Read Malcolm X′s ″Message to the Grassroots″ and Martin Luther King, Jr.′s ″I Have a Dream″ speech and answer the following: What was the different between the two civil rights leaders in 1963? Which one made more sense to you? Who do you agree with? Why
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We want to have just an o�-the-cu� chat between you
and me — us. We want to talk right down to earth in a
language that everybody here can easily understand. We
all agree tonight, all of the speakers have agreed, that
America has a very serious problem. Not only does
America have a very serious problem, but our people
have a very serious problem. America’s problem is us.
We’re her problem. The only reason she has a problem is
she doesn’t want us here. And every time you look at
yourself, be you black, brown, red, or yellow — a so-called
Negro — you represent a person who poses such a
serious problem for America because you’re not wanted.
Once you face this as a fact, then you can start plotting a
course that will make you appear intelligent, instead of
unintelligent.
Message to Grassroots
(https://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/d
to-grassroots/)
DOCUMENT:
Message to Grassroots Malcolm X | November 10, 1963
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What you and I need to do is learn to forget our
di�erences. When we come together, we don’t come
together as Baptists or Methodists. You don’t catch hell
’cause you’re a Baptist, and you don’t catch hell ’cause
you’re a Methodist. You don’t catch hell ’cause you’re a
Methodist or Baptist. You don’t catch hell because you’re
a Democrat or a Republican. You don’t catch hell because
you’re a Mason or an Elk. And you sure don’t catch hell
’cause you’re an American; ’cause if you was an American,
you wouldn’t catch no hell. You catch hell ’cause you’re a
black man. You catch hell, all of uscatch hell, for the same
reason.
So we are all black people, so-called Negroes, second-
class citizens, ex-slaves. You are nothing but a [sic] ex-
slave. You don’t like to be told that. But what else are
you? You are ex-slaves. You didn’t come here on the
“May�ower.” You came here on a slave ship — in chains,
like a horse, or a cow, or a chicken. And you were brought
here by the people who came here on the “May�ower.”
You were brought here by the so-called Pilgrims, or
Founding Fathers. They were the ones who brought you
here.
We have a common enemy. We have this in common: We
have a common oppressor, a common exploiter, and a
common discriminator. But once we all realize that we
have this common enemy, then we unite on the basis of
what we have in common. And what we have foremost in
common is that enemy — the white man. He’s an enemy
to all of us. I know some of you all think that some of
them aren’t enemies. Time will tell.
In Bandung back in, I think, 1954, was the �rst unity
meeting in centuries of black people. And once you study
what happened at the Bandung conference, and the
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results of the Bandung conference, it actually serves as a
model for the same procedure you and I can use to get
our problems solved. At Bandung all the nations came
together. Their were dark nations from Africa and Asia.
Some of them were Buddhists. Some of them were
Muslim. Some of them were Christians. Some of them
were Confucianists; some were atheists. Despite their
religious di�erences, they came together. Some were
communists; some were socialists; some were capitalists.
Despite their economic and political di�erences, they
came together. All of them were black, brown, red, or
yellow.
The number-one thing that was not allowed to attend the
Bandung conference was the white man. He couldn’t
come. Once they excluded the white man, they found
that they could get together. Once they kept him out,
everybody else fell right in and fell in line. This is the thing
that you and I have to understand. And these people who
came together didn’t have nuclear weapons; they didn’t
have jet planes; they didn’t have all of the heavy
armaments that the white man has. But they had unity.
They were able to submerge their little petty di�erences
and agree on one thing: That though one African came
from Kenya and was being colonized by the Englishman,
and another African came from the Congo and was being
colonized by the Belgian, and another African came from
Guinea and was being colonized by the French, and
another came from Angola and was being colonized by
the Portuguese. When they came to the Bandung
conference, they looked at the Portuguese, and at the
Frenchman, and at the Englishman, and at the other —
Dutchman — and learned or realized that the one thing
that all of them had in common: they were all from
Europe, they were all Europeans, blond, blue-eyed and
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white-skinned. They began to recognize who their enemy
was. The same man that was colonizing our people in
Kenya was colonizing our people in the Congo. The same
one in the Congo was colonizing our people in South
Africa, and in Southern Rhodesia, and in Burma, and in
India, and in Afghanistan, and in Pakistan. They realized
all over the world where the dark man was being
oppressed, he was being oppressed by the white man;
where the dark man was being exploited, he was being
exploited by the white man. So they got together under
this basis — that they had a common enemy.
