they’re going to get some kind of respect, recognition, or protection from the Government. The Government is responsible for what is happening to black people in this country. The President has power. You notice he didn’t send any troops into Birmingham to protect the Negroes when the dogs were biting the Negroes. The only time he sent troops into Birmingham was when the Negroes erupted, and then the President sent the troops in there, not to protect the Negroes, but to protect them white people down there from those erupting Negroes.

LOMAX: Are not Negroes American citizens?

MALCOLM X: If they were citizens, you wouldn’t have a race problem. If the Emancipation Proclamation was authentic, you wouldn’t have a race problem. If the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution were authentic, you wouldn’t have a race problem. If the Supreme Court desegregation decision was authentic, you wouldn’t have a race problem. All of this is hypocrisy that has been practiced by the so-called white so-called liberal for the past four hundred years that compounds the problem, makes it more complicated, instead of eliminating the problem.

LOMAX: What, then, do you see as the final result of all these demonstrations?

MALCOLM X: Any time you put too many sparks around a powder keg, the thing is going to explode, and if the thing that explodes is still inside the house, then the house will be destroyed. So The Honorable Elijah Muhammad is telling the white man, “Get this powder keg out of your house--let the black people in this country separate from you, while there’s still time.” If the black man is allowed to separate and go into some land of his own where he can solve his own problems, there won’t be any explosion, and the Negroes who want to stay with the white man, let them stay with the white man--but those who want to leave, let them go with The Honorable Elijah Muhammad.

LOMAX: Now that you have mentioned the Messenger, I would like to ask you about this article in the [New York] _Amsterdam News_....

MALCOLM X: It’s a lie. Any article that says there is a “minor” difference between Mr. Muhammad and me is a lie. There is no such thing as a “minor” difference with the Messenger. Any difference with him is _major_. It is a lie, a lie, a lie somebody paid [the author] to write. I was up there in his office yesterday and I was ready to waste [harm, or kill] him for that. He planted a false seed, and it could start trouble. He [the author] knows my telephone number. If he ran on talk of a difference between me and the Messenger, he could have called me. No, he went ahead and printed this lie.

He was not there, but I told the editor of the paper that I was out to find him; I told them to call the police then, because as soon as I found the man who wrote this I was going to do him in.

How could there be any difference between the Messenger and me? I am his slave, his servant, his son. He is the leader, the only spokesman for the Black Muslims.

But I will tell you this: The Messenger has seen God. He was with Allah and was given divine patience with the devil. He is willing to wait for Allah to deal with this devil. Well, sir, the rest of us Black Muslims have not seen God, we don’t have this gift of divine patience with the devil. The younger Black Muslims want to see some action.

LOMAX: What kind of action?

MALCOLM X: Some things are better done than said.

LOMAX: According to your own newspaper, one of the things you Muslims may _do_ in the near future is vote.

MALCOLM X: Yes. After long and prayerful consideration, The Honorable Elijah Muhammad allowed us to announce the possibility of Muslims voting. The announcement came at our annual Saviour’s Day convention in Chicago.

LOMAX: What does it mean?

MALCOLM X: Mr. Muhammad is the only one who can explain that fully. However, I can say that we may register and be ready to vote. Then we will seek out candidates who represent our interests and support them. They need not be Muslims; what we want are race men who will speak out for our people.

LOMAX: There are rumors that you may run against Adam Clayton Powell.

MALCOLM X: Why must I run against a Negro? We have had enough of Negroes running against and fighting each other. The better bet is that we would put a Muslim candidate in the field against a devil, somebody who is against all we stand for.

LOMAX: What are the chances of the Black Muslims joining us in picket lines for better jobs?...

MALCOLM X: As I told you, only Mr. Muhammad can answer that. But let me tell you something: Better jobs and housing are only temporary solutions. They are aspects of tokenism and don’t go to the heart of the problem.

This is why integration will not work. It assumes that the two races, black and white, are equal and can be made to live as one. This is not true.

