Malcolm X's Independence Speech and Black Nationalism Today

On March 12, 1964, after being censured by the Nation Of Islam, Malcolm X broke his silence with this statement on his beliefs and his plans for his community.

In 1994/5, I performed this speech many times at speech and debate competitions. Mostly I wanted to be different from the Martin Luther King crowd. back then, I thought there was a difference between Martin and Malcolm. I believed there was a split in the Black thought. I chose Malcolm. My journey showed me there could be split. Once I removed divisive thoughts from my perspective these words made a lot more sense.

After twenty years of forgetting theses words and not seeing them, today I am amazed at having developed a much deeper understanding of Black Nationalism that leads me back to these words...

This is everything I've learned and believe in as it pertains to Black Nationalism. It seems very timely given the atmosphere today...

Because 1964 threatens to be a very explosive year on the racial front, and because I myself intend to be very active in every phase of the American Negro struggle for human rights, I have called this press conference this morning in order to clarify my own position in the struggle, especially in regards to politics and nonviolence.

I am and always will be a Muslim. My religion is Islam. I still believe that Mr. Muhammad's analysis of the problem is the most realistic, and that his solution is the best one. This means that I too believe that the best solution is complete separation, with our people going back home, that is, to our African homeland.

But separation back to Africa is still a long-range program, and while it is yet to materialize, 22 million of our people who are still here in America need better food, better clothing, better housing, better education and better jobs right now. Mr. Muhammad's program does point us back homeward, but it also contains within it what we could and should be doing to help solve our own problems right now while we're still in America.

But internal differences within the Nation of Islam forced me out of it. I did not leave of my own free will. But now that it has happened, I intend to make the most of it. Now that I have more independence of action, I intend to use a more flexible approach toward working with others to get a solution to this problem.

I'm not out to fight other Negro leaders or other Negro organizations. We must find a common approach, a common solution, to a common problem. As of this minute, I have forgotten everything bad that the other leaders have said about me, and I pray they can also forget the many bad things I've said about them. The problem facing our people here in America is bigger than all the other personal or organizational differences. Therefore, as leaders, we must stop worrying about the threat that we seem to think we pose to each other's personal prestige, and concentrate our united efforts toward solving the unending hurt that is being done daily to our people here in America.

I am going to organize and head a new mosque in New York City, known as the Muslim Mosque Incorporated. This gives us a religious base, and the spiritual force necessary to rid our people of the vices that destroy the moral fiber of our community.

Our political philosophy will be black nationalism. Our economic and social philosophy will be black nationalism. Our cultural emphasis will be upon black nationalism.

Many of our people aren't religiously inclined, so the Muslim Mosque, Incorporated, will be organized in such manner to provide for the active participation of all Negroes in our political, economic, and social programs, despite their religious or non-religious beliefs.

The political philosophy of black nationalism means: we must control the politics and the politicians of our own community. They must no longer take orders from outside forces, and we will organize, and sweep out of office all Negro politicians who are puppets for these outside forces.

Our accent will be upon youth. We need new ideas, new methods, new approaches. We will call upon young students of political science throughout the nation to help us. We will encourage these young students to launch their own independent study, and then give us their analysis and their suggestions. We are completely disenchanted with the old, adult, established politicians. We want to see some new faces, more militant faces.

Concerning nonviolence: it is criminal to teach a man not to defend himself when he is the constant victim of brutal attacks. It is legal and lawful in this country to own a shotgun or a rifle. We believe in obeying the law. In areas where our people are the constant victims of brutality, and the government seems unable or unwilling to protect them, we should form rifle clubs that can be used to defend ourselves and our property in times of emergency, such as happened last year in Birmingham Alabama, in Plaquemine, Louisiana in Cambridge, Maryland and in Danville, Virginia. When our people are being bitten by dogs, they are within their rights to kill those dogs. We should be peaceful, law-abiding—but the time has come for the American Negro to fight back in self-defense whenever and wherever he is being unjustly and unlawfully attacked. 

If the government thinks I am wrong for saying this, then let the government start doing its job.

Journal 9/11/15 - Cooperation

There is only one right way to do things and or get things done. That's cooperation. That's God's way. By connecting spiritually with others we see that although we may seem very different, we are all on the same team. Even if you know your way is God's way, "my way or the highway" will never work.

Cooperation means that God's way will look different in the hands of each different person.

We operate in the spiritual realm. We have no idea nor control over how that translates in the physical realm. The struggle is to look beyond what eyes see to the spirits of people.

In 2016, with all the various movements going on, the only thing missing is cooperation. Boycotts, marches, voter drives, schools, armed resistance and economic movements all fail because they work separately. In 1965, the opposite was true. Not only were all those movements working simultaneously, they were all cooperative. At best, organizations worked together and supported each other. At worst, organizations/individuals who disagreed stayed out of each others way.

Malcolm X, Dr. King and Huey Newton became threats because of their approaches to universality. Huey Newton made great strides for the Panthers being open to working outside organizations/movements. Malcolm X and Dr. King made great efforts to work together before X's death. Dr. King was, of course, the master of cooperation. His network eventually became too big and so he was too dangerous. BLM and Shaun King have nothing to worry about. Modern day activists never have to fear assassination because they're all one trick ponies who refuse to work with each other.

Maybe they know that and would prefer a weakened movement where they get to live. Maybe by living longer they can be more effective. Maybe a weakened movement will eventually erode the old institutions of oppression. 