And when you and I here in Detroit and in Michigan and
in America who have been awakened today look around
us, we too realize here in America we all have a common
enemy, whether he’s in Georgia or Michigan, whether he’s
in California or New York. He’s the same man: blue eyes
and blond hair and pale skin — same man. So what we
have to do is what they did. They agreed to stop
quarreling among themselves. Any little spat that they
had, they’d settle it among themselves, go into a huddle
— don’t let the enemy know that you got [sic] a
disagreement.
Instead of us airing our di�erences in public, we have to
realize we’re all the same family. And when you have a
family squabble, you don’t get out on the sidewalk. If you
do, everybody calls you uncouth, unre�ned, uncivilized,
savage. If you don’t make it at home, you settle it at
home; you get in the closet — argue it out behind closed
doors. And then when you come out on the street, you
pose a common front, a united front. And this is what we
need to do in the community, and in the city, and in the
state. We need to stop airing our di�erences in front of
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the white man. Put the white man out of our meetings,
number one, and then sit down and talk shop with each
other. [That’s] all you gotta do.
I would like to make a few comments concerning the
di�erence between the black revolution and the Negro
revolution. There’s a di�erence. Are they both the same?
And if they’re not, what is the di�erence? What is the
di�erence between a black revolution and a Negro
revolution? First, what is a revolution? Sometimes I’m
inclined to believe that many of our people are using this
word “revolution” loosely, without taking careful
consideration [of] what this word actually means, and
what its historic characteristics are. When you study the
historic nature of revolutions, the motive of a revolution,
the objective of a revolution, and the result of a
revolution, and the methods used in a revolution, you
may change words. You may devise another program.
You may change your goal and you may change your
mind.
Look at the American Revolution in 1776. That revolution
was for what? For land. Why did they want land?
Independence. How was it carried out? Bloodshed.
Number one, it was based on land, the basis of
independence. And the only way they could get it was
bloodshed. The French Revolution — what was it based
on? The land-less against the landlord. What was it for?
Land. How did they get it? Bloodshed. Was no love lost;
was no compromise; was no negotiation. I’m telling you,
you don’t know what a revolution is. ’Cause when you
�nd out what it is, you’ll get back in the alley; you’ll get out
of the way. The Russian Revolution — what was it based
on? Land. The land-less against the landlord. How did
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they bring it about? Bloodshed. You haven’t got a
revolution that doesn’t involve bloodshed. And you’re
afraid to bleed. I said, you’re afraid to bleed.
[As] long as the white man sent you to Korea, you bled.
He sent you to Germany, you bled. He sent you to the
South Paci�c to �ght the Japanese, you bled. You bleed
for white people. But when it comes time to seeing your
own churches being bombed and little black girls be
murdered, you haven’t got no blood. You bleed when the
white man says bleed; you bite when the white man says
bite; and you bark when the white man says bark. I hate
to say this about us, but it’s true. How are you going to be
nonviolent in Mississippi, as violent as you were in Korea?
How can you justify being nonviolent in Mississippi and
Alabama, when your churches are being bombed, and
your little girls are being murdered, and at the same time
you’re going to violent with Hitler, and Tojo,and
somebody else that you don’t even know?
If violence is wrong in America, violence is wrong abroad.
If it’s wrong to be violent defending black women and
black children and black babies and black men, then it’s
wrong for America to draft us and make us violent
abroad in defense of her. And if it is right for America to
draft us, and teach us how to be violent in defense of her,
then it is right for you and me to do whatever is
necessary to defend our own people right here in this
country.
The Chinese Revolution — they wanted land. They threw
the British out, along with the Uncle Tom Chinese. Yeah,
they did. They set a good example. When I was in prison, I
read an article — don’t be shocked when I say I was in
prison. You’re still in prison. That’s what America means:
prison. When I was in prison, I read an article in Life
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magazine showing a little Chinese girl, nine years old; her
father was on his hands and knees and she was pulling
the trigger ’cause he was an Uncle Tom Chinaman, When
they had the revolution over there, they took a whole
generation of Uncle Toms — just wiped them out. And
within ten years that little girl become [sic] a full-grown
woman. No more Toms in China. And today it’s one of the
toughest, roughest, most feared countries on this earth
— by the white man. ’Cause there are no Uncle Toms
over there.
