Long Live Malcolm X!

Revolutionary Martyr and True African Internationalist

By Chairman Omali Yeshitela
Published May 18, 2011
Malcolm X
This May 19th 2011 marks the 86th anniversary of the birth of Our Malcolm. His r
evolutionary leadership is still our guide to black liberation. The following is
a brilliant presentation made by Chairman Omali Yeshitela at a May 19, 1977 Mal
colm X Commemorative event held in Tampa, Florida. Chairman Omali's words are as
true now, in 2011 as they were in 1977. Malcolm's words are as true now as they
were in 1963. Click on the following link to hear Malcolm's Message to the Gras
s Roots speech delivered at the Northern Negro Grassroots Leadership Conference
on November 10, 1963, at King Solomon Baptist Church in Detroit, Michigan.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uN_-AO36Afw
I would like to thank our sister and brother comrades who are responsible for or
ganizing this program in memory of the great African patriot and leader, Malcolm
X. I would like to thank you first of all for organizing the program, and secon
dly, I would like to thank you for inviting me to participate in the program.
malcolmomali
For, as many of you know, I am a great believer in the teachings of Malcolm X, a
nd I am chairman of a political organization based in several states of the Unit
ed States of North America which believes that Malcolm X and Marcus Garvey were
two of the most significant political leaders of African people within current N
orth American borders.
For me and the African People’s Socialist Party, the life and teachings of the gre
at patriot, Malcolm X, mean more than just an annual celebration of his life. Fo
r us, the life and teachings of Malcolm X are not something to be understood in
the abstract, separate and apart from the material conditions of life experience
d by our people. For us, the life and teachings of Malcolm X are revolutionary g
uides to the liberation of our people in the real world.
I want to make this point because today, when Malcolm X is not here to defend hi
s philosophy, there is a great deal of revisionism going on. There are many peop
le and forces who correctly understand the impact Malcolm X has had on the devel
oping revolutionary consciousness of our people and who would distort Malcolm’s te
achings so as to make it serve their own self-serving and dishonest motives and
who would therefore turn Brother Malcolm’s politics against the very people he fas
hioned them to serve.
He was not a saint or a ghost
First of all, it should be noted that Malcolm X was a black man, an African man,
who defined himself as “one of 22 million black people who are the victims of Ame
ricanism.”
Malcolm X was not a saint, or a ghostly apparition that descended mysteriously u
pon us. He was a man, a black man, an African man, who through his life experien
ces in America and through study, came to understand the meaning of life for Afr
ican people held captive here in this North American prison.
It is important to mention this because attempts are often made to deify Malcolm
X to an extent that we place the great ideals and aspirations he held for our p
eople beyond the possibility of human realization. We do this so it will not be
necessary for us to live up to those ideals.
After placing his ideals on some great, unreachable pedestal, the only thing we
have to do is have annual celebrations, take the covers off his philosophy once
a year, dust it off a little bit, sing praises to Malcolm, and then go home to w
ait for the next year to come around when we can come out and have fun with his
memory again.
But when we realize that Malcolm X was a man, an African human being just as we
are African human beings, it must be clear to us that we not only have the respo
nsibility of unveiling his life and teachings once a year; we have the more impo
rtant responsibility of living like Malcolm X. We have the responsibility of con
cretizing, making real in this world, the things that Malcolm X lived and died f
or. Otherwise, we are simply petty, little frightened and dishonest people who o
ught not to call his name.
Malcolm X was a great African patriot, a freedom fighter. Some of us are here be
cause we believe and understand this. Others of us do not believe in the greatne
ss of Malcolm X and his teachings, and are only here as political ambulance chas
ers, going where the action is, and opportunistically exploiting his greatness t
o push forward teachings which are contradictory to what Malcolm X believed in a
nd taught.
But you and I know that Malcolm X was either a great leader or he was not. He wa
s not “a great leader and teacher, but…” or “a great leader and teacher, except for…”
He was either a great leader or he was not. I say he was a great leader and his
teachings should be continuously studied and developed as a guide for our strugg
le, and I challenge everyone here today to go beyond paying lip service to his m
emory. I challenge everyone here to be the human being that Malcolm X was, and t
o take up his philosophy and to live for struggle as he lived for struggle.
And what were some of the things Malcolm X taught and believed?