The white man is by nature a devil and must be destroyed. The black man will inherit the earth; he will resume control, taking back the position he held centimes ago when the white devil was crawling around the caves of Europe on his all fours. Before the white devil came into our lives we had a civilization, we had a culture, we were living in silks and satins. Then he put us in chains and placed us aboard the “Good Ship Jesus,” and we have lived in hell ever since.

Now the white man’s time is over. Tokenism will not help him, and it will doom us. Complete separation will save us--and who knows, it might make God decide to give the white devil a few more years.

SUGGESTED ADDITIONAL READING

Baldwin, James. _The Fire Next Time._ New York: Dial Press, 1963.

Bennett, Lerone, Jr. _Before the Mayflower._ Chicago: Johnson
Publishing Co., 1962.

Beynon, Erdmann D. “The Voodoo Cult Among Negro Migrants in Detroit,”
_The American Journal of Sociology_, XLIII, No. 6 (May 1938).

Franklin, John Hope. _From Slavery to Freedom._ New York: Alfred A.
Knopf, 1956.

Frazier, E. Franklin. _Black Bourgeoisie._ Chicago: The Free Press of
Glencoe, 1957.

Handlin, Oscar. _Race and Nationality in American Life._ Boston:
Little, Brown, 1957.

Herskovits, Melville J. _Myth of the Negro Past._ New York: Harper &
Brothers, 1941.

Lincoln, C. Eric. _The Black Muslims in America._ Boston: Beacon
Press, 1962.

Leibrecht, Walter and others. _Religion and Culture: Essays in Honor
of Paul Tillich._ New York: Harper & Brothers, 1959.

Lomax, Louis E. _The Reluctant African._ New York: Harper & Brothers,
1960.

----, _The Negro Revolt_. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1962.

Myrdal, Gunnar. _An American Dilemma._ New York: Harper & Brothers,
1944.

INDEX

Abyssinian Baptist Church (New York), 44

Africa
Akbar brings promise of help from, 100, 101
culture of
matrilineal society, 37
political institutions, 36-37
religion, 37-39
knowledge of history of, 67-68
languages of, 36, 37
Malcolm X in, 71-72, 152
nationalism in, 184-86

African Methodist Episcopal Church, 44

African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, 44

Airplane crash (1962), 206

Al-Azhar University
Akbar Muhammad at, 97, 98
Elijah Muhammad at, 142

Alcohol, Malcolm X and, 58

Ali, John X, 84, 100, 104
administrative ability of, 93, 95

Allah
as black, 25-26, 62-63, 163-64
divine plagues of, 145
Elijah Muhammad as Messenger of, 54, 70, 132, 133, 135, 166, 169-71
as last Messenger, 111, 129
promised in Old Testament, 165
_See also_ Muhammad, Elijah
Fard as Prophet of, 54
_See also_ Fard, W. D.
has no “son,” 123-24
Islam as religion of, 113
a live God, 25, 125-28
Paradise of, 167
rebellion of Yakub against, 63-65, 71

Allen, Richard, 43-44

_And Then We Heard the Thunder_ (novel), 46

Anti-Semitism
Black Muslims and, 72-73, 201
Christianity and, 73-75

Arabic language
in Black Muslim services, 21
taught in University of Islam, 83
used by Akbar Muhammad, 98-99

Armageddon, Battle of, 22, 31, 79, 201
Muhammad’s teachings about, 55

“_As-Salaam-Alaikum_,” 21

Atlanta, Ga., 86

“Atlanta Speech” of Elijah Muhammad, 71, 109-29

Atlanta University, Malcolm X’s speech at, 70, 159-71

Attucks, Crispus, 68

Baldwin, James, 77, 79, 199

Bannaker, Benjamin, 68

Baptist Church
attacks slavery, 42
Negro churches founded, 43, 44

Bean pie, 20

Belafonte, Harry, 199

Bennett, Lerone, Jr., 36, 37

Bergson, Henri, 37

Bible
Fard’s use of, 48, 50
quoted by Elijah Muhammad, 119
quoted by Malcolm X, 143, 163-70, 193
as theological basis of Negro’s “inferiority,” 44-45, 59, 121
_See also_ Christianity