Of all our studies, history is best quali�ed to reward our
research. And when you see that you’ve got problems, all
you have to do is examine the historic method used all
over the world by others who have problems similar to
yours. And once you see how they got theirs straight,
then you know how you can get yours straight. There’s
been a revolution, a black revolution, going on in Africa.
In Kenya, the Mau Mau were revolutionaries; they were
the ones who made the word ” Uhuru” [Kenyan word for
“freedom”]. They were the ones who brought it to the
fore.The Mau Mau, they were revolutionaries. They
believed in scorched earth. They knocked everything
aside that got in their way, and their revolution also was
based on land, a desire for land. In Algeria, the northern
part of Africa, a revolution took place. The Algerians were
revolutionists; they wanted land. France o�ered to let
them be integrated into France. They told France: to hell
with France. They wanted some land, not some France.
And they engaged in a bloody battle.
So I cite these various revolutions, brothers and sisters, to
show you — you don’t have a peaceful revolution. You
don’t have a turn-the-other-cheek revolution. There’s no
such thing as a nonviolent revolution. [The] only kind of
revolution that’s nonviolent is the Negro revolution. The
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only revolution based on loving your enemy is the Negro
revolution. The only revolution in which the goal is a
desegregated lunch counter, a desegregated theater, a
desegregated park, and a desegregated public toilet; you
can sit down next to white folks on the toilet. That’s no
revolution. Revolution is based on land. Land is the basis
of all independence. Land is the basis of freedom, justice,
and equality.
The white man knows what a revolution is. He knows that
the black revolution is world-wide in scope and in nature.
The black revolution is sweeping Asia, sweeping Africa, is
rearing its head in Latin America. The Cuban Revolution
— that’s a revolution. They overturned the system.
Revolution is in Asia. Revolution is in Africa. And the white
man is screaming because he sees revolution in Latin
America. How do you think he’ll react to you when you
learn what a real revolution is? You don’t know what a
revolution is. If you did, you wouldn’t use that word.
A revolution is bloody. Revolution is hostile. Revolution
knows no compromise. Revolution overturns and
destroys everything that gets in its way. And you, sitting
around here like a knot on the wall, saying, “I’m going to
love these folks no matter how much they hate me.” No,
you need a revolution. Whoever heard of a revolution
where they lock arms, as Reverend Cleage was pointing
out beautifully, singing “We Shall Overcome”? Just tell me.
You don’t do that in a revolution. You don’t do any
singing; you’re too busy swinging. It’s based on land. A
revolutionary wants land so he can set up his own nation,
an independent nation. These Negroes aren’t asking for
no nation. They’re trying to crawl back on the plantation.
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When you want a nation, that’s called nationalism. When
the white man became involved in a revolution in this
country against England, what was it for? He wanted this
land so he could set up another white nation. That’s white
nationalism. The American Revolution was white
nationalism. The French Revolution was white
nationalism. The Russian Revolution too — yes, it was —
white nationalism. You don’t think so? Why [do] you think
Khrushchev and Mao can’t get their heads together?
White nationalism. All the revolutions that’s going on in
Asia and Africa today are based on what? Black
nationalism. A revolutionary is a black nationalist. He
wants a nation. I was reading some beautiful words by
Reverend Cleage, pointing out why he couldn’t get
together with someone else here in the city because all of
them were afraid of being identi�ed with black
nationalism. If you’re afraid of black nationalism, you’re
afraid of revolution. And if you love revolution, you love
black nationalism.
To understand this, you have to go back to what [the]
young brother here referred to as the house Negro and
the �eld Negro — back during slavery. There was two
kinds of slaves. There was the house Negro and the �eld
Negro. The house Negroes – they lived in the house with
master, they dressed pretty good, they ate good ’cause
they ate his food — what he left. They lived in the attic or
the basement, but still they lived near the master; and
they loved their master more than the master loved
himself. They would give their life to save the master’s
house quicker than the master would. The house Negro,
if the master said, “We got a good house here,” the house
Negro would say, “Yeah, we got a good house here.”
Whenever the master said “we,” he said “we.” That’s how
you can tell a house Negro.
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If the master’s house caught on �re, the house Negro
would �ght harder to put the blaze out than the master
would. If the master got sick, the house Negro would say,
“What’s the matter, boss, we sick?” We sick! He identi�ed
himself with his master more than his master identi�ed
with himself. And if you came to the house Negro and
said, “Let’s run away, let’s escape, let’s separate,” the
house Negro would look at you and say, “Man, you crazy.