Malcolm X taught and believed that we, African people, are not Americans. In a s
peech in Cleveland on April 3, 1964, he made this very clear. In this speech Mal
colm X stated:
“I’m not a politician, not even a student of politics. In fact, I’m not a student of m
uch of anything. I’m not a Democrat, I’m not a Republican, and I don’t even consider m
yself an American. If you and I were Americans, there’d be no problem. Those Honki
es that just got off the boat, they’re already Americans. Polacks are already Amer
icans. The Italian refugees are already Americans. Everything that came out of E
urope, every blue-eyed thing, is already an American, and as long as you and I h
ave been over here, we aren’t Americans yet.”
This is what Malcolm X taught and believed. But most of us — or at least, many of
us — don’t believe this. Most of us are so busy being Americans that we excuse every
unjust act this country perpetrates against our own people, and against other o
ppressed peoples of the world.
So, for those of you who are “Americans,” it should be clear to you that you don’t bel
ieve in what Malcolm believed or taught, and to the extent that you are here tod
ay because you thought you did, or wanted to pretend you do, I want to make you
aware of what is correct, and what it is you are pretending.
This is especially important for the pretenders because generally the pretenders
do not serve, nor do they ever intend to serve black people, and if we can put
what Malcolm X really believed and taught before you, it makes it more difficult
for them to pretend. And it may even get them in trouble with their bosses, who
I guarantee you will not appreciate the fact that their “Negro-Americans” are out h
ere at a meeting commemorating a great African leader who correctly taught us th
at we are not Americans.
I know there are probably people here who want to pay homage to Malcolm X withou
t paying homage to his ideas. These people are likely to say that Malcolm’s statem
ent about not being an American was simply a rhetorical statement that he really
didn’t mean.
But throughout the speech I just mentioned, Malcolm X made it very clear that he
said what he meant and he meant what he said. For example, in another place in
the same speech, Malcolm X strikes the same theme:
“No, I am not an American. I’m one of the 22 million black people who are the victim
s of Americanism; one of the 22 million black people who are the victims of demo
cracy, nothing but disguised hypocrisy.
“So, I’m not standing here speaking to you as an American, or a patriot, or a flag-s
aluter, or a flag-waver. No, not I. I am speaking as a victim of this American s
ystem, and I see America through the eyes of the victim. I don’t see any American
dream; I see an American nightmare.”
So, there was no mistake. Malcolm knew exactly what he was saying. Therefore, wh
en you and I get together to pay homage to Malcolm X on occasions such as this,
we have to understand that we are not simply paying homage to the man in the abs
tract. We are paying homage to his ideas, to his political utterances — to all the
factors which made him the great African patriot that he was.
We refuse to give you a politically sanitized Malcolm X. We refuse to give you M
alcolm X without his ideas and philosophy. It’s not like Burger King where you “have
it your way.” You have to have it the correct way, the Malcolm X way. You can’t jus
t take the part of Malcolm X that makes you comfortable, that’s non-controversial,
that won’t disturb your bosses or your lives.
Malcolm X had a political philosophy. It was not a philosophy that he picked up
in some book and decided to try and fit the lives and experiences of black peopl
e into, like some of your recently-discovered North American misleaders are doin
g.
The philosophy of Malcolm X was derived from the terrible, real condition of our
people in this world. Malcolm X experienced the U.S. as a black man, confronted
with all the problems and concerns of other black people in this world.
The same problems that Malcolm X fought against are the same problems we face no
w
The problems and concerns of our people which shaped Malcolm X’s worldview are the
same as the problems and concerns we are confronted with today, although some o
f us would rather ignore them.
They are police terror — the same kind of police terror that shot down Paul Barney
, and snuffed the life from Larry Murphy, right here in Tampa; the same kind of
police terror that murdered Curtis Murph just a month ago in St. Petersburg, acr
oss the bridge from here, and that takes the breath away from any black person i
n this country when we find ourselves accidentally passing a police station whil
e traveling throughout this country.
The problems and concerns that shaped the worldview of Malcolm X are still with
us today. They are economic terror. The same kind of economic terror responsible
for one out of every four black adults, and one out of every two black teenager
s being unemployed in this country; the economic terror that makes you too cowar
dly to do the things you ought to do because of fear you’ll lose your job. The kin
d of economic terror that makes you choose employment and so-called economic sec
urity over freedom.
No, Malcolm X’s ideas did not fall from the sky. They were products of the real wo
rld that we experience. And since they were born from the world they are good id
eas, they are correct ideas, and we ought to know, study, understand and live th
em.
Malcolm X not only believed and understood that we are not Americans; he defined
who we are exactly, and we ought to know what he said about this, too, if we ar
e going to be having programs each year extolling Malcolm X.
