Malcolm X Quotes
I say that the negro, when he is, when, when they cease to look at him as a negro and realize that he's a human being, then they will realize that he is just as capable and has the right to do anything that any other human being on this earth has a right to do to defend himself.
X, Malcolm. Interview by Robert Penn Warren. Who Speaks for the Negro?, Random House, 1965.
At the time Thomas was the Chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. In an informal discussion among some of the staff, a white employee was describing the difficulty he had encountered trying to get a bank loan. This quotation illustrates that Thomas has had an antipathy to affirmative action and racial programming or preferences well before he was appointed to the Appellate and later the Supreme Court.
Despite the critical need of the war, racism was so extensive in the WWII military that Blacks were relegated to menial duty of cooking, truck driving and construction but were actually not allowed to fight at the beginning despite the fact that many had volunteered. Many whites—especially the southerners—were convinced that Negroes could not fight, that they lacked the courage and commitment. The need for troops in the Pacific theater was so great that in the invasion of Saipan that was so difficult, Black troops were committed to the fight and performed brilliantly. The Commandant of the Marine Corps, General Vandergrift was not only the first Marine 4 star general who was on active duty, but he personally was a recipient of the Medal of Honor. When he spoke, all marines and many others in the service listened. This was the break-though. Negroes in combat was no longer some kind of social experiment for most Marines except the most vitriolic rascists.
Malcolm X was an African-American Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a popular figure during the civil rights movement. He is best known for his time spent as a vocal spokesman for the Nation of Islam.