“Big Red,” _see_ Malcolm X

Birmingham, Ala., 29, 208
Black Muslim policy toward 1963 demonstrations, 85-87, 90
temple in, 21

Black, God as, 25-26, 62-63, 163-64

Black Bourgeoisie, 190-91

Black men
must become fearless, 111, 120, 122
by nature good, 22
as original men, 62-65, 113-15
as so-called Negroes, 115-16, 162-63
_See also_ Negroes

Black Muslim movement
“Americanized,” 131
business activities of, 79-80
restaurants, 19-20, 79, 80
converts to, 30-31
“crisis system” of, 34
dietary laws of, 80
filthiness of pork, 27, 117
restaurants, 19-20
in teachings of Fard, 48
do not preach violence, 203-4
dress of, 19, 78
Akbar’s sheet, 66
education by, _see_ Muslim Girls Training Class; Universities
of Islam
finances of, 79
fund-raising, 82
Fruit of Islam, _see_ Fruit of Islam, The
future of, 95-106
successor to Muhammad, 104-6
history of, 35, 47-58
Chicago headquarters set up, 58
Fard disappears, 53-54
founded by Fard, 48-51
Japanese proselytization, 54
Malcolm X joins movement, 55-58
Muhammad and Fard, 52-54
Jews and, 72-73, 201
lawsuits of, 82
ministers of
Chief Minister of Islam, 52
Fruit of Islam and, 81-82
supervise restaurants, 79
morality of, 58, 80-81, 153
Negro unity and
Akbar Muhammad’s speech, 99-103
belief that Negro Revolt will fail, 92, 96, 207-9
Birmingham policy, 85-87, 90
Malcolm X’s “unity speech,” 149-58
value of Black Muslims to Negro Revolt, 87
number of members, 18
opposing factions in
Akbar and Malcolm X, 102-3
Muhammad vs. Detroit faction, 53, 54
“New York-Chicago” cleavage, 94-95
orthodox Moslems and, _see_ Moslems
politics and
in Malcolm X’s “unity speech,” 154-55
possible future policy, 96-97
voting by Black Muslims, 91, 180, 210
punishments in, 80
racial teachings of, 201-2
opposition to race-mixing, 156, 178, 191, 198-99
orthodox Muslim objections, 70-71
separation does not mean being anti-white, 132, 181, 188-89
radio programs of, 84
as a religion, 17, 59-78
_The Sacred Ritual of the Nation of Islam_, 51
theology, 62-65, 71
why it is a religion, 76-78
_See also_ Allah; Black men; Muhammad, Elijah--teaching of;
White men
sacrificial killing in, 52-53
services of, _see_ “Teachings” in temples
temples of, _see_ Temples of Islam
women in, 81
separated in temples, 20-21
_See also_ Girls in Black Muslim movement

_Black Muslims in America, The_, 12

Black supremacy not taught by Black Muslims, 132, 181

Blackboard in temples, 22

Blood, Drew discovers how to preserve, 68

Boston, Mass.
Malcolm X’s speeches in, 130-48, 173
Negro Baptist church in, 44

Boston Massacre, 68

Breasted’s _The Conquest of Civilization_, 50

Business activities of Black Muslim movement, 79-80
temple restaurants, 19-20, 79, 80

Cairo, Egypt
Malcolm X in, 71-72
_See also_ Al-Azhar University

Catholic Church, 43
anti-Semitism and, 73-74

Caucasian race, 136
_See also_ White men

Chicago, Ill.
as headquarters of Black Muslims, 54, 94-95
Japanese activities in, 54
temple in, 52
University of Islam in, 54, 82-84

Christianity
anti-Semitism and, 73-75
denunciations of, 27-29, 121-24, 139, 160-64
Catholic Church, 43, 73-74
“most segregated institution in America,” 28
Negro churches, 40-47
founded, 43-44
on plantations, 41-42
theology of Negro church, 45-46
theology of desegregation, 87-90
slavery and
in West Africa, 38-39
_See also_ Slavery
theological justification of Negro “inferiority,” 44-45, 59, 121

