Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Our Prince



This man was brilliant...and blessed with the ability to move, encourage, and wake us up. He was definitely our shining Black Prince and was shot down before his time. These are a few quotes that I took from Malcolm's interview with A.B. Spellman in May of 1964. It blows my mind to think that these words spoken over 40 years ago still have weight and carry much truth. To get the whole interview go here.


"I know of no group that is promising unless it's radical. If it's not radical it is in no way involved effectively in the present struggle."
yet where are the radical groups of today? it seems like we're all just trying to 'organize' for the sake of saying we're for the struggle, but i've found that those who are truly radical with their ideals and approach are oft shunned and cast aside as being either a novelty or a...well, a radical. isn't change supposed to be radical?


"...the national leaders of the civil rights movement are out of touch with the problem and usually they are paid leaders....They are full-time leaders, they are professional leaders and whoever pays their salary has a great say-so in what they do and what they don't do, so naturally the ones who pay the salaries of these nationally known Negro leaders are the white liberals and white liberals are shocked and frightened whenever you mention anything about some X's."
again Brother Malcolm is on point and speaking some truth that still holds in this day and time. we've got a lot of 'leaders' who are getting paid by shacking up with White-run corporations, and end up doing a whole lot of nothing for the people whom they are supposed to be serving. so why do we keep looking for the 'next great leader' or even looking to these rent-a-negro leaders to do the work that both you and i can do if only we employ some real thinking and activism??


"I've never heard of a non-violent revolution or a revolution that was brought about by turning the other cheek, and so I believe that it is a crime for anyone to teach a person who is being brutalized to continue to accept that brutality without doing something to defend himself."
I think he said it well enough.


"I'm non-violent as long as somebody else is non-violent—as soon as they get violent they nullify my non-violence."
AMEN


"Revolution is like a forest fire. It burns everything in its path. The people who are involved in a revolution don't become a part of the system—they destroy the system, they change the system...the Negro Revolution is no revolution because it condemns the system and then asks the system that it has condemned to accept them into their system"
i think this sums it up right here. revolution...what revolution? we are a bunch of semi-disgruntled lackadaisical folks who talk of change and postulate and pose about making progress, but we don't really move beyond that. why is that we continue to compare ourselves to Whites? what they have, what they do, where they shop, how they govern...how many times have we said this system we're in does not work in our favor? yet how many of us (myself included) are trying to make it into the very system that abhors our very existence? we tell ourselves that we've got to succeed in whatever field we're in, make good financial decisions, raise an ideal family, and set a 'good example' for the rest who are left struggling. really what good does that do? shouldnt we already know what it means to have our own, and to live a successful life? why are we still seeking the White man's acceptance? when will we realize that the only real acceptance that matters is our own? that we need to break down the corrupt system that we are living in and create a new one that shuns the oppression of any and all people.


Check the interview...forreal.


CBrava

1 comment:

mamadee said...

I'mma need you to have recognized a long time ago about my man Malcolm being the man!!!! Yall dont listen to me cause I talk a lot of foolishness but Malcolm was the truth....