In the same April 3 Cleveland speech I have been quoting, Malcolm X said, “…you and
I, 22 million African-Americans — that’s what we are — Africans who are in America. Yo
u’re nothing but Africans. Nothing but Africans. In fact, you’d get farther calling
yourself African instead of Negro.”
malcolmxdashiki
Malcolm X was an African Internationalist who realized that the particular probl
ems of African people oppressed in different parts of the world are connected, a
nd the solution for all our problems is dependent on international African unity
and cooperation against a common enemy who stands between us, freedom, and a un
ited and socialist Africa.
In a 1964 letter from Accra, which reported on an earlier meeting in Nigeria, Ma
lcolm X had this to say about international unity:
“The people of Nigeria are strongly concerned with the problems of their African b
rothers in America, but the U.S. information agencies in Africa create the impre
ssion that progress is being made and the problem is being solved. Upon close st
udy, one can easily see a gigantic design to keep Africans here and the African-
Americans from getting together.
“No, I am not an American. I’m one of the 22 million black people who are the victim
s of Americanism… that’s what we are — Africans who are in America. You’re nothing but A
fricans. Nothing but Africans. In fact, you’d get farther calling yourself African
instead of Negro.”
“An African official told me, ‘When one combines the number of peoples of African de
scent in South, Central and North America, they total well over 80 million. One
can easily understand the attempts to keep the Africans from ever uniting with t
he African-Americans.’ Unity between the Africans of the West and the Africans of
the fatherland will well change the course of history.”
Therefore when we commemorate Malcolm X we are also commemorating his views on A
frican Internationalism — views which place us squarely on the side of our oppress
ed and warring sisters and brothers in Zaire, Azania, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Mozambi
que, and Angola.
These are views which also place us on the opposite side of the oppressive and b
arbaric U.S. government, which is the main enemy of African and other peoples th
roughout the world.
To embrace the ideas of Malcolm X is to embrace the ideas of African Internation
alism and the ideas of African Internationalism are opposite and contradictory t
o the ideals of Americanism. The ideals of African Internationalism promote free
dom from oppression and injustice. These ideals promote freedom and independence
.
On the other hand, the ideals of Americanism, ideals which were born out of a pr
ocess that saw mass genocide committed against the native people upon whose land
America was founded; the ideals of Americanism which were born of the process r
esulting in the forced immigration, enslavement, and deaths of millions of Afric
an people; ideals which flow from the process resulting in the colonization of P
uerto Rico, the theft of Mexican land, the special oppression of our women — these
ideals promote death, slavery, and war for all the peoples of the world.
To believe in Malcolm X, to honor and extol the ideas of Malcolm X is to believe
in ourselves, our history, and our future. To extol and honor the ideas of Malc
olm X is to honor and extol the absolute need to struggle against Americanism. T
o honor and extol the ideas of Malcolm X is to struggle for the liberation of Af
rica and the unity of all African people.
Did you come here today to do this? If you did not, perhaps you have come to the
wrong program.
But Malcolm X did not believe in the struggle of African people in an abstract o
r mechanical way. Malcolm X did not have a one-sided view of our struggle as a p
eople. He did not simply say we should identify with Africa and struggle to libe
rate our national homeland. He went further than this.
Many people like to forget this point, even many people who do believe in the id
eas of Malcolm X. They like to pretend that because Malcolm X was an African Int
ernationalist he was only interested in the liberation of Africa. This is a very
safe belief for many of our sisters and brothers because it relieves them of th
e responsibility to struggle where we are.
But Malcolm X saw the whole struggle of African people, a struggle being fought
in many different places under different conditions, as an integral part of the
same worldwide African Liberation Movement. Moreover, Malcolm X defined the part
icular aspect of our struggle here in this country in a fashion designed to take
the mystery out of revolution and give us the key to the direction we must take
.
Malcolm X defined our struggle here within current U.S. borders as a struggle ag
ainst colonialism. He defined it as a struggle for political independence.
Malcolm X never said we were struggling to prove ourselves to our oppressors. He
never said we were struggling to integrate.
In an April 8, 1964 speech in New York, Malcolm X stated: “There are 22 million Af
rican-Americans who are ready to fight for independence right here.”
Later in that same speech Malcolm X continued, “And there is no system of this ear
th which has proven itself more corrupt, more criminal, than this system that in
1964 still colonizes 22 million African-Americans, still enslaves 22 million Af
ro-Americans.”