Christine X, Sister, 83

Columbia University Jewish Graduate Club, 75

Communists, Black Muslims and, 55

Compassion in religion, 77-78

Concord, Mass., 58

Converts to Black Muslims, 30-31

CORE, 99

Crime, Black Muslims and, 18-19

“Crisis system” of Black Muslims, 34

Cross, Dr. Lonnie, 159

Cuba, 183-84

Davis, Sammy, Jr., 74

Dawud, Imam Talib Ahmad, 69

“Deaf, dumb, and blind,” 31, 117
Malcolm X’s speech, 26-28

Desegregation
Black Muslim opposition to, 90-92
“Brotherhood” vs. “integration,” 155-56
“integration with God,” 202
“token integration,” 144-46, 200-1, 210-11
_See also_ Separation of black man
of schools, 144-46, 200, 208
theology of, 87-90

Detroit, Mich.
faction vs. Muhammad in, 53, 54
Fard in, 47-53
segregation in 1930s in, 47, 50
University of Islam in, 51, 82

Dietary laws of Black Muslims, 80
filthiness of pork, 27, 117
restaurants and, 19-20
in teachings of Fard, 48

“Divide and rule,” 141

Door-to-door salesmen, 80

Drew, Dr. Charles, 68

Education by Black Muslims, _see_ Muslim Girls Training Class;
Universities of Islam

Elijah Muhammad, _see_ Muhammad, Elijah

Emancipation Proclamation, 208

Evans, Clara (Mrs. Elijah Poole), 52

Evil scientist
experiments of Yakub, 63-65
not supported by orthodox literature, 71
moon blown up by, 71, 114

Fard, W. D., 47-54
arrested, 53
birthday of, 54
disappears, 53
founds Black Muslims, 48-51
legends about, 49
literature of, 50-51
Muhammad and, 52-54
as Prophet of Allah, 54

Farmer, James, 96

Fear shown by so-called Negroes, 111, 120, 122

Federation of Islamic Associations, 70

Finances of Black Muslims, 79
fund-raising, 82

Franklin, John Hope, 38, 39, 43

Frazier, E. Franklin, 40
“Black Bourgeoisie” of, 190-91

“Freedom, Justice, and Equality” (slogan), 22, 117, 166

Freedom movement, _see_ Negro Revolt

Freemasonry, 50, 124

Fruit of Islam, The, 81-82
at “Atlanta Speech,” 110
authority over, 80-81, 105
as honor guard, 24, 81
investigates converts, 30
organized by Fard, 51, 52
separate temple services of, 81
in temple services, 21, 29
watches members, 80

Garvey, Marcus, 56

Ghana, kingdom of, 38

Girls in Black Muslim movement
The Muslim Girls Training Class, 51, 81-82
in University of Islam, 83

God
Mays’ doctoral thesis on, 46
in primitive religion, 60-61
West African concept of, 37
_See also_ Allah

“Good Ship Jesus, The,” 39, 120

Haley, Alex, 12, 57, 66

Ham, Negroes as descendants of, 44-45, 59

Hansberry, Lorraine, 199

Harlem, _see_ New York City

Harvard University, Malcolm X’s speech at, 130-48

Hausa people, 38

Hawkins, John, 120

Henry X, Minister, 23

Herskovits, Melville J., 36

Hicks, James, at Hinton incident, 33, 34

Hinton, Johnson, 32-34

History of Negroes
knowledge of, 67-68
taught at University of Islam, 83-84
_See also_ Negroes

“Honorable Elijah Muhammad,” not used in Akbar’s speech, 101

Horne, Lena, 199

Integration, _see_ Desegregation

Intermarriage, 156, 178, 191, 198-99

“Invisible Institution,” 41

Islam
Nation of, _see_ Black Muslim movement
in teaching of Muhammad, 113

James X, Minister, 29
in Birmingham crisis, 86

Jamestown, Va., landing of slaves at, 39

Japanese attempts to proselytize Black Muslims, 54

Jazz in temples, 22

Jehovah’s Witnesses, 50

Jeremiah X, Minister, 100, 111, 112, 159
and Birmingham crisis, 86, 90

Jesus, 134-35
advocated separation, 193-94
Allah has no “son,” 123-24

Jews
Black Muslims and, 72-73, 201
ethnic exclusiveness of, 74-75
John XXIII and, 73-74

