Malcolm X Quotes


I'm not a Democrat. I'm not a Republican, and I don't even consider myself an American. If you and I were Americans, there'd be no problem. Those Honkies that just got off the boat, they're already Americans; Polacks are already Americans; the Italian refugees are already Americans. Everything that came out of Europe, every blue-eyed thing, is already an American. And as long as you and I have been over here, we aren't Americans yet.


Citations

Malcolm X [Little], 1925-1965, Muslim Minister and Civil Rights Leader, Speech, Cleveland, April 3, 1964

Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations

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He was agreeing with the Right Wing racist Dutch politician Geert Wilders that one of the dangers of immigration of different races and ethnicities is that their children would not be capable or able to contribute to America or in his view make America Great Again as it has been diminished by all these immiogrant babies of the last few generations. There are very few areas of civilization where America is not greater today than ever before.


This was a very courageous speech for the President to give. Senator Hubert Humphrey had proposed civil rights legislation. At the time most of the racial conservative members of Congress were Democrats and not Republicans as they would become after Civil Rights legislation actually passed in 1964. There was little possibility that the civil rights law would pass as the Southern Democrats could filibuster it in the Senate. None the less Truman supported the legislation and the principle of equal rights despite the fact that he was a Southerner and he knew he would lose the support of the conservative wing of his party.


This report was submitted to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who accepted the recommendation and signed Executive Order 9066. The Japanese on the West Coast were then rounded up and interned by DeWitt in what was one of the lowest and disgraceful points in American history. A national apology was made 34 years later. See {635792}.


A Boston newspaper referred to Kennedy as "an Irishman." Until the latter part of the 20th century, there was an ugly, anti-Irish dimension to the national scene that was every bit as ugly as the other ethnic hatreds like anti-Semitism. The Irish like the early Jews had six strikes against them. They were foreigners. They were not Christian Protestants, they were poor, they did not know the American culture, they spoke English with a distinct accent, and they were the lowest of the lower classes. Even rich Irish like Kennedy were looked down upon and when his son ran for President he had to overcome a still significant block of anti-Irish Americans.


This was actually a very courageous statement for an American politician running for national office. As a result of the pressure of this statement President Franklin Roosevelt allowed Black enlistment in the Army Air Forces.


This classic quotation illustrates several things. First, the degree of racism that existed in 1944 in West Virginia. Second, not how young Robert Byrd immediately leaped from the possibility of integrating our fighting forces to interracial sex. That has been typical of white racism in America—a preoccupation with race and sex. Last, Byrd who became a member of the KKK, completely changed his mind over the year and ended up supporting the things that, as a youth were worse than the demise of the nation. He matured and grew on the race issue as much of the country did and ended as a strong supporter of equality and civil rights—including affirmative action.


One reason that this is such a noteworthy quote is that Rubio was in the midst of his campaign for the Republican Presidential Nomination where only the most dedicated and generally conservative members of the party turn out to vote in the primaries. And a very large part of them were Southern racists who switched parties in response to the Civil Rights Act passage in 1964. Since then the very conservative wing of the party has had a de facto veto on Republican presidential candidates. Rubio's statement was the view of the majority of Americans and a significant number of Republicans, but this courageous statement of his true belief's risked his chances in the primary.


African Americans have developed their own unique culture, customs and even language which has been shaped In large part by slavery and living under Jim Crow. Foreign Blacks find that culture very foreign, having never experienced it. They were shaped by colonialism and and are familiar with white, Western, Christian culture. In addition a large proportion of African and Caribbean immigrant have been highly educated, professional trained, and or middle class. Also, the media stereotyping of American Blacks not only biases whites, but aslo biases foreigners of all ethnicities. So Black immigratnts frequently perceive American Blacks to be lower class, prone to crime and violence, uneducated and different from the and certainly from their aspirations." African Americans have developed their own unique culture, customs and even language which has been shaped in large part by slavery and living under Jim Crow. Foreign Blacks find that culture very foreign, having never experienced it. They were shaped by colonialism and and are familiar with white, Western, Christian culture. In addition a large proportion of African and Caribbean immigrant have been highly educated, professional trained, and or middle class. Also, the media stereotyping of American Blacks not only biases whites, but aslo biases foreigners of all ethnicities. So Black immigratnts frequently perceive American Blacks to be lower class, prone to crime and violence, uneducated and different from them and certainly from their aspirations.


This quotation was used by the Lyndon B. Johnson 1964 Campaign as: “We represent the majority of the people in Alabama who hate niggerism, Catholicism, Judaism, and all the isms of the whole world.” So said Robert Creel of the Alabama Ku Klux Klan. He also said, “I like Barry Goldwater. He needs our help.” The second statement was made at a different time.


Qutb was studying at Greeley College and with some Egyptian friends want to a movie theater. Greeley, even though not in the South, practiced racial discrimination in many of their public accommodations and the Civil Rights Law would not be passed for another 15 years or so. The ticked clerk at first would not sell tickets to the dark skinned Egyptians and when one protested, the owner was called. He ruled that as long as they were not American Blacks, they could enter. But Qutb refused.


Malcolm X
Malcolm X
  • Born: May 19, 1925
  • Died: February 21, 1965
  • Nationality: American
  • Profession: Minister, Civil Rights Activist

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.