What you mean, separate? Where is there a better house
than this? Where can I wear better clothes than this?
Where can I eat better food than this?” That was that
house Negro. In those days he was called a “house
nigger.” And that’s what we call him today, because we’ve
still got some house niggers running around here.
This modern house Negro loves his master. He wants to
live near him. He’ll pay three times as much as the house
is worth just to live near his master, and then brag about
“I’m the only Negro out here.” “I’m the only one on my
job.” “I’m the only one in this school.” You’re nothing but a
house Negro. And if someone comes to you right now
and says, “Let’s separate,” you say the same thing that the
house Negro said on the plantation. “What you mean,
separate? From America? This good white man? Where
you going to get a better job than you get here?” I mean,
this is what you say. “I ain’t left nothing in Africa,” that’s
what you say. Why, you left your mind in Africa.
On that same plantation, there was the �eld Negro. The
�eld Negro — those were the masses. There were always
more Negroes in the �eld than there was Negroes in the
house. The Negro in the �eld caught hell. He ate
leftovers. In the house they ate high up on the hog. The
Negro in the �eld didn’t get nothing but what was left of
the insides of the hog. They call ’em “chitt’lin’” nowadays.
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In those days they called them what they were: guts.
That’s what you were — a gut-eater. And some of you all
still gut-eaters.
The �eld Negro was beaten from morning to night. He
lived in a shack, in a hut; He wore old, casto� clothes. He
hated his master. I say he hated his master. He was
intelligent. That house Negro loved his master. But that
�eld Negro — remember, they were in the majority, and
they hated the master. When the house caught on �re, he
didn’t try and put it out; that �eld Negro prayed for a
wind, for a breeze. When the master got sick, the �eld
Negro prayed that he’d die. If someone come [sic] to the
�eld Negro and said, “Let’s separate, let’s run,” he didn’t
say “Where we going?” He’d say, “Any place is better than
here.” You’ve got �eld Negroes in America today. I’m a
�eld Negro. The masses are the �eld Negroes. When they
see this man’s house on �re, you don’t hear these little
Negroes talking about “our government is in trouble.”
They say, “The government is in trouble.” Imagine a
Negro: “Our government”! I even heard one say “our
astronauts.” They won’t even let him near the plant —
and “our astronauts”! “Our Navy” — that’s a Negro that’s
out of his mind. That’s a Negro that’s out of his mind.
Just as the slavemaster of that day used Tom, the house
Negro, to keep the �eld Negroes in check, the same old
slavemaster today has Negroes who are nothing but
modern Uncle Toms, 20th century Uncle Toms, to keep
you and me in check, keep us under control, keep us
passive and peaceful and nonviolent. That’s Tom making
you nonviolent. It’s like when you go to the dentist, and
the man’s going to take your tooth. You’re going to �ght
him when he starts pulling. So he squirts some stu� in
your jaw called novocaine, to make you think they’re not
doing anything to you. So you sit there and ’cause you’ve
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got all of that novocaine in your jaw, you su�er
peacefully. Blood running all down your jaw, and you
don’t know what’s happening. ’Cause someone has
taught you to su�er — peacefully.
The white man do the same thing to you in the street,
when he want [sic] to put knots on your head and take
advantage of you and don’t have to be afraid of your
�ghting back. To keep you from �ghting back, he gets
these old religious Uncle Toms to teach you and me, just
like novocaine, su�er peacefully. Don’t stop su�ering —
just su�er peacefully. As Reverend Cleage pointed out,
“Let your blood �ow In the streets.” This is a shame. And
you know he’s a Christian preacher. If it’s a shame to him,
you know what it is to me.
There’s nothing in our book, the Quran — you call it “Ko-
ran” — that teaches us to su�er peacefully. Our religion
teaches us to be intelligent. Be peaceful, be courteous,
obey the law, respect everyone; but if someone puts his
hand on you, send him to the cemetery. That’s a good
religion. In fact, that’s that old-time religion. That’s the
one that Ma and Pa used to talk about: an eye for an eye,
and a tooth for a tooth, and a head for a head, and a life
for a life: That’s a good religion. And doesn’t nobody
resent that kind of religion being taught but a wolf, who
intends to make you his meal.