At another place in the speech, Malcolm X says of America, “America is a colonial
power. She has colonized 22 million Afro-Americans by depriving us of first-clas
s citizenship, by depriving us of civil rights, actually by depriving us of huma
n rights.”
Explaining the difference between Integrationists and African Internationalists,
Malcolm said in the same April 8 speech I have been quoting from, “So, in this co
untry you find two different types of Afro-Americans — the type who looks upon him
self as a minority and you (white people) as the majority, because his scope is
limited to the American scene; and then you have the type who looks upon himself
as a part of the majority and you (white people) as a part of a microscopic min
ority, and this one uses a different approach in trying to struggle for his righ
ts.
“He doesn’t beg. He doesn’t thank you for what you give him, because you are only givi
ng him what he should have had a hundred years ago. He doesn’t think you are doing
him any favors.”
Further on in the same speech Malcolm asks, “How can you (white people) condemn So
uth Africa? There are only 11 million of our people in South Africa. There are 2
2 million of them here, and we are receiving an injustice which is just as crimi
nal as that which is being done to the black people of South Africa.”
Malcolm X told us that our struggle was a nationalist struggle, a struggle to bu
ild the developing African nation. Anticipating a statement that would be made l
ater by another African patriot, Amilcar Cabral, Malcolm X clearly struggled aga
inst the notion that ours is a struggle for or against the ideas in anyone’s head.
In a speech entitled, “Message to the Grassroots,” delivered in 1963 in Detroit, Mal
colm X had this to say about nationalism:
“When you want a nation, that’s called nationalism. When the white man became involv
ed in a revolution in this country against England, what was it for? He wanted t
his land so he could set up another white nation. That’s white nationalism… All the
revolutions that are going on in Asia and Africa today are based on what? Black
nationalism. A revolutionary is a black nationalist. He wants a black nation.”
This is what Malcolm X stood for. Did you know that when you decided to come her
e today? We must not allow ourselves to simply come out to programs like this an
d recite poetry, make speeches in the name of Malcolm X and go home.
Malcolm X was a socialist and a black revolutionary. And although I imagine he m
ust have participated in commemorative programs such as this one during his life
time, he did more than that. He lived struggle and revolution. He acted out his
belief in the right for African people to live in dignity, determining our own f
ate and controlling our own destiny.
He was not someone who just popped up on posters. He was not just a nice guy, vo
ted most popular by some black college fraternity or sorority. He was a black so
cialist, anti-colonialist, African Internationalist revolutionary.
Can you embrace that? Can you commemorate that? Can you pay homage to all that?
I hope so, because that is what Malcolm X was all about.
In a New York discussion in May 1964, Malcolm X spoke about the differences betw
een capitalist and socialist economic and social systems:
“While I was traveling I noticed that most of the countries that had recently emer
ged into independence have turned away from the so-called capitalistic system in
the direction of socialism.”
During that same discussion Malcolm X elaborated:
“Most of the countries that were colonial powers were capitalist countries, and th
e last bulwark of capitalism today is America. It’s impossible for a white person
to believe in capitalism and not believe in racism. You can’t have capitalism with
out racism. And if you find one and you happen to get that person into a convers
ation and they have a philosophy that makes you sure they don’t have racism in the
ir outlook, usually they’re socialists or their political philosophy is socialism.”
On December 20, 1964, at the Audubon Ballroom in New York, Malcolm added these w
ords about capitalism:
“You can’t operate a capitalist system unless you are vulturistic; you have to have
someone else’s blood to suck to be a capitalist. You show me a capitalist, I’ll show
you a bloodsucker.
“He cannot be anything but a bloodsucker if he’s going to be a capitalist. He’s got to
get it from somewhere other than himself. So, when we look at the African conti
nent, when we look at the trouble that’s going on between East and West, we find t
hat the nations of Africa are developing socialistic systems to solve their prob
lems.”
This was the Malcolm X whose memory you are honoring today. Malcolm X was an ant
i-capitalist. He clearly understood that there can be no freedom for our people
under capitalism.
I suspect that some of the people who are here today identify with capitalism as
the economic and social system which best represents their aspirations. If I am
correct, you now know what Malcolm X thought of capitalism and you.
I hope none of the people on this program are aspiring capitalists. If there are
some here they should confess and say they really don’t believe in the ideas and
philosophy of Malcolm X. That would be the honest thing to do. Otherwise people
will be consciously misled.
