Saturday, October 11, 2008

From the Mouth of Malcolm X

Flipping through my 2000 page tome on African-American literature, I came across Malcom X's 1964 speech "The Ballot or the Bullet." I'm far from a black Nationalist, and am opposed to the NOI, but this passage in particular made me laugh out loud in delight over how timeless it is:

"When you see this, you can see that the Negro vote is the key factor. And despite the fact that you are in a position to -- to be the determining factor, what do you get out of it? The Democrats have been in Washington D.C. only because of the Negro vote. They’ve been down there four years, and they're -- all other legislation they wanted to bring up they brought it up and gotten it out of the way, and now they bring up you. And now, they bring up you. You put them first, and they put you last, 'cause you’re a chump, a political chump.

In Washington D.C., in the House of Representatives, there are 257 who are Democrats; only 177 are Republican. In the Senate there are 67 Democrats; only 33 are Republicans. The Party that you backed controls two-thirds of the House of Representatives and the Senate, and still they can’t keep their promise to you, 'cause you’re a chump. Anytime you throw your weight behind a political party that controls two-thirds of the government, and that Party can’t keep the promise that it made to you during election time, and you’re dumb enough to walk around continuing to identify yourself with that Party, you’re not only a chump, but you’re a traitor to your race."


[Source]

2006 Elections:
"On election day, Democrats gained 31 seats in the House, enough to take control, and Republicans became the minority party after 12 years of control. The party balance for the Senate now stands at 51-49 in favor of the Democrats (including independent Bernie Sanders and Independent Democrat Joe Lieberman, who caucus with the Democrats)." [S]

3 comments:

Conservative Black Woman said...

Angela~I wonder if our folks will listen even if it's from the mouth of Malcolm X? I doubt it because what we have here is a Hosea 4:6 situation "my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge, because you have rejected knowledge I also reject you as my priests because you have ignored the law of your God I also will ignore your children.

It's very frustrating and sad and I can only hang my head in shame that so many people that look like me are content to steep themselves in utter ignorance and denial.

Anonymous said...

There are more in the community that will hearken to the voice of El Hajj Malik El-Shabazz than you would think.

The Civil Rights Movement, IMHO, is something that can transcend even religion. Regardless of what team Malcolm batted for, he fought when others couldn't and wouldn't.

His words - much like Martin's and Medgar's - will live perpetually. The sad thing is the others in the community only seem to care about their poignant thoughts around election time.

Nice post and great find though.

Peace,
HiScrivener

The Black Sphere said...

Angela, again great post! I will be using the Malcolm X quote (with proper "shout out" to you), as I think this speaks to how we are really viewed Democrats. It is amazing that words that are over 40 years old are still so valid today!