MALCOLM X We Didn't Land On Plymouth Rock March 29, 1964

We are Africans and we happen to be in America We are not Americans We are people who were formerly Africans who were kidnapped and brought to America We, our ancestors, were not the pilgrims We did not

land

on Plymouth Rock They

land

ed on the

rock

We were brought here against our will, we were not brought here to be citizens, we were not brought here to enjoy the constitutional gifts that you speak so beautifully about today, because we were not brought here to be citizens today, now that we've woken up to a certain extent and begun to ask for those things they say are supposedly for Americans.

They look at us with hostility and hostility. If you are interested in freedom, you need some judo, you need some karate, you need all the things that will help you fight for freedom nationalism is the wave of the present and the future it is nationalism that is bringing freedom to oppress people all over the world it was nationalism that brought freedom to the Algerians it was nationalism that brought freedom to the Nigerians and the Ghanaians it was nationalism that brought freedom to the people of Uganda, Tanganyika, Sudan and Somaliland . The Africans

didn

't get it by sitting down, they

didn

't get it by entering, they didn't get it by singing, we will win. through nationalism and you and I will achieve it through nationalism what is it that makes it difficult for the philosophy of nationalism to spread among the so-called number one blacks they believe they have an interest in America they believe they have an investment in this country that we do we invested 310 years of slave labor 310 years every day of which you and my mother and my father worked for nothing not even eight hours a day there was no union on that day they work from sunup to sundown from They can't see in the tomorrow until they can't see at night.

They never had a day off and on Sunday they were allowed to sit and sing about when they died. They would no longer be slaves. When they died, they wouldn't. They would no longer be slaves, they would go up to heaven and every day would be Sunday, that is a shame, and it is those 310 years of slave labor that were my contribution to this particular economy and political system that they can give us. the pace of retreat, let's unite if this is what the black man wants, let's unite with him, let's show him how to fight, let's show him how to fight, let's show him how to make a real revolution, let's make him stop joking, you don't need a debate.

You don't need filibustering, you need some action.