I have spent all this time quoting Malcolm X and talking about his philosophy, b
ecause I hold his memory very dear. Not in any romantic or idealistic sense, but
because of his giant contribution to our people’s struggle for freedom.
In our Party, the African People’s Socialist Party, we consider ourselves heir to
Malcolm X’s philosophy. We believe it is absolutely necessary for those of us who
speak of freedom and liberation to study the philosophy of Malcolm X.
We believe it is absolutely necessary to continue to develop his philosophy, and
to concretize his ideas by living like him — as a revolutionary totally committed
in actuality, in the real world, to freedom for African people throughout the w
orld.
In order to do this we must move beyond programs honoring his memory. We must ma
ke ideological choices, ideological positions.
Either we are Integrationists, which means we are pro-capitalists, pro-coloniali
sts, and anti-socialist, or we are African Internationalist socialists. We canno
t be both.
Either we believe in political independence for African people colonized within
current U.S. borders, or we believe in continued colonial subjugation for our pe
ople. There are no multiple choices.
As for our Party and its members, we have chosen socialism and independence; we
have chosen revolutionary African Internationalism, and we are building the poli
tical apparatus designed to give life and form to the vision of Malcolm X. We as
k you to join us in this endeavor.
In any event, regardless of what you choose to do, or where and how you choose t
o do it, if you don’t believe in the ideas and philosophy of Malcolm X, let him be
. If you don’t aspire to his definitions of revolution and liberation, don’t partici
pate in programs such as this one, and if you’re not willing to take a philosophic
al stand for independence, for Africa, for our people and yourself, then don’t cal
l the name of Malcolm X. He belongs to the people.
Sidebar
February 21 is the anniversary of the assassination of Malcolm X, arguably the m
ost significant African leader within the U.S. since the heyday of Marcus Garvey
and the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African League in the first
quarter of the 20th Century.
At the First Congress of the African People’s Socialist Party held in Oakland, Cal
ifornia in September 1981, a resolution was passed that marked the significance
of Malcolm X in the struggle for the liberation of our people.
We are reprinting that resolution here in The Burning Spear to commemorate the d
eath of Malcolm X and the many other Africans who have become martyrs in the str
uggle for our liberation.
The struggle of African people to liberate our national homeland, Africa; to res
ist oppression and exploitation; and to overthrow the system of imperialism and
advance the cause of world socialism has seen hundreds and thousands of our peop
le make the ultimate heroic sacrifice, the sacrifice of life itself.
The history of our resistance has been written in blood and flames. It has been
punctuated by the courageous examples of such martyrs as Nat Turner, Steven Biko
, Patrice Lumumba, Walter Rodney, Nehanda Nyakasinkana, Fred Hampton and Mark Cl
ark, Amilcar Cabral, and Lawrence Mann, co-founder of the African People’s Sociali
st Party.
Historically, the oppressors of African people have attempted to turn history up
side down and present the heroic examples of our freedom fighters as evidence of
the futility, the hopelessness of our cause for political independence, African
liberation and world socialism.
In many instances our oppressors have succeeded in demoralizing great numbers of
our people by using the examples of brutally murdered African freedom fighters
to prove the invincibility of imperialism and the permanence of African oppressi
on and exploitation.
The African People’s Socialist Party rejects and denounces this reactionary view o
f the bourgeoisie and calls on all African revolutionaries of all countries to p
roclaim February 21, the anniversary of the 1965 imperialist assassination of Ma
lcolm X, as the Day of the African Martyr.
The African People’s Socialist Party calls on all African revolutionaries of all c
ountries to take command of the history of our people’s struggle for political ind
ependence, African liberation, and socialism, by taking command of the definitio
n of that history and resistance.
The African People’s Socialist Party calls on all African revolutionaries of all c
ountries to raise high, in a revolutionary manner, the heroic memory of all our
fallen martyrs, of all those in every city, village, community and country where
they fell as evidence of the determination of our people to fight every battle
on every front until liberty has been won.
The African People’s Socialist Party calls on all African revolutionaries of all c
ountries to initiate special ceremonies and programs in every community where an
African revolutionary has fallen and to raise the memory of our fallen freedom
fighters to its proper revolutionary and historical significance.
The African People’s Socialist Party calls on all Party members to win the masses,
within the U.S. in all mass organizations where the African People’s Socialist Pa
rty has influence, to unite with this resolution. We call on every Party unit, r
egion and organization to take out this call to the masses and to actively work
to institutionalize February 21 as the Day of the African Martyr.