BY MALCOLM X  
We are living in a society that is by and large controlled by people who believe in segregation. We are living in a society that is by and large controlled by a people who believe in racism, and practice segregation and discrimination and racism. We believe in a--and I say that it is controlled not by the well-meaning whites, it's controlled by the segregationists, the racists. And you can see by the pattern that this society follows all over the world. Right now in Asia you have the American army dropping bombs on dark-skinned people. Now you can't say that--there's no way you can justify being that far from home, dropping bombs on somebody else. If you were next door, I could see it, but you can't go that far away from this country and drop bombs on somebody else and justify your presence over there, not with me. [Applause]

It's racism. Racism practiced by America. Racism which involves a war against the dark-skinned people in Asia, another form of racism involving a war against the dark-skinned people in the Congo, the same as it involves a war against the dark-skinned people in Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Rochester, New York. [Applause]

So we're not against people because they're white. But we're against those who practice racism. We're against those who drop bombs on people because their color happens to be of a different shade than yours. And because we're against it, the press says we're violent. We're not for violence. We're for peace. But the people that we're up against are so violent, you can't be peaceful when you're dealing with them. [Laughter and applause]

They accuse us of what they themselves are guilty of. This is what the criminal always does. He'll bomb you, then accuse you of bombing yourself. He'll crush your skull, and then accuse you of attacking him. This is what the racists have always done--the criminal, the one who has criminal processes developed to a science. He'll practice his criminal action, and then use the press to make you victim--look like the victim is the criminal, and the criminal is the victim. This is how they do it. [Applause] And you here in Rochester probably know more about this than anybody anywhere else.

Here's an example of how they do it. They take the press, and through the press, they feed statistics, [Inaudible] call them crime statistics, to the white public. Because the white public is divided. Some mean good, and some don't mean good. Some are well-meaning, and some are not well-meaning. This is true. You got some that are not well-meaning, and some are well-meaning. And usually those that are not well-meaning outnumber those that are well-meaning. You need a microscope to find those that are well-meaning. [Applause]

So they don't like to do anything without the support of the white public. The racists, that are usually very influential in the society, don't make their move without first trying to get public opinion on their side. So they use the press to get public opinion on their side. When they want to suppress and oppress the Black community, what do they do? They take these statistics, and through the press, they feed them to the public. They make it appear that the rate of crime in the Black community is higher than it is anywhere else. What does this do? [Applause]

This message--this is a very skillful message used by racists to make the whites who aren't racists think that since the rate of crime in the Black community is so high, this paints the Black community in the image of a criminal. It makes it appear that everyone in the Black community is a criminal. And as soon as this impression is given, then it makes it possible, or paves the way to set up a police-type state in the Black community, getting the full approval of the white public when the police come in and use all kind of brutal methods to suppress Black people, crush their skulls, sic dogs on them, and things of that sort. And the whites go along with it. Because they think that everybody over there's a criminal anyway. This is what--the press does this. [Applause]  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home