This is the way it is with the white man in America. He’s a
wolf and you’re sheep. Any time a shepherd, a pastor,
teach [sic] you and me not to run from the white man
and, at the same time, teach [sic] us not to �ght the white
man, he’s a traitor to you and me. Don’t lay down our life
all by itself. No, preserve your life. it’s the best thing you
got. And if you got to give it up, let it be even-steven.
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The slavemaster took Tom and dressed him well, and fed
him well, and even gave him a little education — a little
education; gave him a long coat and a top hat and made
all the other slaves look up to him. Then he used Tom to
control them. The same strategy that was used in those
days is used today, by the same white man. He takes a
Negro, a so-called Negro, and make [sic] him prominent,
build [sic] him up, publicize [sic] him, make [sic] him a
celebrity. And then he becomes a spokesman for Negroes
— and a Negro leader.
I would like to just mention just one other thing else
quickly, and that is the method that the white man uses,
how the white man uses these “big guns,” or Negro
leaders, against the black revolution. They are not a part
of the black revolution. They’re used against the black
revolution.
When Martin Luther King failed to desegregate Albany,
Georgia, the civil-rights struggle in America reached its
low point. King became bankrupt almost, as a leader.
Plus, even �nancially, the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference was in �nancial trouble; plus it was in trouble,
period, with the people when they failed to desegregate
Albany, Georgia. Other Negro civil-rights leaders of so-
called national stature became fallen idols. As they
became fallen idols, began to lose their prestige and
in�uence, local Negro leaders began to stir up the
masses. In Cambridge, Maryland, Gloria Richardson; in
Danville, Virginia, and other parts of the country, local
leaders began to stir up our people at the grassroots
level. This was never done by these Negroes, whom you
recognize, of national stature. They controlled you, but
they never incited you or excited you. They controlled
you; they contained you; they kept you on the plantation.
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As soon as King failed in Birmingham, Negroes took to
the streets. King got out and went out to California to a
big rally and raised about — I don’t know how many
thousands of dollars. [He] come [sic] to Detroit and had a
march and raised some more thousands of dollars. And
recall, right after that [Roy] Wilkins attacked King, accused
King and the CORE [Congress Of Racial Equality] of
starting trouble everywhere and then making the NAACP
[National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People] get them out of jail and spend a lot of money;
and then they accused King and CORE of raising all the
money and not paying it back. This happened; I’ve got it
in documented evidence in the newspaper. Roy started
attacking King, and King started attacking Roy, and
Farmer started attacking both of them. And as these
Negroes of national stature began to attack each other,
they began to lose their control of the Negro masses.
And Negroes was [sic] out there in the streets. They was
[sic] talking about [how] we was [sic] going to march on
Washington. By the way, right at that time Birmingham
had exploded, and the Negroes in Birmingham —
remember, they also exploded. They began to stab the
crackers in the back and bust them up ’side their head —
yes, they did. That’s when Kennedy sent in the troops,
down in Birmingham. So, and right after that, Kennedy
got on the television and said “this is a moral issue.”
That’s when he said he was going to put out a civil-rights
bill. And when he mentioned civil-rights bill and the
Southern crackers started talking about [how] they were
going to boycott or �libuster it, then the Negroes started
talking — about what? We’re going to march on
Washington, march on the Senate, march on the White
House, march on the Congress, and tie it up, bring it to a
halt; don’t let the government proceed. They even said
they was [sic] going out to the airport and lay down on
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the runway and don’t let no airplanes land. I’m telling you
what they said. That was revolution. That was revolution.
That was the black revolution.
It was the grass roots out there in the street. [It] scared
the white man to death, scared the white power structure
in Washington, D. C. to death; I was there. When they
found out that this black steamroller was going to come
down on the capital, they called in Wilkins; they called in
Randolph; they called in these national Negro leaders
that you respect and told them, “Call it o�.” Kennedy said,
“Look, you all letting this thing go too far.” And Old Tom
said, “Boss, I can’t stop it, because I didn’t start it.” I’m
telling you what they said. They said, “I’m not even in it,
much less at the head of it.” They said, “These Negroes
are doing things on their own. They’re running ahead of
us.” And that old shrewd fox, he said, “Well If you all aren’t
in it, I’ll put you in it. I’ll put you at the head of it. I’ll
endorse it. I’ll welcome it. I’ll help it. I’ll join it.”
