The people, particularly the men, lift their voices in a long shout, for they have again been told that the black man, taken collectively, is God—Allah—that Allah will soon, now, destroy the devil, the white man.
Malcolm X, as he does three or four times each week, has “made it plain.” He has told black men that they—as God—must deliver themselves from the evils and hurts of the white man. And that, of course, is what they came to temple to hear.
On another Sunday afternoon the message will take a different form. Malcolm this time elects to make his famous “deaf, dumb, and blind” speech. I, for one, believe Malcolm is at his best when he deals with this issue.
The speech begins as Malcolm X literally heaps abuse on his audience.
“You are deaf, dumb, and blind,” he tells them. “You are lost in the wilderness of North America, and the black man’s new day has been delayed because of you. Now I am here to get you ready.”
“Make it plain,” the people shout back.
“Now the first thing you must do is clean yourself up.”
“Yes, that’s right, that’s right!”
“You must clean yourself up both physically and morally.”
“That’s right! That’s right!”