John X Ali, 84, 100, 104
administrative ability of, 93, 95

John 17X, 31

John XXIII, Pope, and Jews, 73-74

Johnson X, 32-34

Jones, Absalom, 43

Joseph X, Captain, 81, 100

Kennedy, Robert, 199

Kenyatta, Jomo, 154

Killens, John Oliver, _And Then We Heard the Thunder_, 46

King, Martin Luther, 88, 96, 97
Akbar calls for peace with, 99
Malcolm X on, 85-86, 99, 203-4, 208

Koran, _see_ Quran

Ku Klux Klan, 66, 86
“Atlanta Speech” and, 109
burn down Malcolm X’s home, 56

Languages
of African Negroes, 36, 37
_See also_ Arabic language

Lansing, Mich., Malcolm X, in, 56

Lawson, James, Jr., 88-89

Lawsuits of Black Muslims, 82

Liele, George, 43

Lincoln, C. Eric, 30, 63
_The Black Muslims in America,_ 12
on Fard, 47-50

“Linnaean Web,” 45

Little, Malcolm, _see_ Malcolm X

Los Angeles, Calif., temple in, 67

Lottie X, Sister, 81

Louis X, Minister, 100
“The White Man’s Heaven Is the Black Man’s Hell,” 21

McGowan, Police Capt., 33, 34

“Make it plain,” 23-24, 27

Make-up among Muslim women, 81

Malcolm X, Minister
at Akbar’s New York speech, 98, 101-2
brother of, 80
converted to Black Muslims, 58
described, 24
early life of
childhood, 56-57
in underworld, 57-58
Elijah Muhammad and, 31, 55-56, 58, 79, 92-95, 109
Malcolm describes Muhammad, 169-70
Malcolm in Middle East, 71-72
Malcolm warms up crowd, 23, 110
Malcolm’s only deviation from Muhammad, 105-6, 209-10
in Hinton incident, 33-34
historical knowledge of, 67-69
Lomax’ interview of, 197-211
Negro unity and
Birmingham policy, 85-87
calls for Negro unity, 149-58
Negro Revolt will fail, 91-92, 207-9
vilifies Negro leaders, 85-86, 99, 101, 203-4
as New York minister, 20, 94
orthodox Moslems and, 70, 135-36, 141-43, 159-60, 164-65
Black Muslims as part of world community, 131-32
Persian Moslems, 66-67
as possible Congressional candidate, 97, 210
probably not Muhammad’s successor, 104-6
on radio and TV, 84
“restored” name of, 79
as St. Paul of Black Muslims, 17
speeches of, 173
Atlanta University, 70, 159-71
Harvard University, 130-48
Queens College, 172-78
at “unity rally,” 149-58
Yale University, 179-95
in temple services, 24-28, 62-63
as Washington minister, 94
on white man as devil, 19, 24-25, 62-63, 68-69, 76-77, 199-200

Marshall, Thurgood, 144

Masons, 50, 124

Mays, Dr. Benjamin E., 46

Mboya, Tom, 154

Mecca
Masons and, 124
Muhammad’s pilgrimage to, 69-73

Melle, kingdom of, 38

Messenger of the Prophet of Allah, 54, 70, 132, 133, 135, 166, 169-71
as last Messenger, 111, 129
promised in Old Testament, 165
_See also_ Muhammad, Elijah

Methodist Church
attacks slavery (1784), 42
Negro Methodism founded, 43-44

Milan, Mich., Muhammad in prison in, 54-55

Mohammedanism, _see_ Moslems

Moon blown up by evil scientist, 71, 114

Mormon Church, Negroes in, 59

Moses, 134-35
Muhammad as modern-day, 205

Moslems
in Africa, 38
Black Muslims and, 66
Akbar Muhammad’s speech, 100-3
doctrinal differences, 70-71
Malcolm X’s attacks on, 70, 135-36, 141-43, 159-60, 164-65
Muhammad’s pilgrimage, 69-73, 142-43
orthodox Muslims in U.S., 69-70
as part of world community, 111, 112, 131-32, 140
Persians refused entry into temple, 66-67
recognized by _hajj_ committee, 69-73