Invasion of the Malcolm Flexes: Hotep in Jail, On The Streets and In Your Community

In Jail/Prison I call them Malcolm Flexes. In the "Freeworld," we have Dr. Umar Johnson...

I can talk about spoiled broke kids all day every day for twelve years straight and I will still be amazed when I see them in the flesh. 

I called him Malcolm Flex because he would talk like he was ready to incite a riot (certainly not a revolution) when he was around the inmates. "I ain't workin for free. They can just take me to the hole now!" but when he was around the guards, "Yessir! Right away sir!"

What Malcolm Flexes do is bombard you with topical analyses of Black people's status in America. They provide little additional insight or solution to the problems. In the rare occasion they do provide solutions, they are are usually poor facsimiles of failed plans. They're only update to regurgitation of past failures is to "Wake everyone up". People like that are dangerous because someone may take them serious. Worst of all, it's our young men (18-25) with all the energy and no direction who take that as guidance and head down the wrong road. The irony of it all is that all that flexin' is just a racket, a new way for spoiled broke kids to keep shirking responsibility past adulthood.

Back to this yahoo:

He came to the work pod on a Friday afternoon and spent the entire weekend telling any inmate who would listen that he wasn't going to work for a few extra sandwiches. He was going to tell them straight up "Buck this!" Come Monday, he was working like a champ. Come to find out, he was just waiting on his paperwork to clear anyway. He ended up only working two days before he was released. He still spent $38 on store (must not have been his money). He yelled at the store man because they wouldn't sell him Seven danishes. (Who needs seven danishes for two days?) I asked him if he got his money back. He did. I told him to go home and buy some danishes at the real store. The crazy man was still hoarding sandwiches and chips the day he got released. They called him to pack it up right after lunch, the day after he got his store. I'm sure he tried to take as much jail food as possible home with him.

In two days to go from rants about how Store is a rip off and the food in jail is poison to hoarding jail food to take with you out into the free-world is typical Malcolm Flex behavior. Their goals are both to hide within the safety of the conscious community and to profit from the continued discrimination and oppression of Black America. These men and women are the infiltrators. They are in our jails, on the streets, in our communities. We pay them to tell us what's wrong with our communities. They do little more than make us feel better about our suffering. The irony is that some of the biggest profiteers constantly attack the church for doing the same things they do. Pacify us so they can continue to profit. 

We flock to cities like Atlanta as the Black American mecca, but the invasion has made it's way there as well. Dekalb county is the epitome of a Malcolm Flex messing up the community. To be clear there are far more than one in Dekalb County. I've seen how corrupt officials are in this county from top to bottom. We could have a good thing in Dekalb. Crooks steal pennies instead of building wealth.

They get there because we don't vet leadership. They stay because we pay as much attention to them as we do the career congressmen who camp out for 20 years or more running unopposed, dependent on the laziness and comfort of the general public. Just like the raggedy assed relationships so many of us find ourselves in, they only had to make us feel good for the first two weeks. After that, they can ruin our lives with stagnation indefinitely. Like a parasite.

In this time of change, a time of growth, we must be careful of the Malcolm Flexes. They are indeed parasites. They know they cannot exist in the new world. That's why tend to have some extremely conservative views when pressed. They are unable to survive without our support.That's why they constantly try to distract us from their blood sucking. And they do little more than exist. All their talk is for naught. There is very little action. There IS a lot of "passion." Just think National Action Network and the charisma of Al Sharpton. What has the multi-million dollar non-profit produced in 40 years? Diddly squat beyond piss poor resolutions, a bunch of Jaw Jacking, and, of course, millions of dollars.

The bottom line is they can't come.

You want to spot a Malcolm Flex? Just do stuff. They won't be there. They'll talk. They'll talk. They'll talk some some. But when it's time to roll, they will not show up. Their actions will produce little in the way of results, if anything at all. You find yourself wondering, just say "Let's go!" They won't go. Want to get rid of them? Move. Grow. Create. Build. They are the easiest parasites to get rid of but the hardest to spot. If you find yourself in the middle of a potential Flex Plan, ask yourself "Is it working?" If not, do something that works.

Breaking the cycle requires real commitment to change. Be different. Do different things. Find things that work. Grow. Move. And shake the Malcolm Flexes. They hate it when you do stuff.

Al Sharpton

The situation with the Boondocks and Al Sharpton is exactly why we, as a community, no longer need iconoclastic leaders. Anyone knowledgeable and proactive enough to be concerned with his or her community knows what to do. Our previous leadership has shown the way. Current "leaders," including Al Sharpton, call for us as individuals to take a more proactive role in deciding the direction we want to take in our communities. Simply put, we know what to do. We just have to do it.

In the case of the Boondocks, you either like or you don't. After protesting for years to get more black representation on TV, now some choose to complain about the shows, movies, music or whatever we have now.
We have plenty of choices now. We can choose to support almost any type of entertainment we want. We have plenty of radios stations, the Cosby shows are in syndication as well as Martin and New York Undercover, and we have plenty of movies to watch. So watch what you want.
I can even go back to my community meeting last week. Apparently, we have unrestricted access to the local government. We can guide this community in any direction we choose. And we really don't need to beg politicians to do it for us. And this is the case in almost every community around the country.
So lets not follow anymore. Lets lead ourselves, our families, our communities. You know you can do it. DO IT! Do it! You know how to do it. Just remember, what would Jesus do, what would Martin/Malcolm do.