A matter of hours went by. They had a meeting at the
Carlyle Hotel in New York City. The Carlyle Hotel is owned
by the Kennedy family; that’s the hotel Kennedy spent the
night at, two nights ago; [it] belongs to his family. A
philanthropic society headed by a white man named
Stephen Currier called all the top civil-rights leaders
together at the Carlyle Hotel. And he told them that, “By
you all �ghting each other, you are destroying the civil-
rights movement. And since you’re �ghting over money
from white liberals, let us set up what is known as the
Council for United Civil Rights Leadership. Let’s form this
council, and all the civil-rights organizations will belong to
it, and we’ll use it for fund-raising purposes.” Let me show
you how tricky the white man is. And as soon as they got
it formed, they elected Whitney Young as the chairman,
and who [do] you think became the co-chairman?
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Stephen Currier, the white man, a millionaire. Powell was
talking about it down at the Cobo [Hall] today. This is
what he was talking about. Powell knows it happened.
Randolph knows it happened. Wilkins knows it happened.
King knows it happened. Everyone of that so-called Big
Six — they know what happened.
Once they formed it, with the white man over it, he
promised them and gave them $800,000 to split up
between the Big Six; and told them that after the march
was over they’d give them $700,000 more. A million and a
half dollars — split up between leaders that you’ve been
following, going to jail for, crying crocodile tears for. And
they’re nothing but Frank James and Jesse James and the
what-do-you-call-’em brothers.
[As] soon as they got the setup organized, the white man
made available to them top public relations experts;
opened the news media across the country at their
disposal; and then they begin [sic] to project these Big Six
as the leaders of the march. Originally, they weren’t even
in the march. You was [sic ] talking this march talk on
Hastings Street — Is Hastings Street still here? — on
Hasting Street. You was [sic] talking the march talk on
Lenox Avenue, and out on — What you call it? — Fillmore
Street, and Central Avenue, and 32nd Street and 63rd
Street. That’s where the march talk was being talked. But
the white man put the Big Six [at the] head of it; made
them the march. They became the march. They took it
over. And the �rst move they made after they took it
over, they invited Walter Reuther, a white man; they
invited a priest, a rabbi, and an old white preacher. Yes,
an old white preacher. The same white element that put
Kennedy in power — labor, the Catholics, the Jews, and
liberal Protestants; [the] same clique that put Kennedy in
power, joined the march on Washington.
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It’s just like when you’ve got some co�ee that’s too black,
which means it’s too strong. What you do? You integrate
it with cream; you make it weak. If you pour too much
cream in, you won’t even know you ever had co�ee. It
used to be hot, it becomes cool. It used to be strong, it
becomes weak. It used to wake you up, now it’ll put you
to sleep. This is what they did with the march on
Washington. They joined it. They didn’t integrate it; they
in�ltrated it. They joined it, became a part of it, took it
over. And as they took it over, it lost its militancy. They
ceased to be angry. They ceased to be hot. They ceased
to be uncompromising. Why, it even ceased to be a
march. It became a picnic, a circus. Nothing but a circus,
with clowns and all. You had one right here in Detroit — I
saw it on television — with clowns leading it, white clowns
and black clowns. I know you don’t like what I’m saying,
but I’m going to tell you anyway. ’Cause I can prove what
I’m saying. If you think I’m telling you wrong, you bring
me Martin Luther King and A. Philip Randolph and James
Farmer and those other three, and see if they’ll deny it
over a microphone.
No, it was a sellout. It was a takeover. When James
Baldwin came in from Paris, they wouldn’t let him talk,
’cause they couldn’t make him go by the script. Burt
Lancaster read the speech that Baldwin was supposed to
make; they wouldn’t let Baldwin get up there, ’cause they
know Baldwin’s liable to say anything. They controlled it
so tight — they told those Negroes what time to hit town,
how to come, where to stop, what signs to carry, what
song to sing, what speech they could make, and what
speech they couldn’t make; and then told them to get out
town by sundown. And everyone of those Toms was out
of town by sundown. Now I know you don’t like my saying
this. But I can back it up. It was a circus, a performance
that beat anything Hollywood could ever do, the
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performance of the year. Reuther and those other three
devils should get a Academy Award for the best actors
’cause they acted like they really loved Negroes and
fooled a whole lot of Negroes. And the six Negro leaders
should get an award too, for the best supporting cast.