Mosques, _see_ Temples of Islam

Mother Bethel, 44

_Mr. Muhammad Speaks_, 80, 84
circulation of, 172
reports speeches of Malcolm X, 172-74
responsibility for, 95

Muhammad (the Prophet), 135

Muhammad, Akbar, 94
in Arabic dress, 66
increased influence of, 97-98
New York speech of, 98-103
as possible successor to Elijah Muhammad, 104-6

Muhammad, Elijah
arrests of
draft registration, 54-55
University children, 54
“Atlanta Speech” of, 71, 109-29
becomes Chief Minister, 52
Birmingham crisis and, 86
Fard and, 52-54
goes to Chicago, 52-54
Malcolm X and, _see_ Malcolm X
manner of preaching of, 55
as Messenger of Allah, 54, 70, 132, 133, 135, 166, 169-71
as last Messenger, 111, 129
promised in Old Testament, 165
in Phoenix, 94-95
pilgrimage to Mecca of, 69-73, 142-43
probable successor to, 104-6
teaching of, 110-29
Allah, 113, 123-25
black men should become fearless, 111, 120, 122
Christianity, 121-24
former criminals, 18
history of black man, 113-18
Japanese in World War II, 54, 55
knowledge of self, 18, 50, 116-17
separate state, 91
white man, 55, 125-28
why Islam has not made progress, 113
Yakub, 63-65

Muhammad, Elijah, Jr., 94, 99
as businessman, 79

Muhammad, Wallace, 106

Music in temples, 21-22

Muslim Brotherhood USA, 69

Muslim Girls Training Class, The, 81-82
established by Fard, 51

Muslims, _see_ Black Muslim movement; Moslems

NAACP, 44, 99, 144, 173
sponsors debates with Malcolm X, 179-80

Nashville, Tenn., sit-ins in, 88-89

Nation of Islam, _see_ Black Muslim movement

“Negro”
Malcolm X’s discussion of, 162-63
Muhammad’s discussion of, 115-16

Negro Revolt
Akbar Muhammad’s speech and, 99-103
belief that it will fail, 92, 96, 207-9
1963 Birmingham crisis, 85-87, 90
Malcolm X’s speech for, 149-58
value of Black Muslims to, 87

Negroes
in Africa
languages, 36, 37
matrilineal society, 37
political institutions, 36-37
religion, 37-39
Americanization of, 39-40
“do not desire integration,” 190-91
history of, 67-68
taught in University of Islam, 83-84
“inferiority” of, 44-45, 59
intermarriage of, 156, 178, 191, 198-99
Japanese proselytization of, 55
political apathy of, 180, 187-88, 190-91
religion of, 40-47
“clergy-politician leadership,” 191
Negro churches founded, 43-44
on plantations, 41-42
theology of desegregation, 87-90
theology of Negro church, 45-46
slavery of
Christianity and, 38-42
Malcolm X’s discussion of, 137-39, 161-63, 208
Muhammad’s discussion of, 115-22

New York City
Akbar Muhammad’s speech in, 98-103
Black Muslim rallies in, 62-63, 98-103
Malcolm X at Queens College, 172-78
Malcolm X in underworld of, 57-58
Negro churches organized in, 44
Temple Number Seven
Hinton incident, 32-34
restaurant, 20

Nonviolence
Malcolm X on, 203-4
_See also_ King, Martin Luther

Norris, Frank, 50

Number of Black Muslims, 18

Omaha, Nebr., 56

Paradise of Allah, 167

Paul, Rev. Thomas, 44

Pendulum of clock invented by Negro, 68

Petersburg, Va., Negro Baptist church organized in, 43

Philadelphia, Pa., Negro churches organized in, 43-44

Phoenix, Ariz., Elijah Muhammad in, 94-95

Pike, Bishop James, 74

_Pittsburgh Courier_, 63

Police
arrest Fard, 53
in Hinton incident, 32-34
lawsuits against, 82
mentioned in “Atlanta Speech,” 109, 112-13, 115
_See also_ Muhammad, Elijah--arrests of

