This is a video of Malcolm X at a round table discussion on a television show (around 1962 or 1963 I believe) in where he talks about many issues regarding race and the American power structure that are still relevant to today. His analysis of the situation was great and if one didn't know any better one might think he was talking about the racism of today, not the racism of the Jim Crow Era. This video is six minutes long.
1.18.2007
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The main argument that Malcolm is making is one that we all need to be highly aware of today: The dominant class and its state apparatus will always try to neutralize social change movements. The government will make any concessions necessary to get people to shut up, but if the buy-off carrots don't work, the sticks of repression come out.
This process is one that we all need to be aware of as activists and people of conscience. In fighting for justice, you have to be prepared for any reaction from the folks in power. History has taught us this lesson time and time again. Like Frederick Douglass said, "Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never has and it never will." As he and Malcolm and other fighters through the ages have taught us, we have to be prepared to take our freedom.
No government can give you what you have already: your humanity.
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