Politics
Black Muslims and
in Malcolm X’s “unity speech,” 154-55
possible future policy, 96-97
voting by Black Muslims, 91, 180, 210
“clergy-politician leadership,” 191-92
political apathy of Negro, 180, 187-88, 190-91

Poole, Elijah, _see_ Muhammad, Elijah

Pork, _see_ Dietary laws of Black Muslims

Powell, Adam Clayton, Jr., 28, 44, 210

Prison
Black Muslim proselytizing in, 18
Black Muslim services in, 17, 140
Elijah Muhammad in, 54-55
Malcolm X in, 58

Prophet of Allah, 54
_See also_ Fard, W. D.

Protestants, _see_ Christianity

Punishment of Black Muslims, 80

Queens College, Malcolm X at, 172-78

Quran, 125, 166, 170
does not support Black Muslim teachings, 71
Fard’s use of, 50

Racism
of Black Muslims, 201-2
opposition to race-mixing, 156, 178, 191, 198-99
orthodox Muslim objections, 70-71
separation does not mean being anti-white, 132, 181, 188-89
_See also_ Black men; White men
Christianity and
anti-Semitism, 73-75
in early American church, 42-44
theological justification for Negro “inferiority,” 44-45, 59

Radio programs of Black Muslims, 84

Rallies on street corners, 62-63

Religion
of African Negroes, 37-49
of American Negroes, 40-47
“clergy-politician leadership,” 191
Negro churches founded, 43-44
on plantations, 41-42
theology of desegregation, 87-90
theology of Negro church, 45-46
Black Muslim movement as, 17, 59-78
_The Sacred Ritual of the Nation of Islam_, 51
theology, 62-65, 71
why it is a religion, 76-78
_See also_ Allah; Black men; Muhammad, Elijah--teaching of;
White men
as closed network of believers, 73-76
compassion in, 77-78
as group experience, 60-61
_See also_ Christianity

Restaurants, temple, 19-20, 79, 80

Revolutionary War, 68

Richmond, Va., Negro Baptist church organized in, 43

Rutherford, Joseph F. “Judge,” 50

_Sacred Ritual of the Nation of Islam, The_, 51

Sacrificial killing, 52-53

St. Louis, Mo., Malcolm X in, 173

Sampson, Judge Edyth, 83

Savannah, Ga., Negro Baptist church organized in, 43

Saviour, 54
_See also_ Fard, W. D.

Scientists
experiments of Yakub, 63-65
not supported by orthodox literature, 71
moon blown up by, 71, 114
as “Pharaoh’s Magicians,” 134

Searching of visitors to temples, 20

Segregation
in Detroit of 1930s, 47, 50
of Negro church, 43-46
_See also_ Desegregation

“Self,” knowledge of, 18-19, 50, 116-17, 120, 155

Separation of black man, 22-23
advocated by Jesus, 193-94
does not mean being anti-white, 132, 181, 188-89
not mentioned in Akbar’s speech, 101
Old House will collapse, 137
a separate state, 90-92, 97, 137-48, 157-58, 175-78
usually objected to by orthodox, 71

Shabazz, Malcolm, _see_ Malcolm X

Shabazz, Tribe of, 115

Sharrieff, Raymond, 79, 95
after Muhammad’s death, 104-6
as head of The Fruit, 81

“Sheep,” 23

Shriners, 124

Silks and satins, 24, 211
sold by Fard, 47

“Slave” names, 30-31, 120-21, 163

Slavery
Christianity and, 38-42
Malcolm X’s discussion of, 137-39, 161-63, 208
Muhammad’s discussion of, 115-22

Smith, Pastor Kelly Miller, 88-89

Smoking, Malcolm X and, 58

Songhay, kingdom of, 38

Spottswood, Dr. Stephen Gill, 44

Supreme Court outlawing of segregation, 144-46, 200, 208

Susu people, 38

Takahashi, Major, 54

_Teachings of the Lost-Found Nation of Islam in a Mathematical
Way_, 51

“Teachings” in temples, 22-28
converts at, 30
“deaf, dumb, and blind” speech, 26-28
emotional effect of, 31
Fruit of Islam during, 21, 29
separate services for The Fruit, 81
warm-up for, 23-24, 110

Temple Number Two (Chicago), organized, 52

Temple Number Seven (New York)
Hinton incident at, 32-34
Malcolm X as minister of, 20, 94
restaurant of, 20

Temples of Islam, 19-33
first (Fard’s), 48, 50-51
generally rented halls, 20
music in, 21-22
Persian Moslems refused entry to, 66-67
restaurants of, 19-20, 79
searching of visitors to, 20
seating arrangements in, 20-21
services in, _see_ “Teachings” in temples

“That’s right,” 21

Theology, _see_ Christianity; Religion

Thomas J., Minister, 100

Tillich, Paul, 17

_Thresher_ (submarine), 206

Toynbee, Arnold, 90

Universities of Islam, 82-84
founded by Fard, 51
local authorities and, 54, 82

“University Speech” of Malcolm X, 70, 159-71

Van Loon’s _Story of Mankind_, 50

Violence not preached by Black Muslims, 203-4

Wallace, Mike, 70

Washington, D.C.
Malcolm X as minister in, 94
Muhammad’s speech in, 23

White, William, 43

“White Man’s Heaven Is the Black Man’s Hell, The,” 21

White men
Akbar Muhammad on, 100-1
created by Yakub, 63-64, 71
as devils
Elijah Muhammad on, 55, 125-26
Malcolm X on, 19, 24-25, 62-63, 68-69, 76-77, 199-200
teaching condemned by orthodox, 71
Fard’s teachings on, 49, 50-51
by nature evil, 22, 63, 64
responsible for crime, 27, 152
to be destroyed, 55, 65-66, 126, 148, 204-6
_See also_ Separation of black man

Wilkins, Roy, 96, 97

Williamsburg, Va., Negro Baptist church in, 43

“Wolves,” 23

Women in Black Muslim movement, 81
separated from men in temple, 20-21
_See also_ Girls in Black Muslim movement

Woodrow, Minister, 100

“Word,” the, 31, 79, 201
_See also_ Armageddon, Battle of

Wright, Herbert, debates with Malcolm X, 179-80

“X,” as name, 30-31

Yakub, experiments of, 63-65
not supported by orthodox literature, 71

Yale University, Malcolm X at, 179-95

Yoruba people, 38

“You tell it like it is,” 21

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Louis E. Lomax, one of the nation’s best-known social critics and lecturers, was born in Valdosta, Georgia, on August 16, 1922. Educated at Paine College, Augusta, Ga., American University, and Yale University, Mr. Lomax has served on the faculty of Georgia State College, in Savannah, as assistant professor of philosophy. His career as a professional writer began with the _Afro-American_ and subsequently he became a staff feature writer for the Chicago _American_. His magazine articles have appeared frequently in _Harper’s, Life_, _Pageant_, _The Nation_, and _The New Leader_. In 1959, when Mr. Lomax joined Mike Wallace’s news staff in New York, he became the first Negro newsman to appear on television. His first book, _The Reluctant African_, was given the _Saturday Review_ Anisfield-Wolf award of 1960 for the book dealing “most creditably with social and group relations.” His second book, _The Negro Revolt_, was both definitive and prophetic: Lomax predicted that Negroes would take their cause from the courtroom into the streets and market place, and his reportorial analysis of the forces now at work in the race struggle has placed him among America’s foremost authorities on social issues. One of the most sought-after lecturers in the nation today, Mr. Lomax lives with his wife in St. Albans, New York.

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:

Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_.

Emboldened text is surrounded by equals signs: =bold=.

Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.

Archaic or alternate spelling has been retained from the original.

End of Project Gutenberg's When the Word is Given..., by Louis E. Lomax